So far, I've run my party through one and a half of the generic D&D modules: "The Sunless Citadel" and "The Forge of Fury." I'm not going to detail those adventures for two reasons: (1) I don't want to spoil anything for anyone who hasn't played them yet but will in the future, and (2) if you want to know about them, you can see them in full on your own. Besides, the only original elements I added were where I decided to place them in the Greyhawk setting and some of the NPCs; I really can't take credit for anything else.
I'll add posts soon detailing a recurring NPC villain that I've incorporated into the campaign and some notes about what I've been doing with the Pomarj.
OMG I so have to comment - I'm running a GH campaign and used Sunless Citadel and they are currently going throught the Fourge of fury now - think we might want to swap notes - if you want to see how things are going you can check this out http://www.geocities.com/jonesy98409/
Raynen Hawkspire is a sorcerer and a ladies' man. He also has grandiose visions of becoming a military commander, probably related to growing up with his uncle, who was an advisor to Duke Grenowin in the Duchy of Ulek.
Draven Hawkspire, Raynen's older brother, is a ranger. He is a bit more taciturn than Raynen, and seems to have a bit of a temper. He would very much like to see all orcs destroyed, and to have a part in doing so.
Draven and Raynen are both half-elves (their mother was elvish). Their parents were killed six years ago when the orcs of the Pomarj invaded the Principality of Ulek, where the family lived. Fortunately, the boys were visiting their uncle in the Duchy of Ulek at the time. They swore vengeance against the orcs, and in fact, even though they were still only teenagers at the time, they killed a straggling orc that had been attempting to loot the ruins of the family homestead.
Arioch Tanelorn is an elven rogue from Celene. By design, very little has been revealed about him.
These are the PCs in the party. Since there are only three, I've been running an NPC as the fourth member (which, in a way, gives me my own character, even though I'm the DM). That NPC is Brom Blackforge, a human fighter from Furyondy. Brom is the second son of a blacksmith in the city of Willip, who turned to adventuring since his brother will be the one to inherit the family business.
I've also introduced some other NPCs as recurring characters. These are Keth Corwyn, a half-orc fighter from the former Wild Coast; Serena Carter, a human sorceress; and Thaddeus Beckham, a fighter/cleric of St. Cuthbert.
Recently, Arioch split from the other two PCs to fulfill his own errand (I'll get back to that later), and Brom and Serena went with him. For the time being, Thaddeus and Keth will join the Hawkspire brothers to fill out the adventuring party (and Arioch's player will play Thaddeus).
Next, I'll post something about a recurring villain I've introduced.
Tamyris is a female half-elf fighter 4/rogue 3/wizard 3. (My PCs are only 4th level, so she's quite a bit higher than them. I wanted her to be more than a match for them, at least when they first met.) The party met her in the common room of the Griffon's Nest Inn and Tavern in Blasingdell, at the beginning of the "Forge of Fury" adventure.
As I mentioned in the previous post, Raynen fancies himself something of a ladies' man. (In fact, the party essentially fled Oakhurst at the end of "The Sunless Citadel" when the local barkeep discovered that his daughter had spent the night with Raynen.) Anyway, when Raynen saw Tamyris in the common room, he went over to her table and turned on the charm. To his surprise, he found that she was more than willing. Very shortly, they went up to her room.
Raynen's first warning should have been the liquid substance she offered him as they undressed. He didn't take it, but she did. She then screamed out in pain, collapsing to her knees. In a moment, however, she seemed gripped by immense pleasure. (Liquid Pain, from the Book of Vile Darkness.)
After the two of them returned to the common room, Arioch snuck up to her room to snoop around. In her belongings, he found theives tools, a spellbook, and a couple different kinds of drugs. He took the drugs, not knowing what they were, hoping to have someone identify them at some point.
Later, when they were all back in the common room, discussing their impending expedition into the mountains, Tamyris offered to join them. She assisted in fighting the inhabitants of the "Forge of Fury" - at least for a while. Then, after finding some fungi in the underground passageways, the party noticed that Tamyris was nowhere to be found. (The party probably hasn't figured this out, but her real goal was to get here to harvest rare mushrooms for the Mushroom Powder drug from the Book of Vile Darkness.) Arioch heard her footsteps, though, and followed, even though he could not see her.
Once he got back to the surface, Arioch saw an apparently riderless horse gallop away. Surmising that an invisible Tamyris was riding it, he rode after it. However, he learned that the horse really was riderless. When he returned to where the other horses were tied, he found one of them to be missing.
The last that the full party learned about Tamyris was that she was last seen leaving town, heading north (toward Verbobonc).
Arioch, however, has learned a bit more. (At this point, if Draven or Raynen's players are reading, I'll kindly ask them to stop. You'll learn about this soon enough. . . . OK, good.) On the evening that the party returned to Blasingdell, Arioch noticed that he was being followed. He caught the guy, and got him to admit that Tamyris had hired him to watch Arioch (whom she suspected of stealing from her) and to report to her in Verbobonc at the end of the month. The next morning, Arioch left town without telling Draven or Raynen why. Brom, however, saw Arioch preparing to leave and offered to join him. Serena was with Brom (the two of them having become romantically involved), and she offered to go as well. Arioch agreed, so the three of them left.
Near the end of their journey, the trio spent a night in Hommlet, at the Inn of the Welcome Wench. While there, Arioch saw Tamyris enter and rent a room. A bit later, he snuck into her room, but found her waiting. They fought, and he barely escaped. When Brom checked the room moments later, she was gone. Now, Arioch and the others are on their way to Verbobonc to look for her.
They will meet again.
Arioch was on his way to Verbobonc to look for Tamyris Kestrel, the half-elven fighter/rogue/wizard who has been vexing him since they met in a town in the foothills of the Lortmils (Blasingdell, IMC, from the "Forge of Fury" module). Part of what bothers him about her is that he does not know her agenda, and whether she is on her own or working for someone more sinister.
Arioch left the Inn of the Welcome Wench, then slipped into a shop and, reaching a back room unseen, he assumed a disguise. He left Hommlet under his new identity of Ethrill Silverleaf, a rope merchant.
About six miles out of town, as the road approached a stand of trees, he spotted a half-elven ranger hiding among the trees. Then, looking back under the guise of adjusting a saddlebag, he noticed another figure on horseback on the road behind him. He pretended not to have seen them, and as he got closer to the trees, it seemed like the ranger was watching the road behind Arioch with increasing frustration. The rider behind Arioch, a human fighter, drew closer, so Arioch stopped and hailed him, trying for all the world to look like just another weary traveler.
Looking confused, the rider returned the greeting. Then he asked if Arioch had seen an elf on the road matching Arioch's normal description. Arioch answered that he had not. As he spoke to the rider, Arioch recognized both the rider and the ranger as having been in the common room at the Inn of the Welcome Wench that morning.
As Arioch finished exchanging pleasantries and turned to ride off, the ranger finally recognized him, seeing through the disguise. Crying out, "It's him!" the ranger released an arrow, striking Arioch's horse. Arioch leaped down, drawing his rapier, and plunged into the trees after the ranger. Surprised, the rider was slow to react, finally fumbling down off the horse and following, several steps behind.
Arioch struck first, and struck deep. The ranger scrambled back, deeper into the trees, and away from the fighter rushing to his aid. The ranger's attack went wide, missing Arioch.
Arioch struck again, leaving the ranger in obviously rough shape. He offered the ranger a chance to yield, and the ranger took it, calling out for the fighter to drop his sword.
In questioning the two of them, Arioch learned that they had been hired by a half-elven woman to kill Arioch. He made them a counter-offer: he would pay them double what she was offering if they could find out what she was up to. They agreed.
After that, Arioch reached Verbobonc without incident, although his injured horse made the journey slower than it would have been otherwise. He is now staying at Jylee's Inn, under his assumed identity, trying to gather clues on his own about Tamyris and what she may be doing in Verbobonc.
Brom and Serena arrived separately, and are staying elsewhere in town. Arioch and Brom have a pre-arranged plan to meet regularly at the Blind Beholder tavern to compare notes, but so far, neither has found any positive sign of Tamyris. Brom has taken a job with a blacksmith, partly as cover and partly to defray the cost of staying in town.
Arioch is supposed to meet the ranger and the fighter in about a week to see what they have learned. (Then there is the small matter of coming up with the money he promised them. . . .)
Originally posted by Jagermeister
Interesting, I also have a half-orc NPC in my Greyhawk game named Keth. A barbarian and a ranger, he has been a companion of the party for a while in the Shield Lands.
As do I, although mine is a villian, a half-orc cleric of Iuz who runs a slaving ring.
As they were passing through Celene on their way from Greyhawk to Blasingdell (which I placed in the foothills of the Lortmils, halfway between Courwood and Thunderstrike), they spent an evening in the home of another uncle (their mother's brother). While they were there, they had essentially the same dream, except that one of them saw their mother speaking to them, and the other saw their father. In both cases, they saw the dead parent say something like, "Give us rest" or "Give us peace." They each had similar dreams on the following night.
In Blasingdell, they met a fighter/cleric named Tirith Valdane. (This is Tirith, Undead Seeker, from the D&D website.) He told them he was shortly headed into the Principality of Ulek, following rumors of a couple of ghosts in the eastern reaches. This alarmed the Hawkspires, as the area that Tirith described was roughly the area of their childhood home, where their parents were killed - and where they had just seen them in eerily similar dreams. They told Tirith that these ghosts may be their parents, and pleaded with him not to do anything to harm them. Tirith, having lost parents at an early age himself, was sympathetic, despite his hatred of the undead. He promised that he would do what he could.
The PCs haven't seen Tirith since. They headed into the Lortmils and the lost dwarven stronghold Khundrukar (from the "Forge of Fury"), and returned to Blasingdell to rest and recover. (During that interlude, Arioch left for Verbobonc, as described in other posts.) The Hawkspires are still in Blasingdell, and at our next game, they'll head back into Khundrukar (with new companions, replacing Brom and Arioch for the time being). At this point, though, Tirith has already reached the Hawkspire homestead and has encountered the dead Hawkspire parents.
What Tirith has learned - and the party will eventually learn, assuming that they inquire further - is that the Hawkspire parents are not undead. They are ghosts, but not in the sense of the undead creatures in the Monster Manual. Instead, they are ghosts in the sense of the spirits in Ghostwalk (although that is about all I have borrowed from that source - I'm not going to allow dead PCs to continue adventuring). The Hawkspire parents have remained on the Material Plane rather than traveling to the Outer Plane appropriate to their alignment out of a deep love for each other and for their family. They feel drawn to different Outer Planes (due to different alignments), but are reluctant to part from each other. They are also unwilling to go until they have been able to see their sons one last time.
I am pretty sure that the Hawkspire PCs will return home to see what the story is with their parents. (If not, more and more vivid dreams will follow until they do!) Then, they will have a touching reunion and farewell. This will also point the party toward their next adventure.
You see, the Hawkspires' father was among the combatants at the Battle of Emridy Meadows. (I don't have all the details worked out yet, but this will have been his last major action before retiring to raise his family.) Their father will tell them that he has sensed a new evil growing in the north. (I'm not sure whether the connection to the Temple of Elemental Evil will be apparent right away or not.) He will tell them they must stop this evil. I'm planning to use this to start them on Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil.
In the dream, Raynen sees two dragons high above an indeterminate landscape. The dragons circle each other in flight, biting and clawing. They are both large and very old; one is red, the other is gold. (Firebreathers, see?) Finally, the red latches onto the gold and, clutched together, the two plummet Oerthward. As the ground rushes up, Raynen wakes.
As I see it, a dragon disciple is seeking to awaken a latent dragon ancestral trait, so it's something that's always been there. (It has fed his fascination with fire, for instance.) But I plan to leave it ambiguous, at least for a while, as to whether he is descended from a red or a gold dragon.
Turrosh Mak has sent envoys into the Lortmils in an effort to locate and recruit the isolated orc enclaves that either survived the Hateful Wars or moved in since. One of these envoys happened to be a half-brother of his, and that half-brother had the misfortune of being discovered by the PCs. With surprise and a favorable site on their side, the PCs were able to wipe out the envoy and his escort. While I doubt that family ties mean as much to Turrosh Mak as they might to others, he is not going to be happy about this development.
Meanwhile, I have established Gorin Thorian (a half-orc loremaster from the D&D website) as a quiet opponent. Thorian had no desire to contest Mak's rule, but he continued to gather followers who, like him, were disillusioned by the typical orc experience. In time, Mak came to see him and his gathering influence as a threat and tried to kill him. Thorian survived, and has now become the threat that Mak feared him to be.
I've dropped hints about this into the campaign, telling the PCs, for instance, about reports of battles between orc factions (battlefields strewn with nothing but dead orcs), but it still hasn't been very prominent yet. I'm planning for this internal threat to lead to considerable instability in the Pomarj, which I think would, in turn, further destabilize the region. My thoughts right now are that this could lead to a world war. We'll see where it goes.
When my gaming group last got together, the session ended with the party fleeing from the lost dwarven stronghold Khundrukar after encountering duergar. (After that, I got together with one of the players, and as a result, his character went off on his own, as I've discussed above.) My group was finally able to get together again to continue the adventure.
However, the group that returned to Khundrukar was substantially different from the group that went there in the first place. As I've mentioned before, the party's rogue PC left suddenly without saying why, and the party's fighter NPC went with him. I had two NPCs that I had already introduced into the storyline, and I intended them to join the party, with the rogue's player playing one of them. However, the player wanted to try out a gnome ranger instead, so I played both of the NPCs as NPCs. (As an aside, I decided that I much prefer to have only one NPC in the party, especially in a combat role.) He played the character with a substantial dose of levity, to the extent that when he spoke in character, the player always spoke with a thick Scottish brogue. When the other PCs met him, the gnome had been thrown out of the inn (as he explained to them, he cheats badly at cards - so badly that he was caught). His name was Willy Wanklebom, or "Wee Willy" for short.
The party returned to Khundrukar and instantly regretted the loss of their rogue at the first locked door they reached. After unsuccessfully trying to batter the heavy iron door down, they realized that they had a scroll of knock (you have to understand, it's been a while since our last session). Once through the door, the party was able to defeat the duergar and work their way down to the lowest level of the stronghold - the underground lake inhabited by a young black dragon. (I'm not really blowing any surprises here; the dragon's on the cover of the module.)
The party had trouble with the dragon. (In fact, more trouble than they had with the roper elsewhere in the dungeon, even though the roper has a higher CR.) Before the dragon finally fell dead, two of the PCs were unconscious but stable (at -2 and -3 hp, as I recall), while the third was dead (the dragon critted on a bite attack and also landed a claw, dropping the ranger PC, Draven, to -11 hp). That left the two NPCs, a fighter (Keth, the half-orc) and a fighter/cleric (Thaddeus Beckham), to finish off the dragon. (It made for a good laugh, actually; my players joked that they were going to go do something else while I finished the combat by myself.)
Since the fighter/cleric was completely out of spells, the party rested long enough for him to regain his healing spells and restore the two unconscious characters (Raynen and the gnome), then they carried the slain Draven back to town. They had sufficient funds to pay for a raise dead, but there wasn't a high enough level cleric in Blasingdell to cast it, so they continued on to Thunderstrike. (I'm not really sure where the current Pomarj-Ulek border is supposed to be, so I placed it just beyond Thunderstrike.) Meanwhile, the gnome stayed behind (by himself) to skin the dragon, planning to bring the hide back to town and sell it.
Of course, some duergar eventually came down and found the gnome. He tried to get away, but was struck down. The duergar did not kill him, though; they captured him. The party eventually returned to Khundrukar to find the gnome gone. They searched, and eventually found him. However, shortly thereafter, an intraparty conflict came to a head. The gnome tossed a tanglefoot bag at the party's sorcerer, Raynen. Draven (who is Raynen's brother), responded by swinging at the gnome with the flat of his sword. Apparently, the precipitating factor was Raynen's persistent remarks over the incident when the gnome attempted to jump up onto a dwarven table and tripped (badly failed his Jump roll). The gnome then walked out of the dungeon alone, while Draven ran out to make sure he didn't steal any of the party's horses.
That wasn't quite the end, though. Draven returned and the remaining members of the party (with the gnome's player now playing the half-orc fighter, Keth) continued exploring. They entered a room with a beautiful woman in it, who told them that she had been imprisoned there by a wizard. She sidled up to Raynen, the party's resident ladies' man, and he went along with her. When she leaned in to kiss him, he kissed her. Then he failed his saving throw. She revealed herself as a succubus and teleported away.
At that point, the party had had enough, and headed back for Blasingdell. We ended the session there. Raynen plans to try to find some way to restore his level loss, then the party will head south again, past Thunderstrike and into Pomarj-controlled territory, to visit the homestead where Raynen and Draven grew up, and see whether, as they suspect, it is haunted by their parents' ghosts.
I found an article on Canonfire! about recent events in the Pomarj, and I've decided to borrow Bruvas Ribcracker, a cleric of Erythnul, from that article. I've told the players that Ribcracker's warband captured a paladin of St. Cuthbert and apparently intend to sacrifice him to Erythnul. (I've discovered that the middle of Goodmonth is the only time all year that both moons are new, and decided that would be a good time for the sacrifice, although I haven't told the players that. IMC right now, mid-Goodmonth is about a week or two away.)
Anyway, I've been trying to decide how to structure this next adventure, the rescue mission. To some extent, what happens will depend upon how the PCs go about it, of course. I don't want to make it too easy, since it shouldn't be, but I also don't want to kill off the whole party. Any thoughts?
One thing that I haven't mentioned for a while is the side trip that one of my PCs has taken, away from the party. That PC, Arioch Tanelorn, the elvish rogue, followed the shifty and mysterious half-elf Tamyris Kestrel to Verbobonc (and was ambushed on the way by a couple of thugs that she hired). Arioch spared the thugs on the condition that they find out where Tamyris was staying and what she was doing. However, when Arioch met with the two thugs, they reported that they had been unable to locate her or find anything out, although they were due to meet with her at a tavern in the city the following week. Arioch paid them as promised, having come up with some money by brokering a deal under his disguise/cover as a rope merchant.
Arioch then watched the location where the two said they were due to meet with Tamyris. He also paid the bard working in the tavern to keep his eyes open and report what he saw. Arioch learned that, in addition to meeting with the two thugs (as well as another thug that had attacked Arioch in Blasingdell), Tamyris met with a slender, hooded figure. Arioch later followed Tamyris to a warehouse in the Waterfront District, where he lost track of her.
What Arioch has not learned yet is that Tamyris was holed up in Verbobonc manufacturing the Mushroom Powder drug out of the rare mushrooms she harvested from the caverns beneath the Stone Tooth (right before she abandoned the party and snuck off), and that she then sold the finished product to the hooded figure she met. The figure is Umbriel Kilsek, a representative of the exiled House Kilsek, ordered to leave the Vault of the Drow by Lolth herself. House Kilsek is planning to regain Lolth's favor by doing something spectacular in the surface world, and the drug trafficking is a means of building their financial resources to pay for it.
Arioch also doesn't know (but will soon learn) that all three of the thugs that Tamyris has hired (one in Blasingdell, two in Hommlet) will coordinate another ambush when Arioch leaves Verbobonc. That will be the next thing that my group will address when we get together, followed by the paladin rescue I mentioned before. Then, the stage should be set for Arioch to rejoin the party (and see if the other characters bear any grudge for his sudden and unexplained departure).
I've posted previously about how Arioch hoped to find out what Tamyris was up to in Verbobonc, but lost track of her. It was now time to leave Verbobonc and rendezvous again with the rest of the party. However, as they rode south, the trio was ambushed north of Hommlet. The ambushers were the same three that had attacked Arioch previously, though this was the first time they had all worked together. (One of my other players was able to attend this game, but since his character wasn't present, I gave him these three bad guys to run. It caused a lot of note-passing, but I think it worked pretty well.)
Arioch, Brom and Serena handily defeated the three thugs, though Arioch was wounded pretty badly. They took all three thugs alive, then questioned them and learned that they were supposed to meet Tamyris at Terrigan's alehouse in Hommlet to be paid. The three heroes then rested in the small town of Etterboek, which lies on the road between Verbobonc and Hommlet, before finishing the journey to Hommlet.
When they reached Hommlet, things went badly. Arioch disguised himself as one of the three thugs and went into the back room at Terrigan's. When he stepped inside, he saw the thug he was disguised as hanging from the ceiling by a hook, obviously dead. He also saw Tamyris and the drow I mentioned in the previous post, Umbriel Kilsek.
Umbriel tried to recruit Arioch, though he was vague as to what task he might ask of Arioch. Arioch responded that the price of his agreement would be for Umbriel to give Tamyris to him. This, Umbriel said he was unwilling and unable to do. Negotiations having broken down, blades were drawn.
When fighting began, Arioch shouted for Brom and Serena, who waited in the main room of Terrigan's. (At this point, I let my other player play Serena.) They rushed in. Brom engaged the drow in melee, while Arioch stood toe-to-toe with Tamyris. Before long, Tamyris dropped Arioch with her rapier, then started slinging spells at Serena. Brom dropped the drow, but about that time, Arioch failed his last attempt at stabilizing and a nasty blow dropped Serena.
Now, this is something I keep encountering: the PCs get their characters killed, and I'm left running one or two of the party's NPCs and the bad guy/monster - which means my players just sit and watch me roll. To avoid that, I gave Brom to Arioch's player (even though he was at less than half of his original hit points). In two rounds, Tamyris was still up, but Brom went down.
That was where I left things for a while. Then, after a little while (we moved on to playing the Return of the King video game for PS2), I passed a note to Arioch's player, telling him that he was still present and watching, but sort of looking down on everything. (I also told him I've got the Ghostwalk book, as a hint of what's to come.) What he saw after Brom fell was that a paladin of Heironeous called Xaod the Slayer rushed in, having heard the commotion. Tamyris told Xaod that she had killed the drow, but only after the drow had killed her friends. Then, while Xaod was checking the bodies for signs of life, she fled. Xaod found that Serena was indeed dead, but Brom was merely unconscious so he healed him. Meanwhile, Arioch's ghost followed Tamyris.
Now, you can accuse me of playing favorites, but I feel justified in saving Brom. First, if I had been playing him when he got knocked down to 2 hit points, I'd have had him run. (Instead, Arioch's player had him stand and fight.) Second, it will further the story to have Brom, the lone survivor, here in Hommlet when the rest of the party gets here. I only feel a little guilty about it, but I'll get over it.
Now, you can accuse me of playing favorites, but I feel justified in saving Brom. First, if I had been playing him when he got knocked down to 2 hit points, I'd have had him run. (Instead, Arioch's player had him stand and fight.) Second, it will further the story to have Brom, the lone survivor, here in Hommlet when the rest of the party gets here. I only feel a little guilty about it, but I'll get over it.
Besides if your dead them you might have to refer to yourself in the third person. Then you would have to change your name and come up with another history for your new character. If you want let those player's who lost their characters start at 2nd or 3rd level with their new characters. Tell them that you needed to keep Brom alive for the story line to progress.
But since their character's died and Brom didn't you decided to give them a bonus level to start their new character's off with. If you are really feeling guilty. Also next time don't use Brom as an NPC's unless you really have too.
This prevent's your PC's from seeing your action's as playing favorite's.
Second, let me provide a little context. In my campaign, I've backed off the penalties associated with character death. Another PC died in our previous session (Draven, half-elf ranger), and I allowed the party to get him raised. I've also adopted the revisions to raise dead and resurrection that were suggested on the Game Mechanics website - that the level loss not be unavoidable. I don't like penalizing players who would rather stick with their existing characters. (That's also why I was intrigued by the Ghostwalk campaign option.) Now, of the two characters that died in the encounter, Serena was an NPC, so I'm not going to have an angry player on that one. (The player who plays Raynen did run Serena during part of our session, but that was only because his character is currently in another part of the world.) The one PC was Arioch, and his player indicated that he generally prefers to let a character that has died stay dead. He was, however, willing to give this ghost thing a try. (I gave him the option of heading "into the light," so to speak, but he chose to stay put.) By the way, that player already knows that Brom survived, and didn't give me any grief about it.
I do expect the other two - especially Raynen's player, who was there to "see" Brom go down - to give me some good-natured ribbing about Brom's miraculous survival, but I don't expect any real hard feelings. I actually feel most guilty about Arioch dying. I had planned to have Xaod burst in if things started going badly, but I didn't have him come in soon enough. (Actually, I forgot about it once the combat started.) That, and the encounter was really high for the party's level. Arioch and Brom were both 5th level, Serena was 4th. Tamyris, however, is a 10th level character (fighter 4/rogue 3/wizard 3), and the drow that was with her had a CR of 7 all by himself. Without my chart handy, I'm not sure, but I'd guess that the two of them together made for an EL of at least 11 or 12. That's pretty steep for three characters of 4th-5th level. Now, I suppose they should know when to stand and when to run, and it's not realistic if the PCs just happen to encounter only foes that they can handle, so I don't feel too bad about putting that encounter in front of them. Like I said, I just wish I hadn't forgotten about Xaod.
Originally posted by Argon
If you want let those player's who lost their characters start at 2nd or 3rd level with their new characters. . . . [S]ince their character's died and Brom didn't you decided to give them a bonus level to start their new character's off with.
Actually, Arioch's player is creating a new character to run during the party's next adventure (the paladin rescue, involving Draven and Raynen, the other two PCs), and that character may or may not replace Arioch (depending on whether Arioch stays dead, I suppose). That new character will be 5th level, just like the rest of the party. I'm not going to make him take a character with a lower level than the rest of the party.
Arioch was a spy in the service of the Kingdom of Celene. The player came to me with the idea of playing a spy (using material he found in Mongoose Publishing's Quintessential Rogue, I believe). He also said he wanted to play an elf. From there, I leaped immediately to Celene. It made sense to me that the Queen, far from being ignorant of events outside her kingdom, would keep a close watch on them with a network of spies. (However, she finds it useful to allow others to believe that she is ignorant of events beyond her borders; as the Merovingian told Neo, knowledge is power - or wait, was that on Schoolhouse Rock?)
Arioch played up his image as a scoundrel, but he did so in service to his mission and his queen. For instance, when the party left Oakhurst after completing the "Sunless Citadel," I told how the party fled on what they believed were stolen horses. In fact, the horses were supplied by Celene; both the horses and the deception were intended to speed the party's movement, as Arioch had been dispatched south to find and intercept an envoy from the Pomarj to the orc tribes hiding in the Lortmils. (The rest of the party probably believed that finding the envoy was fortuitous, but Arioch was looking for him.)
When Arioch died, his player spilled the secret. Actually, he said that even if Arioch is raised at some point, he would tell the other characters. That way, he is working with them rather than using them as his unwitting tools.
At this point, Arioch's future remains uncertain. The rest of the party does not know yet that he is dead. When they find out, they will probably try to have him raised, although they may lack the resources to do so.
It may start up again pretty soon, though.Keep up the good work.
The party had agreed to try to rescue a paladin of St. Cuthbert that had been captured by a cleric of Erythnul and his warband. (This after the canon of the local temple raised one of the adventurers from the dead and restored another's level loss from an encounter with a succubus, thus placing them in the temple's debt.) They were to be led by a ranger who was the sole survivor of the patrol that was ambushed by the cleric's warband.
The party consisted of Raynen and Draven Hawkspire, a sorcerer and ranger respectively; Keth Corwyn, half-orc fighter; and Thaddeus Beckham, fighter/cleric of St. Cuthbert. They met a father and son from Geoff; both are of Flan descent, the father (Karadag) is a druid, the son (Zereg) is a fighter. Karadag and Zereg volunteered to join the group (these are new characters for the player whose old character, Arioch, recently died). The ranger joining them was named Aric Fletcher. (I ran Aric as an NPC, but otherwise, my three players ran everyone else, which was the first time I let them run more than one character. It went pretty well, but I'm leaning toward moving back to one character per player in the future.)
Aric led the party to the warband's stronghold (a relatively small place, requiring the bulk of the force to camp outside it). Fortunately, the cleric and most of the warband were away (attacking Thunderstrike, as the party later learned). The remaining force consisted of 50 human warriors (camped on one side of the stronghold), five bugbears (camped on another side), an ogre, and a minotaur (both situated on a third side). The druid, Karadag, used his wild shape ability to assume the form of an eagle, and he scouted the area. At the time, the ogre was asleep. Karadag flew into the ogre's hut, found it sleeping, and resumed his human form for a coup de grace. The ogre died without ever waking.
The party then waited until dusk, and attempted to bluff their way in. Raynen cast charm person on the first guard, which won them entry. However, at the inner doors, they were stopped by another guard, and this time the charm spell failed (i.e., the guard made his Will save). However, Raynen succeeded in bluffing his way past the second guard, and in fact got the guard to lead him to the paladin's cell. In the meantime, however, a sentry finally discovered the dead ogre.
The party succeeded in securing the stronghold, leaving the bulk of the warband outside trying to get in. They managed to kill the guards that were already inside. Then, when they reached the room that the warband had been using as the paladin's cell, Raynen discovered a secret trap door in the floor. Rather than trying to fight their way out, the party decided to see where the secret door led.
It led to a supply room, and then other rooms (mostly unoccupied, although the undead remains of the stronghold's former commander, now an allip, did present the party with a bit of a challenge - they had trouble making their Will saves against the allip's hypnotic babble). The dungeon level contained a tunnel that led out to a secret door hidden on a cliff face well away from the stronghold.
I had expected this mission to be a bloodbath, which was why I let everyone have two characters. As it turned out, it wasn't bad at all. Even a random encounter with an ogre mage and an ogre barbarian didn't slow the party down. (And no PC fatalities this time!)
The party was received in Thunderstrike as heroes, and the already celebratory mood (from having driven off the warband's attack) became positively festive.
There is a bit more to tell, but I don't have time now. When I do have time, I'll post about the party's stop at the Hawkspire homestead on the way back to Thunderstrike, and then what occurred when the party made its way to Hommlet.
When they reached the homestead, the party saw dozens of orc corpses littering the ground - many more than Raynen and Draven had ever seen there, except in their dreams. Then they were greeted by the ghosts of Talian and Valanthe. These were not undead creatures, but rather the disembodied spirits of the Hawkspire parents. (I used the ghost template from Ghostwalk, and gave them each a couple levels of eidolon.) Talian and Valanthe explained that they had spurned the opportunity for their spirits to move to the Outer Planes because it would have meant parting from each other. They now feel another pull, different from the one leading to the Outer Planes, and they believe they can go there together. (In my campaign, I decided to place the Veil of Souls around the "outside" of the Outer Planes, such that beyond the known multiverse is the unknown True Afterlife. Even souls that go to the Outer Planes stay there only so long before moving on.) However, before they go, Talian and Valanthe want their bodies to be laid to rest somewhere that they will not be defiled, as the orcs had done upon finding their graves. Raynen and Draven agreed to carry their parents remains to the home of their mother's brother in Celene and to bury them there.
Talian also told his sons that he had a vague feeling of a growing evil to the north. He wasn't sure what it was, but he had a feeling of unfinished business. When Raynen and Draven mentioned this to their uncle Aramil, he told them that Talian had fought at his side at the Battle of Emridy Meadows, and this was the only thing that came to Aramil's mind upon hearing Talian's vague warning.
The party then returned to Thunderstrike, as I told of in my previous post. After the celebrations, when they prepared to leave the city, they said farewell to the paladin, Cal Creighton, an aasimar whose presence is a boost to the morale of the city's defenders; the ranger, Aric Fletcher, who had helped the party rescue Cal; and to their companion Thaddeus Beckham, who decided that Cuthbert had called him to Thunderstrike to aid in the defense of the city. With these farewells, the remainder of the party set out for Hommlet.
They arrived near evening and went to the Inn of the Welcome Wench. Upon their arrival, they found the common room mostly empty, except for a couple of burly men at a table and a bearded man at the bar. To their surprise, they noticed that one of the men at the table was their companion Brom. Brom told them of the deaths of Arioch Tanelorn and Serena Carter following their pursuit of the villainous Tamyris Kestrel. Then the other men introduced themselves. The one sitting with Brom was Xaod the Slayer, who had rushed in at the last moment and healed Brom, saving his life. The other man was Elmo, the leader of the local militia, who told that so far all attempts to find Tamyris have been unsuccessful, but that the drow who was with her was found to be alive and was taken to the village leaders, Rufus and Burne, for questioning.
Of course, it goes without saying that players run their characters. Well, at least during the game. I like to give my players little bits of prose to add flavor to the down time between sessions, and that gives me the opportunity to put words in the characters' mouths. What follows is part of what my players will be getting before our next session:
--------------
When they entered the Inn of the Welcome Wench, the entire group was weary. Draven and Raynen Hawkspire, in particular, felt the weight of not only the long and often rain-soaked road north from Thunderstrike, but also the combined fatigue of the last two months – time spent in almost non-stop adventuring. Keth Corwyn felt it too, having been nearly as busy as Draven and Raynen, adventuring alone briefly and then with the sorceress Serena Carter before joining the Hawkspire brothers in Blasingdell. Even the group’s newcomers, Karadag and Zereg, felt ready to enjoy a brief respite, having been embroiled in harrowing adventures first on their own far to the south, and then with this group.
So, it can perhaps be understood how Draven, Raynen and Keth failed to recognize Brom Blackforge when they first saw him in the Inn’s common room. After all, they already had thoughts of a warm bed occupying their minds, and they had no reason to expect to see anyone familiar, least of all Brom. They had not seen Brom for over a month – not since he and Serena had left Blasingdell early one morning with their companion Arioch Tanelorn. Nor did they expect to see Brom and the others for a few more weeks, when Arioch had promised to meet up with them in Blasingdell. They had as yet only vague ideas about sending word to Arioch and the others to meet them in Hommlet; time enough for specific plans later, they thought. And besides, when they entered, they first saw only Brom’s back, hunched over the table, sitting with a muscular man they did not recognize. Even when they came to the middle of the room and saw Brom’s face, bearded and bleary-eyed as it was, their failure to recognize him immediately was not so surprising.
Only after looking at the bearded figure seated with his back to the door for a moment did Draven recognize Brom. The recognition instantly spread to Raynen and Keth, and it was Raynen who first found his tongue.
“Brom! What are you doing here? Where are Arioch and Serena?”
Brom looked up slowly from the mug of ale into which he had been staring.
“Raynen?” His gaze shifted. “Draven? Keth?” His eyes lingered on the two Flan who stood behind the others, then shifted back to Raynen. He sat up straight and rubbed his face with cupped hands.
“Brom?” Raynen said uncertainly.
“They’re dead,” Brom said, letting his hands drop into his lap.
“What?” Keth growled, stepping forward. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Brom met Keth’s glowering gaze. “Serena and Arioch. They’re both dead.”
“How?” Raynen asked. “When?”
“It just happened tonight,” said the other man at Brom’s table, speaking for the first time since the party’s arrival.
Brom saw the looks of confusion on his companions’ faces as they looked at the muscular, dark-haired stranger who had just spoken. “This is Xaod, a paladin of Heironeous. He saved my life tonight,” Brom said. Then he gestured toward a burly, red-haired man sitting at the bar, saying, "And that is Elmo, leader of the local militia."
Brom took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then, he began his tale. “When the three of us left you in Blasingdell, we were following a tip that Arioch was given about Tamyris Kestrel. Serena and I had heard Arioch preparing to leave, so we offered to join him.”
“How did Serena get involved in this?” Keth interjected brusquely.
“When the two of you reached Blasingdell after being attacked by goblins, she was hurt and I helped care for her,” Brom answered softly. “I knew then that I loved her. As we spent time together, I learned that she loved me as well.”
Brom lapsed into silence, staring again into his half-empty mug.
“I had no idea,” Raynen said.
Brom looked up again. “Well, everything happened quickly. The morning that we heard Arioch preparing to leave was the morning after our first night together. After that, we were gone, so how would you have known? We lived together in Verbobonc for the past month. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
“I think you know that Arioch was suspicious of Tamyris, especially after her vanishing act, and what she did after that only made it worse. Apparently, she hired some local thug to follow Arioch, but Arioch spotted him and questioned him. His name, we later learned, was Lucius Syovata. Syovata told Arioch that he was supposed to meet Tamyris in Verbobonc in a month’s time to report on what he had learned. So, we headed toward Verbobonc, hoping to track Tamyris down and learn what she was up to.
“As it turned out, though, we actually caught up with her here in Hommlet. Arioch tried to sneak into her room but she was ready; Arioch barely escaped with his life. By the time he reached me and Serena in our room and I ran back to where they had fought, she was gone. That was about a month ago.
“Then we went to Verbobonc. Because Tamyris had seen us here, Arioch went in disguise. That was when I started growing this beard, too. Arioch left first, and even though he was in disguise, he was ambushed on the way by a couple of other thugs that Tamyris had hired. He defeated them and tried to bribe them into helping us find Tamyris. They agreed, but as it now seems, they were playing both sides of the fence. Their names were Vakra Elfbane and Darvin Lockwood.
“We lived in Verbobonc for about a month, trying to find some trace of that
, Tamyris. Arioch remained in disguise, pretending to be a rope merchant. I took a job with a blacksmith, which paid for the room Serena and I shared. None of us found a single clue, though, until a few days ago. Arioch watched the tavern where Syovata had said he was supposed to meet Tamyris, and that was when he found her. She did meet with Syovata, and with Vakra and Lockwood, too. She also met with a male drow. Arioch followed her from the tavern to a warehouse, where she met the drow again. After that, though, he lost track of them both.“After that, it appeared that Tamyris had left town, so we decided to leave, too. We left Verbobonc together and took the High Road south. The ride started uneventfully, but then we were ambushed. Arrows started flying out of the trees. We fought, and of the three of us, Arioch took the worst of it; he ended up hurt pretty badly. However, we captured our attackers, who turned out to be Syovata, Vakra and Lockwood.
“Arioch was furious. He stripped the three of them of their gear, tied them up, and hung them upside down from a tree branch. They tried to bargain with him, but Arioch had a dark look about him. In the end, Syovata agreed to tell Arioch what he knew in exchange for his life. Arioch agreed, and Syovata told us that they were supposed to meet Tamyris at Terrigan’s alehouse, here in Hommlet. Then Arioch severed Syovata’s right hand and let him go. The other two must have feared that a similar fate awaited them, but Arioch just let them go.
“We backtracked a little to the hamlet of Etterboek, on the High Road about halfway between here and Verbobonc, and we rested there. Once Arioch had healed, we came to Hommlet.”
Brom inhaled deeply, then slowly blew the breath out. He took another drink of his ale, then continued. “We were very cautious when we got here. We watched Terrigan’s for a while, but didn’t see Tamyris.” He shook his head with a snort that might have been a chuckle. “So then we checked all over town. Turns out she was at Terrigan’s all along. In a back room.
“So, we went into Terrigan’s. Arioch was disguised as Syovata. Serena and I waited in the common room while Arioch went into the back room. The next thing I knew, Arioch was shouting for help.
“When I rushed in, with Serena behind me, I saw Arioch fighting Tamyris and a male drow. I also saw Syovata’s dead body hanging from the roof beams on a hook at the end of a chain. Clearly, the disguise hadn’t gotten Arioch very far.
“I took on the drow and finally dropped him, but Arioch fell. Then Tamyris started lobbing magical attacks at Serena, and she fell, too. Then . . .” Brom’s voice trailed off.
Xaod looked at Brom, then turned to Raynen and the others and picked up the tale. “When I saw those two rush into the back room, I expected to see them come back out shortly, having solved whatever minor scuffle had erupted in the back room. But they didn’t come out. So I went in, and saw the woman standing over your friend here. She told me that she was with your friends, but had been unable to save them when the drow had attacked. When I knelt to check on Brom and the others, she fled. By the time I reached the others, they were already gone, but I found Brom clinging to life. Thank Heironeous that I reached him in time.”
“The strength of Kord prevailed tonight over Wee Jas,” Brom murmured into his mug as he raised it again.
Xaod smiled and clapped Brom on the shoulder. “No theological discussions tonight, my friend.”
At that point, Elmo rose from his seat at the bar and stepped over to the table. “When my men arrived at Terrigan’s,” he said, “they found that the drow was not dead. So they bound him and carried him to the keep to be examined by Rufus and Burne. I hope to know more about this drow tomorrow. Meanwhile, my men are searching for any sign of this Tamyris woman. I’ll let you know if we find anything.”
Elmo paused, then turned to the dour, dark-haired woman behind the bar. “Maridosen, no more for these two tonight.” Although Elmo gave no sign that he had noticed anything unusual, Draven thought that it seemed like the humorless Maridosen had been lingering near to their group, as if listening but trying not to show it. At Elmo’s words, she nodded.
Elmo turned back to Brom and said, “You’ve had a hard day, friend. You should try to get some rest. I’ll come by in the morning.” Then he bade everyone good night and left the inn.
----------------
There will be a bit more to set the stage for the next session, done in the same format. I'm planning to introduce a couple new villains of my own, and something of a surprise for Raynen. More on that later.
(EDIT: Oops - left out Elmo's introduction, so I added that. And did you know that when a word is censored, they add a little
for each letter in the word? Well, I deleted the extra 's, but I left one so you get the idea.)Right now, I've got essentially one long-term villain floating around, unconnected to the specific scenarios that I've been running: Tamyris Kestrel, the half-elf woman responsible for killing one of the PCs, Arioch Tanelorn. I like having her around because I think the players enjoy having someone like her to hate. However, I want to let her drop out of sight for a while, so I need somebody new to fill that role. This is what I came up with.
The new villains are brothers, Blaine and Devon Brareus. My intent is that they will run afoul of the 2 PCs that are brothers, Draven and Raynen Hawkspire. Essentially, they're bandits operating in the region around Hommlet, but their faces are not known, so they still come into town on occasion. It is there that the Brareus brothers will meet the Hawkspire brothers. Their initial meeting will not go well (I don't think I'll have to press the PCs too much before they're willing to start a bar fight). Thereafter, it is very likely that the Brareus bandit gang will encounter the party somewhere away from town. From there, what these NPCs are like depends on what happens in my group's next gaming session. If the Brareus brothers get away, they'll pop up again sometime. If one of them is killed, the other will become an implacable enemy of the party.
I'm also working on another enemy, a very shadowy figure. I really don't have many details worked out yet, so if anyone has any ideas, I'm interested in hearing them. I got the idea after reading a post in another thread about Erac's Cousin. I liked the idea of a character that won't share his name, and I immediately thought about Vecna (whose worshippers are described as hunters of secret knowledge). So, I came up with an NPC that I am simply calling The Stranger (at least for now). I've generated stats for him as a fighter/wizard, and other than the fact that he venerates Vecna, I don't have any solid details in mind. Well, except one; it occurred to me that if the party kills him, it might be appropriate for him to rise as some form of undead (swordwraith or death knight, perhaps). My party will be starting RTToEE, so I was thinking that this Stranger might be nosing around the old Temple for his own purposes, but that's not set in stone. So, certainly, any ideas would be welcome.
I hope to run another game with this group sometime in the not-too-distant future, and then I can post something about the first meeting between the Hawkspires and the Brareus brothers, and the party's adventures in the region around Hommlet.
--------------
The next morning, Brom awoke early, buffeted into consciousness by the competing pains in his body and his head. He came downstairs to the common room and asked Vesta, daughter of the Inn’s owner, Ostler Gundigoot, to make him some tea. Then he turned and saw the two Flan he had first seen the night before; they sat at a table with the remains of their breakfasts, and they seemed to be deeply engaged in conversation.
“I just feel that it is time to make my own way, Father,” the younger man said.
They both sat in silence a moment, then the older man nodded and sighed. “Such is Beory’s way,” he said. “We have been traveling together since before you could walk, and I will certainly miss your company, but I am proud of the man you have become. Go with my blessing.”
The younger man stood, grinning, and extended his arm. His father stood, taking his son’s hand in his own, then pulling him close for a warm embrace. Then the younger man bounded upstairs to gather his things.
Brom watched the younger man go, then turned back to find the older man’s eyes fixed on him. Suddenly self-conscious at having intruded, Brom feared for a moment that the man was offended; his fears evaporated, however, when he saw the man’s warm smile.
“Bore da,” the man said. The first word was spoken as two syllables, with the emphasis on the first. He paused, then said, “That is, good morning . . . Brom, isn’t it?” Brom nodded, then the man continued. “My name is Karadag, and that was my son, Zereg.”
Brom extended his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Karadag shook Brom’s hand, then invited him to sit. After a moment, Vesta brought Brom’s tea to the table and cleared away the breakfast dishes.
“I am guessing that you first met Draven and Raynen only recently,” Brom said as he raised his cup.
“Indeed. And I’ve not had a dull moment since!” Karadag chuckled, then began to recount the tale of that meeting, and the mission they undertook to rescue a paladin of St. Cuthbert that had been captured by a warband dedicated to Erythnul, the god of slaughter. Brom listened intently, relieved to hear that the mission succeeded, then amazed to hear of the party’s encounter with the spirits of the Hawkspire brothers’ parents in what had once been their homestead.
“So, the ghosts of Draven and Raynen’s parents said that some kind of evil was growing north of the Ulek lands, and their uncle suggested it might have something to do with the Temple of Elemental Evil?” Brom asked. “I wonder if Xaod could tell us more about this.”
Just then, Zereg returned with his gear. Karadag introduced Zereg to Brom, then embraced his son again. “Hwyl fawr, my son.”
“Farewell to you, too, Father. I shall tell you of my exploits when we meet again.”
Over the next week, the party dealt with the aftermath of the deaths of their friends. Keth and Brom saw to Serena’s burial, finding that taking care of the simple arrangements was the best way to make their farewell to her. Then, one day, a company of grey elves clad in simple clothes arrived in Hommlet asking to see the companions of Arioch Tanelorn. The leader of the company met privately with Raynen, Draven and Brom, confiding that Arioch had been a faithful servant of the queen, though the exact nature of his service remained unstated, and Arioch was to be returned home. The elf also promised them a rich reward for the capture of Tamyris Kestrel, should she ever cross their paths again. Then, they watched the elves leave, bearing away the remains of their friend.
It was two days after the party’s arrival when they next saw Elmo. He told them that when his men searched the town, they found a trail of blood leading from Terrigan’s alehouse to a house not far away. Upon entering the house, they found that its inhabitants had been slain. They also found two sets of footprints leading away in opposite directions, which soon became obscured by subsequent traffic. Elmo also told them that he had discovered an insignia on the captured drow that appeared to be in the shape of a mithril sword; according to Burne, a mithril sword was the device of House Kilsek. Burne is attempting to learn more, but so far the prisoner has proven resistant to interrogation.
In the week following their arrival in town, the members of the party spent their time in much-needed rest and study. Some of their time they spent together, sharing an easy camaraderie, while some of it they spent alone. They practiced their skills, honing their abilities. They also learned their way around town, coming to know the physical layout of the town and its surroundings as well as some of its inhabitants. At the Old Trading Post, they met the shop’s halfling proprietor, Joman Dart. They also noted the locations of the shops run by the local sage, Todariche Nem; the scrollmaker, Zerosh Nubric; and the potionmaker, Spugnoir, and his daughter Renne. They soon met Chatrilon Unosh, a human adventurer staying at the Inn of the Welcome Wench, and Redithidoor Halfmoon, an elvish bard who occasionally played for the entertainment of the Inn’s guests – although, fortunately, not often, as he was not much of a musician. Redithidoor also styled himself something of an adventurer, and insisted that when he went to the old moathouse about a week and a half ago, he encountered some kind of activity there – undead, perhaps; however, Chatrilon said he was there within the last week and found it disappointingly empty. Others came to the Inn but did not speak to the party, such as the gnome in leather armor who took a meal in the common room but kept to himself.
During this time, Brom questioned Xaod about the Temple of Elemental Evil. Xaod answered that Heironeous had sent him a vision of a great, festering evil in the area around the old Temple, but when he went there, he found only hobgoblins. He is no longer sure what his vision meant, and he is waiting for further guidance from Heironeous.
Also during this time, Raynen attempted to work his charm on the women of the Inn. The owner’s daughter, Vesta, a golden-haired human beauty, expressed that she was flattered but she politely refused. The dark-haired half-elven barmaid, Maridosen, reacted more harshly, calling Raynen an arrogant ass. Thereafter, although he was not sure, he suspected that she began spitting in his food. Consequently, Raynen began buying food from Telna’s Kitchen and Papa’s Bakery whenever Maridosen was working. Although Raynen found that Telna herself was still fairly attractive, despite the gray beginning to show in her hair, he restrained himself out of fear of losing another place to eat.
Then, one evening about a week after they arrived in town, Raynen, Draven and Karadag sat in the common room of the Inn, discussing what they planned to do next. Raynen was midway through a sentence when he was stunned into silence.
The door leading into the Inn from the street had just opened to admit the most beautiful woman Raynen had ever seen. Her long, auburn hair fell in gentle curls past her shoulders. Every movement of her slender form was graceful. She spoke briefly to Vesta, then took a seat at an empty table.
“Raynen?” Draven asked, scowling. When Raynen did not respond, Draven hit him on the shoulder. Karadag chuckled and shook his head.
“Who is that?” Raynen said, finally pulling his eyes away from the beautiful newcomer.
“Who cares?” Draven responded. “We have more pressing issues than your next conquest. Remember the growing evil that our father warned us about?”
Raynen ignored him, looking back to where the woman had sat down. To his surprise, a couple of men were now sitting with her. Raynen thought she seemed irritated.
“Raynen.” Draven’s voice took on a tone of warning, but Raynen gave no sign of hearing it.
Raynen continued watching. The two men were both leaning close to the woman, and they were both laughing, though she was not. Then one of them raised a hand to stroke her cheek. She slapped it away. The man grabbed her wrist, a sneer quickly replacing his leering grin.
Raynen stood.
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That's where we'll pick up the action. (The two men harassing the lovely lady are Devon and Blaine Brareus, whom I mentioned in the previous post.) I'll let you know what happens . . .
Anything to help speed up combat, and keep track of modifiers. ;)
-wn
EDIT: You know, speaking of tools, there is one thing I've been using for a while that I have found helpful, and those are the Game Mechanics' initiative cards. (RPGA has its own version, which I haven't tried out yet.) I used to keep track of initiative on scratch paper, but it's much quicker to just put the initiative cards in order.
-wn
Originally posted by WightNight
Could you post a link to those initiative cards (if they're available on the net, that is)?
Sure thing. You can find the Game Mechanics' initiative cards here. (You'll need to scroll down toward the bottom of the page.) I've used these and I like them. I also just found the RPGA's version, but haven't had a chance to try them out yet. Those are located here.
That Helpware link on GM's website is a pretty cool idea. I hope they find another beneficiary soon. I'm sure there's no lack of people who need help.
-wn
Originally posted by Brom Blackforge
Raynen continued watching. The two men were both leaning close to the woman, and they were both laughing, though she was not. Then one of them raised a hand to stroke her cheek. She slapped it away. The man grabbed her wrist, a sneer quickly replacing his leering grin.
Raynen stood.
The quote that appears above describes the point at which we began our most recent gaming session. I had been expecting this to lead to a rather mundane barroom brawl after Raynen had ordered the ruffians to desist. What happened instead surprised me.
The druid PC, Karadag, used his wild shape ability to turn into a mountain lion, and he jumped onto the table occupied by the woman and the two men. Draven, the other PC, also rushed the table. (At this point, only the three PCs were present. I told them that the two NPC fighters, Brom and Keth, were off at Terrigan's with Xaod.) This, they did before Raynen did anything other than standing up.
The two men quickly fled, but not before threatening to kill the PCs if they ever saw them again. The woman responded to this display rather coolly, telling the PCs that she could have handled it herself. Raynen's silver tongue soothed her anger a bit, though, and he convinced her to join the three of them for dinner.
The woman introduced herself as Rheya. Raynen, seeing that she wore adventuring gear, asked her to join them when they set out in the morning. She agreed.
Despite Raynen's persistent attempts to charm her, however, as the evening wore on, she ended up going upstairs with the druid, much to Raynen's chagrin. Raynen and Draven remained in the common room for a while, then Raynen went upstairs himself. (When he passed Karadag's room, he heard only talking. Karadag had decided not to do anything but talk to the lady, trying to learn more about her.) Draven, however, opted to remain downstairs in case the two ruffians they had driven off returned.
Later, Draven awoke in the common room to see two figures looming over him. He immediately tumbled past the one on his right and came up with his dagger out. However, instead of the attack that he (and the other players) were expecting, Draven encountered raucous laughter. He realized that the two figures were Brom and Keth, having finally returned from Terrigan's.
In the morning, the six of them (the PCs: Raynen, Draven and Karadag; the NPCs: Brom, Keth and Rheya) set out for the moathouse. More on that next time.
The published adventure is what it is, and I am not going to attempt to give an area-by-area account of what my players did. I will, however, describe some of the things they did that I considered interesting, as well as things I did that differed from the published adventure.
My players were sufficiently curious about the conflicting information that they heard in Hommlet concerning the moathouse that they decided to check it out. On their way there, the party encountered a trapper named Ol’ Del, who warned them that a dragon had taken up residence in the moathouse. He also told them that he had seen cleric-types there associating with gnolls and some form of undead – “like dead people still walkin’ around,” as he put it.
The published adventure called for the dragon in the moathouse to be a blue. But since blues are supposed to be desert-dwellers (according to the Monster Manual), it didn’t seem to make much sense to put one near Hommlet; so, I substituted a green dragon for the blue that appears in the adventure as written. Suffice it to say that the party fared better than I had expected, suffering only minor wounds in the battle with the dragon and those that followed. In fact, the dragon didn’t quite know what hit him. He lost the initiative, giving the party a chance to scatter before he could use his breath weapon. Then, the party’s sorcerer, Raynen, hit the dragon with a newly-learned spell, lightning bolt. I don’t think the dragon combat lasted more than two or three rounds. (In part, this was because I allowed a larger than usual party – so certain was I that the dragon would be a dire challenge. Also, the party is already 5th and 6th level, while the beginning stages of the adventure are scaled for 4th level parties.)
Eventually, in adventuring beneath the moathouse, the party discovered a journal belonging to one of the cultists operating out of the moathouse. My players immediately decided to send word to Hommlet. Since one of the PCs was a druid (Karadag), he specified that he wanted to use the animal messenger spell to send word to the nearest ranking druid – Jaroo of Hommlet. Of course, at that point, they had not yet discovered that the Jaroo living in Hommlet was a doppelganger working with the cultists, and that the real Jaroo was long dead.
Every DM should expect the unexpected from his or her players, and mine are no exception. While adventuring beneath the moathouse, the party came across a stone altar in a room that felt palpably evil. So my players decided to destroy it. They started out trying to bash it directly, but stopped that fairly soon (with the first failed saving throw and ensuing paralysis to one of the party’s fighters). They kept at it for a while, then finally gave up. Of course, nothing in the description of the area specifically says whether the altar can be destroyed at all, or what should happen if it is, so I was glad when the players decided to stop. (As I’ve learned in another thread, this altar is similar to one in the Fire Temple in the Crater Ridge Mines (p. 77), and there is some discussion in the adventure about destroying that altar; I may be able to use that as a model if my players decide to go back and try again.)
When they gave up trying to destroy the evil altar, the party returned to Hommlet and went directly to the druid’s grove, to speak to Jaroo. After he determined that the party had not informed anyone else about the cult or what they had found in the moathouse, the doppelganger and a couple of other cultist collaborators attacked. Even with surprise on their side, these villains were unable to accomplish their goal of eliminating the party. (In retrospect, they probably could have used more help, since the party outnumbered them; I probably should have relocated some of the cultists from the mill. However, I had not expected the party to report their discovery about the cult to Jaroo before telling anyone else, so I wasn’t prepared for the encounter.) The combat ended with the three cultist collaborators dead, which revealed the doppelganger in its true form.
The party then headed to the mill, following up on a clue in the journal they found. Once there, the party found three cultists hiding in the cellar. Confronted by the party, the cultists threw a lamp at them, causing the dust in the air to ignite. The party escaped injury, but the mill was almost completely destroyed. Later, when they searched the rubble, the party found only two burnt corpses, leading them to believe that one of the cultists somehow escaped.
That was where we ended our last session. Based on some of my players’ comments, I think they’re planning to head to the old Temple of Elemental Evil next time. When they do, I’ll post the results in a manner similar to what I’ve done here. Also, in the meantime, I may post something different (perhaps another narrative – we’ll see).
Well, after a long wait, my group was finally able to get together again, so I'm finally ready to add a new post to this thread. As anticipated, the group headed for the Temple of Elemental Evil itself this time, having satisfied themselves that they were done with the moathouse (even though they missed a few big areas).
Before they could reach the Temple, though, they had to encounter some of the NPCs that I decided to add to the adventure. With the party heading out into the forest between Hommlet and Nulb, the time was ripe for them to meet up again with the ruffians they previously encountered hassling a beautiful woman at the Inn of the Welcome Wench: Blaine and Devon Brareus, whom I have mentioned before.
The Brareus brothers were the leaders of a bandit gang operating out of the forest, rumors of which had already reached the party's ears. There were five others in the bandit gang, mostly of lower level than that of the Brareus brothers and the party. I had the bandits set up an ambush, with three of them on one side of the road, two on the other, and two more hiding above the road using a rope trick spell. The ambush was spoiled, however, when Draven spotted one of the bandits. The combat that ensued was lengthy, but the party prevailed with little difficulty. The only casualty was Draven's wolf companion, who was knocked unconscious but was later restored to health; the rest of the party took some knocks, but were mostly in no danger of falling.
The last bandit to fall was Blaine, the elder brother. The party captured him, but to their great frustration, were unable to convince him to tell them where their loot was hidden. Draven and Karadag went in search of it, while the rest of the party rested in preparation for the journey back to Hommlet, to turn Blaine over to the authorities. Draven and Karadag eventually did find a cave that the bandits used as a hideout, only to find that some ogres had already happened upon it. They defeated the ogres, then camped in the cave. During the night, a hobgoblin patrol found them, but they easily dispatched the hobgoblins as well.
Meanwhile, back at the camp, Blaine managed to slip free of his bonds. Then, near morning, he attempted to flee. However, Raynen struck the wounded man down with a lightning bolt as he ran. (Incidentally, Raynen's player chose chaotic good as Raynen's alignment, but events like this have started me thinking that he's probably more chaotic neutral. I think I'll give it a few more sessions of scrutiny, though, before I declare any alignment changes.)
Then, with the party reunited, they struck out for the Temple of Elemental Evil. On the way, they encountered a brusque man clad in black robes and black leather armor, with visible tattoos on his neck and arms. (This is the "Stranger" that I've mentioned before, a seeker after secret knowledge.) He mostly ignored the party's attempts at conversation, and they left him.
Arriving at the Temple, they found only hobgoblins, just as Xaod had said. After wiping out the hobgoblins' leader, they found that the man in black was inside the Temple, examining an altar. Their questions this time were met with rudeness. Then, the man in black left the Temple and began exploring the grounds. The party followed, and saw him hacking through a scrub hedge. They made their own way through, finding a tower in the northeast corner of the outer wall. When they entered, they found a passage leading down. It was there that we ended the session.
A couple notes: because of the party's size and level, the hobgoblins in the Temple were really no match. It got to the point where I started omitting encounters. Partly because of that, I decided that the passage leading down will not be impassable, as it is supposed to be at this point. (This was also partly because I don't like how linear the adventure seems, and I wanted to allow the party to find the lower levels now, without requiring them to go off into the mountains first.) They seemed undecided about continuing down or following their clues leading into the mountains, but at least they have the choice. If they do decide to continue down, then they'll need the larger party in order to make up for their lower level (compared to the encounter levels down there); if, however, they head for the mountains, then I'm going to have at least one of the NPCs stay behind - maybe all of them. There are only 3 PCs, but 2 have animal companions and the third has a familiar, so I'm not sure that the party still needs an NPC to round it out.
In stark contrast to the previous session's hobgoblin encounters, combat this time was a meat grinder. The first door that the party checked had four ogres behind it. Draven, the ranger PC, peeked around the door and saw them, but was spotted himself. The party stepped back and prepared for them to rush out, but instead heard one of the ogres blow some kind of horn. Then, ogres began spilling out of two doors - the one Draven had checked and the one across the passageway. Soon, beset by eight ogres and an ogre barbarian, the party found things going badly. In fact, they might have been slaughtered if not for something that one of the NPCs did. (This NPC, Rheya Vidalya, is a stunningly beautiful rogue/sorcerer that the party met in Hommlet.) Since she was behind the others, no one in the party saw what she did, but whatever it was stunned all but one of the ogres that was facing toward her (one other had its back turned). With that advantage, the party was able to defeat the ogres.
At that point, they had to burn off multiple charges on their wands of cure light wounds - Keth, one of the NPC fighters, had been dropped below 0 hp, and Draven and Brom (the other NPC fighter) were both badly hurt. Then, with some exploring, they found a secret door leading to a chamber that had apparently
not been used in some time. After searching the area (Raynen found a vacuous grimoire but avoided its ill effects), they decided to rest to permit Raynen and Rheya to regain spells.
When they emerged from the hidden room, they found a stone giant and a huge earth elemental poking around in the area where the combat with the ogres had occurred. Another pitched battle ensued, with ultimate victory going to the party. Another furious session of healing followed.
After more exploring (encountering nothing worse than some hobgoblin slaves, who had no interest in fighting), the party decided to return to the hidden room to rest again. This time, however, that rest was interrupted. The hiding place was discovered by two more stone giants led by a half-fiendish stone giant. They battered down the door, and with no other escape route, the party was forced to stand and fight.
Fortunately, the party had a bead of force, which they managed to use to bind the half-fiend giant, leaving them two mundane stone giants to battle. They killed the giants, though it was not easy. Then, as they waited for the force field binding the fiendish giant to dissipate, they prepared.
When the battle finally began, the fiendish giant cloaked himself in an unholy aura spell, making himself nearly impossible to hit. Raynen, being good-aligned, was unable to hit him with magic missiles, and he was out of his higher-level spells (that might have had a chance to defeat the spell resistance granted by the unholy aura). Raynen seemed to dispair at that, and the others noticed that he got around the giant and retreated down the passageway that lead away from the room, though he remained within spellcasting range.
The giant was obviously weakening, but each hit with his huge greatclub did devastating damage to Brom, Keth and Karadag (druid PC), who were engaged in melee with it. Karadag, in fact, was incapacitated near the end.
Finally, Raynen's resolve to support Good failed (I ruled that, based on his past conduct, he was a borderline case, and needed only to renounce his allegiance to Good in order to change his alignment; he is now Chaotic Neutral). His magic missiles were now able to hit the fiendish giant, and the creature's vitality began to ebb. Finally, the giant hit the party with another spell effect (I think it was the blasphemy spell - can't remember now). Everyone in range - which meant everyone except Raynen, who had backed down the hall - was paralyzed. Then, the giant began to run. However, the giant's retreat came to late, as one last missile barrage from Raynen dropped the creature.
More healing, then the party retreated to the surface to rest. Then they ventured back down. They encountered a couple of ogres on patrol (these, by the way, had fighter levels). After dispatching them, the party continued exploring.
The session ended with a battle with a beholder. Fortunately for them, the party made most of their saving throws, particularly for the really nasty eye beams. They survived the encounter pretty well, actually.
During this session, the party also had a couple of encounters with the stranger in black leather armor that they first met on the surface. He seems to be poking around the temple, but the party has not been able to ascertain exactly what he is doing.
This session was certainly more of a challenge for the party than the previous one, but they never once discussed turning back and following the clues they've found to the other part of the adventure (in the mountains to the west). But then again, there's still time; there's a whole other level below the party, with nastier stuff waiting...