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ieri
Tolling Bell Cultist
(1/10/04 1:37 pm)
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Ieri's Campaign Log - Pre RttToEE (Sunless Citadel Spoilers)
What follows is my campaign log. This campaign will lead to RttToEE, but I am beginning it with the Sunless Citadel. If you do not wish to see spoilers for the Sunless Citadel, do not read this thread. When the party heads towards Homlett, I will start a new, seperate thread.
Cast of Characters:
Padlin Reshesh: Male Elf, CG, godless rogue
Magus Stormrider: Male Elf, N, godless Wizard
Kale Welm: Male Half-Elf, CG, Ranger of Ehlonna
Leon Gray: Male Human, LG, Paladin of Pelor
Boo Ram Chu (I know, but it didn't seem QUITE bad enough of a name for me to force him to change it): Male Dwarf, LN, Cleric of St. Cuthbert <I tried to convince him to go with Moradin, without telling him how helpful it would be later, but he was power gaming and liked St. Cuthbert's domains>.
-Ieri
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ieri
Tolling Bell Cultist
(1/10/04 1:40 pm)
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Session 1, 1/9/04
<All logs are written by the DM, from third person omniscient point of view>
It all started with two letters. One was sent to Toman Welm, Human Bounder of Verbobonc. The other was sent to the temple of Pelor in Verbobonc. The children of Sharwyn Hercrele were missing, as was Sir Bradford, a paladin of Pelor. A reward of 125 gold per child was offered to each individual involved in the return of Madam Hercrele's two children.
Toman ran into an Elven wizard who called himself Magus Stormrider while he was hunting with one of his men... more specifically, the man he was hunting with got jumpy, saw movement, and nearly killed Magus. So Toman felt he owed him a favor... and as the man was rather short on funds, the ability to earn 250 gold seemed a good offer. So Toman brought Magus along when he met with his half-elf son, Kale. Of course, Toman did not have the time to take care of the problem himself, but his son was up to the job.
While they were discussing the job in the tap room of the Lonely Knight (and enjoying the performance of the Happy Daggers... well, enjoying or deriding, as the case may be), a Human Paladin of Pelor walked in, along with a Dwarven cleric of St. Cuthbert. Leon Gray (the paladin) had been asked by his temple to investigate the disappearance of Sir Bradford. And as the temple's resources were limited, they asked the church of St. Cuthbert to assist... the high priest was only too happy to give the job to Boo Ram Chu <I know, but I didn't choose the name>, their only local dwarven cleric, so long as the job kept him out of Verbobonc for a long while (he was something of an embarassment).
So it was that the four met and joined together at the Lonely Knight... but before they had finished their meals, another Elf named Padlin Rashesh approached, and asked to join their quest. He had overheard them speaking of the goblin bandits, and had a deep-seated hatred of the creatures, leading back to the death of his family during the Grayhawk wars. The next morning the motley band headed out.
On the road to Oakhurst, they encountered a single humanoid riding a cart that was pulled by a worn out mule. The cart was moving very slowly, and the driver was wearing a heavy robe that entirely hid his every feature. Kale tried to talk to him, but he made it clear he did not want to speak, and wished only to continue his journey. The entire band agreed this seemed odd... then Leon sensed a strong aura of evil emanating from this man. To make a long story short, they started a fight with him.
It turned out the "man" was a troglodyte. A caster of some sort, presumably a cleric as he wore what they believe is a holy symbol from some minor cult <they're right... it's the EEE Earth Temple symbol>. From the back of his cart he unleashed two odd plant creatures. They were gnarled, humanoid, bark covered things. The Troglodyte cursed them all, and filled Kale's heart with fear... such fear that he fled the battle. Boo was struck down rather quickly by the plant creatures... but between the rest of them, they managed to defeat both the plant creatures and the troglodyte. After stabilizing Boo, they discussed whether to do the same for the Troglodyte. The finally decided they should, so they could interrogate him... but, by this time, he had already bled to death.
Luckily, they found a healing potion on his corpse... one he never had the opportunity to use. With it they brought Boo back from the brink of death, and once conscious he called on the power of St. Cuthbert to heal his wounds (though this drained him completely).
The Troglodyte also had a dark black bag, of some rough fabric similar to burlap, but a thicker weave. It was tied with a black cord. The bag and cord seemed so dark that they almost sapped the light around them. None of them were able to identify it, though Magus did detect an aura of conjuration upon it, they decided it best not to open it yet.
Padlin chased down the mule, who had bolted during the fight, but was dragging the cart, with its sides down and making ruts in the road. The old mule had apparently died of a heart attack, and the only thing of note found on the cart was a very odd piece of black wood. Kale went back to retrieve it (as Padlin had left it behind), and kept it, just in case.
When they reach Oakhurst their mission was outline to them by Kerowyn Hercrele. They were to travel to the Sunless Citadel, down the Old Road, and bring back her children, Talgen and Sharwyn Hercrele. If they were found dead, Madam Hercrele wanted their signet rings as proof of their demise. Of course, anything else the rescue party found was theirs to keep. A reward of 125 gold pieces, per child (or ring) returned, was offered for each surviving member of the rescue party.
Magus and Leon went to the local temple to Pelor, and asked the cleric there (a Gnome who asked to be called "Corkie") if she could identify it. After learning where they found it, she opened it - anticipating no threat she could not handle. They discovered it was full of dung... no doubt fertilizer for the plant creatures. But it was not merely a small pouch of dung... it was a bag of holding (though a small one).
Magus, in a particularly mischievous mood, snuck out to the outhouse, reached inside, and turned the bag inside out. The outhouse was filled, waist high, with dung... and it spilled out up to Magus' ankles. But after a good bath, the only stench about Magus was when he opened the bag... and after a long discussion, they determined that none of them knew how to clean such a stench out of a pocket dimension.
They were given rooms in the local inn, and given a week of trail rations each, then they set off for the Citadel.
They found the entrance with no problem... a rope led down into a ravine. While they discussed how to best approach (who goes first, do they go one at a time or one right behind the next, etc.), Boo decided to start climbing. He reached the bottom while the rest of them waited above... Padlin holding a torch so that he, Magus and Kale could see Boo as he reached the ledge 50 feet below, and was attacked by 3 dire rats.
Kale hurried down the rope, as did Leon (who took the torch with him), while Padlin began firing at the rats and Magus conjured a magic missile, destroying one of them.
The battle that ensued was quick, and ended with Boo bleeding, once again unconscious, but the others relatively unscathed. Boo, being their only source of magical healing, had again left them in a difficult situation, and this time there was no healing potion to pull them out of it.
So they set up camp on the ledge. Kale and Magus went back up the rope. Kale hunted for game to supplement their rations, while Magus collected wood in the bag of holding. Kale was far into the woods, nearly finished with a rather successful hunting trip, when he heard a muffled yell from Magus... "GOBLINS!"
Magus fled towards the ravine, knowing not how many goblins chased him, but surely aware they were more than his match. Fearing the goblins would cut the rope if he tried to climb into the ravine, but having nowhere else to go, as all his comrades save Kale were down there, he cast feather fall upon himself and leaped over the edge.
Thus the goblins found a elven mage floating down the ravine, an easy target for their javelins. Four were hurled, two missed... the others were each glancing blows, leaving Magus wounded, but alive. Padlin fired up the ravine, pegging a goblin between the eyes, while Magus threw a magic missile at another, and it toppled into the ravine. Then Kale showed up. Kale, with support from Leon who climbed the rope as soon as the goblins turned away from the ravine, finished off the goblins... Boo, of course, slept through the whole thing, still severely wounded.
They rested 3 days altogether, but there were no other attacks. Then they headed down the steep stairs to the Sunless Citadel, far below the surface world.
They approached a crumbled tower... the only apparent entrance to the citadel, and expected an ambush. When none came, it was suggested that Padlin check the door for traps. So, with that in mind, he walked towards the door, and fell into a pit trap 5 feet in front of it.
There was another dire rat in the bottom of the pit, and Padlin was grievously injured from the fall. But Leon bravely leaped into the pit, slashing at the rat as he did so. He missed, but distracted the rat, possibly saving Padlin's life. Then Magus threw another of his missiles at it, and the short combat was over... (This was the first battle that did not end with Boo lying on the brink of death... of course, Boo played no part in this battle at all)
They traveled into the citadel, after Boo performed some healing upon Padlin - draining what little healing power he had left after healing himself when he finally awoke that morning. They discovered a strange rusted iron keg, full of some kind of liquid, with a pipe that led into the ground. Kale, hoping it to contain ale, broke it open with his sword. In fact, it contained a fresh supply of water that was being continuously renewed by the water mephit bound to it by a geas. Even before the mephit attacked, Boo ran, knowing he had no healing power left. But though the mephit attacked with a chilling breath weapon, thanks to another magic missile from Magus and an amazing strike by Leon, it soon fled in fear. This was the second encounter that Boo survived, still conscious, but again, he was not involved in it - this time by choice.
They continued on, and met a kobold who obviously wished to talk. He took them to the leader of the kobolds within the Sunless Citadel, a female named Yusdrayl. It seems the kobolds had captured a dragon wyrmling, but it had been stolen from them by the goblins who also resided in the citadel. Yusdrayl offered them two of her clan's treasures in exchange for returning the wyrmling, but Kale insisted on more, while Leon attempted, with whispers, to convince the others to attack these evil creatures. If Kale had not made it so clear that they would not harm the kobolds, Yusdrayl would have ordered the attack. In any case, the kobolds were unwilling to pay the price Kale demanded, which amounted to every treasure they owned, two of them in advance, so Yusdrayl ordered Meepo to escort them back to where he found them. But not before they learned that those plant creatures were called twig blights, and were controlled by someone known only as the Outcast, who lived below the citadel. They also learned that the goblins had taken the humans who had visited before - no doubt the Hucrele party.
Meepo was miserable. His only value to his clan had been as keeper of the dragon. Without the dragon, he was worthless in the eyes of Yusdrayl. So he offered, even begged, to lead the party to the goblins, hoping to find the dragon and somehow bring it back to Yusdrayl. Reluctantly, they accepted him as a guide.
He took them a back way that was to lead to the goblin occupied area of the citadel. On their way, they found an odd fountain which said, in Draconic "Let there be fire." Though they tried various methods of setting the fountain on fire, it was to no avail. They also found a door which read, also in Draconic, "Channel good, open the way." Immediately Kale understood that the cleric must channel good energy to open the door, but first they thought it wise to have Padlin check for traps. He found none, so Leon strode forward to open the door... releasing the scything blade that Padlin had not found. Luckily, the blade missed Leon, so Padlin tried to disarm it. After dodging the blade twice, on failed attempts, Boo decided it was time to try channeling good. It took him two tries, but the door opened.
Within were 5 sarcophagi, and an altar carved as a dragon. On the altar was a candle, burning as bright as a torch, as well as potion of some sort, and a whistle that seemed to be made of hard glass. Boo read the inscription on the whistle, all the while touching nothing. It said, in dwarven, "Night Caller." After examining the altar as closely as possible without touching it, for they all feared some trap which would release undead upon them in such a crypt, they asked Padlin to check for traps. He began to search the altar, but as soon as he touched it, the sarcophagi swung open, and one skeleton emerged from each.
At this point, only Boo and Padlin were in the room... the rest of the group being just beyond the door. The skeletons surrounded the two. And the first two skeletons to attack downed Boo. He began to bleed, and with five skeletons to get through before they could try to stop the bleeding, it looked as if this might be his last battle. Padlin however, avoided most the attacks of the other three skeletons, taking only a slight blow from one of their claws, and quickly downed one of them. Then the rest of the group charged in. Magus caused a disruption in the magics binding one of the dead to this world, while Leon systematically smashed the rest with his heavy mace, and Padlin and Kale offered little more than a distraction to the undead abominations. Though Kale did lose his grip on his sword at one point, and in an act of fury, crushed the skull of the last remaining skeleton with his bare hands.
They managed to stop Boo's bleeding, yet again, and decided to set up camp within this room of death. Though it was an unpleasant place, they knew that their enemies were unlikely to be able to reach them behind that door. They examined the relics on the altar. The candle burned brightly, but with no heat, and seemed oblivious to any means of extinguishing it. Magus determined the potion granted some kind of resistance to fire. And they were unsure what the whistle was. When Boo blew it, it made a sharp screeching sound, but seemed to have no other effect.
And here I must leave the story of this misfit band, for I have been long winded, and have not the time to continue today.
-Ieri
Edited by: ieri at: 1/12/04 8:28 pm
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ieri
Tolling Bell Cultist
(1/10/04 1:44 pm)
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Comments about the session
The wood is a piece of the Gulthias tree, and the Troglodyte a level one cleric of the EEE, working for the Earth Temple. He was hoping to breed twig blights to defend the temple, and hoping to get someone more powerful to aid in resurrecting Gulthias by using this wood (and idea I stole from someone else on this board).
I plan to have that prank in the outhouse come back to haunt them. Though it was funny... someone came in to the inn complaining about their outhouse, and then the party watched as he ran across town, holding himself, presumably to get to another outhouse.
But Corkie knows they had a bag of holding full of dung, and the innkeeper knows Magus reeked of it when he came in for a bath. When they finally return for their reward, they'll find themselves docked a small amount (I'm thinking 5 gold each) to pay for the cost of restoring the outhouse.
Though, for 5 gold each, it was probably worth it.
-Ieri
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PerfectParabola7
Ebon Hand Cultist
(1/11/04 12:19 am)
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Re: Comments about the session
Very interesting. I'm running the Sunless Citadel as a prelude to RttTEE right now as well.
My Realm
Ramblings of a Sleepwalking Man |
ieri
Tolling Bell Cultist
(1/11/04 7:30 am)
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Post a log
You should post logs as well. Maybe we can borrow ideas from each other.
-Ieri
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PerfectParabola7
Ebon Hand Cultist
(1/11/04 12:50 pm)
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Re: Post a log
I lack the time for a log, but I can throw down what I changed to make it link with RttTEE if you'd like.
My Realm
Ramblings of a Sleepwalking Man |
ieri
Tolling Bell Cultist
(1/11/04 1:21 pm)
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Do that
Could you do that? Maybe I can borrow a few ideas.
-Ieri
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PerfectParabola7
Ebon Hand Cultist
(1/11/04 3:17 pm)
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Re: Do that
My campaign is...complicated. There's me behind the screen and only one player facing me. Because of this, the entire plot of the whole campaign revolves around that player's history.
The basis is that my homebrewed campaign has a path to godhood in it. Once every ten thousand years, eleven individuals are born. Each of these individuals' souls contains a divine spark. They are the Sparkbears and one of them will achieve godhood if he/she desires it. This can only happen if the other ten are either destroyed or decline to pursue their destiny.
The player is the CG sparkbearer. He has a vague idea that he is, but understand very little of what that means. He has a really messed up history as being the first half-drow/half-celestial ever born. His mother was a solar imprisoned by a powerful drow wizard. The mother eventually escaped and gave the child to kind elves for safe-keeping. He's been raised by elves and basically considers himself one of them. He's not a weak Drizzt rip-off...unless Drizzt has started down the Shadowdancer path.
Now that I have that all out of the way, I can start with the stuff you wanted to hear. It goes like this:
- Karakas (the dead ranger mentioned in the module) has been changed to an elf that was the step-brother of the player. He's turned up missing and Thalas (the player) was sent to find him.
- Sir Braford is from Hommlet and is an agent of the temple of Pelor located there. If Thalas can not find Sir Braford alive, he has been encouraged by Corkie to recover the body and his sword for proper burial in Hommlet.
- The EEE cult is looking for a long-lost text that a Divination spell stated was in the Sunless Citadel. The cult has maintained a small presence in the region for years. A druid named Starla infiltrated the town two decades ago and has remained a trusted guardian ever since. She has raised a half-elf child named Felosial (named in the module as the town constable) as her daughter and intiated her in the ways of the cult. Felosial is a hexblade.
- Belak the Outcast once turned down membership in the cult and is now a sworn enemy of Starla. She secretly wishes for adventures to kill him and stop whatever it is that he's working on. She wants the Gulthias Tree for herself.
- Karakas teamed up with Sir Braford and the teenagers to go investigate the Citadel at Starla's urging.
- The ill-fated party stumbled upon Felosial meeting with three cult members who were searching for the text and other relics. This happened in room 26. Felosial killed Karakas with a poisoned dart. The surviving members of the party retreated and later fell into the hands of the goblins. Felosial ordered Karakas's body to be moved to the rat room and left there for the time being. She feared his gear might be recognized in town and left it for the time being.
- The captured party passed on this crucial information to Erky Timbers.
- Thalas has recovered his brother's corpse (taken to Corkie for Gentle Repose and safe keeping) and seeks to have him raised. The nearest cleric that can cast Raise Dead is in Hommlet.
- Thalas befriended Starla and Felosial (though she always made him feel uneasy). Thalas discovered the secret of the twig blights and destroyed all the immature ones Starla was studying in her garden. Starla aided in this.
- Thalas then rescued Erky and learned the secret of his brother's death. He confronted Felosial about this but she bluffed him well enough that he retreated to Starla's garden. He confined in her and she explained to him that Felosial had spurned the love of both Sir Braford and Talgen and that they probably just made this up in revenge. She also suggested that Erky was insane from his imprisonment.
- Felosial ambushed Thalas in the garden. Thalas yelled out for Corkie and Erky to come to his aid, but neither showed up. Starla jumped to his defense and cast a spell upon his sword to "aid him in combat." Felosial attempted a curse, but this failed. Thalas charged in to battle with his strangely warm sword and slashed Felosia. He soon discovered that Heat Metal had been cast upon his sword! Starla entered the fray with a second Heat Metal on his armor. As Thalas struggled under the burns, he cast darkness on the druidess and then returned to his struggle with the hexblade. He dispatched her after several exchanged blows and then hastily stripped his armor. He engaged Starla and easily overtook the frail and elderly woman as her Produce Flames failed to sneak past his SR.
- Both women were stabilized and bound for later questioning. Corkie had arrived to see the entire fight, but had no weapons at hand nor combat spells prepared to aid with. Corkie and Thalas both heard Starla call upon the name of the EEE when casting spells and a search found the EEE symbol tattooed upon Felosial.
That's what we have so far.
My Realm
Ramblings of a Sleepwalking Man |
lightnng
Tolling Bell Cultist
(1/11/04 3:42 pm)
Reply
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Re: Do that
Or you can take the easy path and do what I did... a note found on the body of Belak was the party's only link to Hommlet, but it was enough to get them there. Made it real easy for me.
If you're interested, you can find it on our group's site at:
www.angelfire.com/dragon/bitterrose/
Look under handouts, its the first handout following the maps.
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ieri
Tolling Bell Cultist
(1/11/04 7:14 pm)
Reply
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Thanks
I like that letter, I may just use it as-is. Perfectly obscure.
And you've got some nice handouts on your little site. I particularly like the menu for the Welcome Wench.
-Ieri
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lightnng
Tolling Bell Cultist
(1/11/04 8:28 pm)
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Re: Thanks
Menu isn't mine... I think I got it off of Dark Theatre. Some of them are mine though, including the Citadel one :-)
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 Infiniti2000
Brother of Venom
(1/12/04 3:03 pm)
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ezSupporter
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Re: Thanks
Great story, ieri! One comment, though, make sure you write them up in an alternate editor and then cut & paste it into ezBoard. I dunno if you do that already, but your last comment implied you do not. If you lose one of those large posts, you will be seriously pissed.
To rid the bag of holding of its smell, a suggestion would be to find a halfling wizard who knows reduce person and prestidigitation. Even so, there's a lot of humor and RP value in just having the stench of the bag cling to everything that goes inside it. 
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ieri
Tolling Bell Cultist
(1/12/04 8:26 pm)
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Smelly bag of holding
Yes, I don't intend to let them clean it unless they're rather creative about it (though a tiny wizard jumping in to cast prestidigitation would work, I suppose). But I like the humor of it - that's exactly why I did that.
And I do write them in a seperate editor and copy and paste them.
-Ieri
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ieri
Tolling Bell Cultist
(1/29/04 4:15 pm)
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Session 2
<<Sorry this is so late coming, but here's the second session. (<<>> denote DM notes that are not included in the version of the summary I send to the players>>
When I last left off, the motley band was inside a small chamber, a crypt of some sort. Having just destroyed the undead that inhabited it, they decided it was the safest (though undoubtedly not the most pleasant) place to make camp. Worried that they would be unable to open the door from the inside, they chose to leave it open. Leon began ministering to the wounded (surprisingly, not Boo this time), and they set up watch. Padlin was on watch, and the only one awake, when he noticed something enter the chamber with the fountain, just outside the crypt room. It was the water mephit they had broken out of the keg earlier. Making a split second decision <<which the player debated for a few minutes before I forced him to decide>>, he slammed the door.
The mephit seemed unable to break through the door, judging from the sounds of pounding, and the repetitive swish of the scythe trap on the door. After about a dozen swings of the scythe blade, it seemed to make contact, and there was silence. The party, now apprehensive, continued resting in relative safety... but eventually, they knew they had to open the door and face the mephit again.
They decided to open the door, but there were no obvious handholds, so Boo channelled the power of St. Cuthbert... repeatedly. Once he was spent, Padlin noticed a hidden handhold, cleverly disguised in the stone of the door. The door pulled open easily. They discovered the mephit slowly filling the fountain with water. <<he was trying to get enough in it to use it for regen purposes, but never did>> The battle with the mephit went fairly well, now that they knew it was immune to piercing damage <<an untrue conclusion, but I wasn't about to disillusion them>>. It attempted to flee, was backed into a corner, and summoned another of it's kind. But as soon as it summoned this ally, the mephit was killed, and the summoned ally returned to his home plane, with a disparaging remark to these nuisances who robbed him of his servant (for some period of servitude was the price of the summoning).
They moved on, slaying a few stray dire rats, and following the trails of four humanoids - presumably the Hucrele children and their companions. They found one of those companions, dead, in a room full of dire rats.
After slaying the rats, and recovering the valuables from the body (which was, after all, their right of salvage according to their agreement with Lady Hucrele), they backtracked, and took a side passage, presumably towards the goblins. They had been forced to provide food for Meepo, and found their supplies rapidly dwindling.
Beyond a door, two goblins lay in ambush at the end of a short, narrow hall. They hurled javelins at our intrepid heros, while those heros picked through a caltrop strewn hall and over a half-wall that the goblins hid behind. Leon managed to slay one goblin, but they other ran off, while Leon was over the wall, but the others were still slowly moving through the caltrops.
Leon, as ever the brave (foolish?) Paladin, charged after the goblin... and earned the right to face 4 more, all hiding behind another half-wall. Fearlessly, he charged in... and was wounded by their superior numbers. Luckily, the rest of the band arrived, and while Boo charged, Padlin and Kale peppered the goblins with arrows, and Magus, oddly, charged with his quarterstaff, having already spent most of his spells for the day. Meepo stayed behind, at Padlin's request, to collect the caltrops.
While fighting the goblins, they heard a call from help, in common, from a nearby cell... as well as much wimpering in draconic. Once they had slaughtered four goblins, and the fifth yet again had escaped, Kale and Magus went to investigate the cell, while Leon led Padlin and Boo to explore another side room (completely ignoring the cries for help, presumably because their comrades had it under control). Inside they found four chained kobolds, and a Gnome by the name of Erky Timbers. Erky recognized Magus immediately (he had been saved by Magus, less than a year ago, and then Magus had slipped away before Erky could reward him). Erky explained that he had left to find Magus, went the wrong direction, and had been captured by a roving band of Goblins. He's been chained in this cell ever since. Kale freed Erky, and after hearing his story, and questioning him, he gathered equipment from the slain goblins and joined their ever more motely band.
Meanwhile, Leon, Padlin and Boo discovered a goblin bunkroom. There was a fierce battle, of which Magus, Kale and Erky heard a bit, but they (being a bit upset that their friends had gone off alone rather than helping them free Erky) decided not to lend their aid.
The three victorious combatants came limping back (only Boo was not badly wounded, largely because he stayed back and used what little power he had left to heal the other two). After a heated exchange, Erky reluctantly called on the power of Garl Glittergold to heal some of their wounds. They released the kobolds, but Kale first forced Meepo to collect the valuables, weapons and armor from all the goblins they had slain. Then, when the kobolds did leave, Kale tripped one of them... which knocked the prisoner unconscious. Meepo showed them the way back (the three conscious kobolds carrying their unconscious associate).
Again they made camp, with the wounded inside the cell room, and the unwounded outside. Padlin placed caltrops before both the doors that led into areas they had not yet explored. The had considered heading back to the crypt room, where they would be safe. But they did not wish to be forced to fight through the narrow corridor again, should the goblins come back in force to defend it. <<this was a rather stupid move on their part. They knew one of the goblins had escaped, so an ambush while they slept should have been a forgone conclusion. They chose a rather difficult spot to defend, tactically... though the caltrops were a good idea>>
While they rested, a goblin quietly opened the furthest door, which could not be seen directly from where they chose to rest, and collected the caltrops. Then, the goblins led the dragon wyrmling they had stolen from the goblins into the room where the party was resting. Padlin and Boo were of course not wearing their armor, but Padlin charged forth regardless. Luckily, the goblins delayed enough that the wounded had healed somewhat, and Magus had already studied his spells.
As they attacked the Wyrmling, Meepo ran out, screaming "don't kill him!" This was why he came, to save his dragon and return it to his tribe - restoring his position of importance. Unfortunantely for Meepo, the wyrmling had no such compunction about killing. It took only a moment to reduce the kobold to a bleeding heap. But when his bloodied body was caught within a cone of acid breath, the bleeding stopped, permanently.
It was just as well, though, for they killed the wyrmling, and Kale took one of its teeth as a momento... but not before six goblins showed up. Their plan had been to sick the wymling on these dangerous adventurers, and so weaken them enough that they could finish them off. It nearly worked. Erky went down (though he lived), and Leon nearly did as well, but this time no goblin escaped.
They continued resting, assuming the goblins would not be quick to launch another attack, since none lived to tell the tribe how wounded the party was. Then they continued exploring. At this point, they did not have enough rations left to last more than a day, for though they no longer had to worry about Meepo, now they were supplying food for Erky. They also began to praise his abilities in combat, still having a sour taste in their mouth for their own cleric's combat prowess (though in his defense, Boo had been doing much better since they left the crypt. He had not fallen once, and had slain his share of goblins).
They soon found a small passage that led past a pit trap (which they managed to avoid) and to a locked door. Once Padlin unlocked the door, they found it opened onto the far end of Yusdrayl's (kobold leader's) throne room. However, the guards made it clear they were not wanted. As Kale argued with them, trying to gain access (and carefully avoiding mention of Meepo or the wyrmling), Padlin heard the feet of many small humanoids... presumably the kobolds, perhaps preparing for an attack. But, Kale did not attack. Finally, he turned away, and the kobolds shut the door and locked it. I do not know if it was spite, or a mischevious nature that made Kale do what he did next, but he leaned over and slid the dragon's tooth under the door. A few moments later, they found the entire force of the kobolds charging down the narrow hallway at them, while Yusdrayl hurled magic missiles. She hurled them twice as quickly as Magus did, and seemed to have a nearly limitless supply. <<the players kept saying "that has to be her last spell" - they didn't realize quite how many spells slots a level 3 sorceress gets>> They ran down the hall, fighting as they went. The kobolds shooting their crossbows and stabbing with their shortspears, while Leon took point, Padlin returned fire with his bow, and Kale swung his longsword. Boo and Erky did their best to keep everyone alive. Magus threw what missiles he had, hoping to take down Yusdrayl before she killed them all.
Once Magus was spent, he and Boo retreated to set up a trap. Pouring lantern oil in a nearby room (which they had to pass through), Boo urged Magus to light his torch (a feat he was not very skilled at, though he eventually got it lit). They led the kobolds into the room, and tossed the torch in. Then they threw another quart of oil, and another torch. In the end, they took out almost a third of the kobolds this way.
Just when it seemed their doom was assured... they were weak, for though the kobolds rarely struck against Leon, who endeavored to act as a human shield for the rest of their band, the magic missiles thrown by Yusdrayl were unerring. One more missle, and Leon would fall... and Padlin and Kale were already wounded badly. But, one more missle did not come, it seemed that Yusdrayl had spent her last missile, and was throwing weak rays of frost. In the end, they had her surrounded, and near death, when she broke down and begged for the life of her tribe - for she doubted they would stop at killing these warriors.
Kale agreed to let her live, if she, and whatever warriors she had left, joined them in an assault on the goblins, AND gave all their treasure (including every coin they owned) to him and his companions. Leon was quite uneasy about making any bargain with evil creatures, but decided it was likely the kobolds would all die in the assault on the goblins, so it was acceptable. Yusdrayl agreed to his terms, with the exception that she be allowed to leave 3 kobold warriors behind to defend the women and children. Then she handed over all their belongings, and found a place for them to rest before the assault. The kobold dead were collected hastily, and the door was closed and locked, with guards posted before it. Yusdrayl also explained what she knew about the key that was among the tribe's treasures.
zzzzzz...
Sorry, I suppose I began to doze. It has been a long night, and telling such tales is more tiring than I thought. I will continue the story another day.
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Infiniti2000
Brother of Venom
(1/29/04 6:13 pm)
Reply
ezSupporter
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Re: Session 2
Thanks for the update! Your party is quite resourceful. They are also quite smart in realizing that sometimes it pays to flee. These are two valuable traits to have in RttToEE, so I think they will do very well. I can't wait to see how they do against the guardian at the bottom of the well. My players still joke about his name. 
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ieri
Tolling Bell Cultist
(1/30/04 4:32 am)
Reply
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Re: Session 2
Yes, they are rather resourceful, but they still seem to expect the monsters to just wait for them while they rest sometimes. There's a trail of gore from the kobolds they killed (the corpses are gone, but there are pleanty of clues left), and it's in goblin territory. The goblins and kobolds are enemies, and the goblins know the party's there, and is their enemy as well. The party plans to rest 2 days, so they can be fully healed when they assault the goblins. Do you really think the goblins are just going to wait?
They know the kobolds are weak, and should be able to figure out that the party is in kobold territory. What's more, they don't have any reason to suspect the party and the kobolds have any kind of alliance, so they would assume that one group or the other is wiped out, or has fled, while the other has to be in bad shape after that combat.
Yusdrayl's going to give them one of the rooms her warriors used to use, and ask one of their clerics to heal her. I'm going to make sure I know which characters are staying in the room (and thus getting the benefit of full time care by Leon, which doubles their natural healing rate), and which are going to wander about or whatever. I suspect they'll all stay in the room the first night, so it'll just be the handful of kobold guards watching for the goblin scouts. I've already rolled it out - none of them spot the first scouts.
If they don't heal Yusdrayl, she'll likely die to the first volley of javelins from the goblins. The kobold guards might take one or two goblins down before they die, but I doubt they'll accomplish more than that. Then it'll be the remaining goblin forces vs. the PCs... who won't be ready.
I know I'm being a bit harder on the party than the module calls for, but I'm trying to get them in the right mindset before they reach RttToEE. Teach them the hard lessons now, rather than letting them learn them in the CRM.
-Ieri
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ieri
Tolling Bell Cultist
(1/30/04 10:03 am)
Reply
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Re: Session 2
Also, during character creation for Magus, I planted a very useful little tool. His master was renowned for his divinations. Before leaving, Magus' master gave him a book, which was blank, and told him to open to the first blank page each day. To make a long story short, at times words appear on the page (and stay there). Invariably, the words have aided Magus. One told him to study feather fall, which he ended up using to save a certain Gnome named Erky Timbers, another just said "Duck"... he though "what, now?" and then the words "yes, NOW!" appeared. Throwing himself to the ground saved him from a hunter's stray arrow.
So, I'm trying to think of things to put in this book that will be helpful without giving away too much. So far, I haven't used the book yet in the actual campaign.
Though I do plan to throw in a side adventure to get them some experience, on their way to Hommlet, or perhaps to Verbobonc if they return there before going to Hommlet, I'm going to have someone (not sure who/what) steal some of their belongings, including the book. But the morning before it's stolen, I'm going to have the book say something to the effect of "Don't worry, I'll see you again soon."
And when he gets it back, it will have a few pages of threats against those who stole it.
-Ieri
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ieri
Tolling Bell Cultist
(2/10/04 7:02 pm)
Reply
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Session 3
And so their saga continues...
They rested in a small bunk room that was previously used by some of the kobolds they killed. The next morning, Yusdrayl woke them up early, requesting healing. Kale told her that, if they had anything left after healing themselves, they would find her. So, after a round of curative magic from Boo and Erky, both the clerics went to meet Yusdrayl. They healed her wounds, and spoke to her for a few minutes... then Yusdrayl noticed something behind them.
It was the goblins. They realized the kobolds were weakened (having seen the remains of the battle) and came to finish them off. They hadn't counted on the adventurers being allied with the remains of the kobold tribe, however. Battle ensued, and while it did not go well for the kobolds, Erky and Boo both proved invaluable, as did the rest our intrepid group, once they woke up and charged into combat. However, Erky fell (but did not die) in combat, after bravely (or perhaps foolishly) charging the goblin lines. They made relatively short work of the goblins and hobgoblins, except for their leaders. The leader of the goblins was a rather large Hobgoblin, and at his side was a goblin cleric, who was wearing full plate, and wielding a battleaxe and large shield - all taken from Erky. The hobgoblin struck Yusdrayl down, after she threw herself in front of the door to the area where all the women and children lived. Then, surrounded by the party, and with only his cleric at his side, he charged through that door, threatining to kill all the kobolds unless everyone dropped their weapons, and stopped fighting.
Kale seemed unconcerned about the death of the kobolds, while Leon saw it as an easy way to remove a bit more evil from the land of Grayhawk. Ultimately, everyone hesitated, and the hobgoblin barred the door, from inside. They took their time then, healing as they could, and Kale pulled out the whistle he had found in the crypt, and blew it again. This time there was a reaction... one of the dead goblins rose as a zombie, beholden to Kale. After testing his power with various commands, Kale took the zombie with them into battle. By the time the party finally broke the door down, all the kobolds were dead, and the huts were on fire. Neither the hobgoblin or the goblin were anywhere to be seen... until they charged in, to the waiting battleaxe of the goblin.
They chased her across the room, except for Boo and Padlin, who hung back, watching for the hobgoblin. After a moment, he jumped from behind a burning hut, and ran for the door. Boo swung at him as he passed, wounding him badly. Boo and Padlin pursued - but he had a good lead on Padlin, and Boo, with the stocky legs of a dwarf, couldn't keep up. Padlin chased him down the hall, around a corner, through the room where they found Meepo what seemed so long ago, and still the hobgoblin ran. He ran out of the ruined tower... and right into the pit trap that Padlin had fallen into when they first arrived. Already wounded badly from the earlier combat, and Boo's attack, the fall was enough to finish him.
Padlin noticed a large number of tracks outside the citadel, so he returned and notifed Kale. Kale went, alone, to investigate. It seemed that the goblins had left a scout behind, to watch the battle. When it turned against them, he notified the rest of the goblins, and they moved out of the citadel.
Following the tracks, Kale saw them climbing the long stairway to the surface. A couple well placed shots took out two of the goblin warriors with them (and one goblin child, who was knocked off the stairs by the falling body of a goblin warrior). The goblins panicked, dropped most of what they were carrying, and ran up the steps to safety. Kale ordered the zombie to collect all the treasure they left behind.
Again they rested, in the same room they had before. When Erky awoke, and saw the undead, he moved to turn it... only to be stopped by Kale. There was a long debate, with Erky and Leon arguing to destroy the undead, and Kale arguing for his usefulness - that it was a tool, nothing more. Finally, with Erky ready to leave rather than consort with undead, Boo attacked the zombie, destroying it easily. Kale had already tried to create another with the whistle, to no avail. He asked Magus to identify it, and determined that it could only be used once a week.
After resting another day, they explored the area the goblins had abandoned. They encountered a potted twig blight, which they dispatched easily. They also found the room that the wyrmling had made its home, and found the small pile of treasure it had accumulated. Boo was the first to discover it, and found, among other things, a vial full of a silvery liquid. Showing the intelligence and initiative that has made Boo such an interesting addition to this motley band, he assumed it was alchoholic and began to quaff it.
He choked on the alchemical silver, and nearly passed out as he puked the small amount he had drank, and everything he had eaten, all over the floor of the chamber. The rest of the vial was kept for future use, but as an odd side effect, Boo's teeth developed an odd silvery sheen.
They also discovered a large circular opening in the floor of the chamber that held the potted twig blight. The opening was covered with vines, and was deeper than their vision could penetrate. After much discussion of how to proceed, Boo decided, one last time, to take the initiative. Though they had spoken of removing their armor, and placing it in the bag of holding to carry down with them, Boo thought the climb looked simple, as it should be. However, burdened by his heavy armor, and the climbing skill of a greased earthworm, Boo lost his grip, and fell eighty feet to his death. <<First character death. The climb DC was a 0, however he rolled a 2, had a +1 strength mod, and a -4 armor check penalty. The module even allowed for a reflex save to grab the vines before hitting the bottom... he flubbed that too.>>
After seeing Boo's fate, the rest of the group decided to secure a rope to climb down <<this, of course, allowed them to climb down with a DC of 0... didn't help at all, but they felt better about it>>, and to remove armor first.
When they reached the bottom, they found two twig blights and two skeletons waiting for them. Things seemed to be going well at first... until they saw a large form lumbering towards the combat. It was a huge bugbear, wielding a morningstar in two hands, and accompanied by two dire rats. He quickly pummelled Padlin, and seemed near removing Kale from the battle, when Leon charged forward (having finally dispatched the skeletons) and hit one of the rats soundly... killing it instantly. But his deadly swing did not end there... seperating the rats head cleanly from its body, he continued the swing and impaled the other rat, killing it as well.
The Bugbear shouted "Fang! Grip! NO!!!" Then he turned towards Leon with hatred in his eyes and declared "you will DIE!" He charged Leon, and struck him to the ground with a massive swing of his morningstar. Kale bravely stepped over Leon's body, which still held a spark of life, and matched his blade to the beast's morningstar. Erky had used his last bit healing on Padlin and Magus (Magus had been badly wounded, repeatedly, by the skeletons and twig blights), but though Leon had not seen the light of Pelor in many days, the Sun God's grace was still upon him, and his wounds stopped bleeing. <<he stabalized on the first attempt>>
Erky, Kale and even Magus, wielding his quarterstaff, forced the Bugbear down a narrow passage... with Erky on one side of the passage, and Kale on the other, the creature was trapped. And there, it met its end.
However, even with the Bugbear dead, the intrepid band was in the most dangerous position they had ever been. They could not carry their wounded back up the vines to the room 80 feet above, and had nowhere to hide here. They knew, should they remain, it would not take long for something to arrive to finish them off.
Kale explored one tunnel, which seemed to lead deep below the earth, but soon decided it would offer them no safety. They took the bodies of the dead <<including Boo's... so much for respect for a fallen (literally) comrade>> and piled them in front of the two doors that led out of the chamber, hoping that the doors would be difficult to open, and thus anyone opening them would make enough noise that they could be ready.
Desperate, someone remembered the feather they had been given by Yusdrayl. They threw it to the ground, below the opening, and that opening was filled with a large oak. They managed to hoist the wounded up on the lower branches, tying them to place for safety, then they all climbed into the tree, hid themselves as best they could, and tried to rest. This wasn't too difficult for Magus, being an elf, or even for the half-elven blood of Kale. But when Erky found his place, he decided it was wise to tie himself to the tree as well.
A short while later, a goblin came through one of the doors. He found the bodies, and was shocked to see the hogboblin dead. He saw the tree (though did not come close enough to see anyone in it, yet), and dragged Boo's body back with him. Over the next few minutes, seven other goblins came out, looked at the tree (from enough of a distance that they could not see anyone in the tree, due to the slope of the ceiling and the hole to the room above), and went back in. Then, a few minutes later, all eight came out again, led by a bugbear. The group approached the tree. <<at this point, the players started to get worried. They were in no shape to fight anyone... and someone asked if Erky had those spells that all Gnomes get>> Erky, manipulating illusions as all Gnomes can, created a flickering, torchlike light and the sound of footsteps in the passage that Kale had explored earlier. The Bugbear yelled something to the goblins, and they ran past the tree, and down that passage.
Now, I hope you've all enjoyed the tale... but this seems a suitable place to stop, with hope naught but a thin thread for the wounded adventurers. It will keep you interested until I can continue my tale.
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PerfectParabola7
Ebon Hand Cultist
(2/10/04 7:42 pm)
Reply
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Re: Session 3
That was an interesting update. Thanks for the good read!
I've basically finished the module now. My player took his one man army through it in six sessions. He sort of chose a very direct approach Saturday night and used his half-celestial wings to bypass almost all of the Grove Level (he ignored anything that didn't notice him and killed and hid the bodies of whatever did).
The final fight was rather anti-climatic. He decided not to engage the ex-paladin, druid, wizard and horde of twig blights on equal footing and stayed in the air almost the entire time. Sir Braford proved to be a horrible shot with a bow. He took a bit of damage from a heat metal on his armor, but the druid was shocked to see that chill metal does nothing to a half-celestial. The Magic Missiles never made it through his SR. He lobbed alchemist fires on the tree and then dumped all his pints of oil on the flames. I ruled that the tree would continue to take 1d6 damage per alchemist flask for 1d10 rounds due to the oil. The fire damage consistently rolled 5's and 6's and the tree died quickly. Sharwyn threw a ray of frost at it while Belak tried to put it out with create water. The player simply kept the druid too threatened to achieve anything.
Chris (the PC) demanded they surrender. He didn't get what he expected. Watching his life quest burn to the ground was too much for Belak. He threw his last produce flame at his tormenter and then embraced the burning tree for the rest of his life. The twig blights scattered and the missing adventurers died a very graphic death (think something from 28 days later...lots of screaming, violent twitching and vomiting gallons of blood). Chris was rather distraught that destroying the tree killed the paladin and wizard.
One reason he completed the mission so fast was his role-playing skills. He managed to broker a peace with kobolds. He returned their dragon and Yusdrayl pledged to never attack the town and to only fight the goblins in self-defense. No kobolds were killed in the entire adventure.
He also did something similar with the goblins. He killed as few of them as possible. After brawls, he would pause to stabilize dying ones and he wasted a lot of healing potions on them. In the end, he allied with the goblins and overthrew the hobgoblin dominance. The goblins of the first layer are no longer hostile to him (he even shared the chief's treasure with them). However, the goblins in the second layer are still hostile and view their upper cousins as traitors and there may be a small civil war soon. Chris is going to try to deal with that next session. He has extracted a promise from Yusdrayl that she and her clan will leave the goblins alone. I haven't decided if Yusdrayl will keep this promise or not.
The kobolds also helped him defeat the dragonpriest. Chris kept the troll occupied while kobolds shot it with flaming arrows. The plan worked well. Chris managed to dump a gallon of oil on it and then a kobold hit with his flaming arrow. Chris then engaged the troll torch with his sword to keep it from rolling around and putting out the flames.
Now I have to figure out what's going to happen in the Citadel. I'd like to throw one small side-adventure at him before he heads to RttTEE.
I rolled a 1 on a d4 for the Balsag encounter and had him away. Chris looted his dwelling. I'm thinking about Balsag returning, find the citadel completely different and retreating and returning with a bugbear demon cult. Chris plans on returning to his homeland (an elven village a week's travel to the North) after finishing up in the citadel and then returning to complete an obligation of taking Sir Braford's body back to his home temple in Hommlet. The trip home will take Chris a week and he'll probably stay there for a few days for the burial of his half brother, the ranger Karakas (from the module) before making the trip back to Oakhurst. This gives me a two-week time table to make something happen.
Should Balsag return and drive the kobolds out of the citadel and perhaps raid the town?
I really apologize for de-railing your thread, ieri. I'd really like you opinion on this. You seem to be a master DM with the module.
My Realm
Ramblings of a Sleepwalking Man |
ieri
Tolling Bell Cultist
(2/10/04 8:45 pm)
Reply
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Re: Session 3
Well, I'd have Yusdrayl keep her word. Kobolds are Lawful, they generally keep their word when it's given. The goblins on the other hand, are chaotic. Of course, it sounds like Chris made it clear it's in their best intrest to stay on his side.
Balsag returning though, while he's out... I could see Balsag taking over the goblins again. With Chris not around to protect them, he could pretty much walk in and say "I'm the boss." He's also a ranger, so can probably handle the twig blights fairly well. Depending on how many twig blights got above ground, and how many survived Chris' visit, I could see Balsag putting together a fairly strong force of goblins and twig blights. Of course, the goblins would be likely to turn on him if Chris returned, depending on the situation.
Of course, if you want to have him bring back a bugbear cult, that would work. You've got underdark access, so you can get away with pulling just about anything you want into it. I'm planning to have a Derro sorceror show up. But I'll get into that in a seperate post.
-Ieri
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ieri
Tolling Bell Cultist
(2/10/04 8:54 pm)
Reply
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Ideas after Session 3
Okay, here's the plans for next session. The hobgoblin and goblins ran into the underdark. They'll disappear for a while (long enough for the party to rest for a day, so they have a chance of survival), and then a few of the goblins will run (full speed, panic driven run) out of the underdark passage.
I'm going to describe it something like this.
You hear someone running, then see three goblins burst from the mouth of the passage. All of a sudden, a hole appears in the chest of one goblin, and half of another's face is torn from its head.
Then the third goblin runs by... players have attacks of op if they want them and are in position.
Then, a small blue humanoid with dwarflike features appears at the mouth of the tunnel. With a hideous cackle, he yells something in a tongue you are not familiar with.
Roll init... Basically, it's a level 3 Derro Sorceror. I've modified his magic missile so the missiles are invisible... all you see is the effects. I'm using a bit of dues ex machina so those first two missiles roll max damage and take the two goblins out. I imagine the players will be terrified of this little guy's magic... never knowing it's just magic missile.
I put him in largely so that they have enough experience to level. Belak got word of the oak, and has come to the logical conclusion that one of the druids from his old druid circle (the one he's outcast from) has come for him. So he's pulled all his defenses in (the party is going to find a lot of rooms that were obviously abandoned hastily). It'll make the final battle huge...
Belak's also began messing with elemental evil a bit, and is just starting to go a tiny bit mad. I'm not changing any game stats for it, but he will roleplay it. When he sees the party, and no druid, he'll assume the druid's hiding, and start talking to him (giving away a few clues towards Homlett). Then, when no druid shows (assuming the party doesn't interrupt him), he'll assume the druid has taken animal form... and start killing the dire rats that are on his side... he'll kill any animals he sees, with the one exception being his own companion.
I've got a few other developments too, but I'll post about them tomorrow. I want to go to bed.
-Ieri
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