My name is Kabal Boarstooth and this is the tale of my time in the stolen lands. My Dad was human and my Mom was an Orc. I love the outdoors so some call me a druid. All I know is I am happiest with dirt under my feet and the sky above my head.
Session Date: 01/31/2011
Day 1
Level 1
Calistril 30
We have been traveling for three days since receiving our charter from the Lord Mayor when we reach Oleg’s trading post. During the long trip, I got to know some of my fellow companions. There is Greenbow, an archer, who is very tall for a human. Edwardo, who is dressed all in black – even his armor, has a sword and bow. There is a mage by the name of Aegon. Finally there is a mounted warrior of Erastil. He has assumed a leadership role.
We come through an open gate and notice that, besides a constant hammering coming from atop a bunkhouse, that there are no guards around. As we approach the middle of the compound, a young woman in her late teens or early twenties greets us warmly and says that her name is Svetlana Leveton. The hammering from the bunk house stops and a man in his thirties peers over the roof. She tells the man, Oleg, that we are finally here. Calenhad tells her that he thinks she might be mistaken us for some other group. Oleg spits and says, “See I told you ain’t nobody gonna help us!” He climbs off the roof and heads indoors without another word. She asks, puzzled, if we are from Rostland. We nod in assent and she asks if we are here to take care of the bandits. We respond that is what our charter from the Swordlords says. She joyously ushers us inside and feeds us. I take my plate and eat outside with Darro, my bear companion and trusted friend.
Oleg tells everyone else about the bandits. He says that the bandits have come every month for the last three months. They always come on the first of the month and since tomorrow is the first of the month, we will have one night to prepare. The first time a dozen of them led by a woman with two well-made hatchets came. She took Svetlana’s wedding ring after threatening to chop off Oleg’s hand. The next month her second-in-command, Happs, came with six other bandits. Oleg says that he is a foul one indeed. Last month he came with only four bandits. The bandits say that they are collecting “taxes” even they do not represent any formal government. They usually come an hour after dawn. They don’t take everything that Oleg has, but it is enough. The others make a plan of attack as Darro and I enjoy the serenity of the outdoors.
Day 2
Level 1
Pharast 1
Shortly after dawn, the bandits come. It is Happs, the foul one, and four henchmen. Happs requests Svetlana in the most vile, suggestive language possible. Calenhad, with Edwardo riding behind him on Calenhand’s horse, Falchion, block the gate. Calenhad announces to them that Erastil greets them. Happs, vilely dismisses him. Oleg was not kidding, Happs IS most foul. Darro and I start to make our way out of concealment. The bandit’s horses smell Darro, however; and get nervous. Happs, suspecting a trap bellows “Take them out!” Greenbow stands up and fires an arrow at Happs. Calenhad charges one of the henchmen skewering him with his lance. Darro quickly outpaces me in his rush to enter the fray. Edwardo fires an arrow at Happs but misses. Happs shoots an arrow at Calenhad and hits him, while two of his henchmen put arrows into Darro. I also try to move in the fray, but I move slower than Darro. Aegon casts sleep and a henchman falls asleep. Greenbow lets fly an arrow but misses Happs. Calenhad misses with his lance, but his horse rears and kills a henchman with his hoofs. Edwardo hits Happs with an arrow as Darro bites Happs. Happs takes a step back and hits Darro with an arrow. The henchman wakes the sleeping henchman. I run up and surpass Darro. Greenbow jumps down from the parapet and runs towards Happs. Calenhad charges another henchman, killing him. Edwardo hits Happs with a well placed arrow. Darro misses with a bite attack, and as Happs tries to retreat, Darro is able to take a bite out of him. Happs hits Darro with an arrow and the bear falls to the ground. I miss Happs with my club. Aegon slays another henchman with a force missile. Greenbow closes with the last remaining henchman. Calenhad and his horse race to cut off Happs’ retreat, ordering him to surrender. Edwardo misses the henchman. Happs, taking stock of the situation, surrenders. The last henchman, hearing Happs surrender does the same. The battle is over.
Aegon casts charm on the henchman who says his name is Dryfig. Aegon asks where the bandit camp is, but Dryfig refuses to say. He says Kressel would kill him if he talks. Kressel is the leader of the bandit band, but even she has a boss. Her boss goes by the name of the Stag Lord. Kressel is afraid of the Stag Lord and he, Dryfig is afraid of Kressel, so he doesn’t want to tell us. He has never seen the Stag Lord, only heard of him. He and his compatriots wear a medallion with a stag on it – a symbol of the Stag Lord perhaps?
Now we must decide what to do with the prisoners. Oleg wants to put their heads on stakes near the entrance of the post, much to Svetlana’s dismay. Calenhad offers Happs a choice – death by sword or rope as per our charter. Needless to say, Happs doesn’t answer. Calenhad renders judgment stabbing him – death by sword. Calenhad turns to Dryfig, and asks him to redeem himself by telling us where his camp is. Seeing what happened to Happs and knowing is death would be more excruciating at the hands of Kressel, he tells us they are about twenty-four miles away. He also tells us that Kessel has about twelve bandits with her. As he closes his eyes for the expected blow, we ask Oleg if there was a way that Dryfig can redeem himself through labor here at the post. Looking around at the decrepit buildings Oleg readily agrees. We tell the former bandit that if he crosses the line, he will surly be killed. The bandit is most grateful and asks that once he has paid his debt to Oleg if he can travel north, and retrieve his family.
Svetlana is so please she gifts to us a couple of potions. Seeing that we are going to need more healing potions, we ask her if she has any more to sell. She says she does not, but there is a hermit by the name of Bokken who lives a day’s travel away.
We decide to travel to the hermit to load up on potions and be back to Oleg’s before Kessel investigates what happened to her bandit party.
DM dot...
Session Date: 02/28/11
Day 2
Level 1
Pharast 1
We quickly discuss our next moves. We decide to ambush the bandits at their camp after we get back from Bokken’s. After a few hours we arrive at the hermit’s humble abode. Luckily Svetlana had given us good directions or else we might have missed it. Bokken is impatient until we mention that we are here to buy potions for coin. On hearing the word “coin”, all the locks are undone and the door swings open. We see an ancient human male. He says that he has a few healing potions he can sell us, and knowing that the bandits will be a tough fight, we buy all of them. Darro is still badly injured and Aegon asks if he wouldn’t mind casting a healing spell on my dear friend. He reluctantly agrees and only after we promise to do a favor for him. He says there is a thicket of fang berries that are six miles away. If we can bring him a lot of them he can discount us the price of the potions for a month. That sounds like a great deal to us and we wonder if there is something he is not telling us. He walks outside and cautiously approaches Darro. He heals Darro, at which point a grateful Darro lies on his back to get his belly rubbed. Bokken decides that he is lucky enough to still have his head and quickly takes leave of the bear.
We ask him if the bandits trouble him at all and he replies that since the bandits have been bothering Oleg, they haven’t bothered him. He has a “younger” brother that might be with the bandits. He is a little bit younger than him, but judging by this hermit’s age, his brother must also be really old. There is no love lost between him and his brother which he emphasizes by spitting on the ground after each mention of him. Aegon, intrigued by all things magic, asks the hermit if he is a priest. The old man looks at Aegon like he has just asked the most ridiculous question he has ever heard. He says he is not a priest and he just thinks about what he wants to do in the morning and then he can do it. . We promise to comeback when we have taken care of the bandits to fulfill our promise and make our way back to Oleg’s on this cold day.
We get back to Oleg’s at dusk where we are challenged by two men we had never seen before. We immediately fear that the bandits have come and overrun the trading post until we hear crusty Oleg’s voice booming that we are all right. The gate to the trading post opens and we are met by Oleg and four men. The obvious leader introduces himself as Kesten Garess and his companions as Dworvik, Caleb and Guff. Calenhand believes that Kesten is from some noble house that he can’t immediately place. Kesten announces that he has been sent by the Lord Mayor to defend the post. We thought Svetlana had mistaken us from someone else, and I guess we were right. He shows a charter that says that there is a reward for how many bandits we capture or kill-but there has to be at least six. We feel after we hit the bandit camp, that minimum will be reached. He notices our meager belongings and says that as an adventurer he understands our supply situation. As a remedy, he says that we can be provisioned, with half of the cost upfront, from the trade caravans that travel regularly from the post to Restov. He and his men will stand guard and we confirm our plans before turning in for the night.
Day 3
Level 1
Pharast 2
I wake in the morning and gather some goodberries which might come in handy for the coming battle. Before we set out, Kesten pulls Calenhad aside and says that if he can capture a bandit by the name of Falrim Sneeg it would be worth our while. He stresses that the reward would not be so great if Falrim is dead. We spend the day skirting the woods to the bandit camp. After traveling all day, we make camp, hoping that the bandits do not catch us unawares.
Day 4
Level 1
Pharast 3
Before our hasty breakfast I quickly find some berries and make them into goodberries. Soon I find a path that has some fresh tracks and others that are a week old. We follow the path and after a few miles I hear noises so Greenbow climbs a tree to see if he can see anything. He sees a broken down wagon, some stacked logs, and what seems like a small clearing for a campsite with four humans standing around a fire. Unsure if we have found the bandits or innocent trappers, we split off into two groups, Greenbow, Edwardo, and Aegon will approach from the side, while Calenhad, Darro, and I take the most direct route to the camp to determine their intentions. As we approach the camp we hear a voice shouting, “Kressle! We got company!” On hearing that, Greenbow advances from the side and shoots an arrow but misses. The bandits return fire and hit him while other arrows hit Calenhad. Edwardo returns fire with an arrow. We see a woman gripping two axes stand up and advance- Kressle! Darro and I speed to her archers. Aegon casts a sleep spell and two of the archers go down. Calenhad charges into the bandits with Falchion. Greenbow shoots an arrow at Kressle, but misses. Darro gets hit with two arrows, but arrows miss Calenhad. Kressle wakes her sleeping troops up using the flat of her axes. I heal Darro and he mauls the archer in front of him. Aegon casts a force missile at the one Darro just mauled. Falchion tries to hit the other archer with his hooves but misses as Calenhad misses with his lance. Greenbow misses with a swipe of his sword. The sleeping archers both rise. Arrows and sword both miss Darro, who is probably scaring his attackers! Another archer feels Calenhad would be a better target and scores a hit. Greenbow also gets hit with an arrow. Edwardo hits a bandit with his rapier as Kressle misses Greenbow with a swipe of her axes. I put down an archer and Darro mauls another. Aegon puts another bandit to sleep. Falchion hits one of the bandits with his hooves while Calenhad skewers him with his lance. Greenbow misses again with his sword, but Darro gets hit with one. Edwardo misses with his rapier, which allows Kressle hit him with one of her axes. I put down another archer and Darro attacks Kressle. Calenhad, Greenbow and Edwardo all miss Kressle with their attacks. Edwardo, grievously wounded tries to retreat and is pursued by Kressle. She again swings her deadly axes and Edwardo collapses to the ground. I try to hit Kressle for revenge but miss, but luckily Darro’s claw does not. Calenhad dismounts and drawing his sword, also hits Kressle. Greenbow misses Kressle as she savagely attacks the Paladin. Calenhad, bleeding profusely, joins Edwardo on the frozen ground. I miss Kressle with my club, but Darro takes a chunk out of her with his bite. Greenbow kills the sleeping archer before he awakes and joins the fray. Kressle now turns her attention to Darro and me. I again miss her but the bear ends the threat of Kressle once and for all with his razor claws.
I uncork my recently acquired healing potion and pour it down the paladin’s throat. As he gains consciousness, I pour Edwardo’s potion down his throat.
Since Dryfig had told us there were twelve bandits in camp and we only encountered six, we decide to hastily loot the camp –especially for healing magic and go and lick our wounds before the other bandits return.
Oleg and Svetlana will be able to rest easily tonight with Kressle gone.
Session Date: 03/14/11
Day 4
Level 1
Pharast 3
We quickly heal up using the healing wand we just found. We know that there were other bandits shooting us with arrows and I begin looking for their tracks. I easily find them and determine they were made by six horses and they were traveling out of the camp. We decide to head back to Oleg’s with the bandit’s bodies so as to collect the bounty.
We meet a man who appears to be a trapper. We are wary, however, as we are unsure if he is actually a trapper or a bandit who has robbed a trapper. He says he is Manfred by name. He is disturbed that we are traveling with corpses, so we quickly explain that they are the bodies of a ruthless bandit gang that has been terrorizing the area and we are taking them back to Oleg’s. His worries are alleviated at the news as he has always tried to avoid them. He was not aware of where they were located, and only has passing knowledge of the Stag Lord. Calenhad determines that he is sincere in his words. He wants to join us on our way back to Oleg’s and considering that we are still badly bruised from our fight, we readily agree. On the journey we discover that our new friend does seem to prefer any one deity, he says he has a good relationship with all goodly deities. He also has heard about a huge bear that dwells in some ruins. On hearing him mention the bear, both Darro and my ears perk up. We would definitely like to make that bear’s acquaintance!
As we approach Oleg’s, we see that Dworvik is on duty. He starts to give Manfred the third degree until we hear Oleg’s booming voice, “Manfred is that you? You son of an otter, you!” Apparently Manfred and Oleg are old friends. Wanting to quickly dispose of our grisly cargo, we ask where Kesten is. After a few moments he comes over and seems pleased with our work. He says that the bounty can be paid by coin or trade goods. We opt for the coin. He promises it will be on the next caravan from Restov. There is another trapper at Oleg’s, a man by the name of Jhod Kavken, like Calenhad, he is also a follower of Erastil. He and Calenhad discuss much during the night.
As I am sitting by the fire Svetlana comes out to Darro and me. She asks if I can find and gather her some moon radishes. She and Oleg have had trouble starting a family and she believes that moon radish stew might help with the uh… situation. I readily agree to search for some and to bring her a bushel worth when I do. She tells me that she has heard that they can be found south of the post.
Day 5
Level 1
Pharast 4
We wake up to a chilly 3 degrees. Because of the cold I could only find four goodberries. Calenhad announces that we should find the ruins where the big bear lives. He believes that we might find the rest of the bandits there and he is also drawn to the area. He asks that we accompany him on this quest before we do Bokken’s favor. He does not share why he feels so drawn to these ruins and we do not press. Besides our overall goal is to rid this land of bandits and if they have taken refuge in these ruins, so be it!
We set out to try and find these ruins and spend an uneventful, rainy day exploring. Try as I might, I do not find any moon radishes.
Day 6
Level 1
Pharast 5
I am able to find eight goodberries today, but no moon radishes. Again it is an uneventful day exploring.
That night Calenhad and I are on watch when I hear a commotion about 100 feet north of us. It sounds like it could be animal in nature. We tell Calenhad that Darro and I will check it out. Darro has picked up a scent in the light wind and takes the lead in the direction of the commotion. We stealthily approach a bear rooting around about sixty feet in front of us. Not wanting to disturb it, Darro and I turn to leave, but I accidently break a twig. The bear turns to us and lets out a low, threatening growl. I try to show the bear my friendly intentions to it, but the bear is having none of it. It charges and takes a swipe at me. I reel back from the force of the blow. This enrages Darro, who swipes at the bear in return. I try to intimidate the bear into submission, but he is having none of that as well. Incredulous that Darro attacked him, the bear tries to hit Darro with a swing of his claw, but misses. By this time, Calenhad has woken up Edwardo who believes that the commotion is just Darro and I wrestling. Calenhad now wakes up Greenbow and heads to the sound of the scuffle. Unfortunately, his race has not been blessed with darkvision and he stumbles to the forest floor. Greenbow passes Calenhad and reaches us in a few moments. I try to hit the bear without seriously injuring him, but it is all for naught as the bear easily dodges my clumsy swing. Darro again swipes at the bear and misses. The bear’s jaw bites down hard on Darro and he yelps in pain. Greenbow hits the bear. I miss with a swing of my club, but Darro bites the bear in retribution for the bite he received. At this time Calenhad is ready to join the fray, and seeing that the odds are turning against it, the wounded bear turns and flees. I would like to pursue the bear with a spell that will allow me to communicate with it, but the rest of the party does not want to be sidetracked from our current endeavor. I vow someday to find that bear and make amends with it. That will be my personal quest.
Day 7
Level 1
Pharast 6
After a few hours exploring, we, with Darro and I taking point, come to a small arrow-shaped cleaning fifty feet in front of us. I hear moaning and groaning and a language I don’t understand. Darro and I go back and let the party know. As a group we come to the clearing which is one hundred feet wide. I do a quick scan and determine that the arrow shape appears natural. During the scan, I also notice that the clearing is not really a clearing at all, but a moon radish patch. Looks like I have found them. Aegon, after listening intently for a few moments, determines that the mystery language is draconic. He casts some glowing, floating globes and six kobolds pop up. Aegon banters with them for a few moments, after which Aegon says that they are worried that we want their radishes as other bad “hue-mans” do, so as long as we don’t take them, since these are the only good “radisheses”, they will not bother us. I then state that I need some radishes as I am doing a favor for Svetlana. Aegon is dismayed at this and tries to talk me out of it. I am adamant that I will have some radishes with or without the kobold’s permission. Aegon goes back to negotiating with the kobolds in their tongue and after a few tense moments announce that the kobolds will let me have a backpack full of radishes for two gold pieces. I believe that Darro and I could have made a cheaper arrangement with a quick display of club and claw, but not wanting to use precious healing on an avoidable conflict I acquiesce. The kobolds point us to the direction of the ruins, and Aegon asks them to let their leader in the hills know that we are in the area. They promise they will and go back to “recuperating” from their night out with “da women” and “da radiheses”.
Day 8
Level 1
Pharast 7
Night passes and no sign of the bear. I am disappointed as I gather seven goodberries in the chilly morning. During the day, we arrive back at the former bandit campaign and see no signs that anyone has been here since we defeated Kressle.
Day 9
Level 1
Phast 8
Even though the skies are clear, I only find three goodberries. We set off to do more exploring wondering when we will find these ruins that Calenhad seems fixated on. After awhile, we come to an area of thick brambles that opens up to a large clearing with ruined stone pillars. Looks like we have found the ruins! There is a giant elk carved into a boulder which Calenhad identifies as a symbol of Erastil, in fact this whole area was once a temple of Erastil. In the middle of the clearing there is a pool filled with greenish, stagnant water. Maybe at one time it was a reflecting pool, but it now shows the effects of years of disuse. The clearing itself is about 300 feet. Calenhad wants to lead the way, and no one argues the point. We tie off our horses, but Calenhad decides to still be mounted on Falchion. As we pass the pool, a large bear foaming out of the mouth comes charging at us. Greenbow shoots an arrow at the bear, but Edwardo misses. The deranged bear attacks Calenhad focusing on his holy symbol of Erastil. He scores a well placed swipe with his paws and Calenhad is struck. Aegon tries to put the rabid bear to sle both miss the bear in a well coordinated attack. Greenbow moves into flanking position as Edwardo misses. I ask the bear why it attacks us and the bear responds that he has bees in his brain! The bear’s sharp claws slash Calenhad and he becomes unconscious and is bleeding profusely. Aegon casts a force missile at the bear. Darro hits with his bite and a claw. I heal Calenhad with the healing wand. Calenhad and Falchion both miss in another attack. Greenbow, now flanking scores a hit. Edwardo misses again. The bear’s powerful jaw chomps down on Calenhad rendering him unconscious again. Aegon casts another force missile at the bear. Darro gets a claw to his chest and is not happy. I heal Calenhad again with the wand. As he, Falchion, Greenbow, and Edwardo all miss the bear. The bear hits Calenhad again and again Calenhad is taken out of the fight. Aegon continues with what he knows will work and casts another force missile. Darro manage to get a claw through the bear’s defenses. I again use the healing wand on Calenhad. Falchion misses the bear with his hooves. Greenbow hits the bear with his rapier and slays it. As the bear falls to the ground, we hear a sigh of relief and the bear turns into an elderly, human male.
Was this man a druid like me? Did he have rabies or did something else turn him mad? These are questions that are on my mind.
Session Date: 03/28/11
Day 9
Level 1
Pharast 8
The body of the man turns quickly turns into a skeleton, and just as quickly, turns to dust and blows away. We all feel that he might have been like this for a really long, long time. The place becomes brighter and the stagnant, pungent pool clears. Aegon determines that the pool is magical but he doesn’t know what its purpose is. He senses an overwhelming magical aura but can’t say for sure what it is. Calenhad wants to go into the shrine to pray, and since Gozreh is friendly with Erastil and I respect Erastil, Darro and I accompany him.
The pool bedevils Aegon as he cannot figure it out. Edwardo, tired of Aegon’s methods, walks over to the pool, cups his hand with the water and sips from it. All stare waiting to see what happens. After a few seconds, Edwardo shrugs his shoulders and says how refreshing the water is. After some time, Calenhad finishes his prayers and we head outside. The rest of the party tells us all about Edwardo’s drink. Calenhad, still grievously wounded, walks over and also drinks from the pool. All of his wounds are miraculously healed! Since I also have wounds, I also drink from the fountain, and like Calenhad, all my wounds are healed as well! Calenhad offers praise and thanks to Erastil and we spend the rest of the day clearing the debris around the shrine. Calenhad seems truly at peace in this place, and I know that he is not looking forward to leaving it on the morrow.
Day 10
Level 1
Pharast 9
I wake up and it feels like it might be a warm day. It might be that this area is blessed by Erastil since I find eight goodberries. We decide to head back to Oleg’s to let Jhod know that the shrine is cleared. I also have the radishes I want to give Svetlana before they spoil. We decide to head to Oleg’s on a different route than from whence we came to do some more exploring. We are near the Thorn River when suddenly, Darro and Greenbow fall asleep right on the trail! As I wake up Darro and then Greenbow I hear high-pitched giggling, but I don’t see anything. We know we have company, so we proceed more cautiously. Shortly after we continue on, I see a bush shaking thirty feet in front of us. I call out a challenge and get no response. The bush keeps moving. We are ten feet from the bush, when we see a rabbit dart from it. The bush stops moving in front of us. Just as we are about to assume that we were being foolish, Greenbow hears giggling. Aegon calls out a greeting in sylvan and hears a giggle in response. He calls out another greeting in aklo and hears no giggling. He requests to parlay in sylvan, since that seems to be the language the creatures understand. There is no response just giggling. Calenhad leaves a mirror as a gift and requests that we pass in peace. Suddenly a pseudodragon becomes visible next to the mirror. “Silly human!” the fey says. He is fascinated by the mirror and tells us that his name is Perlivash. He tells us to be careful if we head northwest as there is a bad human there. Aegon shows him the Stag Lord medallion and asks if the bad human wears one of these. Perlivash is just as fascinated with the medallion as he was with the mirror. He says that the bad human does not wear a medallion like that. Aegon offers the medallion as a gift and lays it on the ground. The medallion is lifted into the air by an unseen creature. Perlivash giggles and says, “Tyg-Titter-Tut show yourself!” A grig becomes visible and also giggles. Edwardo tells Tyg-Titter-Tut she looks beautiful and the fey blushes. Calenhad makes the formal introductions. Aegon asks if they know of any humans in the big cities of the north and they do not. Aegon asks if they know Oleg and they converse among themselves in sylvan before replying that they know of him but do not know him. We ask what makes the human in the northwest so bad and they say he is a hunter that puts his traps all over the place. We ask if they know where fangberries are since we have promised Bokken to find him some, but they don’t know where any are located. We tell them that we are exploring the area so that other humans can come, and they are fine with that as it will give them more humans to play tricks on. We are all chagrined at that. We ask if there is anything else they can tell us about the area and they say that there is a big bear in the ruins, and we tell them that there isn’t one there any longer. In fact, we tell them, we will be bringing a human who likes nature back with us to live in the shrine and care for it. They giggle at this and we are unsure if it is in anticipation on playing tricks on Jhod. They point to the west and say there are warm waters there. In fact the water is warm year round. They like to go there to relax, but they have to be careful as there are really big frogs there. We tell them that if they need anything to let us know and with a giggle they disappear.
We reach the banks of the Thorn River and make camp and we spend the night without incident or tricks.
Day 11
Level 1
Pharast 10
This morning I find four goodberries. It was warm yesterday, but was chilly this morning. We spend an uneventful day exploring the area finding nothing of note.
Day 12
Level 1
Pharast 11
I find six goodberries, and like the previous day, it was an uneventful day exploring.
Day 13
Level 1
Pharast 12
I find five goodberries in the morning and this day we will reach Oleg’s. Calenhad is very anxious to tell Jhod that the shrine has been cleared. We reach the trading post where I promptly find Svetlana and give her the radishes. She thanks me profusely and starts right away preparing her stew. I hope that in nine months, this quest will have a dividend.
We meet a trapper at Oleg’s, a grizzled man by the name of Vekkel. His left leg is completely bandaged. Jhod says that Vekkel was almost gutted by a large boar. At this Vekkel pipes up that the boar is called Tuskgutter and it almost gutted him. He has a magic bow and magic arrows that he will give to whoever brings him back the head of Tuskgutter. Greenbow is amazed that Vekkel would part with such valuable items. Vekkel spits and angrily says, “Cause of that overgrown pig, I’ll never ‘unt ‘gain, so’s I don’ be needin’ me bow!” He encountered the boar about thirty-six miles Southwest of Oleg’s. He will make head cheese from the head. Aegon grimaces at that, and Vekkel likewise grimaces at Aegon. We ask if he knows of the human that the fey had told us about and he says that he does. His name is Breeg and he gives hunters and trappers a bad name. “He puts his darn traps all o’er the darn place. Don’t care a lick on what he gets!”
Calenhad finds Jhod, who says that he will be ready to leave in the morning. I can’t tell who is more excited, Calenhad or Jhod.
Day 14
Level 1
Pharast 13
Before we depart, we see Oleg nailing a piece of parchment to a post offering a reward of 600 gold for an undamaged head of a Tatzlwyrm. Per the parchment it will make for an interesting conversation piece. We will keep our eyes open for it.
The rest of the day is uneventful as we make our way to the shrine. That night, however, Calenhad hears a sound of rummaging about sixty feet from where we are keeping watch. He says it sounds like the same rummaging we heard when we encountered the bear that night. Darro and I decide to investigate. We tell Calenhad to stay with the others while we investigate. About thirty feet from the rummaging I cast speak with animals. I am determined to show brother bear that we mean him no harm. He hears us at that point looks at us and lets out a low growl. He has a huge swipe mark from when he and Darro met last so I know it is the same bear. I call out a respectful greeting and the fact that I can now speak his tongue confuses the bear. He says in a growly voice, “MY land! MY food!” I tell him that we have no interest in taking either his food or land. I introduce myself and Darro and he just grunts and says, “Not natural”. I ask if he meant that Darro is my companion or me personally. He responds “Both!” I ask if he has a name and he does not. I ask if there is anything I can do for him and he says no – he just wants to be left alone. I bid him a good night and he scampers off into the darkness. While I feel I do not have gained a friend, I feel that I at least had made some amends for our previous encounter and I am able to sleep well that night.
Day 15
Level 1
Pharast 14
I gather three goodberries and we encounter nothing on our travels today.
Day 16
Level 1
Pharast 15
I gather five goodberries and both Jhod and Calenhad are giddy with anticipation for today we will reach the shrine. When we arrive at the shrine, Aegon detects no more magic on the pool. It seems like it was a special favor from Erastil for only a short time. Jhod tells us not to get discouraged; however, since as a priest of Erastil, he will be able to provide healing if we need it. We help Jhod tidy up his new home and camp for the night.
Day 17
Level 1
Pharast 16
Again due to Erastil’s blessings in the area, I find eight goodberries. We spend the day exploring, but we find no tracks-boar or otherwise. That night while Calenhad and I are on watch, Calenhad reaches up to his shoulder and screams in pain as blood starts gushing out. Darro sniffs around but doesn’t see anything. Suddenly we see a skeletal zombie ready to draw a bow. Calenhad charges the undead, but as he nears the creature disappears. Suddenly an unseen arrow strikes me and I can’t move. Darro is confused my inactivity. Calenhad goes to wake up Aegon, since whom better to fight magic but a mage? Aegon quickly finds out what happens and wakes up Greenbow. Darro keeps nudging me, but I am still unable to move. Calenhad wakes up Edwardo as I get hit with another arrow. Aegon detects a magical aura 30 feet in front of him. Greenbow listens to the sound of the bow being drawn back and advances in that direction feeling his way. Edwardo also listens for the bow and shoots an arrow at the general direction but the arrow misses. Calenhad does not know where the assailant is by listening. I am finally able to move and I swing my club where Greenbow is furiously swinging his rapier and miss. Aegon casts dancing lights. Greenbow swings and actually connects with something. Darro comes up next to me and bites something. Edwardo comes up and also swings but misses. Calenhad comes up and tries to grab the unseen assailant, but instead, just grabs air. I miss with a swing of my club. Aegon tries to detect magic, but doesn’t detect any. After a few moments of swinging air, we decide that the thing is gone. Greenbow and I look for tracks, but see none.
Looks like we have something other than Tuskgutter to worry about!
Session Date: 04/11/2011
Day 18
Level 1
Pharast 17
I find seven goodberries and give some to Calenhad to heal his wounds from our invisible assailant while I take the remainder. We start off in search of Tuskgutter and soon Greenbow and I see tracks leading to what appears to be a den. I let everyone know what we find and we decide to approach stealthily. Unfortunately we are not too stealthy since after a few steps, a twig snaps. A huge boar emerges from the den and appears ready to charge. I form a line with Greenbow and Darro. Edwardo shoots as arrow at the boar and hits it. The boar decides to make me the target of its charge and slams right into me. I swing my club at it but miss. Calenhad and Falchion maneuver to the side and Calenhad really skewers the boar with his lance. Greenbow slices its hide with his longsword. Darro tears into it with both claws and a bite attack. Aegon hits it with a force missile. I swing my club again and miss. Calenhad skews it again with his lance and the boar falls to the ground. Greenbow easily lops off the head with his longsword, while the rest of us prepare are pork meal for the next couple of days.
I cure myself with the wand from where I was ‘gutted’ by the Tuskgutter. We spend the rest of the day exploring finding nothing of note.
Day 19
Level 1
Pharast 18
I find six berries and I eat one in order to fully restore my health. We continue to explore and again find nothing of note. We camp near the river.
Day 20
Level 1
Pharast 19
This morning I find five berries. We come to a rickety bridge that crosses the river. I decide to see if the bridge is safe for all of us to cross. I stomp across the bridge testing its strength. It creaks, but otherwise seems solid. When I reach the other side, I call Darro and he lopes on over. Greenbow, Aegon, Edwardo also follow. Calenhad is worried that the bridge will not support Falchion, so he makes several trips carrying the equipment that is on Falchion. Even with his reduced weight, we do not think Falchion will be able to cross. I cast speak with animals and tell falchion he might have to swim across the river. The war horse hearing the bridge creak as we went over, readily agrees. He climbs down the embankment and swims across the river. At one point the current threatens to sweep him away, but the strong war horse quickly regains his momentum. He easily climbs the opposite embankment and soon rejoins us.
Near the end of the day while Greenbow, Darro and I are in advance of the party, we hear the sound of wolves at play. Since I already used my one speak with animals spell for the day, we decide the best course of action is to avoid them and let them be. We move a half an hour in the opposite direction from where we heard the wolves and make camp. We are all extra vigilant on our watches, but with the exception of Greenbow feeling something is out there, we see or hear nothing.
Day 21
Level 1
Pharast 20
I find six goodberries this morning. We pass by the still deserted bandit camp. That night during Calenhad and my watch, I hear human voices. I quickly wake up Edwardo. As Edwardo rises, he sees a fire start up fifty to sixty feet in front of him. I wake up Aegon. Edwardo gets hit with an arrow out of three that were launched at him-one of them was a fire-tipped arrow. Calenhad wakes up Greenbow. As Greenbow rises, he must make a tempting target since he gets hit with two arrows. Edwardo shoots an arrow at the one who is shooting the fire arrows. Three arrows narrowly miss me. Calenhad mounts Falchion and charges to the bandits opposite the bandits Edwardo and I are battling. The bandit that Calenhad charged steps back and shoots an arrow at him. Darro charges the middle assailant and tries to take a bite out of him but misses. Edwardo misses with an arrow. Aegon casts sleep, but our attackers stay awake. I swing my club and miss. The bandit laughs at me and takes a five foot step back and hits me with an arrow. Falchion misses the bandit in front of him, but Calenhad hits one next to him with his sword. Greenbow hits a bandit with a well-placed arrow. The bandits concentrate their attacks on the mounted Calenhad and he falls from the saddle grievously wounded. Darro tears into a bandit with his claws and maw. Suddenly wolves appear and take down two of the bandits. Edwardo misses with his bow as I slay a bandit with my club. The remaining bandit on my side of the battle runs for his life. That leaves just one bandit on the other side of the camp. The wolves quickly pounce on him and he lies still on the ground for evermore.
Aegon quickly stabilizes the bleeding Calenhad as I cast speak with animals so I can communicate with our new wolf allies. I greet the wolves and the biggest wolf answers me in common. He says his name is Redeye and these are is his lands. We tell him that we are just passing through and wish not to disturb him. He says we were wise to let his pack play the other night and not disturb them. I thank him profusely for his help in the battle, considering that without his help in turning the tide of the battle, our paladin surely would be a goner. He looks at Darro curiously and I tell him that Darro is my companion. Redeye says that he had a companion once, but his companion is dead. I ask if we can be of any assistance to him and he says no. He only asks that we respect the land, and I readily agree. We ask him if he knows Breeg and with a look of disgust he says that he does. We tell him that we are on our way to convince Breeg to not put his traps all over the place and Redeye seems pleased at the news. We ask if they want to share our food, and he responds that his pack had an elk for dinner. He sniffs each one of us and says, “I will remember you”. The others seem a little uneasy about this, but I know he is just getting our scent. It seems Redeye is getting anxious to leave, so we thank him again. He lets out a loud howl and his pack yaps in response. In a moment they are gone. I use the curing wand on Calenhad and excitingly tell him of the new allies we have found. I seem to be more excited at the news than Calenhad, but no matter. I fall back asleep dreaming of Darro and I in the company of Redeye and his pack, and the great bear we had encountered earlier and all is right with the world.
Day 22
Level 1
Pharast 21
I find five goodberries and give them to Calenhad since he is still badly wounded. I use the wand to heal my wounds from the arrows. We spend the day traveling discovering nothing of note.
Day 23
Level 1
Pharast 22
I find six goodberries, which I divide among Calenhad and Greenbow to heal their wounds as we are trying to prolong the life of the curing wand. We find nothing of note during the day.
Day 24
Level 1
Pharast 23
I find six goodberries again this day. We spend another uneventful day traveling.
Day 25
Level 1
Pharast 24
I find two goodberries this morning, which is not distressing for at the end of this day, we should make Oleg’s. Sure enough, we reach Oleg’s without incident. Greenbow tracks down Vekkel, who is still recuperating from his wounds. He is happy with his gift of the Tuskgutter’s head and in turn gives Greenbow a bow that he seems really pleased with. Dryfig identifies the bodies of the bandits that we slew as belonging to the late Kressle’s band.
Kesten informs us that the cart left for Restov yesterday and should be returning in about a week. He also tells us that there was a young priest of Erastil that was at the trading post a few days ago. Apparently he is hunting a specific type of undead. We wonder if it is the skeletal zombie we came across a few days earlier. He left for the Erastil temple two days earlier. Calenhad is resolved in helping the young priest with his mission by letting him know of our encounter with his possible foe. We decide to leave for the temple first thing in the morning with all haste. It looks like Aegon will not get to sample Vekkel’s head cheese, a prospect that Aegon does not seem at all seem disturbed at.
Day 26
Level 1
Pharast 25
I find three goodberries as we spend an uneventful day traveling.
Day 27
Level 1
Pharast 26
I find six goodberries as we spend another uneventful day traveling.
Day 28
Level 1
Pharast 27
We arrive at the temple of Erastil, and as soon as he approaches, Calenhad’s face becomes serene. A blond-headed man announces to Jhod that they have visitors. We assume that this is the priest. Jhod appears and says, “Gaenary, these are the ones I have been telling you about!” The priest looks at each one of us and says each of our names – even Darro! He seems happy to have finally met us after hearing Jhod’s anecdotes. He tells us that he is hunting a new type of undead, new being about thirty years. He says they are called beykoks. We describe our encounter and he confirms that it sounds like a beykok. The originated in Varisia and they hate humanoids. We ask about how it alternated from being invisible and visible and Gaenary tells us that it only becomes visible to those that it has wounded and only then for a short period of time. I ask why I could not move after I had been struck by an arrow and Gaenary says that it licks its arrows and its saliva causes paralysis. This sounds like a foul creature indeed. Gaenary is on a mission to search them out – although he is not strong enough to destroy it. He says that Jhod could possibly destroy it.
On a more light-hearted note, Gaenary encountered our fey friends, Perlivash and Tyg-Titter-Tut. They turned his boots yellow until he could offer them an appropriate “gift”.
We will definitely have to be more careful with the beykok about.
Session Date: 05/16/11
Day 29
Level 2
Pharast 28
Due to Erastil’s continued blessings, I find eight goodberries. We decide to go take care of Breeg, the inhumane trapper before his horrible ways cause more animals to suffer needlessly. This first day of travel, we find nothing of note.
Day 30
Level 2
Pharast 29
I find four goodberries this morning. Early in the morning on the trail, Greenbow, Darro and I hear noises about sixty feet in front of us. I go back and tell the party about the noise and it is determined that the best course of action would be for Darro and I to go investigate. We stealthily advance until we come across three trolls rending an elk apart with their claws, gibbering in their foreign tongue. Seeing how formidable the three are, Darro and I stealthily withdraw and return to the party. We all agree that it would be in the best interest of our survival that we don’t trifle with the trolls. We decide on a more circuitous route with Greenbow and I doing our best to hide the evidence of our passing.
About a half of a mile from the trolls the sky opens up and rain begins to fall. It is raining so hard that we stop our travels and seek a temporary shelter from the deluge. We would have liked to have gotten further from the trolls, but we consider the rain a blessing since as Greenbow points out “The rain will make us harder to track”.
We continue on until we see the corpse of a large man under a tree. From all the descriptions we have, we believe the dead man to be Breeg. It looks like he was crushed by a trap that had been set off on him. I can only think that somehow justice has been served. The ropes of the trap looks like it had it been chewed-possibly by the fairy dragon Perlivash. Breeg has been dead for about a week and has been feasted on by some of the various animals he has trapped. Again I cannot help but see the justice in the situation. We find a well made hand axe which could be magical. We look for tracks to his camp but find none. We unceremoniously bury the body so as not to attract the trolls, although I think Calenhad wanted to say a few words. Good riddance is about all I say.
Day 31
Level 2
Pharast 30
Despite the almost freezing temperatures, I find about five goodberries. We decide to search the area for Breeg’s traps in order to disable as many of them as possible so they do not inflict undue suffering on any other animals. Darro stumbles into a trap and it really hurts him. We free and heal him and I curse Breeg even more. Greenbow also finds a trap the hard way and we free and heal him. Darro and I find one and disable it. But I also set off a trap and I now know firsthand that all we have heard of Breeg being a cruel trapper are true. Darro, Greenbow and I are sore as we make camp, and Greenbow and I pass the time by seeing which one of us can come up with the best expletive with Breeg’s name.
Day 32
Level 2
Gozran 1
I spend an hour in the morning quiet contemplation giving thanks to Gozreh on this the first day of the month that is named for him. It is also the spring equinox and I give also give thanks to Gozreh for seeing Darro and I through another winter. Because of my meditation I can only create two goodberries. Greenbow and I each find traps, while Darro narrowly avoids setting one off. We have found eight traps in all. We did not find Breeg’s camp.
Day 33
Level 2
Gozran 2
I am able to find three goodberries. Since Breeg no longer needs a stern talking to, we decide if we can find Oleg’s Tatzlwyrm. Aegon informs us that a Tatzlwyrm is considered a medium-sized dragon, has some type of breath weapon and its bite is poisonous. They generally do not like open areas. Some of us begin to question if it is worth our lives so that Oleg can have a “curiosity”. We decide to go through the area where we first encountered our fey friends but we don’t encounter them. Calenhad admits that he is glad we don’t meet them, and I can’t tell if it is due to the fact that he doesn’t want to be tricked, or he might have to give up another mirror!
Day 34
Level 2
Gozran 3
I find seven goodberries in the freezing cold and we are reminded that winter has not yet freed its icy grip from the land. It is an overcast day as we arrive at the temple. We see Gaenary and Jhod are hurt and we ask them what has happened. They tell us that the baykok attacked them, and the situation could have been worse if Jhod was not able to drive it away. It attacked them two days ago, but we cannot find its tracks. Gaenary has set up a smithy at the temple and he is most appreciative of the metal traps that we give him. Maybe Breeg’s instruments of torture but produce tools used for good.
Day 35
Level 2
Gozran 4
Due to the holiness of the area, I find eight goodberries. The day is partly cloudy and cool overnight. We find nothing- just a peaceful, mild day.
Day 36
Level 2
Gozran 5
I find four goodberries this morning and we wonder if today will be as peaceful as yesterday. We come to some hot springs and I remember that our fey friends had told us that there were giant frogs in the area. No sooner do I remind the group then two giant frogs jump in front of Darro, Greenbow and I. I hit one solidly with my club. The frog tries to attack me in retaliation but misses. The other frog does hit Greenbow and grabs him in its month. Darro hits the frog in front of us with his two claws. Aegon tries to cast sleep on the frog grappling Greenbow, but it does doesn’t work and the frog stays awake. Edwardo sticks the frog that is grappling Greenbow with his rapier, but the frog refuses to let go. Greenbow pummels the frog with his bare fists, but the frog is unrelenting! I slay the frog in front of me as Darro goes and bites the frog that is still trying to swallow Greenbow. Aegon casts a force missile at the stubborn frog. The horses get skittish as a worg attacks Aegon. It trips him and the mage is prone right in front of the snarling monster. Edwardo slays the frog and Greenbow is freed! Falchion attacks the worg hurting it. Greenbow, angry at almost becoming frog food, attacks the worg. Darro and I move to assist Aegon. Aegon plays dead and it seems to work as the worg attacks its other, living adversaries. The worg attacks Falchion hurting him. Calenhad also moves into position. Greenbow hits the worg again and it yelps in pain. Darro and I get in position as the worg takes another bite from Falchion. Edwardo and Calenhad both hit the worg hurting him. Falchion, badly hurt, withdraws from the combat. Greenbow hits and slays the worg. Greenbow eats the goodberries I collected earlier in the day and I cast a healing spell on Falchion.
Funny how those fey “forgot” to mention the worg!
Session Date: 06/06/2011
Day 37
Level 2
Gozran 6
We decide today to head back to Oleg’s. We spend an uneventful day traveling.
Day 38
Level 2
Gozran 7
Today is the feast of Currentseve and like any good follower of Gozreh, I spend the day fasting. Darro is concerned about my seeming lack of appetite, so I cast speak with animals and explain to him what this holy day means. He says that he will fast as well. It is hard traveling on an empty stomach, but it is a reminder of Gozreh’s blessings.
We arrive back at Oleg’s late in the day and Edwardo receives news of family problems back home. He decides to leave on the next caravan back to Restov. Aegon decides that the wilds are not for him, and accompanies Edwardo back. He cites the dearth of books and lack of refinement. He always seemed like too much of a city slicker to me. Oleg has expanded his trading post to include barracks and rooms that he can rent out. The constant hammering and the largeness of the post is too much for me, so Darro and I quickly head out the gates of the trading post and continue our fast.
Two new people are awaiting us at the trading post. One is a young man by the name of Crispin. He wants to bring order to the wilderness, which is incomprehensible to me. There is plenty of order in the wilderness; you just have to pay attention to it. He seems to really dislike bandits and he shows us his charter, which is nearly identical to ours. Since he has heard that we have had some success in tracking down bandits, he asks if he can accompany us. We ask what skills he brings to the table and he says that he casts a few spells now and then. Sounds like we have found a suitable replacement for Aegon.
Also with him is a young lady. She asks Calenhad if he is a priest of Erastil. Calenhad replies that he is one of Erastil’s holy warrior. She introduces herself as Karina Ismort and she is looking for her brother, he was a paladin of Erastil, but unlike Calenhad, he was the source of gossip about an affair. He became enraged and slew the man and woman that he was accused of being in a lover’s triangle with and fled. She is searching for him to see if he is on the road to redemption and to try and redeem him if he is not. Calenhad can barely hide his contempt for her brother and his deeds, but gallantly allows the Maiden Ismort to accompany us and complete her quest. She is from Taldor and she is a priestess of Erastil. This news strikes Calenhad as odd, and although Gozreh is friendly with Old Deadeye, I am unsure of the role of the female clerics who are in service to him.
Kesten gives Calenhad a message from the Swordlords. There is a tribe of kobolds that are causing unrest and the Swordlords are offering a bounty of 800 gold pieces to anyone who can quell the unrest. This seems odd to us as the only kobolds we had encountered were at the moon radish patch and they didn’t seem to be creating much of a disturbance. We will keep an eye on the situation. Calenhad asks Oleg about Svetlana and he says that she seems to be a lot happier. Calenhad also asks how Dryfig is doing an Oleg praises him as a good worker. Calenhad suggests that it might be time to bring his family out here and Oleg agrees.
Day 39
Level 2
Gozran 8
I find six goodberries this morning. We decide to set out to do some more exploring and see if we can accomplish some of the tasks we have been given. About mid-day we see 400 foot diameter area strewn with a wide variety of skeletons. Some of the skeletons are animals, but there are some human skeletons as well. I go up to a skeleton to examine it and it looks like the bones have been gnawed. Calenhad does not recall there being a battle in this area. There are tracks of beasts coming and going. Greenbow throws a few bones into the middle of the clearing and nothing happens. Calenhad, Darro and I start to head to the middle. We go about one hundred feet when suddenly a big spider pops up. It runs up to me and tries to bite me, but misses. It quickly scurries back to an underground lair. Besides its size there is nothing abnormal about the spider so I am loath to do battle with it, since it only seems to be protecting its den. As the rest of the party advances, it keeps scurrying out and tries to bite me, and it keeps missing. I am wondering if its attempts to bite me are more of a warning. I yell at a suggestion that we should leave it alone, but with the rest of the party advancing, I do not want to retreat and put my friends in danger. As it reappears, Greenbow and Karina shoot arrows at it with varying levels of success and Crispin peppers it with magic missiles. The spider finally is able to bite me, and I decide to only defend myself. It re-emerges from its den, Greenbow hits it with a well placed arrow and it drops to the ground. Crispin observes that there are human bones littered around and the spider was a menace that needed to be taken care of. I guess this is what he meant when he said his goal was to bring order to the wilderness. Still I do not believe that the spider attacked out of malice but only to defend its lair or to feed, and is that not what we would do? I am in a funk the rest of the day as I try to contemplate the consequences of fulfilling our charter. I eat five goodberries to heal my wounds leaving me with one left. Greenbow explores the empty lair and on the human bodies find a map with a claw-like tree on a hill. We will have to be on the lookout for this tree.
That night Karina sees something big about one hundred feet out on her and Crispin’s watch. Crispin says they should wake me up. I look but I don’t see anything. Crispin casts dancing lights and we see an owlbear rooting in the darkness. Crispin immediately hits the thing with a magic missile and Karina misses with an arrow. The rest of the party is waking up while I engage the owlbear. It bites me. Knowing that the owlbear is not a natural beast, I have no problem in giving it battle. Crispin casts another magic missile as Falchion charges the beast but misses. Karina misses with another arrow. Greenbow advances as I swing my club and misses. The owlbear bites me again and hits me with one of its claw. Crispin casts a force missile. Falchion hits the owlbear with one of his hooves. Darro hits it with one of his claws, and Karina hits it really good with an arrow. Greenbow connects with his sword. I hit it with my club, scoring a good hit. It bites me again and I collapse to the ground unconscious. Crispin casts another force missile. Falchion hits it with his hooves and the owlbear falls to the ground beside me. Karina casts a healing spell and I am stabilized. Karina, Calenhad, and I all cast healing magic on me and I eat my one goodberry and cured of my wounds, I fall back asleep until it is time for my watch.
Day 40
Level 2
Gozran 9
I make five goodberries this morning. We track the way the owlbear came to see if we can find its lair. We find it, but find nothing of note.
Day 41
Level 2
Gozran 10
I create six goodberries today. We continue exploring and come across a small hill about a half a mile away. Atop of the hill we see a dozen orcs engaged in battle with each other. I approach stealthily about 200 feet in front of the party. When I get closer, I see two remaining orcs fighting. One slays the other and as he roars in victory, a blue ball-like creature appears, touches the orc and shoots electricity through him. The orc falls to the ground smoking. I stealthily return to the party and tell them what I saw. Crispin thinks the creature is a will-o’-wisp. It feeds on fear and lives in bogs and swamps. It also might be immune to all magic. We decide to avoid the will-o’-wisp for now, since it obviously had no problem manipulating a dozen orcs.
Day 42
Level 2
Gozran 11
I create four goodberries. We spend an uneventful day exploring, but since we are in Redeye’s territory we are extra careful to leave the land as we have found it. That night during mine and Calenhad’s watch a large wolf appears. It is Redeye. Redeye tells us to be careful as there is a pack of creatures that can be found in many days journey to the south. They live on an island on the Shrike River. He describes them and I realize he is talking about the will-o’-wisps. We saw what one can do, and I can just imagine the carnage that can be wrought with a pack! I ask Redeye if he has eaten and he says his pack has already eaten an elk tonight. I bid him well and he disappears into the dark of night.
Day 43
Level 2
Gozran 12
I find four goodberries for the morning. As we are exploring, we see an old lightning-strike oak tree that looks eerily like the tree on the map we recently found. Greenbow notices that there is a section of earth that has been disturbed and since it is around where the map has been marked with an X, we start to dig. We dig about ten feet until we find a heavy leather cloak wrapped around something magical. Unwrapping the bundle, we find a magical dagger, wand, ring, and a spellbook. The rain damaged the spell book, but Crispin is elated nonetheless. He hungrily flips through the pages to see what new spells he can learn. We find nothing more of note that day.
Day 44
Level 2
Gozran 13
I find six goodberries, but we as a group find nothing more.
That night on Greenbow’s watch close to dawn, he sees a medium thylacine feeding on a small animal. He is quiet and just watches it and after a few moments it lopes off.
Day 45
Level 2
Gozran 14
I create four goodberries. During our exploration, Calenhad and I notice a rocky crag and at the base is a cave. We see something sparkling from inside the cave which piques our interest. It goes down about fifteen feet and opens up into a clearing and we see a lot of sparkly rocks. Crispin takes a sample to see if he can identify it later.
Day 46
Level 2
Gozran 15
I find six goodberries. Looming over these hills is a huge sycamore tree which a local legend says is infected with mites, which are small evil fey creatures that live underground. As soon as he hears the word mites, Greenbow’s ears pick up. We learn that Greenbow is not particularly fond of evil fey and is especially skilled in combating them. He announces that he is heading for the tree, and without looking to see if we are following he sets his course.
I do not know if evil fey like to play the same type of tricks as their non-evil brethren, but we will have to be on our toes - lest we end up like Breeg!
Glad to see you're still posting these. Enjoyable reads.
Session Date: 06/13/2011
Day 46
Level 2
Gozran 15
As we follow Greenbow in his determined march towards the sycamore tree, I tell the others that mites are evil blue-skinned fey who can cast doom. Karina offers that doom is like bless but affects one’s opponents instead of their allies. Mites do not like dwarves and gnomes, which neither race is represented in our small band. We head the mile to the tree and Calenhad believes that maybe we should parlay with the mites. Greenbow ignores that suggestion. Crispin says that he heard a rumor at Oleg’s that the mites and kobolds are at war. That might explain the “unrest” mentioned in our latest communiqué from the Swordlords. He adds that he heard that the Scootscale tribe of kobolds was particularly peaceful. Calenhad ties a white cloth to his lance and we approach the tree under a flag of truce. At the tree we find no mites. We are about to give up and chalk the whole thing up to “mindless gossip” when suddenly Greenbow finds a hole by the roots of the tree. Because the hole is small we leave Falchion and Darro outside. Falchion will defend the horses and Darro will defend Falchion.
We climb down about fifteen feet and then drop another seven feet to the floor. We go in single file with Grenbow leading the way. Because it is dark, Karina casts light on several objects. We go twenty feet until it opens into a small room where we see two mites. They start a high-pitched scream as we shout in several languages that we come in peace. One responds by running up to Greenbow with a dagger. He tries to stab Greenbow with it, but misses. The other one launches a rock from a miniature catapult and it hits Greenbow in the face. Although it draws blood, it enrages Greenbow more than anything. The mite, seeing his success and hoping for a better hit, launches another stone from the catapult again striking Greenbow. Crispin casts dancing lights and the whole room is lit up. Calenhad shouts we come in peace and offers the mites a mirror, but they are not having any of it. I am still in line and can’t move past the others to do much good in the battle. Greenbow, angry with the rain of stones being flung at him from the catapult, rushes past the mite with the dagger and slays the catapult operator. The mite with the dagger tries to run past Greenbow screaming at the top of his lungs, but as he passes Greenbow, Greenbow slashes him with his sword, slaying him instantly and putting an end to his racket. Greenbow was not kidding when he said he did not like mites!
We continue on an incline thirty feet further. As we get near the bottom we hear a high pitched scream of terror. It did not sound like a mite. We rush to an egg-shaped cavern and we see six mites with sharp sticks sticking them into a kobold. There are three other kobolds, but they don’t look like they are among the living. Greenbow rushes up and slays two of the mites, just as easily as he slayed the others. The other four, seeing two of their companions falling quickly, try to rush past Greenbow. Greenbow quickly adds another mite to his body count. The three leave their fallen comrade to Greenbow and quickly flee the room. Karina casts a healing burst to help the injured kobold. We confirm that his three kobold companions are dead. He is a member of the Scootscale tribe and his name is Mikmek. He and his companions were here to recover the statue of their deity which the mites took. He tells us that Chief Scootscale is his king and Tartuk is their shaman. It was Tartuk that told them that they must get the statue back. This is the reason why so many of their warriors have been out and about. He tells us that the mites have a king that rides a “big” creature. Which, being that he is a kobold, most things might seem big to him!
There is a chasm in the room and Mikmek tells us that there is something big in there. In fact, the mites were going to feed him to whatever lives down there. Greenbow throws a body of a mite into the cavern and a giant whiptail centipede scurries up. Crispin launches a magic missile at the big insect. The centipede tries to bite Greenbow but misses, Greenbow counter-attacks with his sword, but misses. Calenhad misses with his sword. Karina misses with an arrow and Crispin, who so far is the only one who has hurt the thing, casts burning hands burning it. Greenbow hits it solidly with its sword. I take a swing at it with my club and miss. The centipede hits Greenbow with its tail and takes a bite out of him with its maw. Calenhad again misses with his sword. Karina heals a wounded Greenbow. Crispin casts another magic missile and the centipede looks hurt. Greenbow finishes off the centipede with a stroke of his sword and it falls to the bottom of the chasm.
We continue on until we hear a tiny voice shout, “So the intruders have arrived!” We see six mites and a mite who is just a tad larger than the others. We assume that this is the mite-king and he is riding on top of a giant tick-a tickleback to be more precise. Crispin hits the king with a magic missile and Karina hits him with an arrow. I run up to a mite but miss him with my club. Greenbow runs up and easily slays a mite. A mite pricks me with his tiny dagger. The king rushes up with his tickleback but misses. Calenhad misses with a swipe of his sword. Crispin casts a force bolt on the king. The tick grabs me and grapples me. Karina casts a healing spell. I try to break free but I can’t. Greenbow, surprisingly, misses a mite. Two mites attack Greenbow but miss, while three other mites attack Calenhad but also miss in all of their attacks. Calenhad slays one mite and hits another. Crispin casts a force bolt on the king. Mikmek also kills a mite. I break free from the tickleback’s grasp. Greenbow adds to his tally by killing another mite. The mites focus their attacks on me, but luckily miss. Calenhad misses with his sword, but Crispin kills the king with a force missile. Karina casts another healing spell. I miss with a swing of my club. Greenbow, once again proving that the mites are no match for him, kills another one. The mites try to hit me but again, they all miss. Calenhad and Mikmek both miss with their attacks. Karina hits a mite with an arrow killing it. Between Calenhad and me we finish off the last mite. In the room there is a table with a strange looking statue. Also on the table there is a map with the kobold’s land along with a tally of two columns titled ‘Us’ and ‘Them’. Under the ‘Us’ column we see the statue listed and under ‘Them’ is an item marked ‘human ring’, Crispin’s eyes light up as he hopes it is a magical ring. Crispin does seem to enjoy all things magical! Apparently the mites are keeping a tally of what they captured and what was captured from them. We decide to go to the kobold lands and return the statue along with brave Mikmek.
Day 47
Level 2
Gozran 16
I create five goodberries today as we start our way to the Scootscale tribe of kobolds. On our journey, Crispin decides to pump Mikmek for information. Mikmek tells us that Tartuk the shaman, along with his talking bird, is fairly new to the tribe. He came from another tribe of kobolds. Mikmek tells us that Tartuk sends him and the other warriors out fighting a lot more than they used to. Crispin feels that there is something Mikmek is keeping from us. He also tells us in a language that Mikmek cannot understand that he thinks the shaman is bad news.
We arrive at the Scootscale camp. A disused sign says that this was once the home of the Oak Top Silver Mine. As we enter the camp, we immediately see a small alcove with a cage holding a mite in it. A lone kobold by the name Napik is standing guard. He starts to speak to Mikmek in the language that none of us can understand. Even though we do not know what they are talking about, the fear in their eyes is evident. After a few moments Mikmek announces we will now go and give the statue to the chief. We are led to a large cave where we see the chief with half a dozen kobolds. We also see a kobold with a bird on his shoulder that we assume to be Tartuk the shaman. Mikmek presents the statue to the chief and is about to hand it over to him when all of a sudden Tartuk demands the statue instead. Mikmek is at a quandary on who to give the statue to since both Chief Scootscale and Tartuk are demanding it. Calenhad nudges Mikmek to give the statue to the chief. Chief Scootscale takes the statue and yells, “We will be free from your control!” and with all the force he can muster, throws the statue to the ground shattering it! Tartuk, enraged, pulls out a wand and aims it at the Chief. Calenhad steps between them pleading for peace, but is zapped by the wand. He feels overwhelming fear and steps out of the way. Crispin shouts to Tartuk, “You like wands? I have one for you!” He pulls out his wand of burning wands and zaps Tartuk with it. The shaman pulls out a sickle and slices Crispin with it for revenge. The Chief counterattacks Tartuk and he collapses to the ground dead. The bird tries to fly off, but a quick Greenbow shoots it out of the sky. We are all unsure what just transpired. Chief Scootscale turns to us and thanks us. He says the statue was not of their god and that Tartuk was evil. He exerted a control over the tribe that made them do things they did not want to do. The Chief as a reward says that we can have anything we want from Tartuk’s quarters. Knowing that Crispin is interested in the ring, we agree. He also tells us where we can find Bokkem’s berries and informs us that there are ghosts on a river. He also asks if Mikmek can accompany us to Oleg’s as Mikmek will be his emissary to the non-kobold world.
We find in the room a tome called ‘Journal of Tartuk’. By quickly perusing the book we learn that Tartuk was a gnome whose village was attacked by ogres. He was going to meet with the ogres to betray his village, but the ogres killed him instead. The village, not knowing his true intentions thought of him as a martyr and used a scroll of reincarnation on him to give him life again – as a kobold. Disgusted with his new form, Tartuk made it his mission to destroy as many kobolds as possible. He would infiltrate tribes and incite them into wars they could not win or sow the seeds of civil war. He had a scroll of fly that he was going to use to end his miserable existence when the joy of destroying kobold tribes had left him. He was going to use the scroll to fly as high as he could and when the spell finally ran out, he would plummet to his death. Tartuk was one horrible being. We decide to keep this information to ourselves lest it cause the kobolds to gain a hatred of gnomes that did not exist before.
We also find among the possessions in the room a simple wedding band – the ring that was stolen from the mites, and while it might not be a magical ring for Crispin it might make Svetlana happy!
Glad to see you're still posting these. Enjoyable reads.
I am glad you are enjoying reading them! We meet every Monday with me alternating with another DM who is running KM. We had a hard time getting everyone together for a few weeks so that is why the lag in posts.
Session Date: 07/18/2011
Day 48
Level 2
Gozran 17
Before we head out on the trail I find four goodberries. We decide to do some exploring before we head back to Oleg’s. Maybe we can find Bokken’s berries. Search as we might, we find nothing of note.
Day 49
Level 2
Gozran 18
This morning I make five goodberries. About mid-afternoon, we come to a slimy, frayed rope that crosses the river and a burnt-out building on the other side. A sign post announces that this is Nettles Crossing and to ring a bell for service. Crispin seems to remember that Davik Nettles owned this land and operated a ferry here. He was killed by bandits and some say his place is haunted. Greenbow rings the rusty bell by the signpost and an undead looking thing rises out of the water and demands the body of the Stag Lord to be thrown into the river. He says he is Davik Nettles and all he wants is the body. Calenhad detects evil in the apparition and any entreaties to cross are met with the same solemn request to deposit the body of the Stag Lord into the river. We figure since the ghost isn’t hurting anybody and we have no love for the Stag Lord, once we kill him we will throw his body into the river and see if it gives poor Davik Nettles peace in death. As we turn to leave the undead being melts back into the swirling river.
Day 50
Level 2
Gozran 19
I make five goodberries. We continue to search for Bokken’s berries and to see if we can find a crossing of the river that does not involve the spirit of Davik Nettles. We are unsuccessful on both counts.
Day 51
Level 2
Gozran 20
I make five goodberries as we spend an uneventful day exploring.
Day 52
Level 2
Gozran 21
I make two goodberries as we spend another uneventful day exploring. The weather is beautiful though.
Day 53
Level 2
Gozran 22
I make seven goodberries as we spend another uneventful day exploring. While we are happy not to be battling for our lives, the monotony is starting to wear. Maybe we should go back and ‘take care of’ the ghost of Davik Nettles.
Day 54
Level 2
Gozran 23
Six goodberries are made. Just as we are about to settle into another uneventful day exploring we find the fang berries! They are surrounded by a thicket of thorns. As Crispin tries to best decide how to bypass the thorns, I use my druidic abilities to pass through them and start picking the berries. As I am gathering the berries, a swarm of spiders envelops me and starts biting me. I quickly leave the berry patch and as much as I hated to do it I begin to stomp them. Crispin casts burning hands at the swarm and the spiders retreat. I am not feeling as strong as I did a few moments ago. Greenbow hands me a lit torch and I once again enter the thorns. The spiders, having felt the heat from the burning hands, wisely stay away from me and my torch. I gather about one hundred berries and leave the berries and the spiders. Since the berries will eventually spoil and we are still a ways from Bokken, we decide to travel quickly to the old hermit.
Day 55
Level 2
Gozran 24
Six goodberries are created as we make haste to Bokken’s. The weakness that I felt after being bit by the spiders passes, and I am still rueful that I had to stomp some of them.
Day 56
Level 2
Gozran 25
Seven goodberries are made as we arrive at the temple of Erastil and are pleased to see that Jhod and Gaenary are doing well. They confirm that I have no lingering effects from the spider bites. We spend the night, but must depart first thing in the morning as we must make it to Bokken’s before the berries spoil.
Day 57
Level 2
Gozran 26
Seven goodberries are created. We head into the land of our fey friends, Perlivash and Tyg-Titter-Tut. They do not miss the fact that we have new companions and promptly play tricks on Crispin and Karina much to their chagrin. We explain what happened with the kobolds and the fey are relieved. We ask if it was their handiwork that brought about the demise of Breeg. They are apprehensive and evade the question until we say that it is understandable. We would have liked to have shown Breeg the error of his ways, but most likely, we would have done what the fey did. Seeing that we are not condemning them, they freely admit it and say how evil he was. They also ask Calenhad if he has another mirror which Calenhad freely gives them. Looks like Calenhad will have to purchase another mirror when the cart caravan returns to Restov.
Day 58
Level 2
Gozran 27
I only find two berries which are good enough to create goodberries from, but it does not matter as we have an easy day of traveling.
Day 59
Level 2
Gozran 28
Six goodberries are created as we travel with haste to Bokken’s.
Day 60
Level 2
Gozran 29
We spend another uneventful day traveling with three goodberries to munch on.
Day 61
Level 2
Gozran 30
I create seven goodberries and after some traveling we arrive at Bokken’s. He is very much grateful for the hundred fang berries and will start making potions tomorrow. He asks if we have found his brother and we respond that we have not. We buy a few healing potions that he has on hand and depart the next day for Oleg’s.
Day 62
Level 2
Desnus 1
I create five goodberries, although since we will arrive at Oleg’s today we probably won’t need them. We arrive at Oleg’s and immediately see Svetlana. She is elated to get her ring back and cannot thank us enough. The crusty Oleg will not outwardly show that he is elated, but his eyes betray him. He would like to give us something as a reward, but since gold pieces are scarce, he gives us store credit. We next run into Kesten who we introduce to Mikmek. We explain what happened that caused the troubles in the kobold tribe and Kesten is much relieved. He gives us the 800 gold pieces that was promised for bringing peace to the land. He then pulls Calenhad aside and tells him that Dryfig has left to retrieve his family and should return with the next caravan. Calenhad is relieved that giving Dryfig a second chance has worked out quite well. We prepare to leave Oleg’s the next day by bidding goodbye to Mikmek. We had gotten used to having him as a traveling companion these last few days and we know that he will well represent the Scootscale tribe.
Day 63
Level 2
Desnus 2
I create seven goodberries as we begin another trek of exploring this land.
Day 64
Level 2
Desnus 3
I create four goodberries as we continue to explore. During our exploration, we notice a cairn, which we think it might be a tomb, although if it is, there is no explanation on whose it could be. We do a quick search to see if we can find anything further, but Calenhad is uncomfortable on doing a more thorough search. Crispin detects magic from under the rocks and as much as he would like to uncover the source of the magic, he respects Calenhad’s wishes. We continue on our exploration.
Day 65
Level 2
Desnus 4
Seven goodberries are prepared if we need them, although it turns out to be an uneventful day of exploring.
Day 66
Level 2
Desnus 5
I create six goodberries, and like the previous day, these are not needed.
Day 67
Level 2
Desnus 6
I create seven goodberries, and detecting a pattern, they are not needed and make a welcome supplement to dinner.
Day 68
Level 2
Desnus 7
I create six goodberries, and we try to stay focused so as to prevent falling into a lulled stage. Even though we are focused, we find nothing of note.
Day 69
Level 2
Desnus 8
I create five goodberries and I wonder if we will be just eating these at dinner. About mid-morning, Darro and I hear a squeal further up on the trail. We decide to check it out. We get close and as we move some branches aside, we see a shambling mound in the process of ensnaring a pig. Darro and I both head back to the group and let them know what we find. I tell the group that shambling mounds have resistance to fire and are very stealthy. We decide to pepper it with ranged weapons while Darro and I protect the flanks. It sounds like a good plan however Calenhad, Greenbow and Karina all miss with their arrows. Crispin is the only one that hits the thing with a magic missile. The shambling mound moves right in front of Calenhad who drops his bow and draws his sword hitting the plant. Falchion moves behind the plant and gets smacked by a tendril for his trouble. Greenbow also draws his sword and hits the beast. I give it a good whack with my club. Karina moves back a step so she can still hit it with arrows which she does. Crispin hits the plant with another magic missile. Darro tries to bite the thing with his strong jaws, but misses. The plant smacks Greenbow with two tendrils and Greenbow crumbles to the ground gravely wounded. Calenhad misses with his sword and Falchion misses with his hooves. I also miss with my club. Karina does a healing burst to help Greenbow out. Darro takes a swipe out of the plant with his claw. Calenhad misses but Falchion takes a good bite out of the creature. I miss with another swing of my club while Karina does some healing magic on Greenbow. Darro hits it again with his claw. Greenbow tries to escape from the shambling mound’s tentacles but can’t. Calenhad and Falchion both miss, but I get in a good smack with my club and the shambling mound is no more.
The still wounded Greenbow hungrily eats my supply of goodberries. I am glad that they weren’t wasted for a change.
Session Date: 08/22/2011
Day 70
Level 3
Desnus 9
I create four goodberries and luckily for the still badly bruised Greenbow, we encounter nothing.
Day 71
Level 3
Desnus 10
I create six goodberries this morning and we set off. We come to a fifteen-foot statue of a man’s body but a deer’s head. The statue is next to the ruins of a house. Some of us wonder if it is the Stag Lord, but Karina dismisses those who offer that explanation with a harsh look. She announces that the statue is of Erastil. Despite the decrepit condition of the remains of the house, the statue is in good condition. Calenhad and Karina both offer homage to the statue and as they approach, the both feel a great wave of calmness sweep over them. Knowing that Gozreh is on good terms with Erastil, I offer respect. Greenbow, who currently professes no allegiance to any particular deity, seems intrigued with Erastil. Maybe Karina and Calenhad might have a convert. In looking at the ruins of the house it seems like it hasn’t been habitable for at least fifty years. We suspect it might have been a hunting lodge at some point. Feeling Erastil’s presence we make camp.
Day 72
Level 3
Desnus 11
Just like at the Erastil shrine, I make the maximum number of Goodberries-eight. We don’t need them as we find nothing of note in our travels.
Day 73
Level 3
Desnus 12
I create three goodberries as we continue our exploration. We come to a stagnant, swampy pond. The area seems devoid of any wildlife and insects. On the edge of lake we see what at first we think is a white, dead, horse; but as we get closer, we discover to our horror that it is the body of a unicorn. While everything around it smells rotten, the unicorn does not show any signs of decay. The horn has been removed and Karina determines that the horn was removed after death and it looks like it was cut with something. Crispin adds that it looks like the noble creature had been slain by something like a death spell. We pull it out of the swampy area and bury it, hoping that it will find peace.
Day 74
Level 3
Desnus 13
Because all of the vegetation is rotted, I am unable to find any berries to create goodberries from. We leave the dead area and continue on. As we explore, a man comes running out to us and yells for us to stop where we are. He says that we almost set off his trap and it would hurt mightily if we did. Crispin rebukes him by asking him what he is doing setting a trap in the middle of a trail. The trapper responds, nonchalantly, “Considering that it is a GAME trail, where else would you put the trap?” He tells us his name is Fred which is short for Fredrico and a bunch of other names I can’t remember. He takes his furs to Oleg’s and sells them there. We tell him about the unicorn and he professes no knowledge about the incident. Calenhad believes him. He tells us that there are some tatzylwyrms in the area and there is also a hut where a bogard lives. He is anxious to get back to his trapping and hastily takes his leave of us. Now that we know that tatzylwyrms are in the area we are extra careful, but we don’t run into any this day.
Day 75
Level 3
Desnus 14
I create eight goodberries as we continue or exploration. We keep a careful eye out for tatzylwyrms, but not good enough for two tatzylwyrms attack us. One bites me and the other misses Greenbow. Crispin casts a scorching ray and singes the creature in front of me. Falchion misses the tatzylwyrm with his hoof. The tatzylwyrm bites me again as Calenhad hits the creature with his sword. I hit the thing with my club and Greenbow hits the one in front of him with his longsword. Karina shoots an arrow but misses. The tatzylwyrm hits Greenbow. Darro hits my opponent with his bite and two claws. Crispin misses with another scorching ray. Falchion hits the tatzylwyrm in front of me with both his hooves smashing in its skull. Looks like we can’t bring the head of that one to Oleg’s! I bite the tatzylwyrm that is attacking Greenbow as Greenbow follows up with a hit of his own. Karina again misses with an arrow. The tatzylwyrm misses with a bite attack on Greenbow. Darro retaliates with a bite to the tatzylwyrm. Crispin casts an acid ray but misses. Falchion bites the tatzylwyrm killing this one also, and more importantly, keeping its head intact. Because I am grievously wounded, I eat all the goodberries and I feel better.
We look for the tatzylwyrm lair which we find with no difficulty. Inside their nest we find a skeleton with a magical sword and armor. We find nothing else of note and we decide to continue exploring since we have some time before the head starts to get ripe.
Day 76
Level 3
Desnus 15
I create eight goodberries but after a day of exploration, we find nothing.
Day 77
Level 3
Desnus 16
I create seven goodberries, but like the previous day we find nothing.
Day 78
Level 3
Desnus 17
I create two goodberries and we must be on a roll since we find nothing on this day either.
Day 79
Level 3
Desnus 18
I make six goodberries in the morning as we continue on our travels. We find some ruined buildings and we are approached by a bogard on top of a slurk. We hail it to see if it is open to a parlay. He holds up his hands and shouts “Truce!” He points to himself and says “Garuum”. Crispin points to himself and says ‘Crispin”. He points to himself and says “bogard”. Crispin points to himself and says “human”. Unfortunately this is how the “conversation” goes for about five minutes. Crispin casts comprehend languages, and the only thing that allows him to do is understand Garuum’s frustrations when he mutters in his strange tongue. We offer him some drink which he eagerly downs. He shows no hostile intentions except when Greenbow pantomimes that he is going to search his abode. We can’t fault him there as we would probably not like Garuum to search our house! We bid our farewell to which Garuum replies with something in his tongue. Karina believes she has a spell she can prepare that will allow Garuum to understand us and we understand him, but she will have to wait until tomorrow. We spend the rest of the day exploring and find nothing more of note.
Day 80
Level 3
Desnus 19
I create seven goodberries and if our new meeting with Garuum goes bad we might need them. We arrive back at Garuum and like the previous day, he greets us with “Truce!” Karina casts share languages and ‘accidentally’ touches Garuum as she gives him food. He is startled and when he realizes that we all can understand each other, he is pleased. He asks us what was in the food and Karina says that it was food blessed by Erastil. He seems impressed. If Greenbow does not become an Erastil convert then maybe Garuum will. We ask if we can visit with him and he readily agrees. Apparently he does not get much visitors, or more importantly, visitor’s that can speak the bogard language.
He tells us his king was not good and under the rules of the tribe, the king can be challenged for his reign. Garuum lost and fled his tribe. He says he now has his own kingdom and proudly points to the ruined buildings with his slurk, Ubagub as his mount and subject. We spend a few hours conversing with him. As we leave, we ask him if we can visit the next time we are in the area. He enthusiastically agrees as long as we bring some more ‘Arastal’ food. We do some exploration as we make our way to the Temple of Erastil.
Day 81
Level 3
Desnus 20
I create six goodberries as we explore/travel to the temple of Erastil. We arrive at the temple late in the day and are pleased to find Jhod and Gaenary doing well. We mention the Erastil statue that we had seen a few days earlier and Jhod is not surprised, in fact he was surprised we haven’t found more. He says that statues of Erastil should be fairly common in these lands. I am sure if Calenhad and Karina have their way, they would rectify the dearth of statues. We also tell him about the unicorn and he says if we do come across the severed horn and return it to the body of the unicorn, it will help with the blight that is affecting that area. Gaenary has not seen the baykok although he is on a constant look out for it. We camp the night with our friend’s and tomorrow we will set off for Oleg’s to deliver his tatzylwyrm head.
Day 82
Level 3
Desnus 21
Due to Erastil’s blessings, I am able to find eight berries which I am able to create goodberries from.
Day 83
Level 3
Desnus 22
I create three goodberries as we spend a day traveling.
Day 84
Level 3
Desnus 23
I create five goodberries for our final trek to Oleg’s. When we arrive at the post the first person we see is Kesten. He says the Stag Lord has gotten bolder and he gives us a new charter which reads:
The bearers of this Charter shall not be hindered in the execution of this sentence, and operating under the authority of the High Court, are promised a reward of no less than 5,000 pieces of gold for the death or capture of the individual known as the Stag Lord.
So witnessed under the justice of the High Court of Restov and authority granted by Lord Noleski Surtova, current Regent of the Dragonscale Throne.
Kesten tells us that there is a man by the name of Winston and his companion who were captured by the Stag Lord and taken to his fort about four days ago. They can give us detailed directions to the fort. We assure Kesten that we will take care of the Stag Lord, and knowing of our previous work, Kesten has no doubt.
We next come across Oleg and we give him the tatzylwyrm head. He is extremely pleased with his newly acquired ‘curiosity’ and promptly gives us the 600 gp.
Svetlana pulls me to the side and says with a wink that the radishes worked and in 8 ½ months, she would like Calenhad and I to offer blessings for the new addition to their family. I can assure her that I would be more than pleased to do that. She also offers to prepare a fantastic meal for us tonight and after many days of eating trail rations that offer is most welcomed.
Dryfig comes up and thanks us for trusting him. He is here with his family and he has been building a small house here in Oleg’s compound. Calenhad is grateful that we were able to redeem this man’s life and now he is a great asset to this fledgling community.
We go see Winston and his companion. Although their physical wounds are healed, they still bear signs of mental wounds. He tells us a chilling tale on how his companion and him were ambushed by the Stag Lord’s men and were severely beaten for a number of days at the Stag Lord’s fort. They managed to escape and if not for their knowledge of the outdoors, they would have surely perished trying to reach Oleg’s. They did not see the Stag Lord during their captivity, but they believe that he might be a drunkard as his men were delivering bottles of alcohol for “da boss”. They also heard he was a good shot with his bow and we wonder if that was when he was sober or in spite of the alcohol. The leader of the party of five men that captured them was named Dovan. They said he “fought all fancy like with his rapier”. Another of the five was a huge man with a club that goes by the name of Ox. It seems he is about as strong and as dumb as his namesake. They also have a critter in a cage and I hope it is not our friend Redeye, or the noble bear we had encountered earlier. Winston gives us detailed directions to the fort and we decide to spend a few days of rest and relaxation until we start our task to finally remove this banditry blight from the land. As we leave his room, Winston gives us a final warning – the Stag Lord has heard of us.
Day 85
Level 3
Desnus 24
I create five goodberries as we spend a quiet day at the trading post mentally and physically preparing ourselves.
Day 86
Level 3
Desnus 25
I can only find two berries to create goodberries from. Maybe I should ask Oleg if I can have a berry patch somewhere. We make our final preparations for tomorrow we leave Oleg’s at dawn.
Session Date: 09/12/2011
Day 87
Level 3
Desnus 26
As we depart, I create three Goodberries, but we find nothing else.
Day 88
Level 3
Desnus 27
I create four goodberries, but like the day before, we find nothing of note.
Day 89
Level 3
Desnus 28
I create five goodberries and we arrive at the temple of Erastil for some much needed rest and shelter. Calenhad asks Gaenary if he can carve a symbol of Erastil into his bow, but Gaenary feels he would not be able to do it well and does not want to risk ruining the bow.
Day 90
Level 3
Desnus 29
This morning I can create eight goodberries like I am always able to do at this blessed area. We find nothing of note otherwise.
Day 91
Level 3
Desnus 30
I create five goodberries as we arrive at the site of the ambush. It is too late to see anything so we feel that it is prudent to come back the next morning.
Day 92
Level 3
Desnus 31
I am also able to create six goodberries. We search around the area where we think the ambush took place but we find no tracks and no sign of the ambushers. That night on watch I get hit with an arrow as another one misses. I look and see the baykok! I scream “BAYKOK” and charge! It launches two additional arrows at me and both hit. I am paralyzed like I was the last time we encountered the undead menace. Crispin and Greenbow both wake up and Crispin casts see invisibility. Karina wakes up but does not know what a baykok is or its tactics so she does not know that it is only visible to those it attacks. Crispin casts two scorching rays at the baykok and suddenly all we see is a pile of bones. We scoop up the bones for Gaenary. Having baykok bones should make him pleased as punch.
Day 93
Level 3
Sarenith 1
I say a prayer to Gozreh on this day, the first day of summer. I am also able to create six goodberries as we start to head south to the Stag Lord’s layer. Mid-morning we come across a cold camp and four corpses with multiple arrow wounds. Karina tells us that these men died at around midnight. We assume that the baykok had attacked this camp before ours. We find one dead horse, two broken horse leads and one lead that had not been broken-it is just gone. We can see five distinct tracks so we think that one got away. From the descriptions that Winston gave us, these look like the men that attacked him. We do not see a corpse with a rapier, so it looks like Dovan might have gotten away. We decide to continue to scout out the area around the Stag Lord’s domain.
Day 94
Level 3
Sarenith 2
I create six goodberries as we spend a day exploring the area adjacent to the fort. During the day, Greenbow and I see wagon tracks. We don‘t know if the wagon was a supply wagon or perhaps a wagon that the Stag Lord’s men ambushed. We decide to wait a day and see if the wagon or an ambush party returns.
Day 95
Level 3
Sarenith 3
I create five goodberries as we spend the day waiting.
Day 96
Level 3
Sarenith 4
I create eight goodberries as we spend another uneventful day waiting. We come to the sad realization that nothing might come so we decide to head back over to the area of the ambush to see if we see any evidence of a fresh patrol.
Day 95
Level 3
Sarenith 5
I create five goodberries. On our way back to the spot of the first ambush as we see five tracks which we follow with all haste. We think that we are about four hours behind them. As dusk approaches, we decide to trek it throughout the night. We close in on the camp and Darro and I decide to scout it out first. We see horses on the otherside of the camp and two men walking around. I head back and let the group know what we saw. We stealthily make our way up to the camp, but it is all for naught as the bandits pop up, dip their arrows in the fire and let fly two flaming arrows my way. Calenhad and Falchion ride into the battle. Greenbow shoots a bandit with his bow and a nifty human bane arrow he took from the baykok. Darro bites the same bandit that Greenbow hit who is in front of Calenhad. The bandits launch more arrows at us, but luckily all miss. I call stones to hit four of the bandits. Crispin casts a magic missile and a bandit falls dead. Karina misses with an arrow. Calenhad and Falchion charge a bandit and kill him with Calenhad’s pointed lance. Greenbow hits with another arrow. Darro bites another bandit. Crispin hits the same bandit with a magic missile and he staggers backwards and falls. The remaining bandit takes off running and I run after him. He stumbles and I easily catch him. The rest stem the flowing wounds of the bleeding bandit who, Calenhad tells us, matches the description of Falgrim Sneeg.
We interrogate the captured bandit that I return with. He is a young kid who Crispin half interrogates and, more surprisingly, half intimidates. He joined the bandits to save his parents farm. His name is Clement, but most just call him kid or son. He has only been into the fort just once. He says that the Stag Lord is a mean drunk. We ask him about the Stag Lord’s men and he tells us that Akiros is now the Stag Lord’s second-in-command replacing Dovan. At this Karina’s ears perk up and she demands that the kid tell her everything he knows about Akiros. Clement can’t tell her too much since Akiros seems to keep to himself mostly. Karina informs us that Akiros is her brother. This will make attacking the fort more difficult as we do not want to kill her brother, but on the same token, we don’t want him to kill us either. He also tells us more about Ox, although it seems his proper name is Auchs. I think I might prefer to keep calling him Ox! Auchs does not go out on patrol and likes to play with toys. He does not let anyone else play with the toys. We try to figure out what that all means, but it could mean nothing. Maybe the big brute never grew up. There are six other bandits that also live in the fort. He also tells us more about the big beast in the cage. He describes it as a big bear with wings. At this my ears perk up. I never knew a bear that can fly and my mind is dizzy with the possibilities! Calenhad loosens up the dirt in front of him and gives the kid a stick and the kid draws us a crude map of the fort. He says the Stag Lord is mad at us for killing his girlfriend, and Clement lets us know the various insults that the Stag Lord has for each of us. When we throw the Stag Lord’s body into Davik Nettles’ river, we will see who has the last laugh.
We try to decide what we are going to do with Clement. He does not seem evil, and only did what he did to support his family. Calenhad is torn because even if he did not directly participate in murder and thievery, he was there when it happened. We remind Calenhad how Dryfig is thriving and suggest maybe Gaenary can use an apprentice at his forge. We ask Clement if he would be averse to making an honest living for a change and he says that he wouldn’t. Crispin tells him that he will send gold to his parents if he stays and earns his apprenticeship and I tell him I will hunt him down if he strays. Darro adds a low growl for emphasis. Feeling that Clement is properly motivated, we scoop up the unconscious body of Sneeg and start making our way to the temple of Erastil.
Day 96
Level 3
Sarenith 6
I create three goodberries as we head to the fort. Clement, seeing that he won’t be given justice by the rope, is a delightful traveling companion. His compatriot Sneeg is still unconscious and tied across the saddle of his horse.
Day 97
Level 3
Sarenith 7
I create six goodberries and that day we reach the temple. During the day Sneeg started to regain consciousness so we blindfolded him to keep him from seeing Clement. We arrive at the temple and Gaenary is ecstatic! Not only does he have baykok remains to study, but also a new apprentice. Seeing how fit and wilderness savvy both Jhod and Gaenary are, Clement realizes that fleeing would be useless, but it seems like the kid is genuinely enthused to be learning a trade and starting on the path of righteousness. Calenhad gives Gaenary some money to send to the kid’s family at Lake Hooktongue. Apparently he has a younger brother and sister and we would hate to see the brother also fall in with bad company to support his parents.
Sneeg is awake at this point and is insolent. He says that the Stag Lord will gut us like a fish. We ask him what that means and he says we will have to attack the fort and find out. Calenhad senses that he is holding something back but we won’t get much out of him. We tell him that we are taking him back to Kesten to face justice. Sneeg just laughs menacingly and says, “I ain’t afraid of that clown Kesten! He is quickly blindfolded again and this time gagged. The sooner Kesten has him the better. I am thinking we throw him into Nettle’s river as a placeholder until we have the Stag Lord. I chuckle myself to sleep on that.
Day 98
Level 3
Sarenith 8
Like always, the berries are overflowing at the temple and I am able to create eight goodberries as we make our way to Oleg’s. We keep Sneeg bound, gagged and blindfolded which makes the trip more enjoyable.
Day 99
Level 3
Sarenith 9
I create seven goodberries as we continue our trek back to Oleg’s. We have little interaction with Sneeg.
Day 100
Level 3
Sarenith 10
I create four goodberries as we finally arrive at Oleg’s. Kesten looks at Sneeg and says that it will be a happy day when Sneeg hangs. Sneeg laughs at him contemptuously and states matter of factly that Kesten won’t get the opportunity to hang him. We ask Kesten what it is that Sneeg has done and Kesten replies that he has committed many murders throughout the lands of Bevoy and Medvyed. When Calenhad hears Medvyed, He grabs Sneeg roughly and starts to ask him if he had anything to do with a murder that occurred at a small farm with a girl in the land of Medvyed, but Sneeg just smiles at him. This further throws Calenhad into a rage and it looks like he might extract his own form of justice then and there. Crispin and Greenbow caution against it, as for me it does not matter whether Sneeg meets justice at the end of a rope or at the point of Calenhad’s sword. Sneeg continues to mock Calenhad all the while evading the angry questions and accusations Calenhad is throwing at him. He just remarks, “Go ahead and strike me down! Fall Paladin, FALL!” After a few tense moments in which Calenhad’s eyes are filled with murderous intent, Calenhad literally throws Sneeg to Kesten and storms out of the post. We do not see him for the rest of the day, and we all agree that he needs his space.
Day 98
Level 3
Sarenith 11
I create seven goodberries as I see Calenhad approach Kesten. Calenhad voices his concern that Sneeg implied that he might escape and flee from his well-deserved justice. Kesten makes a solemn vow that he will see Sneeg hang for it is personal for him too. Sneeg had killed someone that Kesten was protecting and for many years the failure of protecting that person had haunted Kesten and still haunts him. He also vows that he will hire a priest to put Sneeg under a truth spell, and that he would ask anything Calenhad wanted to know. Calenhad relates a sad tale on how he returned to his small farm after a meeting with his father to find his home in disarray and his newly-wedded bride missing. The only thing that remained of her was an extraordinary amount of blood. Calenhad did not have to be a healer to know the amount of blood loss was most likely fatal. He has since that day mourned for his Leianna. If the priest can force the truth out of Sneeg and find out the events surrounding Leianna’s demise, then Calenhad will finally be able to get closure.
A few moments of silence passed between the two warriors as they were both transported to a different, far away time, when their innocence had been lost.
Session Date: 10/17/2011
Day 99
Level 3
Sarenith 12
We set off on our assault of the Stag Lord’s fort. I create three goodberries.
Day 100
Level 3
Sarenith 13
I can only find two goodberries as we spend an uneventful day traveling. Calenhad does not say much on the journey, but we all realize that he has a lot on his mind.
Day 101
Level 3
Sarenith 14
I find four goodberries as we near the fort. We spend the rest of the day formulating our battle plan. We figure we will disguise ourselves, with me using some magic illusion dust to hide my orcish heritage. We will approach the fort with a cart with the alcohol that we have and a barrel of oil. Darro will hide in the cart. We are going to try to bluff our way in with the premise that surely the Stag Lord cannot refuse such fine spirits as we have. Once inside, Greenbow will throw some alchemist fire at the oil barrel and we will use the diversion to start our attack. I prepare a calm animals spell in case the critter in the cage can be brought to our side. We are not sure if our plan is going to work, but it is the best plan that we have.
I create five goodberries as we put our plan in motion. As we approach the fort, a bandit on the platform asks us to halt and state our business. Crispin shouts back that we have supplies. The bandit asks us “Whose bloody bones are here?” Crispin shouts back that we don’t know and that those who gave us the supplies did not give us the answer. The bandit calls out for Akiros, who we know is Karina’s brother. Akiros asks the password again and Crispin shouts back that those who gave us the supplies did not give us the answer. He sends out two bandits to inspect the wagon. At this point we know that the gig is up, but we try to remain calm. The door to the fort opens just wide enough so that two bandits emerge. As soon as they pull back the tarp and see Darro they shout back to Akiros that it is a trap and the battle is on.
One bandit quickly heads back and starts closing the door as Greenbow engages his partner in combat. Calenhad shouts for Crispin to get on Falchion and for Darro to get out of the cart. Karina rips open her cloak to reveal her identity and yells to her brother that we are here to save him as she shoots the bandit next to him. Crispin casts a magic missile at the bandit next to Akiros as he rams the cart through the closing door. Calenhad shoots his longbow at the bandit that everyone has been hitting. I run up to the bandit next to Greenbow and hit him with my club and he goes down. Akiros looks stunned at seeing his sister and doesn’t seem to move. Darro gets out of the cart and comes to me. An archer, seeing the non-armored Crispin, hits him with an arrow. Greenbow advances through the now open gate. Karina continues to plead with Akiros. A bandit, who had been knocked prone by the battering horse-cart missile, tries to stand up in front of Greenbow and gets smacked for his trouble. Crispin backs the cart out of the open door so others can get into the fray. The other prone bandit stands up. Calenhad goes up to the gate and swaps places with Greenbow. I cast stone call at three of the bandits and pelt them with stones. Karina’s pleadings must have had some affect because Akiros swings his sword at his own man. We also see a silver object come flying off the wall as he tears the Stag Lord medallion from his neck. Darro keeps pace with me as we advance to the open gate. A bandit yells for Auchs to open the cage and we assume that means that the critter will be joining the battle. I hope that it is a natural beast so my calm animal spell can neutralize the threat. The bandit, stunned that Akiros stabbed him, retaliates, but misses. An arrow flies out at Crispin. Greenbow switches with Calenhad who hits both bandits, killing one. We see an owlbear who promptly kills one of the Stag Lord’s men. Apparently the owlbear is not particular. Karina lets fly an arrow. The archers concentrate their fire on Karina since she is doing a very good job at shooting arrows at them. Calenhad and I storm through the gates. We see the Stag Lord who shoots an arrow at Calenhad, wounding him severely. Auchs takes a step up and hits Calenhad with his club. Akiros kills his opponent and starts to leave the platform. Darro comes up next to me. All of the archers miss Karina. Greenbow attacks Auchs and hits him with his sword. The owlbear attacks Auchs and badly wounds him. Karina casts a healing burst to help Calenhad. Crispin uses a wand of fear on two of the archers, but it seems to have no effect. Falchion tears what remains of the gate from its hinges. Calenhad heals himself and yells a smite against the Stag Lord and slays Auchs. I step up and hit the owlbear. The Stag Lord launches another arrow at Calenhad but misses him. Akiros moves up to the owlbear and gets hit for his trouble. Darro tries to bite the owlbear, but misses. Greenbow attacks the Stag Lord and hits him. The owlbear, not having Auchs as a target anymore, attacks Darro and wounds him. Karina heals Calenhad. Crispin again uses his wand of fear but this time both of the bandits turn and flee. Akiros and Calenhad both attack the Stag Lord. I try to hit the owlbear, but miss. The Stag Lord attacks Akiros cursing him as a traitor. Akiros swings back calling on Erastil for assistance. Darro tries to bite and claw the owlbear but misses. Greenbow attacks the Stag Lord. Karina hits the owlbear with an arrow. Crispin casts a scorching ray at the owlbear but misses. Falchion hits the owlbear with a hoof. Calenhad misses the Stag Lord and I miss the owlbear. The Stag Lord and Akiros continue their own private war. Darro hits the owlbear with a claw and a bite. The owlbear puts down Darro and before he can kill the grievously wounded bear, a magic missile from Crispin kills the beast. Calenhad hits the Stag Lord and I cure Darro with the wand. The private battle between Akiros and the Stag Lord rages on. Greenbow misses the Stag Lord but Karina hits him with an arrow. Crispin shoots a magic missile at the Stag Lord. Calenhad misses the Stag Lord as I position myself to get into combat. Akiros and Stag Lord continue to fight it out. Greenbow misses the Stag Lord as Karina gets in range. Crispin launches a force bolt. Calenhad delivers a killing blow against the Stag Lord and the Stag Lord’s reign of terror comes to an end. It is also fitting that it was Calenhad’s sword that delivered the fatal blow fulfilling our charter by delivering justice by sword or rope.
Akiros reunites with Karina and offers his sword to Calenhad who refuses to take it. Instead he requests that Akiros does penance at the Erastil shrine under the guidance of Jhod and Gaenary. He doesn’t object to this as he realizes some penance must be made. We ask him out of curiosity what the answer to the password was and he says,
We discover that some of the bandits have made their escape. Greenbow and I both try to track them but we soon lose them. One was the elusive Dovan. It is no matter for if he decides to take up the Stag Lord’s position, we will make sure he meets the same fate. Akiros tells us that there is a crazy, old man held in a pit in the fort. He said that the rumors were that he and the Stag Lord had some sort of familiar bond. He points to me and says that the man had “ways just like you”. He also said that the man would also heal the other bandits when they were injured. We wonder if it could be Bokken’s brother. We warily open the trap door, but as we descend, Calenhad and I notice that the old man has been killed and that he looks nothing like Bokken. Since it seems like we had all the bandits engaged, we wonder who killed him?
We continue to search the fort and find the Stag Lord’s loot. Curiously among the loot we find a crumpled bedspread in a corner. We are about to use it to wrap up some of the loot when Calenhad notices it. He flies off into a rage, snatches the bedspread a suddenly leaves the room. He doesn’t say much the rest of the day and only later do we find out that the bedspread was a wedding present from his family and was on the bed in his house where his wife was killed.
Day 102
Level 4
Sarenith 15
We set out to Davik Nettles place to properly dispose of the Stag Lord’s body. I create seven goodberries on this uneventful day of traveling.
Day 103
Level 4
Sarenith 16
I create six goodberries as we near the former abode of Davik Nettles.
Day 104
Level 4
Sarenith 17
I create five goodberries in the morning. We soon arrive at the bridge and the ghostly apparition reappears asking for the body of the Stag Lord. We promptly throw the body in and the apparition disappears and a well-made halberd washes up on shore. There is nothing else, not even a thank you. We cross the river and find the ruined remains of the buildings where Davik dwelled and nothing else.
Day 105
Level 4
Sarenith 18
Seven goodberries are made and nothing else happens.
Day 106
Level 4
Sarenith 19
Six goodberries are made and nothing else.
Day 107
Level 4
Sarenith 20
Seven goodberries are made and we arrive at the Temple of the Elk. We are unsure how Jhod and Gaenary feel about another person to redeem since they are priests of Erastil and not of Sarenrae, but since young Clement has been a big help to them, I don’t think they mind too much. Out of earshot of Karina we tell them to keep an extra sharp eye on Akiros as he was the Stag Lord’s second-in-command.
Day 108
Level 4
Sarenith 21
Eight goodberries are created as we head back to Oleg’s.
Day 109
Level 4
Sarenith 22
Five goodberries are created as we spend the day on the road.
Day 110
Level 4
Sarenith 23
We have six goodberries in hand as we reach Oleg’s.
dotted. thanks for putting up these posts!
Thank You! I hope you have as much fun reading them as I have of playing/writing them!
Session Date: 11/07/2011
Day 111
Level 4
Sarenith 24
I spend the morning sleeping in as I was tired from our day of traveling. Darro nudges me awake and leads me into the woods where we see Redeye. He thanks us for taking care of the Stag Lord, and we both agree that he was a menace and the world is better off without them. He notices how powerful Darro has become since the last he saw him. Since I am with Darro each day, I hardly noticed! Redeye tells us that if we ever need him to just call and he will come. It might take him a few days, but he would come. I tell him that he can do likewise. I create six goodberries.
Day 112
Level 4
Sarenith 25
We see a caravan come to the fort which has many more wagons and people than the one wagon with the one guard that used to come. A foppish man climbs down from a fine horse and says that his name is Fabius Ambrosius and asks for Calenhad. Oleg rolls his eyes and points to Calenhad. He gives Calenhad a short, courtesy bow and announces he had been sent by the Lord Mayor. He is looking for the body of the Stag Lord for proof that the monster has been slain. We tell him how we threw the body of the Stag Lord into the river at Davik Nettles’ place. He says that if we can’t produce the body, he at least want to see where the Stag Lord had his hideout. He calls over his porter and produces the weapons that we requested way back when. Calenhad asks that if it is all right we leave the next day. Fabius looks around Oleg’s meager accommodations and sniffs that it would do.
Day 113
Level 4
Sarenith 26
We spend the day traveling marveling at our companion’s curious habits. He is meticulous in all that he does and he even grooms his own horse. He refuses to take watch though, probably does not want to ruin his beauty sleep. He seems to have grand designs for these lands and points out where many roads and buildings can go. Calenhad asks for news on Sneed. Fabius responds to Calenhad that he does not know what happened to Falgrim Sneeg, but there will be political consequences to whatever does happen to him.
Day 114
Level 4
Sarenith 27
We spend an uneventful day traveling.
Day 115
Level 4
Sarenith 28
We are nearing the fort, and we are not as apprehensible as we are when we first arrived here. Fabius looks around the empty, eerie fort and seems quite satisfied. He then hands us another charter which reads as follows:
- Having delivered the northern reaches of the
Greenbelt from the scourge of banditry,
- Having provided detailed maps of the lay of the
land,
- And having done no small amount of work in
the exploration of said land and the culling of hostile
monsters and indigenous hazards,
Are hereby granted the right to rule.
The nature and laws of rule are theirs to define, and the wellbeing of this new
nation is theirs to protect. In accordance for providing a stable nation to the
south of central Rostland, let there be a generous stipend of funds, support, and
advice provided to this fledgling nation as a token of Restov and Brevoy’s
goodwill, such that future relations between kingdoms might be mutually
beneficial.
So witnessed under the watchful eye of the
Lordship of Restov and by the authority
granted by Lord Noleski Surtova, current
Regent of the Dragonscale Throne.
Looks like we will now have to decide how we want to rule these newly-tamed lands.
Huzzah!
Session date: 2011/11/21
Sarenith 06/4710
Our first month forming our own kingdom. We decide to spend four months to ensure a good start before we start exploring the southern portion of the Greenbelt.
Our leaders are:
Ruler...........Calenhad
Councilor.......Karina
General.........Greenbow
Grand Diplomat..Kesten
High Priest.....Jhod
Magister........Crispin
Marshal.........Akiros
Royal Assassin..empty
Spymaster.......Redeye
Treasurer.......Oleg
Warden..........Kabal
We decide to build our capital city over the Stag Lord's fort, and Calenhad names it in memory of his deceased wife, Memora Leianna. Our kingdom's name is Genezdova which means "A New Beginning". We claim the land and prepare it. Our first major building is a mill on the Tuskwater Lake which will help us in the future.
Also this month, Kesten returns with a letter from Calenhad's long time friend, Stvan. While Kesten plays down his role in the bringing of Falgrim Sneed to justice, the letter from Stvan details that Kesten put his life on the line when the Issian politicians tried to get Sneed freed. In the end, Sneed was convicted of murdering Calenhad's wife and was executed.
Erastus 07/4710
We claim, road and farm the land to our northwest and trade begins to come in and the kingdom treasury increases. We also build a carpenter shop, once again thinking to the future building needs of our fledgling kingdom.
Arodus 08/4710
The populace is restless so we build a housing area that provides much needed shelters, but trade is still off.
Rova 09/4710
Week 1
The populace is over their jitters of the previous month, so we decide to not do any buildings, but encourage trade which has paid off as the treasury is replenished.
Week 2-4
We head west and meet up with a gnome expedition, a Mr. Jubilost Narthropple is exploring and mapping the kingdom. As we saved his wagon that contained all the maps and journals from a watery grave while they were crossing the Skunk River, Jubilost tells us some of the places he has mapped. Several of them we had planned on exploring this trip away from our city, so that is quite useful information.
We head southeast back towards the Tuskwater and meet an elderly human woman, named Beldame. Crispin tells us that she is a sorcerer who is in tune with the fey world. We make peace with her and she is happy to hear that we are bringing stability to the area. She asks if we could visit a large mud pit to the southeast on the other side of Tuskwater and bring us back as many of the black rattlecap mushrooms as we can find. She tells us of a fierce plant creature that is guarding them. She will give us 100gp per mushroom and welcome the kingdom expanding into her area.
We head back to the city, where Calenhad purchases some fang berries as a gift to Beldame and since she uses her mushrooms for tea, Crispin finds some exotic teas and buys them as a gift for her also.
Heading east so we can circle around Tuskwater, we spend the night and are attacked by what we figure is Howl of the North Wind the Jubilost told us about. The creature breathes cold and came very close to killing Crispin and Calenhad, but we manage to prevail in the end. Crispin knows his creatures. He told us this was a winter wolf, and is very dangerous.
Moving southwest we spend a couple of days in next area, but find nothing. We continue to the mud pit area, and the plant creature waits till we are very close before it rises up and attacks. Calenhad is paralyzed, but Karina used a spell that removed the paralysis. We continue to attack the creature. Calenhad is paralyzed again, but manages to break out of it. We end up killing the creature and finding eighteen of the mushrooms. Karina heals us back up and we rest for the night before continuing in the morning.
Session Date: 11/28/2011
Level 4
Rova 09/4710
Week 2-4
Darro smells something in the air and we stop the party and try to sneak up on whatever it was that got his attention. We see a large giant sitting on a boulder licking the sides of an obvious empty jug. We cautiously approach him but unfortunately he can only speak giant and that is one language our multi-linguistic group does not know. Just like we did with the bogard Garuum, Karina hands him some food and ‘accidentally’ touches him. He is surprised that all of a sudden we can speak giant, but we inform him that he is speaking common. As we get closer we get an over-whelming smell of alcohol and we have no doubt what was in the jug. He says his name is Munguk. We ask if he is part of a tribe, and he says he is not. He wanted to join Hargulka’s tribe but was not allowed in because he was too small. We ask him who this Hargulka is and he responds that he is the boss of these lands and is raising an army of giants like Munguk and Hargulka. We ask if Hargulka is a hill giant like him and he says it is not, he is a big, green boss who doesn’t like fire. We are thinking that Hargulka is a troll. Munguk is pretty tall and if he was too short for Hargulka, we can just imagine the giants that make up Hargulka’s army. We ask if Hargulka’s army is just giants and Munguk tells us that there are lizardfolk also with Hargulka. We ask Munguk if there is anything that he needs and he says that he is looking for wolf berries as he can make some great alcohol with it. While we don’t think that lack of alcohol is Munguk’s problem, we agree to find some for him. We tell him that he can join ‘our tribe’ and while we really don’t want a hill giant that Calenhad detects evil on, we don’t want Hargulka to have another recruit. He seems satisfied and says if we bring the wolf berries to this spot he will find us. He tells us the general direction to Hargulka and we continue exploring.
A few days later, we see a few inhabited structures on an island. We see lizardfolk tracks heading to the village and we are unsure if we have found Haragulka’s band or just an isolated lizardfolk village. We try to see if we can ambush a party in order to get more information, but we wait the whole day and nothing happens. We move a few hours away from the camp and make our own camp. We make sure that our watches are extra vigilant so we won’t be surprised by any lizardfolk.
We return the next morning and wait for another patrol. We don’t see one that morning, but we see one right after lunch time. There are six of them. We intercept them and Crispin hails them in their native tongue of draconic. They are apprehensive and ask why we did not approach their village. Crispin responds that we had heard that there might be trolls about. They ask us what we want and we say that we are exploring this land and want to establish peaceful relations and possible trade with its various inhabitants. They say we will need to speak to King Vesket about trade. Crispin replies that King Vesket must be a fine king at which Calenhad notices that two of them cast a fleeting look of disgust. We ask them about the will-o’-wisps and they say that those are their ancestors. Calenhad notices that the two who looked disgusted before, look disgusted again. Crispin says that those are probably not ancestors, but other creatures. At this the lead lizardfolk is insulted and Crispin offers a quick apology. We are unsure of whether they believed it or not, but they stay their weapons and announce that they are going and make it apparent they do not want to be followed. We let them go in peace.
We decide to go see King Vesket and determine if peaceful trade relations can be established. We arrive at village where a lizardfolk issues a challenge. We say that we would like to see King Vesket about possible trade. A few minutes later the gate opens and King Vesket appears with two large crocodile creatures - blood caimans, along with a dozen other lizardfolk. Crispin asks the king if he can speak common and he says he does not in a manner that suggests common is an inferior language. When asked about possible trade He also says that there is nothing we have that he would be willing to trade for. Crispin asks him what he does want and he says he wants protection from ‘your kind’. We say we can offer a treaty with him and he asks what is a treaty is. We say it is an agreement between kings. He asks if Crispin is a king and Crispin says he is not but Calenhad is. King Vesket looks dismissively at Calenhad and states that if Calenhad can’t speak his language then he is not a king he would wish to parlay with. He states again that there is nothing that we can provide him that his friends can’t. Crispin asks him who his friends are and he says Hargulka is his friend. So much for this being an isolated tribe of lizardfolk! Karina notices that some lizardfolk are uneasy at the mention of Hargulka. Crispin says that Hargulka is a few days travel from here. King Vesket smirks and says that is what we think. It looks like we might not have to go far to find this Hargulka. Crispin asks a final time if there is anything else he wants and he says yes – for us to go away. Since it seems obvious we will not be establishing any kind of treaty with King Vesket, we decide to depart for more exploring.
A few days later an old man and a mountain lion threateningly runs up to Crispin babbling about ‘the voices’. Greenbow runs up to the man and tells him not to attack. The large cat claws Crispin and Crispin wisely decides to withdraw. Karina plucks the old man with an arrow. Greenbow tries to hit the old man but misses. The lion focuses its attacks on Greenbow. Darro rushes up and kills the large cat. Crispin hits the man with a magic missile. Calenhad offers him a chance to surrender at which the old man yells that Bokken will not get his things. Crispin casts flaming sphere at him but the old man deftly dodges. I try to hit him with my club but miss. Crispin, Karina, and Greenbow also miss. The old man hits Greenbow with a solid hit, but is mortally wounded by Darro. We stabilize the quickly bleeding man and tie him up. We then cautiously heal him.
When he gains consciousness we ask him if the voices have stopped and he says they did. We hears them every couple of weeks and they are not silenced until he kills something. This has happened to him ever since he left home. We assume that this is Bokken’s long, lost brother and our suspicions are confirmed when on hearing Bokken’s name, he angrily spits – exactly like Bokken did every time he mentioned his brother. He says that he will kill us for killing his cat and proves very uncooperative. We decide to take him prisoner until we can decide what to do with him. We find his tracks and follow them until we find his abode in a tree where we find a locket with a picture of a woman and a treasure map with undead guardian supposedly guarding a powerful weapon.
We go to Beldame to give her the tea and the mushrooms which she greatly appreciates.
Lamashan 10/4710
Level 4
Week 1
We get back to our town and Akiros gives us a status report. A couple of hunters came in with the corpse of the winter wolf and spread our good deed throughout the town as it was killing hunters as well. We also hear that Arven, a fisherman, says that there is a ill tempered huge turtle called Old Crackjaw at his fishing hole. Akiros also tells us that in the tavern they have been posting various wanted posters of various criminal elements. It looks like we will have to be on the lookout for these shady characters. We send a messenger out to retrieve Bokken and see if he can provide any input on what to do with his brother and who the woman in the locket is.
Since there does not seem to be anything pressing, we get down to the business of governing this land.
Session Date: 01/23/2012
Level 4
Lamashan 10/4710
Week 1
We spend the week governing the land and things seem to be going well, although it is hard for me to focus on all this official business as I would rather be outside with Darro. We see more and more trappers coming through so it seems trade is starting to boom.
Week 2
There are two other requests besides Old Crackjaw – One from an alchemist who wants a waterskin filled with troll blood, and another alchemist wants sap from a shambling mound. We decide to head out to take care of Old Crackjaw first when the town flirt, Lily Teskertin, calls to Calenhad. We know that Calenhad can smite evil, but it seems like Ms. Teskertin has smitten Calenhad! Even Falchion seems to be rolling his eyes at the over-the-top flirting. She tells Calenhad that she really would like an elven artifact from some supposed elven ruins in the south marshes. Calenhad, without consulting anyone, readily agrees. Yep – he’s smitten.
After a day of travel, we see a huge turtle resting by water and I try to communicate with it, but unfortunately, it only sees me as food. Darro tries to bite and claw him but misses. Karina shoots an arrow and wounds the turtle. I call lightning down on the turtle and it seems wounded. Greenbow’s wolf, Greenwolf, misses with a bite. Darro bites the turtle extremely well and swipes the turtle with a claw. Karina hits with an arrow and Greenbow hits with his sword cracking the shell in half. We decide to take the turtle carcass back to town as a symbol of fulfilling a request of the people, and also make turtle soup for the town.
At some point on the journey back to town, we smell troll in the air and sure enough, we find troll tracks. Greenbow estimates that there are about three of them. It looks like that alchemist will get his waterskin of troll blood sooner rather than later. We follow the tracks and round a hill and see four trolls rending some unfortunate creature as their meal. Karina casts prayer on the group while Crispin casts a fireball. Calenhad shoots an arrow and hits a troll. Greenbow shoots a flaming arrow and also hits a troll. I call stones upon them hurting them. They regenerate a little bit of the damage from the stones. As one of the trolls pass him to get at Calenhad, Darro tries to nip it, but misses. Greenwolf also nips at a troll that passes him to get at Karina, but unlike Darro, he is successful. Crispin casts a scorching ray and burns one of the trolls. Karina shoots an arrow at a troll and hits. Calenhad misses, but Greenbow hits. I miss with my club but I do manage to bite the troll. Darro hits with a bite and both claws. A troll attacks Karina hurting her badly. Greenbow gets rended by a troll. I get hit by a troll. The last troll claws Falchion. Crispin casts a fireball and brings down one troll. Karina casts searing light at the troll in front of me putting it down. Falchion bites a troll, and Calenhad hits a troll with his sword. Greenbow brings down a troll. Darro and I bring down the last troll as one of the other troll stands up and is quickly hacked to its second death. Crispin and I cast burning spheres so the trolls do not rise again. We fill a waterskin with their blood.
We head back to town and Arvin gives us a magic ring for taking care of Old Crackjaw and the alchemist gives us 1,200 gp worth of potions for the troll blood-filled waterskin. It looks like we had a profitable few days of adventuring!
We decide to follow the treasure map that we obtained from Bokken’s brother. We follow it until we come to a collapsed burrow. We enter and come to a room with three passageways and a skeleton in the middle. We wonder if this is the undead guardian that the map told us about. Crispin detects a magic ring and as Calenhad reaches for the ring, a statue by each passageway blows foul air at him. Calenhad feels an almost overwhelmingly tiredness, but is just a little fatigued. He uses something called a mercy to remove that fatigue. Suddenly twelve skeletons converge on the room-six from one direction and six from the opposite. Karina moves near the center of the room, carefully avoiding the skeleton, and casts a healing burst which destroys all of the skeletons coming down one passageway. Darro goes to the middle of the room but triggers the trap. He suddenly feels exhausted and knowing he will be of no use in this battle stumbles out of the burrow to keep Falchion company. I follow Karina’s path and call for stones and the remaining six skeletons coming down the other passage crumble. We continue on until we see a crypt. As we enter the room, the lid of the crypt slides off and an undead being rises and says in a spectral voice, “Die intruders!” He advances to Calenhad and attacks him. Karina channels energy and hurts him just a little. I go up next to Calenhad and swing my club but miss. Crispin casts a fireball. Greenbow misses with his attack. Calenhad smites the undead but his attack misses. Greenwolf misses as Calenhad gets hit again. Karina casts shield of faith on the Paladin. I miss with an attack, but Greenbow connects with his sword. Calenhad hits the ghost, but Greenwolf misses. The undead misses Calenhad as I hit him with my club. Crispin casts a magic missile and the undead falls. He is identified as a cairn wight fighter, but none of us know who he was since his tomb seems to have been here for a millennia.
Session Date: 02/06/2012
Level 4
Lamashan 10/4710
Week 2-3
Since Calenhad is still weak from the carin wight fighter’s attacks, we decide to do some exploring before we head back to town. One day as we are getting ready to camp we hear what sounds like calls of distress from a woman in a cave. We march up to the cave and as we enter a leucrotta runs up and bites me and I start bleeding profusely. It bites me again opening another huge wound. Darro hits the beast with a claw and a bite, but Greenbow misses. Crispin casts haste and Karina misses with an arrow. Greenwolf misses with his maw. Calenhad lays a hand on me and I start to feel better. The beast whacks me with its hoof and I fall to the ground. Darro, angered that I fell grievously wounded, bites the thing in retaliation. Greenbow hits the creature with his sword. Karina bursts a healing spell and my life-blood is no longer flowing. Greenwolf miss with a bite. Calenhad touches me again and I fell better. Crispin casts a fireball and the creature falls over, its fur still smoking from the spell. We find in the cave blue dragonhide breastplate and shield. I don both and I feel I look spiffy.
On the second day, late in the afternoon we see something blue flying in the air above us. As we get ready to camp, a wyvern comes flying at us. Greenbow hits it with an arrow and the dragon alights in front of him. The dragon follows up with an attack of his own. Darro and I both hit the blue dragon. Calenhad and Falchion enter the fray. Calenhad hits it with his new sword and the dragon is not happy. Crispin casts a magic missile while Greenwolf bites it. Greenbow tries to break free of the wyvern’s claws but can’t. The dragon continues to attack Greenbow. I hit it, but it is Darro that brings it down.
We arrive back in town and return to our quarters. Kesten comes to us and says there are two pressing issues that we should address. The first issue is that there have been some attacks on the townsfolk. The second issue is we have received a messenger from Baron Maegar Varn, he would like to have a council. Given the choice to protect our townsfolk or deal with a fancy-smantzy ambassador, we naturally elect to take on the killer.
Five days ago some livestock was slaughtered. Then three days ago it was a serving maiden who was named Saki that was disemboweled. Just two days ago a shepherd boy, Beven was also killed. Kesten thinks it is one creature that is responsible. He posits that they were killed by a large man-sized animal maybe a wolf or a worg. He also reluctantly reports that they also seemed to be partially consumed. The attacks occurred on the north side of town at night. The serving maiden was attacked just outside of town so Greenbow and I feel we will not be able to find any relevant tracks at that attack site, so we go to where the shepherd boy was attacked. I see some wolf tracks and we follow them to a copse of trees. Greenbow then notices that the tracks turn human. We think we are dealing with a werewolf. Tonight will be the last night of the full moon so we will have to kill the beast tonight or wait until the next full moon. We decide tonight to stake some sheep just to the north of town and set a trap for our hairy friend.
We are on the stakeout when Greenbow sees a wolf-man running out of town. We both cast entangle and Calenhad tries to shoot him with an arrow but misses. The werewolf, not affected by the double entanglement, hits Karina with his great ax. Crispin casts haste on everyone. I run up to the werewolf and miss with a swing of my club. Darro flanks with me and bites the wolf-man. Greenbow hits the werewolf with his sword. Karina moves out of the range of the ax and hits the beast with an arrow. Greenwolf misses with a bite but Calenhad connects with his sword. The werewolf tries to bite me and luckily misses, but he does rake me with a claw. I retaliate with a hit from my club. Darro follows up with a vicious attack with his claw and a bite. Greenbow misses with his sword, Karina hits with two arrows. Calenhad slashes the werewolf with his sword. The werewolf misses me. Crispin casts some magic missiles at the creature, and he collapses to the ground bleeding. He returns to his human form. We bound the unconscious man and stabilize him. We take him back to town and secure him in the jail. Once he is feeling a little better, we will interrogate him.
Not to put off our diplomatic duties any longer, we meet with the representative from Baron Maegar Varn. We had heard that Baron Varn was also given a charter from the Lord Mayor similar to the one that was given to us and he had led a group of mercenaries into the Nomen Heights which is east of our lands. The only other thing that we know of him is that he is a swordlord. We affirm that we will gladly parlay with Baron Varn in the spring. The emissary also asks if it would be all right for a representative of the Baron’s lands to winter with us. We agree to this, although I wonder if we are only admitting a spy to our lands. The emissary departs quickly as he would like to return to the Baron and dispatch the representative to us before the snows come.
We also find out that Bokken has arrived in town and we go see the crusty hermit. When we tell Bokken that we have his brother he spits violently. It is good to know that some things never change! We show him the locket and as he opens it and gazes at the picture of the woman within all he can gasp is “Mom”. We witness a tender moment of the hard hermit. We tell him that his brother hears voices and wants him to kill people. He is not surprised and informs us that his brother had always been a little “off”. He doesn’t care what we do with his brother so we will put him on trial for the various brutal murders he committed. Bokken requests that since Oleg is down here now and Dryfig has taken over the trading post, would it be all right if he moves down here. We readily agree that Bokken will make a fine addition to our community.
We find the alchemist that we gave the troll blood to and ask if he wants the tail of a blue wyvern to harvest the poison from. The Alchemist is concerned that the brewing of poison might get him into trouble since it is generally frowned upon. We inform him that since there is no law forbidding it, it will be all right. He warily takes the tail from us and gives us some gold which he will put towards the purchase of restoration magic for Calenhad.
We feel that enough time has gone by and our werewolf should be healed enough to interrogate. He tells us that Kundal is his name. He tells us that he was attacked by some wolves in lower Brevoy north of Oleg’s trading post about a month ago. He has had strange dreams of running through the woods and wakes bloody and barefoot. He has been drinking in excess trying to forget the horrible dreams but it hasn’t worked. We tell him that it was no dream and that he is a werewolf. The brutal disembowelment of Saki and Beven were his doing. He begs for death but we assure him that whatever brutal acts he did in his wolf form was not his doing and we believe that he can be cured. None of us know what that cure entails but we know it can be done. He requests that we use his ax to pay for that cure. We tell him that he must remain in jail for his protection and for that of the town. There are some in town that say he should meet the same brutal end as Saki and Beven. He agrees although he doesn’t have much of a choice if he wishes to live.
Winter is in the air and I must bid Darro farewell until the spring. He is getting antsy to begin his hibernation. I accompany him to a cave outside of town where he will rest. I would like to ask Crispin if there are any wards he can place on the cave so Darro’s rest will not be disturbed by interlopers. I sadly walk back to town.
Session Date: 02/27/2012
Level 5
Neth 11/4710
Week 4
Towards the end of the month, I am sitting by the campfire missing Darro when Redeye approaches. He tells me that he and his pack have been shadowing a party of nine. There are six soldiers, two half-orcs and a human female. I think this is the envoy that we are expecting. I ask him if there is anything else that he has observed and he said there was also an army of trolls gathering. This must be Hargulka’s army. He tells us that we should take care of them eventually and in the meantime he will keep an eye on them.
A few days later we ride out to meet the envoy and escort. Lady Gwenyth is quite an attractive woman – by human standards, and Crispin seems like he wants to play match-maker with our Calenhad. She is the sister of Baron Varn. I quickly greet the half-orcs in the tongue of our kin. One is named Grug and the other is named Gob. We will spend the winter swapping tales of our tribes and retelling the great orc legends by a campfire.
Level 5
Kuthona 12/4710
Week 3
Bokken’s brother has been tried and convicted of his crime. The sentence is death. Grug solemnly agrees to serve as executioner. He says that he will need three days to prepare. Calenhad agrees that the execution will be public and will occur four days later. Grug disappears for the three days and returns with a really sharp blade on his axe. At dawn, Calenhad reads the charges and sentence and with one fell swoop, Grug separates the murderer’s head from his body. Bokken, while not sad to see his brother meet his final judgment, is not overjoyed either. Every time we asked him what his brother’s name was, Bokken got into a tizzy. I guess Bokken brother’s name is now known only to his deity.
Kesten has decided that he does not like the duties of a diplomat and would like to step down. Gob agrees to perform this role and it looks like our council is complete. It also looks like the half-orcs will be staying a while. I hope they like Darro when he awakens from his winter nap.
Level 5
Abadius 01/4711
Week 3
Calenhad, Gwenyth, & Oleg announce that there is a trade agreement between our kingdom and Baron Varn’s kingdom, Varnhold. This is great news as it will lead to our kingdom having some financial stability. We hope that we might now draw more merchants from the north to settle in our fair kingdom.
Calistril 02/4711
Level 5
Week 2
I am in attendance as Svetlana gives birth to twins. One of them she names after me and the other she names Joseph, even though I think that Darro is a wonderful name! I ask Gozreh for blessings for the newborns and the kingdom is overjoyed.
Pharast 03/4711
Level 5
Week 2
I go to the cave where Darro is hibernating loaded with some fresh meat. Darro wakes from his wintery slumber and is very lean and very hungry. I feed him the meat and will have to work with him to get into fighting form before we hit the road.
Also this week, Calenhad and Gwenyth announce there engagement. If the kingdom was overjoyed for Oleg and Svetlana, they are ecstatic hearing this news. I don’t know what extent Crispin had in arranging the happy nuptials, but I am sure he had something to do with it. They will wait until they get permission from Baron Varn. The decision is made to meet at neutral territory where Calenhad and Varn can formalize the trade agreement, and more importantly, Varn will give his blessing to the marriage.
Pharast 03/4711
Level 5
Week 3
After a few days traveling, we observe a force of twelve men heading towards us. We form defensive positions in case they are bandits, but we soon see the pennants of Baron Varn. We approach them and the barons formally greet each other and their many deeds are read. With the formalities out of the way we quickly make camp. The barons retreat into one tent to discuss the purpose of the meeting as we mingle with Baron Varn’s escorts. One of them is a grizzled, old, sergeant. He asks if we heard about the dragon and when we reply in the negative, he says it is just over the hill. He thinks it is an imperial forest dragon whose breath pierces the skin. He says that Baron Varn was extremely interested in the dragon, and wouldn’t be surprised if everyone will soon be going “dragun huntin’”.
The barons, as barons are want to do, decide that ridding this land between the two kingdoms of the dragon is a good idea. The next morning, armor is donned and weapons are unsheathed as we ride out. Grug scouts ahead of the party and thinks he sees green scales. Not wanting to report back to the distinguished barons on a guess, he scouts a little further ahead until he sees a green dragon charging at him! The dragon bites him and with a toothy smile says, “Welcome to my woods”. I am sure that, unlike the barons, he does not have a charter, but I am sure soon it will not matter. Grug heads straight back with the dragon right on his heels. Once the dragon clears the tree line where we were all waiting he flies into the air to prepare a strafing run. Crispin casts two fireballs at him as Greenbow launches an arrow. Karina casts divine favor on herself. Baron Varn challenges the dragon. I call for stones against the dragon. Gob enlarges both Baron Varn and Grug. The enlarged Grug runs under the flying dragon and throws a javelin at him. The dragon banks and breathes his piercing breath at Gob and Baron Varn. Crispin casts searing light and hurts the dragon. Greenbow misses with an arrow as Karina hits. I cast lightning but it doesn’t seem to do much damage. Grug shouts for us to take cover in the trees in order not to present such an easy target for the soaring dragon and his terrible breath weapon. Crispin tries to make it to the tree line but lags behind. The dragon, seeing an easy, lone target in the unarmored mage lands and takes a bite out of Crispin. Greenbow and Karina both hit with an arrow. Baron Varn, seeing that the dragon has landed, calls for all to follow him and charges the dragon. I cast magic fang on Darro. Gob and Grug, heed the baron’s call and also wildly charge out of the woods. The dragon, still savoring the flesh of Grug that it tasted earlier, launches a vicious attack against him with its toothy maw and its razor-sharp claws. Crispin casts haste on the barbarian and Baron. Greenbow shoots an arrow and scores a hit. The Baron also hits the dragon. Darro moves up as Gob raises a Battle cry. Grug, in a frenzy cleaves the dragon in half with his ax. The battle is over and Baron Varn congratulates the party. Surprisingly Calenhad was absent from the battle and we wonder if his love for Gwenyth caused him to protect her instead of entering the fray. Baron Varn does not seem to hold it against him. Bits of the dragon are removed throughout the day, some as trophies, some for healing or arcane components. That night a great feast is had as much back-slapping and congratulations are spread with abandon.
Session Date: 03/12/2012
Pharast 03/4711
Level 5
Week 3
We are exploring when Grug hears a language he doesn’t understand while he is out front scouting. He doesn’t have to understand the language as he catches a whiff of troll. He stealthily moves ahead and sees seven trolls heading in our direction. He expeditiously heads back to the party shouting, “Seven trolls heading this way!” We quickly prepare and cast some spells. I cast magic fang on Darro and Gob enlarges me. Now I can look those evil trolls in the eyes.
As the trolls crest the hill, Crispin casts the fireball that he had prepared and the trolls are singed. Greenbow also casts entangle so we don’t face all seven trolls at once. Karina casts a bull strength on me and I call stones on the group of trolls. Crispin casts another fireball and the trolls are not happy. Greenbow shoots an arrow and hits a troll. Gob casts a shield of faith on himself. Karina hits a troll with an arrow. Grug retreats to where we are and we form our line to meet the trolls. I cast a flaming sphere at a troll, and Crispin casts a scorching ray on the same one. Greenbow hits with an arrow on the same troll and he is looking really bad. Gob casts bull strength on Grug and Karina also casts shield of faith on him. The trolls advance and Grug goes into a rage. He slices the troll with his ax and it falls to the ground. I move my flaming sphere over it and it is burned. I hit a troll with my club and Darro hits it with a claw and a bite. Crispin casts haste and Greenbow hits a troll which falls to the ground. Greenwolf misses with a bite, but Gob hits a troll. Karina finishes off the smoldering troll. Grug advances to the trolls and hits one. I finish off a troll and Darro misses with a bite. Crispin casts another fireball. Green bow hits a live troll and Greenwolf takes a bite out of a smoldering troll. Gob puts down two trolls and Karina hits them with two arrows so that they will stay down for a few minutes. A troll hits Greenbow and another hits me. Grug retaliates by hitting a troll. Darro puts down a troll. Crispin casts burning hands and two trolls begin smoking. Greenbow hits a troll as Greenwolf finishes up a smoldering troll. Gob hits a troll as Karina finishes off two smoldering trolls. A troll hits me but Grog hits the same troll. I hit a troll and Darro finishes up a smoldering troll. Crispin casts a magic missile and the last standing troll goes down.
A few days later, Grug is out doing his scouting thing when a will-o’-wisp suddenly appears hurting him. The will-o’-wisp attacks him again and disappears. Gob moves up to his cousin. Karina thinks she hits the invisible foe with an arrow. I move up with Gob. Crispin casts see invisibility on himself. Grug and Gob both swing but miss the elusive foe. Karina misses with an arrow. Darro and I both miss it. Crispin casts glitterdust and the will-o’-wisp, Darro, and Gob are glittering and Darro suddenly can’t see. Grug misses with his ax. Greenwolf bites the will-o’-wisp. The will-o’-wisp stings Grug again with electricity. Gob hits the will-o’-wisp as Karina casts a healing burst to help Grug out. Darro and I miss the unseen threat. Crispin casts a force missile and Grug misses with an attack. Greenbow and Greenwolf also miss. The will-o’-wisp decides it has had enough and withdraws. Crispin casts a magic missile at the fleeing creature and it floats to the ground.
Pharast 03/4711
Level 5
Week 4
We face an uneventful week of exploring as we head back to do our governing duties.
Session Date: 04/02/2012
Gozran 04/4711
Level 5
Week 1
We spend our week governing this fair land and claimed more farmland.
Level 5
Week 2
Darro, Grug and I give thanks to Gozrah on Currentseve. We decide to take care of these will-o’-wisps once and for all and so the next day we set out. It takes us a day to get to the island where we believe them to reside. That night we see what we think are will-o’-wisps. We also see orange lights and not the blue lights of normal will-o’-wisps. Could these be will-o’-wisps that do fire damage instead of electric damage?
The next morning Karina casts water walk and away we go. We easily get to the island and discover that it is covered with brambles. We notice that there is no animal or bird life on the island and that seems a little odd to Greenbow and I. Maybe there is something other than will-o’-wisps on this island? Suddenly an orange will-o’-wisp pops up next to Grug and hits him with fire. It hits him again but luckily Karina casts a fire resistance on him. Gob enlarges himself and moves up next to the will-o’-wisp. Greenbow misses with two arrows. Crispin informs us that these are like will-o’-wisps but do fire damage and are associated somehow with goblins. Grug misses with a swing of his ax. Darro and I move up to the will-o’-wisp. Darro tries to bite it but misses. Gob misses with his attack. Greenbow gets into position. Grug misses again and so does Darro with a bite and claw attack. The will-o’-wisp hits with fire on Gob. Gob hits the will-o’-wisp but Greenbow misses. Crispin casts a magic missile on the will-o’-wisp and it falls to the ground.
We make our way to the ruins of an ancient tower. In fact, Crispin believes that the tower has been here for several thousands of years. As we approach the decrepit building, many of us have an overwhelming sense of dread. No wonder the will-o’-wisps like it here! We get to within thirty feet of it and the area around the tower is cleared of brambles. I guess even weeds fear the place! Crispin and I decide to look into the tower and when a will-o’-wisp reaches out and hits Crispin with electrical damage. The will-o’-wisp hits him again and Crispin looks hurt! Grug moves up and smacks the will-o’-wisp with his ax. Crispin goes to Karina for healing which Karina quickly provides. I throw a resistance on Grug. The will-o’-wisp hits Grug, and Grug misses the will-o’-wisp. Crispin casts haste as Karina misses with an arrow. I call stones on it. The will-o’-wisp tries to attack Grug but misses. The will-o’-wisp moves further into the tower with Grug in pursuit. Grug tries to hit the fleeing will-o’-wisp but misses. Greenbow also enters the tower. Crispin again kills a will-o’-wisp with a magic missile. There are no other creatures in the ruined tower, but we do discover steps leading down into a basement. We decide to clear out more of the island before we tackle the basement.
A fire will-o’-wisp appears right next to Karina and hits her. We are really starting to hate how these will-o’-wisps just appear out of nowhere and attack us! Greenbow and I both move up next to it. Grug hits the will-o’-wisp. Karina casts a healing burst. Gob misses as Crispin casts glitterdust-there is no way this will-o’-wisp will disappear on us! The will-o’-wisp does some fire damage on Grug. I miss, but Darro bites it. Karina casts touch of good on Grug who hits the will-o’-wisp and kills it.
An hour later, Crispin is attacked by an electrical one. Crispin takes a step back and casts glitterdust. Grug takes a step up and misses, the will-o’-wisp does not miss in its attack on Grug. Gob misses. Karina takes a step back and casts a touch of good on Grug-he really seems to hit them better when that has been cast on him. Darro and I move to surround it. Crispin casts a magic missile, but unlike the other two he had used a magic missile on, this one is still alive. Grug misses and the will-o’-wisp hits him again. Gob again misses the elusive foe. Karina casts resistance on Grug. Greenbow and Greenwolf both miss. Darro and I also both miss in our attacks. Crispin casts a force bolt on it. Grug misses but the will-o’-wisp hits him. Luckily because of the resistance, he takes no damage. Gob again misses. Karina casts a much needed cure on Grug. Greenbow finally hits a will-o’-wisp. I miss, but Darro, with a swipe of his claw kills the will-o’-wisp.
An hour later, one of the electrical ones pops up next to Darro. Crispin casts a magic missile on it. I move to it and Darro misses with a bite and claw attack. Gob misses it. Karina casts touch of good on Gob. Greenbow misses as Grug moves to position. Crispin casts a force bolt. I hit it with my club and Darro hits with a claw. I guess all Gob needed was a little touch of good because he slays this will-o’-wisp.
Nothing happens at night as we keep a keen out for any blue or orange balls floating in the air. The next morning Crispin is able to read some of the runes in the tower. They are written in ancient Aklo and are blasphemous prayers to an ancient god called Yog-Sothoth. He is, or was, a very chaotic and evil deity. Crispin thinks casting hallow would remove the taint but no one in the party is able to do this. Darro and I head down the stairs. We both become very fearful and flee. Gob and Crispin are the only ones from the party that can stay down there. Crispin detects that the altar is magical. Gob starts to destroy the altar and as it breaks open, he gets hit with a wave of unholy magic and he looks really beat up. This only makes Gob attack the altar more furiously. After a few moments, the altar is reduced to rubble and the overwhelming sense of dread is no longer in the air. We still feel uneasy, but not to the extreme we felt before.
Since we are satisfied that we have removed the will-o’-wisp menace and evilness that has gripped the island, we water walk back to shore and decide to further explore.
I am not sure, but I think Crispin has designs on the ruined tower. He might be thinking of rebuilding it into a proper wizard’s tower dedicated to the arcane arts instead of an evil deity!
Session Date: 04/23/2012
Gozran 04/4711
Week 2-3
We spend the night on the shores of Candlemere Lake, for a well deserved rest. In the morning an elf walks out of the woods with farmers in tow. It seems that one of the farmers sons has gone missing and they are sure that it is the lizardfolk who have kidnapped him. Karina and Grug take the farmers back home, and the elf, Aquadrel, by name joins us.
We get to the lizardfolk area, and pound on the gate like we did last time. It does not go well, and when Greenbow hears a child scream he tells the lizards that any that do not oppose us will live. They take that as a threat and attack. Greenbow knocks down the gate and the battle is on.
The king and his crocodiles attack, along with 10 or so other lizardfolk. There is a very, very large troll sitting in a chair watching the battle. He tells the lizard king that this is his test. When I call stones down on the group, including him, he warns me not to do that to him again or else. He says that he is Ambassador Grunk and tells us not to mess with him.
During the battle, we kill all the lizard things, and Crispin casts a scorching ray at the troll, who ignores the damage. He also seems to heal faster than any troll that I have ever seen. As we move forward to attack, he does a lot of damage, but doesn't seem to kill anyone. He jumps over the stockade, moves around front and attacks again. Gob, final gets some very good shots at him, and he decides to leave.
We find the boy and take him home and head out exploring again. We find some loggers that have been enchanted by a nixie, who just wants her trees replaced. We use three of the feather tokens we have gathered, to replace her tress and she lets the men go, who quickly leave the area. Crispin tells them to contact the mill owner in town which they agree to do.
Continuing on we come across an old elven ruin, and enter. A gate falls on me and Darro, but Gob, Greenbow and I manage to lift it out of the way. A very small creature starts stabbing us and moving away. We finally do enough damage that it runs away. That thing moves very fast. Now to explore the rest of the ruined towers.
Session Date 04/30/2012
Gozran 04/4711
Week 2-3
Level 6
We continue to explore the elven ruins. We find a small statue of the elven goddess Findeladlara. We pick it up for the lady back in town who had pursued our paladin so, uh, suggestively. We explore some of the towers and in one, I see a vine that doesn’t look right, in fact it looks down right evil. I try to cast a flaming sphere on it and it attacks us. It envelops the party in vines like an entanglement spell. Gob starts to hack his way out. The plant tries to attack me, but misses. A grimstalker appears and strikes me and I don’t feel I can move as well as I was able to. Greenbow hits the vine, which we believe to be an assassin vine. I try to hit the vine but miss. Darro tries to break free of the entanglement but can’t. Aquadrel channels some healing. Crispin breaks free of the entanglement, but Gob can’t. The grimstalker and the assassin vine both hit me. Greenbow slashes the grimstalker with his sword and I hit it with my club and I bite him for good measure. He falls to the ground dead. Aquadrel heals me as Crispin casts haste. Gob finally breaks free and moves to attack. I hit the vine with my club and bite this as well. Crispin casts a force bolt at it, however, when Gob smacks the vine it shrivels and dies.
As we head up the stairs in central tower, we see an elven woman. She greets us as her heroes and is glad we killed the vine. She says that every time she went down the stairs the fey attacked her. She says that she is so grateful to us that she would like to dance for us to show her appreciation. Before we can respond, she starts her seductive dance and we are fascinated by it. She says that she has a special dance for Greenbow and motions him towards her. I want to ask if she has something against half-orcs since she did not call Gob and I over, but I am just speechless by her movements. Greenbow walks over to her and she starts kissing him passionately. Crispin is not enamored of the elven woman or her dancing and yells that she is not kissing Greenbow, but rather biting him! He casts a scorching ray at her. I don’t know why he did that since she is such a lovely creature. She wants Gob to protect her. Greenbow realizes he is being ill-used and is no longer looking at the woman with googly eyes. Crispin casts another scorching ray. Knowing that the gig is up, she tries to claw and bite Greenbow and he is hurt. Greenbow stabs the woman with his sword. In the back of my mind I know I should be doing something but I can’t get over how beautiful the woman is! I think Aquadrel feels the same way because he is also staring at the woman. Crispin tries to cast a lightning bolt, but misses the elf. She tries to claw and bite Greenbow again and he really looks hurt. Greenbow tries to stab her again and with his wicked fey sword and his hatred of fey he triumphs. We think she is an advanced sith, but to us, she will always be The Dancing Lady. We decide to spend the night in the tower looking out for the small creature that attacked us earlier, but it does not reappear. It is now time to head back to town and do our governing.
Gozran 04/4711
Week 4
Level 6
It is an uneventful trip back to town.
Desnus 05/4711
Week 1
Level 6
We get near our capital city we see Akiros and Kesten a squad a men approaching us. He is glad that he has met us on the road to town. He says that the town was attacked by a huge Owlbear. We easily pick up the trail as it is wide and we realize we are dealing with a huge owlbear. This owlbear is leaving a lot of destruction in its wake and we see many ruined farms. We follow it right up to its lair which is in the side of a small hill well covered by brush. I go scout out the entrance of the cave and see three tunnels. As I peer into one of the tunnels, I see a large plant that looks like a shambling mound approaching. Greenbow moves into position. The shambling mound misses me but hits Greenbow. It pulls Greenbow right into it and starts enveloping him. Aquadrel hits the shambling mound with an arrow. For the first time I feel such a kinship with bears that I feel I can become one. As I concentrate on bears my gear melds into myself as I start to grow. I then realize that I am a 15 foot bear! Darro is duly impressed by this. Crispin casts a magic missile at the mound. Greenbow tries to escape the deathly entanglement of the mound but can’t. The mound lashes out at me and hurts me badly. I swipe at the mound with a claw. Crispin casts haste. Greenbow still can’t get out of the mound. Gob moves in front of me but misses the the plant-like creature. Aquadrel does some healing. I hit it with one of my claws and a bite. Greenbow still can’t get out and the mound is enjoying it’s meal. The shambling mound hits me again. Gob delivers the killing blow against the shambling mound. Crispin recalls that there is an alchemist in town that wanted some shambling mound sap. We have barely enough time to heal ourselves before the owlbear appears.
Aquadrel shoots an arrow at the approaching monstrosity. I, still in bear form, move towards the owlbear. Darro and I both hit the creature with a bite. Greenbow, still injured with his fight with the shambling mound, seeks healing from Aquadrel. The owlbear delivers a vicious attack against me and I fall to the ground. Gob and Aquadrel both heal me. I get up and Darro and I both take a bite out of the thing. Crispin casts a fireball at it. A fully healed Greenbow hits the owlbear. The owlbear puts me down again with another withering attack. Gob hits the owlbear as Aquadrel heals me again. Darro angry that the owlbear almost killed me twice, launches his own vicious attack that slays the owlbear.
We wonder what caused this owlbear to be so much larger than normal owlbears but we can’t find an answer. We collect our sap and head back to town.
Session Date 06/18/12
Desnus 05/4711
Week 1
Level 6
Crispin gives Lily Teskertin the elven statue that we found which he presents to her in a grand fashion. She gives him her Daddy’s cloak and promises to come visit him, which causes him to blush. We give the alchemist the shambling mound sap and he gives us some healing potions and some gold. We also get a new charter from the Swordlords that want us to kill the trolls that Redeye told us about. The charter is as follows:
News has reached Restov of a band of trolls, operating somewhere in the southern Greenbelt, who are terrorizing the countryside.
The Swordlords of Restov charge you with the dangerous yet necessary task of tracking this menace down and eliminating it from your lands through any means required.
Restov and the country of Brevoy acknowledge the benefit to both our lands if, and when, this threat is eliminated. A gift of 2,000 pieces of gold is promised when this matter is resolved. In addition, this act would do much to reinforce the goodwill between our peoples.
So witnessed under the watchful eye of the Lordship of Restov and authority granted by Lord Noleski Surtova, current Regent of the Dragonscale Throne.
Desnus 05/4711
Week 2
Level 6
We come to a watchtower that looks like it was part of a natural rock outcropping. There are arrow slits which we all shimmy under and enter the tower. I don’t see anyone, but I hear grunting coming from some stairs leading up. We decide to engage whatever is grunting. We see the trolls and they charge. One bites Darro, but the other misses me. Another troll with a really ugly animal approaches us from the rear. Greenbow hits with two arrows as Gob hits the animal. I hit a troll with my club and Darro hits with a bite and his two claws. Crispin casts fear but the trolls seem unaffected. The troll hound moves up and bites Crispin. A troll rends Gob as another one hits Darro and the third misses me. Greenbow puts down the troll hound and Greenwolf takes a bite to try and keep it from regenerating as fast. Gob hits the troll behind him. Darro and I both bite trolls and they taste nasty! Crispin casts flaming sphere on the troll hound. The troll puts Gob down. The troll bites me and the other troll really hurts Darro. Greenbow hits the troll that put down Gob. Gob crawls away. I hit the troll in front of me as Darro also withdraws. Crispin casts a fireball on the two trolls in front of me and moves his flaming sphere on the other troll. Greenbow and I really get hit by a troll. Greenbow and Greenwolf both hit the troll. Gob heals himself. I bite the troll in front of me. Crispin moves the flaming sphere on one of the trolls and he falls over. He casts another fireball and the two trolls finally keel over.
We hear noises and since we are very battered, we call a retreat. We spend the next day camping in the woods healing ourselves and nothing happens.
Desnus 05/4711
Week 2
Level 6
The next day we wait in ambush-position when we spot a patrol meandering near us. One of the trolls in the patrol has two heads! Gob enlarges himself as I hold the line. The troll hounds approach and both Gob and I attack. I get hit by a troll, and Greenbow casts entangle. Crispin casts a fireball. Gob misses the troll hound but I slay the troll hound in front of me. Darro misses the two-headed troll. A troll hits Gob and another one hits me and I go down. Greenbow slays a troll hound as Crispin casts haste. Gob hits one of the trolls and Darro takes a bite of another one. The troll hound bites Gob and the two-headed troll really hits Darro. Greenbow hits the troll hound and the beast falls over. Crispin pours a potion of cure mod down my throat. Gob swings at the troll in front of him and puts it down. I crawl back a little bit and Darro retreats. Greenbow misses with an arrow and Crispin casts a fireball. Gob misses the two-headed troll. I turn back into my normal self. The two-headed troll hits Gob but gets a hit from Greenbow for his troubles. Crispin casts a flaming sphere on the two-headed troll as the troll and Gob exchange blows. Greenbow and Greenwolf both savagely attack the two-headed troll as a fireball from Crispin finishes it off. These trolls, like the other ones, sure gave us a tough fight!
We spend the rest of the day healing and resting all the time keeping an eye out for more patrols.
Desnus 05/4711
Week 2
Level 6
The next morning, we re-enter the fortress and I scout until I come to a throne room where I see a huge troll and two other trolls. Crispin immediately casts haste. I hit the troll that comes up to me. Greenbow casts resist energy and moves into position. Gob cures me from my wounds. A huge troll comes around the corner. The king throws a fireball from a necklace around his neck. Either this troll is immune to the affects of fire or he doesn’t give a flying dwarf! Crispin casts true strike. Greenbow hits the troll in front of him as Gob heals me. The troll hits Greenbow. Crispin casts an acid ray on the troll Greenbow is fighting. Darro misses the big troll. Gob casts a healing spell as Greenbow really gets a good hit with his sword. The troll really hits Greenbow seriously wounding him. Crispin moves, but it is right into the waiting arms of a troll. I cast stone call on the approaching king. Gob hits a troll. The troll in front of Greenbow hits him again. The king advances on me. Crispin misses with a scorching ray. A troll hits Crispin with a savage blow. Greenbow puts the troll he is facing down as Gob slays the troll in front of him. The king hits me and suddenly I am deafened. I call lightning on the king as retaliation. Greenbow pours a healing potion down Crispin’s throat. Gob heals me and it is a good thing for I get hit by the king again. Crispin gulps another potion. I call lightning down on the king again. Gob heals me as I continue to take a beating from the king. Darro gets hit by a troll. The king misses me. Darro puts a troll down. I call down lightning on the king, but this time he evades it. The king hits me again. Crispin casts flaming sphere on the troll. I cannot call lightning this time because of the effect of the deafness. Greenbow hits the king as Crispin casts a flaming sphere. Darro hits the king with a claw and a bite and I call lightning on it. The king hits me. Crispin’s flaming sphere moves onto the king and he casts a magic missile. That is enough to finish the king and another danger has been eliminated from these lands!
Session Date 08/27/2012
Sarenith 07/4711 - Gozran 04/4712
Level 7
We spend this time building our fair city including building a cathedral which Calenhad dedicates to Erastil.
Session Date 09/17/2012
Gozran 04/4712
Level 7
Calenhad approaches us on a beautiful spring morning and says that Baron Maegar Varn’s monthly courier has not arrived. He should have arrived at the beginning of the month. Calenhad wants us to go and investigate. We figure we will head through the pass that the courier would have come as we might discover what became of the wayward courier.
It takes us three days to get to the Varnhold Pass. We see a watchtower that is a thirty feet high. Unfortunately we see no tracks except those that seem real old-maybe even before winter. Crispin casts an arcane eye and all he sees is a long-deserted watchtower. It looks like it was abandoned in orderly fashion, so we are not too worried for the former occupants. When we reach the top of the tower we see a town that Gweneth told us would be where Varnhold is. I ask some mice what happened and they said that the tower’s people left some time before the weather got cold.
Crispin tells us that Varn and his loyal mercenaries called the Varnling Host settled this area. Varn had over one hundred, mostly single, adults with him. He had a few married couples and some artisans. Varnhold was founded about the same time as our beloved city.
We approach the town and see a house on the outskirts. We smell a strong odor of decay and see small humanoid tracks. As we approach the house a huge boar charges us. Greenbow shoots an arrow and strikes the beast. Crispin casts a scorching ray and the smell of a pork dinner fills the air. I miss with an attack, but Darro puts the beast down. Looking around we determine that the former owner was a pig farmer in occupation and in lifestyle.
We come to a tannery and we see hides that we at first think belong to horses, but on closer look I notice that they are centaur hides. We continue on and investigate some more eerily, abandoned buildings. We come to the river that leads to the city proper and Crispin, not wanting to get wet, flys across. Since he is flying he decides to scout out some of the town. He notices that, like the outlying structures, it is strangely deserted. As he flies over the fort he does detect some movement out of the corner of his eye, but is not quick enough to fully see it.
The rest of us ford the river and head to the inn. We enter the common room and see a humanoid figure standing motionless. Crispin thinks it is a spriggan-an evil, chaotic, gnome-like creature. The back of the spriggan’s head is bashed in, yet he is still standing against the wall! Crispin detects a conjuration aura of magic. He has an amber hue which Crispin believes is encasing him. Crispin believes he was the unfortunate victim of a magical trap. There is a book on the floor besides the standing corpse. Crispin does not detect magic on the book, so it seems safe to pick up. The title of the book is called ‘Secrets of the Rashalka Mounds’. There are a few other books on a table. Looking through the books we glean that there were centaurs in the Rashalka area and the Nomen centaurs were an offshoot of that band. They were refugees from a long ago war. Crispin reminds us that we are in the Nomen Heights. It looks like Varnhold might have been at war with the centaurs, but if so where are the victors and the losers? Among the books we learn that two months ago a jade bracelet was found on the banks of a river in a local province. Maegar Varn wanted Maestro Pendrod to investigate. A man named Willis was the discoverer of the bracelet. We search the private rooms and we find the room that belong to Maestro Pendrod and find more papers. We peruse the papers and find a note that Pendrod might have written to himself – “Vordakai-Perhaps a Nomen Centaur god?”.
We next decide to head to a church of Erastil-which is not as nice as our cathedral of Erastil. We go through the graveyard and the latest marker reads Andrisha the Potter and it was dated three weeks ago.
We head to the fort and the door is closed and barred. Crispin dim doors us into the fort so we can unbar the door to let the others in. We start to head over to the tower that anchors this fort. We are on our guard as Crispin believes this is where he saw some movement. As I bang on the closed door, two rocks come flying down upon us. We hail up to the top and two more rocks come flying down. With our diplomacy options exhausted we are now fully ready to defend ourselves. Crispin sees a spriggan from the top of the tower and casts a fireball at it. We hear two loud screams. We break down the door to the tower and see arrow slits. Not wanting to run the gauntlet of those murder holes, Crispin dim doors us to the top, open floor of the tower. We see a trap door leading into the interior. Since we don’t see any smoking spriggans, this must be where they made their escape. We open the door and see two scorched, but alive, spriggans. Crispin casts a fireball and finally the two are dead. As we climb down, we hear chanting and four spriggans rush into the room. I try to hit one with my club but miss. Greenbow activates his shield. Another door to the room opens with spriggans trying to rush in. Crispin luckily gets missed with an attack and casts a scorching ray. I move up to the one in front of Crispin and hit him with my club and a bite. Greenbow hits the one in front of him. I get hit by the spriggan in front of me, and Crispin gets hit with some flying daggers. Crispin casts mirror image on himself to make himself less of a target. I hit and bite the one in front of me. Greenbow puts one down. Greenbow and I both get missed in a spriggan attack. Crispin puts one down. I hit the one in front of me with a swing of my club and a bite. Greenbow hits the one in front of him. The one in front of Greenbow misses. I get hit by a spriggan. Crispin casts haste and we start to dole out more hurt on the spriggans. I hit one with my club. Greenbow puts another one down and wounds another one. I get wounded by multiple attacks. Crispin casts a flaming sphere burning one of them. I put two down. Greenbow puts another down. He gets hit by a spriggan that seems a little bigger than the others. Crispin casts a magic missile at the beast in front of me. A bash of my club puts the one in front of me down. Greenbow hits the one in front of him. I get missed by the one in front of me. Crispin casts a magic missile at the bigger Spriggan. I bite the one in front of me. Greenbow hits the big, nasty spriggan. I get missed, but Greenbow gets hit. Crispin casts a magic missile at the chief spriggan. I hit the one in front of me with a club and a bite. Greenbow hits the chief, but in turn he gets hit and goes down. Crispin casts burning hands at the chief since he is looking really hurt. Crispin summons a water elemental between himself and the chief. I go and call lightning down on him. Crispin’s elemental puts the chief down and we are all badly wounded. Karina is quite angry at being left out of the fray, and I don’t like the look Darro is giving me either.
We thought the town was at war with the centaurs, but maybe it was spriggans or it could be that the spriggans are just opportunists who saw an abandoned city ripe for habituation. Whatever the case, we certainly have a mystery on our hands!
Session Date 2012/10/14
We spend the night in the fort, and heal up. Searching thru we find many treasures including a beautiful darkwood and ivory longbow that Greenbow and Kabal tells us is of centaur make. We also find a map with the location of the centaur camp. The next day, a patrol from home shows up and Karina is told that her brother is deathly ill, but Astrella will stay and help us in the exploration, so Karina heads back to town with the patrol. They also told us before they left that the Baron and council approved hiring some new adventurers to map out the lands, but to not tackle anything difficult and we would get their report monthly and do what is needed.
The same day we left for the Nomen camp. Two days later we are approached by eight centaurs, and they put on a show of charging towards us. Crispin is able to speak their language, and when we show them the longbow, they become quite friendly and take us to their camp to meet their leader, Aecora. We give her the bow, and after much discussion, we mention the name Vordaki and the bracelet, at which point she pauses, and becomes quite solemn. She tells us of the Valley of the Dead and that Vordaki was a long slumbering warlord off a trail at the end of the valley. The centaurs were tasked with watching the Valley but if the humans were curious about the valley, then perhaps something happened. She also asked us to find her daughter that may have broken the taboo and entered the valley, so we agree.
We first stop at the spriggan camp, but it was empty, so we head back to the Valley of the Dead. During our first night camping there, we are attacked by zombies. The next day, we are attacked by two cyclops zombies, so we rest again one more evening. During the night a creature approaches and attacks Crispin only, and after several attacks he falls unconscious as the creature is making him less and less wise about things. We finally kill the creature, and Astrella restores some of his wisdom, and we try and sleep the rest of the night.
-- david
Papa.DRB
Session Date 11/11/12
Gozran 04/4712
Level 8
We continue onwards on our trek. After sometime, we see a stone tower rising out of a river. Maybe at some point it was on an island, but that island might have been reclaimed by the river long ago. There are plumes of smoke rising from the top of the tower so someone might be home. The river water is clear except around the tower at that point it is brackish. Greenbow sees three different sets of footsteps on the bank of the river. The oldest are human tracks going towards the tower, newer tracks are humanoid tracks leading away from the tower, and the newest are unshod horse-like tracks heading to the tower. We wonder if these tracks could be our missing centaur. As we are pondering this conundrum, two wyverns come flying from the hills behind us and alit in front of Darro and Greenbow. Both Darro and Greenbow both get hit by the wyverns and I swipe one in return since I have been traveling in bear form. Greenbow hits the one in front of him and Crispin casts a fireball that encompasses both of them. Astrella casts a healing spell. Darro gets hit by a wyvern again. Darro, Greenbow, and I both hit a wyvern. Crispin casts a forcebolt at a wyvern. Astrella casts a bless. Greenbow and Darro both get hit by a wyvern. I shred the one in front of me with my claws and Darro, not to be outdone, kills the other one. We head to a nearby waterfall and see a cave behind it which hasn’t been used in some time. We decide to spend the rest of the night in the cave.
The next morning Astrella casts a water walk so we can get to the tower easier. We cross the river and come to a small beach. The only entrance to the tower is a dark opening. Greenbow looks for tracks and sees that the human went in and came out. The humanoid came out and the unshod went in. The opening leads to a dark passage way that has small, shallow alcoves. Midway down there is an archway with runes. We check for secret passageways in the alcoves and find none. Crispin thinks that the runes were a ward and they were expended. In the third alcove the human tracks stopped and turned around. The unshod tracks kept on and humanoid passed this way on its way out. We see a broken vase with another bracelet and some old gold coins. Crispin wants to see if the coins would be worth more to a collector due to their old age. We find rubble like there was a wall that was broken out of. This is where the humanoid tracks start. We come to a diamond shape room that shows where the unshod horse-like tracks came in and went to the middle of the room. There was a battle where a horse-like creature fell in the middle of the room then vanished. As I look down the corridor, I see a zombie Cyclops coming down the hall. Greenbow moves into the room as I move to block the entrance. I hit the thing with my club. The undead being swings at me but misses. Crispin moves into the room and casts haste. Astrella moves up into the room. Greenbow hits the zombie with an arrow. I hit the thing with my club. Crashing through the opposite wall another zombie Cyclops appears. It tries to swing at me but misses. Crispin casts a lightning bolt at it. Astrella channels positive energy and both zombies are not happy. Greenbow hits the newest arrival with his sword and kills it. Darro and I both kill the one in front of us. The tracks match the humanoid tracks we have been following. We wonder if the zombie Cyclops that attacked us the other day was the same one that made the tracks we have been seeing.
We continue on until we come to a room partially submerged. I walk over to the water’s edge and I am attacked by an elasmosaurus. Greenbow quickly launches an attack but misses. Crispin casts a wall of fire right through the creature. The creature, not wanting to continue to get burned, moves up and away from the wall of fire and hits me. I cast an ice storm at it causing it some discomfort. Astrella casts a healing burst. Greenbow hits it with an arrow. Crispin casts magic missile at the dinosaur. I call lightning down on it. Greenbow misses with an attack. I call another bolt of lightning on the beast. Astrella tries to heal me and gets hit for her trouble. Greenbow hits with arrows and kills the large reptile. We see in the water stairs heading down. We take some sips from a potion of water breathing and walk down. After a small tunnel we see stairs leading up.
We come to a room that has a lot of pottery which Crispin says is cyclopean in nature. We come to a room with many life-like statues. It looks like they are guarding something but we don’t know what it is. We see no other obvious exits, but Greenbow notices that there are trap doors above each statue. I prop Greenbow up, but he cannot move the trap door one way or the other. We figure that this room must have some sort of exit, so we search for secret doors. We find one and as we open it up, the doors above the statues open and the room fills with water. Two Cyclop zombies step out of the alcoves and Astrella casts a healing burst at the zombies which negatively affects them. One of the zombies hits Astrella as a response. The room is almost filled with water and we are grateful that we still have some time on the water breathing potion. Crispin casts an acid ray on the zombie in front of Astrella. Greenbow, in a savage attack puts one of the zombies down. Darro and I both attack the last remaining zombie. Darro gets hit as Crispin casts a forcebolt. Greenbow, off his victory from the other zombie puts this one down as well.
We swim out to where we fought the elasmosaurus wet, but still alive. We make plans to revisit this room.
Session Date 11/18/12
Gozran 04/4712
Level 8
I was turned around in the water and thought we emerged in the room where we had fought the dinosaur, but we had actually moved forward. That is why I am not an aquatic druid. We come to a room that has three altars and I am sure it is not dedicated to any goodly religion. Crispin says that the figure that is central to this room is Charon, the horseman of death. I am not sure if he is good or not but doesn’t sound like he is. Crispin sees blood in a basin in one of the altars and Greenbow says that the blood can’t be more than a week old. We wonder if it might be centaur blood. As we open the door that exits this room, the altars erupt in cold ‘fire’ and we are all ‘burned’. We continue on until we come to a room where we see a humanoid creature made up of several water-type creatures – a piscodaemon. It asks us in our minds in whose name do we come in. Astrella thinks Serenrae and I think Gozreh, but it is Crispin who says Vordaki. It then tells us we can pass. We pass through the room avoiding the deadly sentinel.
We continue on until we come to a centaur manacled to a wall. I break her chains. She seems conscious, but paralyzed. We put the ring of freedom of movement on her and she can now move, she says she was fighting an undead cyclops when another one suddenly appeared in the room, touched her and she was paralyzed. In a moment they were not in that room anymore but this room. She was manacled and has been tortured daily by the undead that paralyzed her. She felt that he was a little more intelligent than the zombies and more skeletal in nature. He had a gem in one of his eye sockets. We think this must be Vordaki-especially after he told her that she was an honored guest of Vordaki. If this is how Vordaki treats his guests, then we would hate to see how he treats his enemies. The centaur is surprised to see us and asks what are we doing down here. We say that we are looking for Xamanthe and if that was her. She confirms that it is. We then tell her that her mother is worried about her and sent us to go find her. We also tell her that we are looking for the humans from Varnhold. She confirms that the centaurs were watching them, but then one day they all just disappeared. Since we know Vordaki can appear, paralyze someone and disappear again, we wonder if he somehow took the whole village, and if he did, where are they? We ask her why she came to this place and she said that she wanted to see for herself what her people were guarding against all these years. We offer to take her back to her people, but she offers to stay with us. We all decide though that the best course of action would be to leave this place and rest for the night. We don’t want Vordaki to appear and have to fight him while we are in a weakened condition. Unfortunately, we feel that the piscodaemon guard blocking the way out might not take too kindly to us leaving. We prepare for a fight.
We make our exit when the piscodaemon suddenly appears in front of us. He mentally tells us that Xamanthe cannot leave. I mentally think of what he can do to himself, and the battle is on. I receive the full brunt of his attacks and I am reeling. I hit him with my club as Darro moves up and misses with a bite. Greenbow hits him with his sword. Astrella gives me some healing from a wand and I feel better. Crispin casts true strike on himself. The creature attacks me again. Xamanthe shoots him with two arrows but misses. Darro misses with his claws and bite. Greenbow misses but Greenwolf bites the monstrosity. Astrella does another healing on me to keep me in the fight. Crispin casts a scorching acid ray but it seems to have no affect on the piscodaemon. The piscodaemon launches another savage attack on me and I go down. Xamanthe misses with two more arrows. Darro hits with a claw but it doesn’t seem to do any damage. Greenbow really hits the beast and it looks hurt. Astrella really heals me and my life-blood stops flowing out of my wounds. Crispin casts resilient sphere, but the creature transports out of it. Xamanthe cures me some more and I stand up. Darro bites the beast, but it has no affect. Astrella casts an aura of protection to stop the creature’s onslaught. Crispin casts a spell but it doesn’t seem to work. The creature hits Greenbow hoping that he can dispatch Greenbow as quickly as he did me. Xamanthe casts flameblade. I miss but Darro hits with a claw and a bite but it doesn’t seem to have any affect. Crispin casts magic missile at the creature and we know that he feels it. He emits a stinking cloud. Xamanthe, nauseated, misses. I hit with my club but it does not seem to do much damage. Greenbow hits with his sword. Crispin casts another magic missile. The piscodaemon hits Greenbow. I give him a solid whack with my club and the piscodaemon falls.
We retreat to our waterfall cavern and heal up from the massive damage we had taken from the cold fire trap and the piscodaemon. We spend the next day crafting a raft so we will not have to expend water walks or water breathings to cross the river. Xamanthe decides that she has had enough and wishes to return to her mother. We wish her well as we continue on our task of discovering what happened to the missing village.
The next morning we use our newly created raft to cross the river. Crispin has a spell which can shrink the raft so we can keep it with us. We successfully return to the room with the altars and noticed that the door that we had opened that set off the traps – the same door that we had left opened is now closed – looks like something or someone has been here since we left. There is another door in the room and we decide to see what is behind that door. Crispin casts a protection spell on me and I stride to the door. Everyone else stays in the corridor – no sense in everyone getting burned by the cold-fire. I open the door and - nothing. The rest of the party moves to join me and we continue our exploration. We come to a large room and as we start exploring it, two soul eaters appear – one in front of me and the other in front of Astrella. These are of the same creature that attacked Crispin the other day. I hit the one in front of me with my club but Darro misses on all attacks. Crispin casts scorching ray on the one in front of Astrella. Greenbow misses the one in front of Astrella. Astrella and I are both fortunate that we get missed by the soul eaters. Astrella hits hers with her scimitar. I hit mine twice with my club. Darro misses in his attack. Crispin casts a magic missile. Greenbow again misses with an attack. Our luck runs out as both Astrella and I both get hit and we both can’t seem to remember some of our higher spells. Astrella misses with an attack. I hit mine with my club but Darro again misses with all his attacks. Crispin scores another hit with a magic missile. Greenbow misses and I get hit again by the soul eater. Luckily Astrella gets missed but she is able to connect on the thing. I hit the soul eater with my club but Darro again misses. Crispin casts a third magic missile which has no problem hurting these things. The soul eater in front of me misses as Astrella casts bless. I and Darro miss with all our attacks. Greenbow hits with his sword and the soul eater dissipates. Its mate is not much longer for the world and we are left alone in the room.
Glad to see you're still posting these. I enjoy reading them!
Glad to see you're still posting these. I enjoy reading them!
FYI, there will be only one more posting by Searok. The campaign ended with an almost TPK and we are moving on to Shattered Star, starting up January 6th, 2013. That is if the world doesn't end tomorrow!
-- david
Aw, that's a shame. No interest in keeping the Kingmaker going?
Aw, that's a shame. No interest in keeping the Kingmaker going?
From a DM perspective, no.
Of the original 5 characters, only 2 remained and 1 of them, Kabal, was gone for good, ie. could not be brought back. The "newest" player, who is very new to Pathfinder (3.x) but a long time BECMI DnD player, was playing the cleric and she is not one that normally plays any kind of spell caster and her character was irretrievable also..
Also, the Baron (was a player) and the Baroness (was an NPC specifically designed for the Baron and Book 3), were NPCs. Also, there were 2 other players that had come and gone, so from my perspective, it was limping along anyway, and seemed best to just give it a good burial.
I'm sure that Richie, aka Searok, will start up a journal with the new campaign and I'll either post it here or PM you if you like his journal style so you can follow it if you wish.
-- david
Session Date 12/09/12
Gozran 04/4712
Level 8
We come to a room in which we find a locked, secret door. I take a few whacks at it with my club, but I don’t seem to do much damage to it. Greenbow takes a few whacks at it and it breaks apart much easier. After about thirty minutes of Greenbow viciously attacking the door, it finally breaks down. We see a bunch of drawings on a wall all focused on a single eye across the room. Crispin tries to figure out what the eye does as he determines that the eye is magical. Astrella pushes on the eye and nothing happens. I push on the eye and nothing happens. Greenbow pushes on the eye and again nothing happens. We can’t figure out what it does, so we decide to leave it alone for now.
We next come to a cavern with a huge tar pit in the middle. Greenbow thinks that water walking spells would get us across. Astrella does not have any prepared, so we will have to wait for the next day. We barricade ourselves into a corridor and spend an uninterrupted, but fitful sleep.
The next day we ‘water’ walk across the tar. We are about half way across the tar pit when a fireball comes flying down at us. Crispin and Greenbow cast fire protection spells on themselves. Astrella quickly moves out of the way. I cast a flaming sphere on the undead mage that is raining fire upon us. Greenbow shoots an arrow and scores a nice hit on the undead spell caster and the creature is grievously wounded. The mage casts another fireball down upon us. Crispin casts an acid ray at him and he falls to the ground. I grab the body before it sinks in the tar. Crispin says it was a good thing that I did it as his necklace of fireballs might have exploded. We continue on until we find a human corpse. Gunderson was this poor soul’s name in life. We see a ghostly human come floating out at us. I hit the ghostly being and Darro attacks it with both of his claws and his maw. The apparition hits me and I feel very weakened. Greenbow shoots an arrow and the ghost evaporates. Maybe Gunderson will now be at peace.
We walk into a banquet hall and see table with bodies sitting at it with the top of there heads removed. We obviously do not like the looks of this room and we prepare for battle. As we begin to prepare, we are attacked by zombie cyclops. I turn into my bear form while Crispin casts haste and Greenbow and Astrella move into position. I chomp one of the zombies as the other zombies move into position around the other members of our brave band. I get hurt a little as the zombies attack me. Crispin, confronted by a zombie, turns invisible. Greenbow launches a savage attack with some swipes of his sword. Greenbow’s loyal animal companion also launches an attack and one of the zombies fall. Darro and I viciously attack a zombie, but we get viciously attacked in return. The other zombie attacks Greenbow. Crispin casts a magic missile at the zombie attacking Greenbow. Greenbow launches an attack of his own and the zombie falls. Darro and I both attack and again we both get attacked in return. Crispin casts magic missiles and the two remaining zombies fall.
We next come to a throne room where a ghostly Cyclops floats down, greets us, and tells us we are all tired. Surprisingly, we do all of a sudden feel tired. We assume this is Vordaki and he offers Greenbow a real nice weapon if only he will sit out of the fight, Greenbow seems to agree with this and makes no moves against Vordaki. I hit Vordaki with my club but Darro misses. Astrella uses a scroll to break the enchantment on Greenbow. Vordaki casts a spell and suddenly I can’t move. Greenbow misses in his attack. Crispin casts haste. Darro hits with a claw but Vordaki takes no damage. Astrella frees me from my enchantment. Vordaki casts a spell and I feel that everything I ever loved has been destroyed and I die. Astrella casts touch of good on Greenbow. Luckily she did it just in time as Vordaki tries to influence Greenbow again but this time it doesn’t work. Greenbow launches a follow-up attack. Crispin casts protection from evil on Greenbow. Darro hits with his claw but again it doesn’t seem to do any damage. Astrella casts a touch of good then steps back. Vordaki casts and now Crispin can’t move. Greenbow, our only main melee combatant, attacks. Darro again misses. Astrella removes paralysis on Crispin. Vordaki summons a water elemental who hits Crispin. Greenbow, trying his best to keep Vordaki at bay, keeps attacking. Crispin casts a scorching ray on Vordaki. Darro again misses. Astrella casts breath of life on me and I want to get back into the fight. Darro is paralyzed. Crispin gets hit by the water elemental and he is hurt. Greenbow keeps pressure on Vordaki. Crispin dimension doors away from the elemental. I stand up and cast a spell, but it doesn’t seem to do any affect. Astrella casts touch of good on me. The water elemental smacks both me and Astrella. Vordaki hits Greenbow viciously and Greenbow returns the favor by hitting Vordaki. Crispin casts fireball. Astrella casts a curing spell on me. The elemental smacks me. Vordaki and Greenbow exchange blows. Crispin casts scorching ray on the elemental. I drink a healing potion. Astrella casts another healing spell on me. The elemental slams Astrella. Vordaki dominates Greenbow and tells him to run away which the dominated Greenbow complies with. I try to hit the elemental but misses. Astrella casts a holy smite. The elemental hits me. Crispin casts another fireball. I miss the elemental but the elemental slams me and Vordaki hits me. Crispin casts an ice storm. I finally hit the elemental. Vordaki hits me and I go down for the last time. Crispin, seeing the battle as lost dimension doors to where he thinks Greenbow will be. Astrella does not last much longer than I as all of the elemental focuses his rage on her. Vordaki dimension doors to where Crispin is and Crispin is able to grab Greenbow and continue to dimensional door to safety. I do not think they stopped until they reached the safety of our kingdom.
My tale ends here for Vordaki made a meal of our brains and the heads of Astrella, Darro and I decorated Vordaki chambers for some time.
If you like Richie's style of writing HERE is the new Shattered Star campaign journal.