The main characters were:
Arconom the Deceiver - Human Preserver. Arconom is a greedy, selfserving spellcaster who desires power. He alternates between cowardly and furious rages which have nearly killed the pary several times.
Org - Half Giant Fighter. Org Smash. Wields an enourmous Lotulus and has been known to charge into battle on an inix wielding a giant sized lance.
Clk'Whrr - Thri-kreen Psion. Psychotic bug who enjoys feasting upon freshly slain sentients. This is where I discovered that thri-kreen+no level penalty+claws of the vampire = unstoppable killing machine of death.
Garret - NPC fighter. My attempt to make sure that the party didn't get *too* stupid. :D Garret's loyalty to Arconom turned out to be his death when the party was on the run from Rikus out in the desert.
Campaign highlights:
>party breaks free during Kalak's death. They slaughter the slavemaster and org takes his skull as a trophy.
>Enlist in the tyrian army, sent to clear out bandits in the ringing mountains.
>When ambushed by elven raiders(not the same bandits that they were sent to kill) who demand all the party's gold, Arconom refused and boasts that he will fight to the end. Rest of party looks at him in disbelief. Elven defilers cast Hold on Org and all of the soldiers sent with the party are slaughtered by poisoned javelins and arrows. Only ones left standing after fight are org and clk'whrr. Arconom is not killed, however.
>Party Goes AWOL
>Show up in Balic and cause massive riots and fires. Party burns down the docks and flee the city.
>Party returns to Tyr and approach Rikus, having entirely forgotten their quest. Rikus is furious and sends them out to complete the task with a psion who will oversee it.
>Party slaughters bandits, psion is left for dead.
>Party confronts psion in front of Tithian of Tyr, where the psion had acused Arconom of treachery. Psion attacks Arconom and the Party responds.....violently. Tithian and his royal guard are slaughtered and the throne room runs red with blood. Org beheads tithian and Arconom steals the crown of Kalak.
>Party is thrown in prison and awaits public execution. However, the gaurds had not known or expected the thri-kreen to be a psion, and the party escapes.
>Party fights its way to the gates where Arconom faces Sadira of Tyr in a duel.
>Sadira summons black tentacles that attempt to strangle Arconom, whilst the deceiver responds with blasts of fire that light nearby houses on fire. The duel is draw, but due to the hideous power and destruction the people witness, spellcasting is once again outlawed from tyr.
>Party heads back to Balic and finds employ with a templar who is rooting out spies. Unfortunately, the spies are minions of the Dragon(PCs still don't know this) and the PCs are beaten. However, the Dragon sees that Arconom is a fool and would make a good puppet. Arconom is geased and sent to recover an artifact.
>Arconom drowns in the sea of silt. Org and Clk'Whrr are still at large.
We played this campaign for most of the 18 weeks the class lasted and the party was level 9 at last check. We haven't gotten to play much lately. Arconom has been raised as an undead slave of the Dragon, but it is doubtful that he will last long. Unless the players are smarter than I think, he will likely die by Rikus' hand.
If you want more information about it, go there http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=223716
Right now, the party have problem with an elf called Leornis from Silver spring. He hired the pc to kidnappe an alleged defiler named Zambryn in a Stel caravan. That guys, Zambryn, was in fact just a scholar of an elder Preserver (named Korsus) who ventured in the Dead land and found a Legion of Doom scroll. The last time Zembryn saw him was when Korsus went into an abandonned mine north of Silver spring. Leornis wanted to know where that mine was, so its why he hired the pc to capture the guy. So the pc believing him went and capture the poor guy (using stealth and magic to pass the guards of the caravan) and bring him back to Leornis. Leornis extract the information and then, give back the ``defiler`` to the PC (after cutting his tongue) so they can kill him. Whitout asking question (even if the guy was begging for mercy), the party killed the guy. Leornis thanked them and went away. Now that the PC have learn that they got screwed, they are chassing that elf. They are trying to learn were that old abandonned mine is.
I plan to make them go in the mine and Leornis will already be there. There will have Banshee Dwarf too, since its an haunted mine. I already draw the map of that mine, its really huge. Will be fun to play cat and mouse in that with the Pc and my NPC.
What is your most memorable Dark Sun Campaign?
The one I'm about to run!
:invasion:
They witnessed the Champion's begin their purging of the non-human races.
The details are to lengthy to go into but the high lights were:
-Visiting Kemlock the last dwaven kingdom
-Encountering Irikos the Left hand of Rajaat,
-Dregoth Slaying Tariskir the Lion King
There were many others as well.
T'was very cool to say the least
--Sysane, The Terror of Urik
My best mates played a cleric (water) and gladiator.
Now they were both involved in the "nefarious" side of Tyr's underbelly. Dealing, ahem, substances to eek a living, and got involved in all kinds of sordid and deadly intrigues, imagine a sort of neutral and evil alter-ego Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. The cleric had some morals, but the gladiator really did become a raving psychopath. In one scenario, where they were up against an assassin, the gladiator, since they couldn't identify WHO the assassin was in an inn, poisoned/slaughtered everyone then set the whole place on fire...sheesh.
PCs had to flee Tyr after that, no wonder :>
Eventually, Athas became so hot for them they had to get the heck out, literally, after many adventures, where in they often had yet MORE folk mad at them, they found an ancient fort..which had a Gate..it lead to the Abyss...
Eventually they managed to get out of the Abyss, got to Sigil, and got yet MORE folk mad at them...
Oh and the mind flayers , on finding they both were so intelligent, especially the Water cleric (who had dual classed to a wizard), decided they wanted them as the main course...so illithids form across the Planes ended up after them to.
Put me in mind of some cross-planar Benny Hill chase scene, hehe.
The end result was the the manical gladiator became the avatar of a god of bloodshed, 'cause he was silly enough to agree to be his avatar, in return for help with the titan they had PO'd off while in the Abyss...who'd finally caught up with them. Course the god lied, sort of and the gladiator lost control of himself and thus became an NPC. (Titan was a weaponsmith to the demon lords and gods, the deformed son of Aphrodite and Haephestus, and I play titans as REAL butt stompers, even in 2nd ed, think that was the 2nd or 3rd titan I used in my games over the years, great NPCs)
The start in DS was wonderfully vicious, brutal, cut throat, and while they had the chance to play more heroically, they deiced to play their characters as an opportunist with occasional morals, and a rabid killer.
Not sure whether it was great roleplaying or rabid munchkinism, hehe ;)
One of the highlights being they saved an elf merchant, who helped them afterwards, but then ran off with the gladiator's prized steel bastard sword, and the player of the gladiator spent a year of RL game sessions trying to hunt the poor shmuck down, or trying to, in revenge.
Hence the new DS phrase:
"Hell hath no fury like a gladiator conned!"
Or when the very same group decided to build a stronghold over in the Hinterlands just before the Kreen war erupted :P
I love being a DM!