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HeresDaryl
Pie
(10/23/02 3:10 am)
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Daryl's Campaign - Recovered Temple
Changed the title of the thread to make it easier to Identify =0)
Hi folks,
This is hopefully the start of a lengthy thread, and I know that theres no shortage of campaign logs on the board already, but I'm doing a couple of things a little differently, and since I can't tell my players about the little twists and turns (and the unobservant gimps will probably miss most of my subtle genius) I think it will be Cathartic for me to keep a log here.
The Background:
We're in about 9-10 sessions now, with 4 of the 5 PCs at level 4 and one at level 3. As to the setting and the campaign...I too am running the campaign in the Realms. I am using the town of Yartar for Hommlet and Beliard instead of Rastor (the details of both are much the same, just changed the names). The village of Nulb is a couple of days upriver from Yartar and the Old Temple, the Moathouse and the CRM are all in the Dessarin hills.
I started my party in Waterdeep where they took work in a Highway Militia, set up to counter the increasing Bandit activity on the roads to the Silver Marches. This activity is a side-effect of the repopulation of a series of ruins and an old dwarven mining complex by a crazed cult seeking to call forth their Deity.
This Cult has received funding and magical support from the Arcane Brotherhood of Luskan, who are trying to stir up trouble for Waterdeep, and so leave the Silver Marches isolated against their predations. The Host tower of the Arcane believes that the Cult of Tharizdun is a shambolic bunch of misfits who are merely trifling with Demon summoning, which should be enough to keep the Lords Alliance occupied. If they knew what the Cult was really attempting they would almost certainly withdraw their aid and probably try to eliminate the Cult. The Doomdreamers are aware of this and so try to keep a low profile until their time has come.
The bandit raiders were in fact in the employ of the CRM, trying to garner extra supplies and wealth, as well as disrupt traffic to the North. The PCs set out to locate the raiders and put a stop to their activity...
The PCs:
Ensign James Reyburn - Human Ftr3 (Dragoon, with Sabre & Pistol)
Rock Axehammer (I know, I know, I don't pick 'em!) - Shield Dwarf Ftr4 (aiming for Dwarven Defender)
Valdar Curzun - Gold Dwarf Clr4
Daniel - Strongheart Halfling Rog3/Rgr1
Druss (the self proclaimed Legend) - Human Bbn2/Ftr2 (any David Gemmell fan will know the concept for this character)
This is their status after a few chases and battles with various Human and Goblinoid bandits. In their pursuit, they set up base in Yartar to look for the Bandit fortress they believe is in the Hills across the river.
NB: en route to Yartar they stumbled upon a pair of Luskanite message riders raping a local woman, having already killed her husband. Needless to say, the PCs butchered both and escorted the woman home. They instructed her family to bury the bodies and burn anything that bore an insignia or seal, and say nothing to anyone. Then they rode on and forgot about it.
Next...Dragon in the Moathouse
Edited by: HeresDaryl at: 10/23/03 7:50 am
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HeresDaryl
Pie
(10/23/02 4:10 am)
Reply
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Re: yet another campaign log, with a few changes...
The party set out cross country towards the Moathouse, spending 2 days travelling and running across (and rolling over) a small Hobgoblin patrol each day. About a half a day from the moathouse they meet and speak to Ol' Del. At this point Jimmy's player had to go to work, so he decides Jimmy will volunteer to escort Del through the goblinoid infested hills back to Yartar.
The other 4 PCs push on, getting to the moathouse the following morning. Daniel sneaks ahead, checking for traps or ambushes, and finds the blood smear on the flagstones. He calls the others into the courtyard and goes to the steps. Rock has his crossbow loaded and Druss has an arrow nocked in his longbow.
Daniel gets to the top of the stairs just in time to make a listen roll. He hears a grating, scraping noise coming from just inside the half collapsed doors, and manages to just shout a warning. Then U appears, and in the surprise round flies above the huddle of Rock, Druss & Valdar. Daniel throws a dagger, and does 2 damage (using my HP system gives U 75 hits - the highest among the PCs is Rock, on 32) the other 3 stand there, dribbling.
First full round - Druss hits with his bow then drops it and draws his greataxe, Rock misses and Valdar casts shield of faith. U starts hovering and attacks with his bite and claws. Nails Druss with a bite and scratches the other two with one claw each. Daniel throws another dagger, hits again for a few hits. The next 2 rounds follow suit. Daniel throws daggers and the other 3 swing their assorted axes (but being blinded have a 50% miss chance), while U keeps wailing on them in melee.
In the 4th round Druss hits hard and U breathes on him, dropping him unconscious. Valdar drags him away while Rock keeps swinging. Valdar gets Druss healed and up again. Rock takes a nasty bite, but shrugs it off and catches U sweetly with his War axe. U has had enough of melee and flies to the tower and breathes on Druss and Valdar, dropping Valdar this time.
The other 3 keep attacking with their recovered ranged weapons and U is too impatient to wait to recover his breath weapon. He swoops on Rock and savages him with all his melee attacks, dropping him to 1 hit...but doesn't have any movement left to climb back out of melee range. Druss enters rage and charges across the courtyard, using his full power attack adds up to 1d12+13 damage, if he hits. He rolls a 19 and smacks U good, rolls damage and gets a 12!! 25 damage in one clean shot!
Valdar goes next and hits for 10 - his max damage - while Daniel hits with his hand crossbow and Rock swings with his partial action (he's clobbered) and connects...U finally drops, and not one character dead!
Next session is tonight, so I'll post tomorrow or Friday
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HeresDaryl
Pie
(10/24/02 4:50 am)
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Re: yet another campaign log, with a few changes...
The characters start searching the ground floor of the moathouse, and are rejoined by Jimmy, who borrowed a fast horse when he got back to Yartar with Del, and galloped through the night to catch up with his mates.
They spend several hours, very thoroughly combing through the ruins, and finally encounter the ooze. No one gets so much as scratched by it, but they lose Druss' masterworked greataxe and the newly found +1 mace before killing it.
They decide to barricade themselves into one of the rooms to rest for the night, and it goes peacefully except for the occasional strange noise from below. In the morning they discover that Jimmy's horse and Daniel's pony have been stolen (by Chatrilon, who followed after Jimmy on foot, and arrived during the night). They decide to deal with the dungeons first, then track their mounts. Chatrilon watches unnoticed from the corner tower.
They proceed in standard formation down the stairs, Daniel going first, checking for traps. At the bottom he gets jumped by the gnolls and gets badly hurt. Since he's only a little @#%$, he manages to scramble back and let Rock engage in melee (I ruled that the stairs were only 5ft wide). Druss tries firing his bow over the dwarf at the tall gnolls and hits the first time. Rock finished the first gnoll off quickly.
He gets some bad rolls on the second gnoll, and it succeeds in hitting him a couple of times. Druss loses his aim and eventually ends up shooting Rock in the back. Rock needs some help and Druss decides the bow isn't working, so his player tells me he's gonna try to jump over the dwarf and tackle the gnoll. I do some quick calc and figure the DC. He rolls and gets a total of 7! Not what I had in mind.
I rule that he craches into the Dwarf (in his spiked armour - taking 6 damage) and they both fall prone. Jimmy, who has been readying an action for 3 rounds, finally gets to shoot his pistol and hits. The gnoll smacks Druss while he's prone, but Rock jumps up and finishes the injured beastie off.
They search the rest of the dungeon and torture chamber, Valdar making VERY short work of the Ghast & Ghouls and then find Spugnoir. After Druss and Rock fail miserably in convincing him that they are friends, Valdar finally offers to heal him and is generally a good guy. Spugnoir offers to join them for a short while and they agree.
Note: Remember the two Luskanites they killed way back when? Well the secular authorities of Waterdeep aren't at all concerned about two missing Luskan messenger boys (probably deserted and headed south to Baldurs Gate or some such). But the Council of High Captains of Luskan complain directly to the Church of Tyr in Waterdeep, who feel obliged to investigate. They set one of their best men to the task, Justicar Edborn (Pal4/Rog5) who spend days searching out and questioning anyone who was on the road between Waterdeep and Triboar during the days in question.
At last he has a lead. The two riders were seen passing a Caravan coming south 3 days out of Waterdeep, then the same Caravan saw an unsavoury bunch of freebooters travelling North later that same day. That was the last sighting of the Luskanites, so Justicar Edborn is setting out north to find the freebooters and see if they have any information...
Next session is Sunday night, so I'll post an update Monday or Tuesday
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SSShadowcat7
Pie
(10/24/02 8:33 am)
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Re: yet another campaign log, with a few changes...
Just wanted to chime in here and say I like what you've done so far. Keep it up! I always enjoy reading another log...and I know there are others here who do the same but stay hidden.
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HeresDaryl
Pie
(10/25/02 2:30 am)
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Re: yet another campaign log, with a few changes...
Thanks for the feedback shadowcat. I know theres not much to say when you're reading a campaign log (unless you think someone made a mess of it) but I'm glad to know someone is reading it and I hope there are others looking in aswell
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HeresDaryl
Pie
(10/29/02 7:39 am)
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Re: yet another campaign log, with a few changes...
Okay, having just found Spugnoir, they milk him for as much info on the layout as he can provide from his previous visits. So they have a rough idea of what chambers are where, how to get to the Crypt (which they naturally assume will be the epicentre of any trouble) and the wellroom.
Unfortunately, they are not particularly quiet in their preparations, so Gren is well prepared. She has all the skeletons in room 24, already bolstered and bless cast on her group. This fight takes a long time before they finally hack through the skeletons and corner Gren and the gnolls. They hack Gren and one gnoll down but the other gnoll, badly injured, flees through the secret passage.
The party pursues and meet the rest of the gnolls in room 30, fully alerted by the noise of the last battle and ready with volleys of arrows. A fairly close fight ensues, with Druss getting dropped by Garrik to -9 before stabilising. However, Druss had cought him good before that and Daniel got in a sneak attack with his shortbow to finish him off. They managed to kill the gnolls and then searched the room, finding Geynor Ton's journal.
This leads them to the conclusion that the wellroom is the major target, so they decided to explore the crypt first and waltzed through the ghouls (and ghast on the stairs). Spugnoir stayed at the entrance to watch for anyone coming from 32, but the 2 remaining (relatively) sane priests have heard the fighting and are not sure whats happening, so they've decided to wait it out and see who somes to them (hoping its Garrik or reinforcements of course).
Next session the party should enter 32 and fight Geynor Ton & Ysslansh, and Chatrilon will choose his moment to join in the fight...
should be good
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HeresDaryl
Pie
(10/30/02 4:23 am)
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Re: yet another campaign log, with a few changes...
Assuming that Chatrilon, Geynor Ton & Ysslansh are defeated, that means the PCs will have swept through the entire moathouse above the actual obelisk in a very little over 24 hours, with no opportunity for any of the excavation crew to get word out to the CRM or Yartar (Hommlet, remember?). How soon should I have the wagon arrive - if at all, and presuming Chatrilon informed Dunrat that he was shadowing a group going to scout the moathouse, would Dunrat wait to see if this group returned intact, or would he send a group to the moathouse to finish the adventurers off??
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Siobharek 
Orc
(10/30/02 4:59 am)
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Re: yet another campaign log, with a few changes...
First off, let me just say that I too enjoy reading your logs. Sounds like you run a game with a lot of close shaves for the PCs.
The wagon appears in 48 hours (somewhere it says 72 hours after the PCs enter the moat house for the first time). I really don't see Dunrat as someone who would risk anything for a merc assassin. If Chat doesn't report back, I'd say that Dunrat's reasoning would be that Chatrilon had it coming.
If no one is there to greet the wagon when it arrives, the driver may investigate the dungeons. More likely, though (with all the evidence of combat and the corpses lying around), he'll proceed to Yartar (maybe releasing the grick into teh dungeons in the process) and make some very, very discreet enquiries. Maridosen may catch hold of him very shortly and bring him to Dunrat. Then he'll know that something will be up, but not necessarily what. What happens after that will depend largely on what you want to happen next. A suggestion would be giving the PCs a chance to catch up with Dunrat on his way to Nulb (see the FAQ for teh entry there on Dunrat going to Nulb).
Remember Dunrat's metal spy camera. He will have a good chance of detecting the PCs once they go to the mill.
Siobharek
...it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. |
HeresDaryl
Pie
(10/30/02 5:21 am)
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Re: yet another campaign log, with a few changes...
Thanks for that Siobharek...good to know you're enjoying it. Assuming the PCs survive the remaining fights (and the Grell is going to cause alot of trouble I suspect - no one in the group has any sort of flying or levitating ability!) then they should be out of there and on their way back to Yartar at least a day before the Wagon even arrives at the moathouse.
If they push on, as I think they will, and try to finish the whole moathouse in one sweep, then the actions of the wagon & grick won't matter I guess. Now that they have Geynor Ton's journal they will probably investigate the mill, so I'll have a read of what was suggested for Dunrat and take it from there.
The wellroom, and presumably the Obelisk cavern are tonight, so I'll post tomorrow and let you all know how it went.
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HeresDaryl
Pie
(10/31/02 4:00 am)
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Re: yet another campaign log, with a few changes...
HA! Shows what I know!
Druss, Valdar, Jimmy & Rock decided to explore the tunnel maze (area 34) before investigating the well room, and eventually stumbled across the hidden shrine (34A). They examined everything, and with some good search rolls found all of the hidden items in the column.
Rock then insisted that activating all the items together was bound to reveal a hidden treasure stash (I'm still not sure if his player believed this or was just acting in character for a greedy dwarf??). Anyhow, they summoned up the eye in the altar and rolled their Will saves.
Druss, with the lowest will save in the group (+1), rolled a 19 and was spared. All the others failed and I got them to roll %. Jimmy & Rock got away light, taking 4 & 5 temp CON damage respectively. Valdar unfortunately lost 2 point of permanent wisdom! Suck-tastic!
After alot of recriminations and shouting at one another they finally left, deciding to return to town to heal up (so its just aswell I got the info on the Grick-wagon etc. from you, Siobharek) before coming back to search out and investigate the Obelisk referred to in Geynor Ton's journal.
They picked up Spugnoir & Daniel (whose player didn't show) on the upper level and tried to get some distance between them and whatever was left in the Moathouse. They rested that night, and thats when Chatrilon struck. He made his death attack on Rock while he was on watch.
He did 21 damage, leaving Rock on 5 hits, but Rock made the save and bellowed everyone awake. Chatrilon still had the jump on Rock and tried another sneak attack, hoping to at least kill the dwarf before fleeing, but I rolled low and he missed. Rock swung and hit him and a couple of the other tried attacking from the ground.
Chatrilon made his escape the next round and turned invisible, slipping away, back to town and the Mill. He does not realize that the PCs know about the mill and will be investigating once they return.
The party got back to town and set about selling their loot, buying equipment and getting Valdar restored. They went to Canoness Y'dey for the restoration and managed to get some background info on the cult of the Elder Elemental Eye. Rock also managed to completely insult and alienate her by calling her a thieving bandit when she asked for a 500gp donation for the casting of restoration on Valdar. Ah well...
That was about it for last night, aside from more arguing. Oh, and they heard that a tall, stern looking stranger had arrived from Waterdeep and was looking for them...he is staying in the Inn and will likely be there whenever they show their faces.
Next session is Sunday night - so I'll post Monday or Tuesday
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ZansForCans
Pie
(11/1/02 9:15 am)
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Re: yet another campaign log, with a few changes...
Quote:
Rock also managed to completely insult and alienate her by calling her a thieving bandit when she asked for a 500gp donation for the casting of restoration on Valdar.
Hilarious! That was a good read. Keep 'em coming 
I can't believe they actually summoned the eye! Well, I hope that taught them a lesson to be a little more cautious with other things that scream completely and totally evil.
If you need more for a wagon encounter, Tristan did a nice setup in this thread, if you haven't seen it already. It's can be easily tailered for a party's strength and condition since it's a bonus encounter for story (at least, IMC). My group is in the moathouse (just did in Gren) with 2 hours left until the wagon arrives so I think it will be impossible for them to miss it.
Group Editing & Authoring Support
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HeresDaryl
Pie
(11/4/02 3:02 am)
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Re: yet another campaign log, with a few changes...
Well, a much better session all round. They got alot of things resolved, picked up a new member and hardly argued at all!!
The Cast:
James Reyburn (Jimmy) - Human Ftr4
Rock Axehammer (dumbass) - Shield Dwarf Ftr4
Druss (self-proclaimed Legend) - Human Bbn2/Ftr3
Daniel Cade (wee mad Dan) - Halfling Rog3/Rgr1
Valdar Nurkush - Gold Dwarf Clr4 (Clanggeddin)
& the newbie... Mylan of the Forgotten Forest - Moon Elf Drd3 (Silvanus)
On their first night back in the town, they met the tall stranger from Waterdeep, who turned out to be Justicar Edborn of the church of Tyr. Almost straight away, they decided to come clean about the Luskanite rapists, figuring he'd know if they were lying anyway.
When Edborn heard the story, how they told the couriers to stop, were wearing armbands of the Waterdeep militia at the time and were attacked first (this last bit was only true for the particular individual who was relating the tale, but the rest was all true) he decided that the criminals had been slain while resisting arrest, and deemed that the PCs were in the clear. He would report to the Militia Captain in the city and leave it to him to take any further action.
Phew! At one stage the players were planning on jumping this guy and that could have been very messy.
The following morning they went to investigate the mill. They found the two labourers, who mentioned that they hadn't seen Karlun around for the last day or so, but thought nothing of it. The PCs then checked Karluns' house and found it empty. They returned to the mill, asking the workers if they could look around the loft and the cellars. The two lackeys got very nervous and told the guys to go ahead, that they were going for lunch.
In order to thoroughly check the place Jimmy decided to light a torch...none of them have any skill relating to milling so I judged that none of them would know of the danger of an open flame in a mill. Well they found the trap door to the cellar in a round or two, simultaneous with the mill exploding. Of course they all though they were under magical attack and never imagined that they were the cause of the fire.
At this stage a couple of them were in the loft, Druss and Rock were at the cellar hatch and the rest were by the will wheel. Once the fire started Valdar and Dan ran outside to get water, Mylan continued searching the loft and Jimmy stood inside the door watching. Druss lifted the trapdoor and was greeted with a hail of bolts, but only scratched by 1. He decided to run down the stairs with his axe swinging and Rock refused to let him have all the fun and ran after him.
The cultists in residence were Vacra (invisible and levitating), Grune, Toridan (with Rage cast by Dunrat) and Dunrat himself (with shield already cast). Chenashi had already left for the moathouse.
Jimmy and Dan both ran to the top of the stairs and took pot shots at any cultists they saw and gradually Mylan and Valdar made their way down to the Cellar.
At this point Jimmy realised that the inside of a burning and highly explosive mill was no place for a man carrying 2 lbs of gunpowder so he ran outside and kept the doorway doused in water.
The fight was looking tight at the beginning, and the subdual damage from smoke inhalation was starting to mount up. The turning point came when Druss made his save against hold person and with his next action went into rage, took +3 power attack and swung at an injured Toridan. He killed him right off and cleaved through his torso to plough the axe into Grune's ribs aswell, dropping them both.
Dunrat had Tharizduns touch cast but missed on a touch attack against Rock TWICE!! (stupid +3 base attack!). That was basically it as the rest of the guys piled into the cellar to hunt down Dunrat and Vacra (no taking prisoners for these guys, oh no!). They managed to do some quick looting (of course) before running outside as the mill finally collapsed. Druss and Rock had carried the trunk outside aswell, so they got the note from Naquent as well as the other bits and pieces.
They proceeded to give Elmo their version of events, wherein the evil cultists started the fire, and after it was put out and the cellar searched, Karlun's shallow grave was found.
The party were hailed as heroes and proceeded to get drunk for the rest of the day. (My party do that alot, must be cause they're Irish players!) That night they all passed out and didn't bother with watches, except for Mylans' mastiff. Chatrilon chose this opportunity to strike and had Maridosen arrange for their door to be unlocked (she decided her time in Yartar was done and went to hide out in the Druids grove until she got out of town for good).
Chatrilon was invisible, but still had to move silently... I rolled a 2! giving him a total 13. I got all the players to make listen rolls at -10 and thought to myself, this could be a TPK, but its their own fault for not posting a watch, when they knew the assassin was on their trail from the last session. All got crappy rolls...except one, Rocks player got a 20 on the roll and was woken by a creaking floorboard. He shouted straight away and woke 2 of the others.
One of those was Valdar, who tried to sit up, which saved him from a coup de grace! He still got hit for 16 damage and had to make a fort save to avoid the death attack, he got 17 and survived. Chatrilon still had initiative the following round and sneak attacked Valdar again, leaving the cleric on 1 hit. but that was basically it, Valdar healed himself on the defensive, and Druss managed to grapple Chatrilon long enough for every one else to hack him to bits. Another monkey off their back.
They knew that someone had unlocked their door, and when Maridosen wasn't found in her room they decided to hunt her down...next session
Wednesday night, so I'll post on Thursday I guess.
Edited by: HeresDaryl at: 11/4/02 5:24:46 am
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HeresDaryl
Pie
(11/7/02 4:24 am)
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Re: yet another campaign log, with a few changes...
This session started with the party spending quite a bit of time debating their next move. They had the option of chasing Maridosen, guessing - correctly - that she had gone to Beliard (Rastor). But in the end they decided that they would return to the moathouse and try to remove the taint of evil from the wellroom and whatever was below it.
They also did some purchasing and redistributing of booty (quite wisely I might add!) and wonder of wonders, Rock decided, of his own accord, to go to the Temple of Chauntea (instead of Cuthbert) and apologise to Y'dey. She accepted graciously and all seems to be well with the world.
They finally set off back towards the moathouse in good spirits, but half expecting to be ambushed by those in league with Maridosen (they don't know that they've killed everyone of that nature in the region except the Doppleganger).
I had done some figuring out and realised that they would meet the wagon brought from Rastor to collect any relics from the moathouse. It was on the final leg of its trip, dropping Chenashi off just outside Yartar before returning with Geynor Ton & Ysslansh to the CRM.
They encountered the wagon on the road, and neither side knew who the others were. Ysslansh kept himself covered while the driver did the talking and it looked like they were going to pass on by without incident. As both sides were about to move on, Daniel saw Chenashi's holy symbol and just started shooting.
This battle went on for quite a while, even though Chenashi dropped very quickly. The driver tried to gallop away and Rock, Druss & Jimmy all chased and jumped on the wagon, waging a rolling battle. I rolled very badly for the cultists, and the PCs made some saves when they had no bloody right to, so they killed them all with no casualties in the end.
They discovered the small column stored in the wagon, and also wanted to sell their loot, so they decided to return to Yartar, losing a couple more days in the process (though I suppose theres no real time pressure on them now anyway).
Eventually they set out again for the moathouse, with no encounters this time. I decided that a Dragon corpse in the courtyard for the last tenday would attract some scavengers, so they had a tough run in with a few carrion crawlers. Again they all made good saves when they needed them, except Valdar. Rock came to the rescue of his fellow Dwarf though, so we stopped last night, poised to re-enter the moathouse.
Within are the Grick (lairing in the torture chamber), 5 gnoll zombies in area 30 (courtesy of Chenashi and the scroll she carried for that purpose) and of course the Grell & Festrath.
The party status at the moment is...
Rock - Shield Dwarf Ftr5
Druss - Human Bbn2/Ftr3
Dan - Halfling Rog4/Rgr1
Jimmy - Human Ftr5
Valdar - Gold Dwarf Clr5
Mylan - Moon Elf Drd3 (wasn't there last night, only available for our Sunday sessions)
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Siobharek
Orc
(11/7/02 4:38 am)
Reply
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Re: yet another campaign log, with a few changes...
Sounds like a good session, and it shows that your players are getting into the story when Rock apologizes to Y'Dey.
If you want to make it a bit more interesting for the PCs, you'd be perfectly within your rights to either boost the zombies (maybe as if they'd been created under a desecrate spell) or even replace them with ghouls (Monte made a template that would work quite nicely with the gnolls).
But these are just suggestions and it looks like you're running a good campaign
Siobharek
...it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. |
HeresDaryl
Pie
(11/7/02 6:03 am)
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Re: yet another campaign log, with a few changes...
If they decide to go back into the crypts and the tunnels then I'll repopulate those areas with ghouls, but I don't think I'll change the zombies in 30, since I really only want them to be a speed bump. At most I'll increase the number to 7 or 8, since there were 8 gnoll corpses in that room.
I'm wondering, once they have gone through the Obelisk chamber and are satisfied that they have cleared out the moathouse, what hooks could I use to draw them to Nulb?
I'm not so worried about the old Temple, as its not essential that they go there yet.
Thanks for any tips!
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HeresDaryl
Pie
(11/10/02 6:25 pm)
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the Obelisk chamber
well, Rock had to sit this one out - his player couldn't make it, so I had him waiting in the upper moathouse ruins in case any more assassins came along. The rest of the group, including Mylan, ventured through the moathouse dungeon to the wellroom.
They encountered the Grick on the way, and killed it handily enough, though for some bizarre reason, Jimmy decided to try to grapple it, and almost got himself killed in the exchange?? Anyhow, they also ran into the afore-mentioned Gnoll Zombies and again Valdar just incinerated them, with some good turning checks.
Finally they got to the wellroom, where the stone plug had been re-fixed in the shaft (but not sealed, since the PCs had nabbed the scroll of stoneshape on their last visit to area 30). It took the players almost an hour of real time, to find that scroll in their gear, having tried various other methods of getting through the shaft floor.
Eventually they managed it and all descended on the platform to the top of the obelisk...they got a bit of a scare from the violet tendrils and all sprinted for the other platform, unfortunately causing it to sway, and forcing balance checks. Valdar & Druss failed and both plummetted 100ft. I rolled 40 damage on the 10d6 and somehow they both survived (Druss on 0 and Valdar on -2).
As the others were trying to lower themselves to check their friends, the grell pounced. Dan managed to gulp a potion of levitate and jump off the platform, but Jimmy got hit and paralyzed twice so the grell made off with him. Jimmy had been manning the rope, so Mylan had to make the Reflex save, and then the Strength check to save himself from the fall. He needed two 17s, and got a 17 and an 18!! (this guy never cheats with rolls and always seems to make the toughest checks or saves when he really needs to).
Jimmy was killed and devoured within a couple of rounds and the others noticed some of his body parts and gear dropping to the floor (but nothing useful). It was rough on his player, but those are the breaks. He started making up a sorcerer straight away.
Mylan managed to revive Valdar and Druss and they were all trying to heal up when Festrath (with all his spells cast and preparations made) attacked. Druss yet again had uncanny good fortune with will saving throws and Dan very wisely fired a bead of force at Festrath. He failed the save and was trapped.
This bought the guys time to get fully healed and prepared. Once the force bubble disappeared the battle was joined, with the flying festrath using his crossbow and soem spells and the PCs using all their ranged weapons. Eventually Festrath cast Rage on himself and engaged in melee. Mylan finally ran him through with his long spear and they set about searching him and discussing plans to get out past the grell.
But that'll wait 'til Wednesday night.
Edited by: HeresDaryl at: 11/11/02 2:42:17 am
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HeresDaryl
Pie
(11/14/02 6:37 am)
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the Obelisk chamber
Well we pick up our brave heroes with a party divided. Mylan, Dan, Druss & Valdar are all resting at the bottom of the Obelisk chamber, keeping an eye out for the grell and investigating the ladder and floor carvings. They don't like the look of the Obex or Dark Sun and stay well away, but Valdar & Druss both investigate the ladder and the bottom of the Obelisk.
The both get transported to the sphere room and both eat the fruit, after Valdar cast detect poison. They decide, despite the fact that they feel great and appear unharmed back in the cavern, that they won't risk it again. Dan and Mylan are already on their way out, thinking their friends lost.
(Druss got a +1 to Wisdom & Valdar got a +1 to Strength)
In the meantime, Rock, who was guarding the party rear in the upper moathouse, decides to find out if his comrades are still alive. He wanders down to the wellroom and sees the open shaft. He calls down and Mylan & Dan hear him. They shout up that Valdar & Druss have vanished and that they are coming up. They get to the top of the Obelisk unmolested by the Grell and are making their way up to the wellroom when they hear shouts from below. Valdar and Druss survive yet!
After collecting Rock, all 3 make their way back down to find their fellows. All 5 then start the ascent again. Mylan works the pulley while the others ready their ranged weapons. At the midpoint up the obelisk the Grell strikes, from below this time. It grabs the platform and jostles it violently. All 5 make balance checks and yet again Druss and Valdar fail, though this time Valdar makes his Reflex save. Druss is not so lucky and once more plummets to the floor! (only takes 18 damage this time).
The creature decides to stockpile its larder while it can, so it ignores Druss and continues its assault on the platform. Rock, Valdar & Dan all manage to get shots off at the grell before it catches Valdar with a tentacle and he fails the save. Luckily for him it only hit with one or he was gone for sure. Next round and Rock takes an AoO to reload the crossbow and fire. Crits the grell and rolls 7 for 14 damage. The Grell crashes to the floor of the cavern, finally dead.
For the final time, the rest of the party return to the cavern floor and rescue Druss. By the time they return to the surface night has fallen and they decide to camp in the corner tower for the night. The next morning Valdar prays for 2 stoneshape spells. With one he reseals the Obelisk chamber and with the other he opens the wall at 35.
Mylan & Dan decided to return to town (their players had things to do) so Rock, Druss & Valdar investigated the Cockatrice lair, slaying the 3 creatures handily, and discovered the secret tunnel out. Being confident that they had removed all menaces in the vicinity of the moathouse they decided to return to Yartar.
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HeresDaryl
Pie
(11/14/02 7:38 am)
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Attack on Yartar
Here's where I decided to throw in a little extra development. When Maridosen fled Yartar the night the PCs killed Chatrilon, she used her feather token to send word of the party and their snooping around the moathouse to Naquent. Naquent in turn sent word to the Fire temple to give do-gooders in Yartar something to occupy their time.
Tessimon coerced/bribed a nearby tribe of Orcs & Tanar'ruk and their Ogre allies to start raiding Yartar and its surrounding country side. As the 3 PCs are hiking north towards town, they happen to see, cresting a rise farther back, the warband, perhaps 3 dozen strong, following their route.
This obviously encourages them to pick up their pace. As the day wears on, they see the raiders split into two groups. One third continue due north, following the PCs towards the ferry crossing directly to the town. The other 2 dozen head north-east, making for the ford a half day from Yartar. The guys figured that with a good position and time to prepare they could take on the group following them and get back into town to warn of the others crossing the ford.
Enter new character! The Militia Captain in Waterdeep, Lord Elgund, has seconded a Sorcerer-Diplomat member of the Magists to travel to Yartar to act as a liaison and mouthpiece for the group investigating the bandit disturbances. Severen is a younger son of a noble family with a gift for magic and staying well groomed. Having been in Yartar when Dan & Mylan arrive back there, he gets acquainted and decides to travel back out the path to meet up with his other 3 soon-to-be-comrades.
He arrives just in time to see a burly wild haired human and two steel-clad dwarves settle into an ambush in a narrow gully. He quickly introduces himself and suggests that since a battle appears to be imminent he should just stay at the back to observe and evaluate. Druss, Valdar & Rock look at him like he has four eye-stalks but then their attention is drawn to the dozen Orcs storming up the creek. Most of the Orcs were L2 warriors, but they were led by a level 5 Barbarian.
In these tight confines with large numbers of relatively weak opponents, Druss and his power-attacking, cleaving greataxe swings (1d12+17 damage in rage!) really came to the fore. He was pretty much mowing through the orcs, while Valdar kept a couple busy with his 26 AC (thanks to Armour of Faith & Magic Vestment). Rock was left to tackle the longspear wielding Barbarian, which was tough, but with Severen firing in magic missiles off his wand and finally Druss joining in, they dropped him too. Rock was on 11 hits of 45...
They looted the bodies and hightailed it to the ferry, to warn the town of the other raiders. Let's hope they make it in time...
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HeresDaryl
Pie
(11/14/02 8:15 am)
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Almost forgot, the cast...
Since things have progressed a bit in the last couple of sessions, I think I'd better mention the current PC status.
Druss - Human Bbn2/Ftr4
Valdar - Gold Dwarf Clr6
Rock - Shield Dwarf Ftr6
Dan - Halfling Rog4/Rgr1
Mylan - Moon Elf Drd3
Severen - Human Sor3
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HeresDaryl
Pie
(11/18/02 8:04 am)
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Battle of Ogre Ford
This was a marathon session...and other than a little prep work at the start, it all comprised one BIG battle!
After the last ambush in the gully, Severen, Valdar, Druss & Rock hightail it back to town to warn of the the impending attack. They make it back within an hour and start rounding up reinforcements to intercept the raiders. They also re-equip themselves with arrows etc and get some healing. Elmo needs some time to round up the Badgers and get them ready, so he asks the PCs (except Rock & Mylan, whose players couldn't make it) to muster some of the other notables in town and form an advance party.
So in the end Valdar, Dan, Severen & Druss ride out towards the Ford with Justicar Edborn of Tyr (Human Pal4/Rog5), Deglar the Waterdhavian agent (Half-Orc War6), Trimazak, a deep-cover Harper operating in Yartar (Moon Elf Brd5/Harper Scout1) and Terjon - a priest of Chauntea IMC - (Human Clr6).
They travel for about 5 hours, pushing the horses hard into the night until they get close to the ford. As the draw up the horses to get ready to scout, Dan hears some splashing noises ahead, beyond the light of his sunrod. Most of the party quickly dismount, except Deglar, who fights well from horseback - and Severen, who wants to be able to flee in a hurry!
- It was interesting at this point to see if any of the PCs tried to take charge, or if they would just follow the lead of Edborn, who I was playing as an authorative type...Druss didn't exactly take charge, but he basically did his own thing, without anyone elses input.
The group form up, with those using ranged weapons taking cover, and Druss acting as bait on the road. They know the ford is only a little ahead, perhaps 100ft or so beyond their position and they consider moving up to it. Before they have the chance however, the vanguard of the raiders, Orc warriors, come streaming from the ford firing off shortbow arrows.
As usual, Druss charges the 60ft to engage the NINE Orcs in melee! The others continue to fire arrows & bolts into them. 3 of the Orcs drop their bows and attack Druss with great axes. He's taking quite a beating, but again, with power attack & cleave he's making headway against weak opponents.
While they're all thus engaged 2 groups of 3 Tanarukks (monsters of faerun) sneak around the lit-up area to attack the party from the side opposite the river. They swarm in on the archers and force them to engage in melee, leaving Druss on his own. At this stage 2 Orcs were killed by bowshot and Druss has dropped 2, but he has taken alot of damage and still has 3 engaging him in melee.
Dan makes a successful sneak attack on one of the Tanarukks but doesn't drop it and it turns on him, keeping him occupied just staying alive. Severen fires off magic missile at another (beating the SR) and it charges his horse, but misses.
Valdar is still shooting at the Orc archers while the others fight right beside him. Druss drops another couple of orcs but the last 2 drop their bows and attack him aswell, he's in a very bad way at this stage, but manages to take another one down before being dropped himself. Those two orcs charge at Valdar and he has to scramble to get his axe and shield in hand.
The tide turns ever so gradually (over the next 4 or 5 rnds - about half a minute) and no more of the Yartarans fall while they whittle away the Tanarukks and orcs. Trimazak makes it to Druss' body to find him unconscious but stabilized. He brings him round and gets him on his feet and back to the group.
They get another two rounds of frantic buffing and healing, before they hear more splashing and suddenly 3 ogres break into the light from the direction of the ford, running flat out for the party. Those that get initiative fire off arrows & bolts, wounding 2 of the ogres before they get into melee. Druss, Edborn & Terjon suck the AoOs and get inside the ogres reach to land some meaty hits. Within a couple of rounds Druss & Edborn both have their ogres dropped, though Terjon is suffering. The others are waiting for the rest of the attack, which they know is coming.
Another 3 tanarukks come out of the tree cover that Valdar is hiding at the edge of and all 3 try to finish him quickly. He (rather cleverly) drops a darkness on his shield and starts backing away. At the same time the last 3 ogres (one of which was a level 3war & another - the leader - a level 4ftr equipped with an oak door for a shield and a heavy flail) rush in from the other side, engaging Trimazak & Edborn and the leader rushing for Severen and his wand of magic missile.
This fight went on for quite a while, with Deglar intercepting the lead ogre (fatally as it turns out) so the afore-mentioned wand could do its work in dropping the beast. Terjon was also slain, as was Edborn, both by the Ogre Warrior, before Dan critted it through the throat with a shortbow, dropping it to 0 hits. It tried to throw a javelin as a parting shot, but missed, before collapsing.
Druss, as always was unconscious by the end, but unbelievably, stabilized at -9 for at least the 3rd time in his career. Trimazak was also felled, but not slain. After several rounds of chasing Valdar in the dark, one of the tanarukk stumbled out of it to see all their allies fallen, so they made a hasty retreat.
The party wearily gathered the dead and revived the living, then did some half-hearted looting before setting out for town.
It'll be up to the PCs where they go from here, though they have plenty of teasing clues, regarding Nulb, the abandoned temple, old Dwarven mines and goings on in Beliard (read: Rastor).
I'll post after our Wed session...hopefully be the last for a couple of weeks as I'm planning on going to NYC this weekend =0)
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HeresDaryl
Pie
(11/21/02 1:27 pm)
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approaching the CRM at last
After that last momentous battle, the PCs gathered their dead comrades and returned to Yartar to rest up and prepare themselves. Their intention is to use Daniels tracking skills to follow the backtrail of the raiders to find out where they came from...and eliminate their fellows if neccessary.
This works out beautifully for me, since the trail will lead them back to the foot of Mt Stalagos, before they lose it among the rocks. This will give them the opportunity to scout the area, and hopefully discover both entrances (though I suspect they'll bust in the first one they find!).
Anyway, they leave Terjon and Deglar with Ydey at the temple - I've decided Terjon will be raised, but Deglar's soul will decide that one life was enough and refuse to return - and they sent word to Waterdeep to the temple of Tyr to recover the body of Justicar Edborn.
After Purchasing some equipment, potions & scrolls, they set out in miserable weather towards (unknown to them) the CRM. On their first day they were attacked by 4 Ankhegs, but other than Valdar getting some bruised ribs, they were handled easily. The following day however, they encountered temple raiders, wearing the symbol of the fire temple, who were also despatched easily...though an opportunity to interrogate and gather information was thrown away.
They finally found a dry cave to rest for the night, once they rid it of its Giant spider inhabitants...and we stopped there.
I've been rolling alot of encounters on the table in the CRM chapter, and most of the characters are already level 6...I'm wondering have other DMs had problems with PCs getting ahead of the curve? and would it be wise to make their journey uneventful until they reach the mines themselves?
The party as it stands is...
Daniel - Halfling Rog4/Rgr1/Ftr1
Mylan - Moon Elf Drd3 (has only made 2 sessions so far)
Druss - Human Bbn2/Ftr4
Severen - Human Sor4
Valdar - Gold Dwarf Clr6
Rock - Shield Dwarf Ftr6
Hopefully I'll be in New York next time I log on...talk to everyone then
Edited by: HeresDaryl at: 11/21/02 4:36:07 pm
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