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KnightOfRound 
Human
(3/17/04 3:22 pm)
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KnightOfRound's Campaign Log
KnightOfRound’s Campaign Log
At long last, I have finally started my D&D campaign. I’ve made the decision to start the campaign with a level 4 party. I'd like to keep this log as clean as possible, however I most *certainly* want to hear your comments and feedback! So I will create links to other threads for discussion purposes. In fact, my first one can be found here:
pub102.ezboard.com/fokayy...3602.topic
I will be using many of the materials found on ZanForClan's website, including the 3.5 Conversion, many of the suggestions in the FAQ, and the entire Verbobonc supplement found there. I also plan on using the printable "battlegrounds", and possibly the revealable maps as well.
With all that said, onto the the campaign!
Edited by: KnightOfRound at: 3/17/04 3:37 pm
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KnightOfRound
Human
(3/17/04 3:24 pm)
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Campaign Background
The premise of this campaign is that the Temple Raiders of Olidammara (See the Song & Silence Splatbook) has heard rumors of the recent excavations taking place near Hommlet, and dispatches a team of individuals to investigate these rumors.
In my campaign, the Temple Raiders are very much a global underground movement. The “brotherhood” is divided into four different types of members of the movement. “Workers”, “Advisors”, “District Leaders”, “Council Members”, and “Clergy”.
At the top of the movement are 9 “Council Members”, who direct the movement as a whole. The Council meets twice a year in secret locations to determine the future of the movement and the division of resources. Replacements to the council are elected by the remaining Council Members. They also retain control of all of the artifacts obtained by the guild. A little known fact is that the guild gets the majority of its funding by selling its artifacts to the black market; in fact, sometimes they will GIVE an artifact back to its original owners in order to further infiltrate a church organization.
One step below the Council Members are the “District Leaders”. They receive intelligence and resources from the Council, and choose “Advisors” for their districts. They are also responsible for the silencing of compromised cells. When a District Leader leaves the guild or is removed from power, the Council selects a replacement. District Leaders are usually high level wizards that use Scry/Teleportation spells to keep tabs on all the cells under their jurisdiction.
Advisors are usually chosen for their loyalty to the guild. They are usually chosen from Workers who have become heavily involved in the movement. The District Leader gives the Advisor his or her assignment, and the resources to complete it. The Advisor then acquires “Workers” to complete the bulk of the assignment. Some Advisors will adventure directly with the Workers, others will direct from afar. Advisors can be of any class and background, although they usually need to be able to work with people very well.
The “Workers” are the arms and legs of the movement. They are largely ignorant of the movement as a whole. “Workers” are usually adventurers that are hired, extorted, and/or bribed into the service of the movement by Advisors. Sometimes they serve for only one mission; others have been working for the movement their entire career. Workers can be found from all walks of life; nobles, adventurers, even commoners.
This movement has survived the past 160 years or so. It owes its success largely to its cell-like organization, and the blessing of Olidammara himself.
Since this is a movement full of worshippers of a thief god, there is naturally quite a bit of backstabbing and power struggling at the top. Normally this would result in the disappearance of many cells from the movement. However, after any major power struggle the clergy of Olidammara receives messages about how to re-establish contact with the individual cells. Thus, the clergy serves as a sort of judicial arbiter within the guild; while wizards, rogues, and bards all vie for control of the Council, it is ultimately the clergy that keeps the Council Members in check.
Edited by: KnightOfRound at: 3/17/04 3:32 pm
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KnightOfRound
Human
(3/17/04 3:29 pm)
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The Characters
Absor Clandeggin will be the PC’s “Advisor”. He is a level 4 Dwarven Cleric of Olidammara with relatively high charisma. I think he will travel with the PCs at least at first, until I am certain that they can perform well without a healer. Then I will likely send him off on information-gathering excursions of his own. I can see him checking out Nulb and Rastor while the PCs are taking care of the mill and moathouse, and later on helping the PC infiltrate the Fanes. Absor’s contact in Hommlet is Zerosh Nubic, who I’ve altered slightly. He’s now an illusionist and works as a spy for the Council, although Clandeggin doesn’t realize this. Clandeggin believes that Zerosh is only a merchant sympathetic to the cause. Zerosh is there to provide the party sanctuary and can serve as an advisor when Clandeggin isn’t around.
My first PC, Dog, is a level 1 Rogue/level 3 Fighter. He has the classic street-orphan story; he worked as hired muscle for a theives’ guild, but when the guild collapsed, he hit rough times. The movement saw his potential and Absor picked him up. Since then, he has severed the guild loyaly for the past 4 years by doing odd jobs and occasionally joining adventuring parties to further the movement. Since he's zealously loyal to guild, I’m counting on him to keep the party together and on the right track throughout the module. (He’s also one of the better roleplayers, which helps.)
My second PC, Beck, is a level 4 Rogue. She has high dexterity and strength, but is somewhat lacking on intelligence and wisdom. She is extorted by Absor to work for the movement. Since she doesn’t have much smarts, she is definitely a “skills rogue” with most of her ranks in Move Silently, Open Lock, Disable Device, and the like. She will most likely supply most of the technical skills to the group and serve as point scout.
My third PC, Unnamed, is a level 4 Rogue. She has relatively high intelligence and charisma, but is low on strength and wisdom. She was previously the leader of a Halfling Clean-up Brigade that served the thieves guild in Verbobonc. (See Enemies and Allies) Absor found her and picked her up after she was ousted in power. In return for her services, Absor has promised to give her sanctuary from the local thieves guild.
When new PCs enter the campaign or die, I will update this section.
Edited by: KnightOfRound at: 3/17/04 4:51 pm
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KnightOfRound
Human
(3/17/04 4:41 pm)
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Session #1
The campaign started out in the City of Greyhawk, which is a major metropolis in my game. We started first with Beck. She has a lot of debts in the city and has bad relationships with the local thief guilds, so she is operating alone. She received a tip about a rich heiress whose former husband was a powerful noble. The nobles’ death has been kept quiet for the moment, and no one, not even his wife, knows about it yet. In his will he ceded his family’s treasury to his wife, which could be found in their manor in a secret location described in the will.
Beck then proceeded to infiltrate the household, posing as a simple housemaid. She spent approximately 3 weeks “casing” the joint and waited for an opportunity to make an attempt at the treasure. Eventually the lady was informed of her husband’s death, and went to attend the funeral. However, she told the servants that she was going out to a party…she didn’t want the servants to take advantage of her lower status, until she received the inheritance. In the meantime, she retrieved the treasure and moved it, somewhat idiotically, to her armoire. Beck discovered this, and began the operation the night of the funeral.
On the night of the heist, Beck gathered her tools of the trade, made up an excuse to enter the manor, and made her way to the compound. The compound guards quickly accepted her story and let her in. The guard inside the manor was found both asleep and drunk at his station, and none of the servants could be found.
After scouting the manor to make sure no one was at home, Beck went up the 2nd floors, scouted many of those rooms, and then picked the lock on the Lady’s Bedroom door. It opened easily. She entered the room, picked the lock on the armoire and found several jewels and gems, amounting to several thousand platinum.
However, all was not as it would seem…because as Beck was stuffing the precious jewels in her bag, Beck heard a mysterious voice:
Mysterious Voice: “I suggest you drop those jewels and your weapons down to the ground now.”
Sweating, Beck complied, and after she did, three figures appeared in the room. The first was a tall man with a heavy crossbow trained on Beck. (This is the PC named Dog.) The second was a small, elegantly dressed dwarf with a poofy hat and an elaborately braided beard. (This is the NPC named Absor) The third was a tall, thin cloaked figure. (This is a random wizard that I invented to get Absor and Beck into the manor invisibly.)
Absor made it clear that Beck was in some serious trouble, and tormented Beck with thoughts of turning her in to the authorities. However, he did offer her a way out: if she would do a couple jobs for him, then he’ll offer her asylum. She leapt at the offer; she had many debts and problems in the city anyway and was happy to take the chance to leave. Of course, Beck still had to prove that she was of adventuring caliber, so Absor demanded that she undergo a “test” to see if she was any worthy of his mission and his protection. Beck agreed.
The Wizard provided invisibility potions to everyone, and they all left the manor invisible. The Wizard neutralized the guards and opened the gates for everyone. Dog trailed Beck just to make sure she wouldn’t run for it. (He had a See Invisibility spell cast upon him beforehand.) After a short conflict, Beck, Dog, and Absor all re-convened at the Red Dragon Inn nearby.
Once Beck had made clear that she didn’t have any strings that needed to be tied before she left town, Absor and Dog brought Beck to a secret hideout (she was hooded for the duration), which was a veritable underground city. In the middle of the city was a large, arena-type construction in which gladiatorial combats were found. Absor explained that for her test he would enter her into one of the gladiatorial events. Dog would serve as her partner in the trials, to test her ability to work with others.
The two of them were quickly entered into the trials. Their first trial was the Displacer Beast Maze, Book of Challenges, pg. 27. I replaced the Displacer Beast with a Leopard to make it a CR 3 encounter. The two of them handled the maze fairly well. The Leopard used hit-and-run attacks on the PCs, but it didn’t have much luck attacking the PCs. Beck eventually killed the Leopard with a critical, and Dog scaled the trellis to reach the end of the hedge maze, as Beck followed on foot. Eventually the reached the end of the hedge maze, and the beginning of their next trial.
Their second trial was All the Treasure, None of the Traps, Book of Challenges, pg. 32. Despite the fact this is a CR 6 encounter, I figured they could handle it because this encounter is favorable towards Rogues. In this trial, the PCs discovered a series of traps that were already triggered; pendulum blades hanging in midair, fireball and lightning bolt scorch marks on some walls, open pits, etc. Once they got to the center of the maze, they discovered a burnt corpse hanging over an unopened chest. After some careful prodding, Dog picked up the chest. This released a pressure plate below the chest that reset all of the traps. The two of them then had to escape the maze with their lives, triggering an array of deadly spells and traps. They narrowly avoided certain doom when they triggered a scare trap that sent them running into a pit trap, but luckily both of them made their reflex saves in time to save themselves. They made it through many of the traps, however Beck nearly died to the final trap, a particularly nasty pendulum blade. They managed to limp out of these trials intact, but without their dignity. (They argued a lot and did not particularly work well together  )
End of first session.
My Comments:
Well, what do you folks think of the campaign so far? How do you think this group may fare in the actual RttToEE campaign? They haven’t added their third member to group yet, (she’s still working on her character) but I’ll be able to squeeze her in the next session. Do you think the three of them will be able to take on the dragon with Absor and Chat for help? Or do you think I need to level them up/delevel the dragon a bit?
I would appreciate any/all comments/suggestions that you might have! However, I’d like to keep this post relatively clean, so please direct all responses to this thread: pub102.ezboard.com/fokayy...3602.topic
Edited by: KnightOfRound at: 3/17/04 4:44 pm
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