I'll be starting out the first quest as the Eye of Traldar. Partly because it's semi-easy for 1st level characters and partly because a powerful artifact to find early on will allow me to build on a continous story while they decide to return it or keep it, while the Baron hunts them down, as he becomes their arch-enemy. I also like to start campaigns in Karameikos. It's like the center of the Known World and still wild enough to adventure in. The characters will be traveling together in a caravan on their way to Luln when some bandits attack. I'll make sure the caravan is destroyed and the bandits escape after killing everyone but the characters and then they must travel together without really knowing anything about eachother. The bandits also will escape with all the gold which they used to pay for the journey without having to work as caravan guards. All the players are making their characters seperately so they don't know anything about eachother. I told them to treat the others like they would complete strangers. So far they like the idea. If one of them decides to be a thief there could be a problem. I also told them not to discuss the character classes. Let the others guess form appearance and actions in the game, unless they hit it off and then spill the beans. Anyway, when they camp for the night before they continue on, the game will begin there. The slavers will attack them as they are mistaken as allies to the guy they're really chasing and he convinces them to help him. Either with money or whatever, I'll get them to play along.
I'm going to run the first part of the WotI as soon after the Eye adventure is done. Then I want to figure out how to incorporate the Dragon Mountain boxed set as a filler before continueing with WotI.
At the moment only 3 have decided what types of characters they want. I'm not big on multi-classes so what I do is combine the classes a player wants to use into a new character class. As an example:
My first player has picked to be an Avariel.
She had to talk me into it and after reading up on them, I decided the wings can be as much a hindrance as a help. So I finally said ok. Then she wanted a magician and warrior (speciallizing in archery). I warned her Avariel don't get a bonus with bows like other elves because their wings interfere. She was fine with it. So I stole the name from Sacred and called her new class the Battle Mage. It will specialize in healing and elemental magic while allowing the skills of weapons to be easily learned. Of course to balance things, her hit points will be somewhere between a warriors and a mages. Since I'm using Rolemaster rules, it uses a level bonus system for everything, so I can average all the stats and skills for the 2 classes to create a new one without it taking forever to gain levels or be overpowerful. So her unnamed character is an Avariel Battlemage. That has got to be the strangest character I have allowed since the Half-Gnoll/Elf Forester.
The 2nd is not so odd.
He has decided to make a cleric which will also use healing and curse magic. It is a True Neutral cleric and it will specialize in Necromancy. So he is renaming it a Necromancer. Also because he doesn't want the character to belong to a clerical order so his divine magics will have to come from the magic users source. This also means no metal armor, but he wants to wear bone armor and paint it to appear metallic so nobody realizes it's really bone. He also wants assassin skills so he can kill someone then raise them as undead to use them later on. So in a way I have to design another class. The Necromancer. This player has said he wishes to hide his necromancy and pose as a cleric. So somehow he'll have to learn to control the undead and make it appear as if he turns them. He'll have to hide when he "meditates" also since his magic is not coming form an Immortal and rather he has to study like a magic-user.
The 3rd is so far the most "common"
He wants a Norseman Barbarian. Big, hairy, mean, strong and tough. We are discussing whether or not to make him a berserker as well. Would be a good addition to the group as I think he might be the only real muscle. A typical barbaric viking type from Soderfjord.
The 4th is another odd one. A Shiye Elf Ranger that shapeshifts at will without being a lycanthrope. I'm going to add some skills for this one that will help with self control when in animal form. Will be difficult to do this character, but I am trying to stay open minded. In elven form she will be a ranger, but will focus her combat skills in the animal form. She may have the ability to shapeshift into several different animal types. This may be a trait picked up by the Shiye elves living in Alphatia. Maybe as a way to hide themselves from intruders and then scaring them away.
The 5th and last for now has decided to be a Graak Gnoll. He'll be a ranger type with a little more focus on weapons skills to lend muscle to the game. He also will be wary of the 4th character since he will be able to smell the cat presence. He just doesn't know it yet. :evillaugh
I think this diverses group will spend as much time trying to get used to eachother as they adventure.
I don't mind doing this for my players because the system I use is so flexible. Last year I started a campaign and no characters had a class. They could improve whatever area they wanted. I realized though, that they all still developed their characters into certain areas that could be classified as a class, so this time they will just have to go by classes. Or professions in Rolemaster. It's just easier for me.
More to continue later....
Here is a listing of the characters so far:
1) Avariel Battlemage (Archer and Elementalist) Level 1 from Mengut Mnts, Wendar
2) Human Necromancer (diguised as a cleric) Level 5 from Glantri
3) Human Barbarian (Fighter with some Rogue skills) Level 1 from Whiteheart, Soderfjord
4) Elven Ranger (A Shapeshifting Ranger) Level 1 from Shiye Lawr, Alphatia
5) Gnoll Ranger (Civilized and unbarbaric) Level 3 from Graakhalia
Also I will throw in Balzat the high level mage that is searching for the lost secrets of the Radiance and will use or kill anyone he has to to get his hands on it.
Feel free to give us a writeup of Balzat in the NCP Catalogue here: :D
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=6359587#post6359587
:-) Jesper
2) Human Necromancer (diguised as a cleric) Level 5 from Glantri
Just curious, is there a reason why one person has a much higher level character?
Also, you might want to reconsider the "disguised as a cleric" part if he's from Glantri, since clerics are illegal there. ;) It would probably be easiest to change the country, actually...
As for the human shapeshifter ranger, how about a far away country, like somewhere in Alphatia or the Isle of Dawn, or far along the Savage Coast? Having one character from Glantri and one from Alphatia could make things rather interesting too, considering that their countries will go to war during the course of the campaign...
The reason for the higher level character is because his background is much more detailed than the others and we decided to make him stronger. The guy playing the character doesn't intend to really help the players much except in pretending to turn undead and heal (usually with herbs). He's pretending to be a 1st level cleric. He also wanted to be a mage from Glantri. His reason for wandering and avoiding to return is that he claims to have found love for an Immortal and became a cleric. Of course he had to flee his home and is now considered an outcast by his family. That's what he is telling the others anyway. In fact he is searching for an ancient artifact that will allow him to bring back his wife from the dead. He began his studies as a Necromancer after her death and is obsessed with bringing her back. Since there were no clerics in Glantri to help him her body decayed and it was later in his studies that he realized he should have taken her to Darokin and hired a cleric. He is a rich man so he has plenty of money which he has moved to Darokin banks and carries a small amount with him when he travels, to appear as a lowly wandering cleric. He also saved the life of the gnoll character who suspects his true background, but isn't overly concerned. He just wishes to repay his debt and go home. So in effect, he may turn on the other players once te artifact is revealed or the players find out who he really is. He's the only player I have who has played RPG's with me, but we didn't play Mystara. We played mostly Star Frontiers and some Top Secret, so this whole magic thing is new to him. He like the depth of Mystara too, he's been reading up at the Vaults to make himself appear as a knowledgable character.
The Shapeshifter being form Alphatia? That is really a cool idea. She could be the result of a magical experiment and then released to see how she fares in the world. Of course when the magician who created her wants to get an update she will have to answer. Another twist to a twisted campaign.
I look forward to seeing how this campaign progresses - hopefully they won't spend too much time fighting among themselves! ;)
A more detailed intro to the characters so far:
1) Name: Cyndaria (Female)
Race: Avariel from the Mengut Mountains in Wendar
Hgt/Wgt: 5'6" / 85 lbs
Class: Battle Mage (pretty much like the OD&D elf class)
Level: 1
Skills: Elemental Magic, Natural Flying (she has wings), Archery
Alignment: Lawful Good
Purpose: Wants to travel the world and rid as much evil from it as she can
2) Name: Ragnar Maximus (Male)
Race: Human Norseman from Whiteheart in the Soderfjord Jarldoms
Hgt/Wgt: 6'6" / 260 lbs
Class: Barbarian/Berserker
Level: 1
Skills: Dual Weapon Fighting, Frenzy, Sword Mastery (1 and 2 handed)
Alignment: Neutral Good
Purpose: Searching for his parents murderer
3) Name: Leonine (Female)
Race: Shiye Elf from the Shiye Lawr, near Alfeish
Hgt/Wgt: 5'6" / 110 lbs
Class: Ranger
Level: 1
Skills: Shapeshifting into animals (mostly the lion), Archery
Alignment: Neutral Chaotic
Purpose: Only cares about her personal pleasure and riches
4) Name: Guchi Kandahar (Male)
Race: Human from Glantri (unknown exactly where)
Hgt/Wgt: 5'8" / 155 lbs
Class: Necromancer
Level: 5
Skills: Undead Control & Creation, Outdoor Survival, Archery, Swordplay
Alignment: Lawful Chaotic
Purpose: To find a power that can bring his wife back to true life
5) Name: Tzak Rockwall (Male)
Race: Gnoll from Graakhalia
Hgt/Wgt: 6'5" / 270 lbs
Class: Ranger
Level: 3
Skills: Tracking & Hunting, Leather Crafts, Underground Survival, Javelins
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Purpose: To repay his debt to Guchi for saving his life
The friendship begins: 998 AC
In search of his parents’ killers, Ragnar rides a fishing boat to Soderfjord and then spends all of his money for a trip to Specularum. He had heard from a witness to his parents killing that one of the killers mentioned going back to Darokin City. They seemed to be traveling by boat so he took the same route. He didn't have enough to pay to get any further than Specularum, so there he joined a caravan and volunteered to bodyguard on its way to Luln. The caravan owner agrees, despite his dirty and poor appearance, because of his sheer size.
After fighting with her wealthy parents the young (200 year old) Leonine runs away from home after stealing her fathers savings. She uses this money to pay for boats to get to the Isle of Dawn. She treks across the Alphatian and Thyatian borders undetected by transforming into various animals. She even avoids some hunters who mistake her for a fox and then she boards a boat to Specularum on her way to Darokin, where she has heard that "He who has the money, makes the rules." She has enough money then to pay her way onto a caravan to Luln.
After reaching the age of adulthood, Cyndaria decides she wants to see the world and she feels she can make a difference and maybe stop evildoers as she travels. She decides she first wants to see the Sea of Dread because of it's name so she flies and walks (to rest her wings) across the Heldann lands and into Ethengar. There she flies when she can, but never lands when she sees any movement below her. The Heldannic people told her the horsemen of the steppes are very dangerous and hate all outsiders. She eventually finds her way across without much more of an incident than some horseman finding her sleeping and attempting to catch her, but some Centaurs ran them off and told her to more careful. She follows the Streel River until she reaches the nearby mountains, which she flies up to the top to sleep and then flies on to Alfhiem. The elves there are excited to see her and greet her as family. She speaks to a local seer who asks her dozens of questions about her people, she gets suspicious and then leaves when nobody is watching. She flies south and makes her way across the Cruth Mountains and then on to Specularum. After spending some time there and watching the sea she decided she doesn't want to travel any further south and pays the last of her money to a caravan owner to ride to Luln, which takes her closer to the Five Shires which she can't wait to see.
The caravan arrives uneventfully at Radlebb Keep and then continues it's way on the next morning. About 4 hours after it started out a huge mob of bandits attacks the caravan using mini-ballistae on small wagons and mounted raiders. Only 3 people escape with whatever they were carrying and the bandits takes away the wagons. The three who escaped are Ragnar, Leonine and Cyndaria. They get to know each other for a while and then begin traveling on to Luln to tell someone what happened.
Upon arriving they tell the town guards, which mostly shrug their shoulders and curse about stupid thieves. So they go on to find an inn. In the inn they meet a strange man who claims he was once a cleric, but now is just a traveler and bounty hunter. He tells them a local cleric, who he used to work with in Glantri, has asked him to help retrieve an artifact stolen from the elves and they have come to him for help (knowing that the cleric leads the local underground Traladar Rebels). They agree to help. Leonine secretly plots to steal the artifact and sell it in Darokin.
They meet with the cleric who tells them that the artifact was taken to Fort Doom and that he has a connection there that can get them into the Keep itself, or very near it. As they travel the next morning, Guchi tells them he has a friend waiting for them and he should already have found a way through the maze underneath Fort Doom to sneak into.
Once they arrive at Fort Doom, they all are wearing traveling cloaks and Cyndaria is pretending to sleep in the back of the wagon, which is loaded with turnips. Her wings are buried in the turnips so nobody notices she isn’t normal.
Inside the town Guchi leads the wagon to a shop and leaves it in the barn next to it. They go inside and meet with the guide who then leads them down into the sewers through a secret entrance in the back of the shop. He takes them to the hole where the caves begin under Fort Doom.
They travel into the caves and first run into some Zombies. Guchi, who was leading, stands aside and lets the others fight them. Cyndaria and Leonine fire arrows while Ragnar swings his torch at them. They dispatch them in 3 rounds and then ask why Guchi didn’t help. He claims he wanted to see what they could really do before going any further and risking his own neck. They travel further and find a scared man hiding behind some boulders. He explains that he stole some food from the kitchens and was thrown down here. He tells them that a huge hairy thing is guarding the entrance to the dungeon and that he has a mean dog and 3 zombies that are at his command. They ask where this is and he tells them he can’t really remember, but he knows where a secret door is. He bargains to show them if somebody escorts him out.
Once he shows them the door and how to open it, Guchi decides to lead the man to the exit. While he’s doing that, Cyndaria tells the others she doesn’t trust Guchi and that they should kill him. Ragnar points out that they may need his help and to wait till later to even think about it. Leonine admits to wanting the artifact and says they should take it and then kill him to make sure it doesn’t fall into worse hands than it’s in now. They all agree, but Guchi overhears them. He returns and they open the secret door and continue on.
The secret hallway opens through another hidden door and into a hall going left and right. They take a left and Guchi realizes the next room has something hiding in it before they enter it. Cyndaria uses her excellent vision and makes out a Cave Gecko, which she fires an arrow at, and breaks one of its forelimbs. Ragnar rushes in and finishes it quickly while it’s stunned. Tzak walks into the room and Guchi has to stop the others from attacking. Tzak says they are going the wrong way and he has been waiting. He is confused on how they got around him, until they explain the secret door. They travel back the other way and find the room with the 3 zombies. Guchi casts spells and takes control of all 3 before any can shout their alarm. Which was supposed to sound like a “horrible blood curdling affair.”
Guchi dispels the zombies and the others realize he is a necromancer. They all decide now for sure to kill him and take the artifact. They travel into the next cavern and find a ladder going up to a trap door ceiling. It’s guarded by a pit bull, which is already barking in their direction, and a chain mail clad bugbear that is picking up his sword. Leonine fails her attempt to transform, and then pulls out her bow. Cyndaria fires her shock bolt but misses. They go into battle and Ragnar goes berserk. He is unable to make any good rolls, but because of his berserk he continues to hit the bugbear. The bugbear battles him and is winning because Ragnar has no defense in frenzy mode, and the bugbear is much bigger and stronger. Guchi casts a wounding spell and then a cramping spell that slows down the Bugbear and allows the other players to hit better. Tzak snaps the dogs leash with his javelin and then kills it in 3 blows, including removing one of its ears in one slash. Finally Cyndaria fires a good hit with her bow and takes down the bugbear.
They decide to make camp here and go up into the dungeon later. Maybe this weekend ;)
So there is the beginning. Man it feels good to DM again. Hope it wasn’t too dry for you guys.
GW
EDIT: I'm also trying to get 3 others to join the group to replace the ones leaving. 3 low level characters is going to make this current adventure tough, it's meant for 5 to 7 players at 1-2 levels. Not 3 1st leveled ones.
This is going to get rough if I can't find others to play. I'm too stubborn to let this campaign go, I have big plans for these guys.P.S.- I think finding out my wife is pregnant has scared them off a bit. Just found out this Wednesday, I'll be a daddy in March. :OMG!
P.S.- I think finding out my wife is pregnant has scared them off a bit. Just found out this Wednesday, I'll be a daddy in March. :OMG!
Congratulations!
Håvard
Well! Only 1 of my players showed up this weekend, so I'm now going to have to bring in more players.
P.S.- I think finding out my wife is pregnant has scared them off a bit. Just found out this Wednesday, I'll be a daddy in March. :OMG!
Indeed, congratulations! It's wonderful to hear that some people are so dedicated to bringing new fans to Mystara :D
:-) Jesper
Indeed, congratulations! It's wonderful to hear that some people are so dedicated to bringing new fans to Mystara :D
:-) Jesper
Yes my child will be raised a Mystara devoted fanatic. ;) If I can't recruit them, I'll just make them.
Speaking of that, looks like I might have a new player today. We might have an addition to the adventuring coming up. My players really want to play this weekend and with a new guy that will make 4 1st levels now, a little better. The gnoll and necro players hit the road and left me with trying to get rid of their characters without ruining the story. I think they are going to have to turn on them. I'll leave that as a surprise. :lightbulb
Haven't come up with a name yet. Any suggestions?Character Intros:
1) Name: Cyndaria (Female)
Race: Avariel from the Mengut Mountains in Wendar
Hgt/Wgt: 5'6" / 85 lbs
Class: Battle Mage (pretty much like the OD&D elf class)
Level: 1
Skills: Elemental Magic, Natural Flying (she has wings), Archery
Alignment: Lawful Good
Purpose: Wants to travel the world and rid as much evil from it as she can
2) Name: Ragnar Maximus (Male)
Race: Human Norseman from Whiteheart in the Soderfjord Jarldoms
Hgt/Wgt: 6'6" / 260 lbs
Class: Barbarian/Berserker
Level: 1
Skills: Dual Weapon Fighting, Frenzy, Sword Mastery (1 and 2 handed)
Alignment: Neutral Good
Purpose: Searching for his parents murderer
3) Name: Leonine (Female)
Race: Shiye Elf from the Shiye Lawr, near Alfeish
Hgt/Wgt: 5'6" / 110 lbs
Class: Ranger (Shapeshifting Elf Sorority)
Level: 1
Skills: Shapeshifting into Lions, Archery
Alignment: Neutral Chaotic
Purpose: Only cares about her personal pleasure and riches
4) Name: Guchi Kandahar (Male)
Race: Human from Glantri (unknown exactly where)
Hgt/Wgt: 5'8" / 155 lbs
Class: Necromancer
Level: 5
Skills: Undead Control & Creation, Outdoor Survival, Archery, Swordplay
Alignment: Lawful Chaotic
Purpose: To find a power that can bring his wife back to true life
5) Name: Tzak Rockwall (Male)
Race: Gnoll from Graakhalia
Hgt/Wgt: 6'5" / 270 lbs
Class: Ranger
Level: 3
Skills: Tracking & Hunting, Leather Crafts, Underground Survival, Javelins
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Purpose: To repay his debt to Guchi for saving his life
Redo of History for Leonine:
After fighting with her wealthy parents the young (200 year old) Leonine runs away from home after stealing her fathers savings. She uses this money to pay for boats to get to the Isle of Dawn. She treks across the Alphatian and Thyatian borders undetected by transforming into a lion. She even avoids some hunters who mistake her for a potential trophy and then she boards a boat to Specularum on her way to Darokin, where she has heard that "He who has the money, makes the rules." She has enough money then to pay her way onto a caravan to Luln. She only hopes that her secret Elven Sorority doesn’t find out what she has done. They will be looking for her and wanting to take her shapshifting trinket or worse, execute her as a traitor.
And to continue from last adventure:
They rested at the bottom of the ladder and slept. Tzak, Guchi and Leonine took shifts watching for the night. At the time they assumed was first light, they munched on some jerky that Tzak had brought and Ragnar climbed the ladder to inspect the lock. Luckily his limited lock picking skills was enough and he unlocked the trap door in the ceiling without making a lot of noise. They climbed into the prison cell that it opened into. The door to the cell was unlocked so they peeked out and found themselves in a series of dungeon hallways with cells filled with petty criminals, family hostages of fishermen to make sure they return with their goods, four soldiers from Luln and a fat merchant that promised a reward for his rescue. They explored a large cell in a quiet part of the dungeon. Tzak found a strange stone and removed it from the wall. He couldn’t see into the hole it left very well, but Cyndaria took a look and found a small ring. Nobody was able to figure out if it had magic or not so Cyndaria tried it on. She immediately became invisible, except for her clothes and gear. She was able to remove the ring without trouble and slipped into her belt pouch.
They continue to explore the prison and question prisoners, which they promise to rescue when they find the keys. Ragnar, Leonine and Cyndaria show little interest, but Guchi and Tzak say they will lead the prisoners back out through the caves. Guchi and Tzak separate from the group while they explore and discuss the need to watch their backs. Guchi tells Tzak about what the others had discussed behind his back. Tzak agrees and then tells Guchi that he spotted some kind of hidden door in the room where they found the key. He thinks it might be an alternate route up to the keep. Guchi tells him to stay quiet about it and they will use it and let the others become a diversion when they march right into the keep from the dungeon.
As Guchi and Tzak talk, Ragnar pulls a rookie move and barges through a door that doesn’t have a barred window and is ambushed by four skeletons. He uses his reverse swing to get an extra attack in, but isn’t very accurate and barely scratches one skeleton. Guchi and Tzak hear the ruckus and Guchi runs to aid them and Tzak stands at the nearest crossing of halls to make sure nobody comes to investigate. Cyndaria and Leonine begin firing arrows at the skeletons furthest from Ragnar. They both hit directly and the poorly built one is taken down by Leonine. The three remaining skeletons swing their swords at Ragnar. They all connect and one of the hits causes Ragnar to fall and luckily avoids a critical that would have disemboweled him, but when he gets to his feet, he is facing the wrong way. Leonine gets a chuckle when her next arrow lodges into the ribs of one skeleton. Ragnar goes into a frenzy as the three skeletons continue to swing at him. Luckily he is only scratched this round. Guchi arrives and casts a spell to take control of the skeleton that is right on top of Ragnar and commands it to back away. Cyndaria plants an arrow in the skull of one skeleton and it collapses. Guchi’s skeleton tries to attack the next closest skeleton to Ragnar. Ragnar swings wildly and trips over his own feet, and nearly falls again. He sustains another serious hit from the skeleton in front of him, slashing his forearm badly, and Leonine strikes it with an arrow that breaks through the knee and it collapses. Guchi unanimates the remaining skeleton and Ragnar takes a few healing potions from Tzak and his own supply. He is still seriously injured though and in need of rest, so he takes up the rear of the group and Tzak leads on.
They find more cells and finally find their way to a heavy iron bound door. They crack the door and see four men sitting at a table, another by the door on the far side of the room and a large man wearing chain mail standing with his back to the door. Tzak barges in and flips the table over and into the door to prevent any escape. The five soldiers duck and scatter to arm themselves. As the rest of the party run into the room, the man in chain mail stabs with his sword which was already drawn and puts the blade through Tzak’s brain with a major critical and kills him instantly.
The rest of the party is shocked but not delayed and Cyndaria strike an immediate critical on the man in chain mail as Tzak hits the floor. Her arrow pierces his heart, sticks out of his chain mail in his back and falls beside Tzak. Ragnar goes into a frenzy again, and Leonine successfully transforms into her lion form. The other men finally arm themselves and attack. Cyndaria injures another with an arrow; Leonine swipes the nearest one to her with her claws and cuts a major artery. He begins to bleeds heavily. Guchi begins to animate the dead chain mail guy into a zombie. The two nearest soldier freak out as their sergeant gets up off the floor with a bloody arrow sticking out of his back and his eyes rolled up in his head. They scream and attack the newly created zombie. Ragnar charges into the nearest soldier and connects with a serious belly button wound which forces the soldier to the floor in immense pain and holding his cut open stomach. The other soldier swings at Ragnar and gives him a little scratch. Cyndaria’s next arrow hits one of the soldiers attacking the zombie. Leonine finishes off the soldier se is attacking and turns her eyes on the two attacking the zombie which is now missing his sword arm. Ragnar severely cuts the other soldier on him in the chest as the stomach wounded one gets up. Cyndaria strikes another with an arrow and takes him down. Guchi animates Leonines first victim to join the fight. Ragnar slashes the chest a second time and kills the soldier as the one with the stomach injury lands a solid hit on his chest and breaks a rib. Guchi commands the two zombies to tackle the other soldier left as Leonine turns and grapples the stomach guy and breaks his neck and opens it. The soldier lets out a blood gurgling scream and Ragnar stabs him in the forehead to shut him up. Yuk.
The remaining guy begins to cry as the zombies hold him down. They question him and he tells them about the Torturer and the slop room that is occupied by a Carrion Crawler. The players decide that it was good they didn’t go that way. He mentions that there was an ogre caught in the hills nearby that was brought down, but he’s not sure where they put it. He tells them about the five orc jailors that probably was too busy bickering in the main jail room to notice intruders. That room is next door to the poolroom where prisoners are interrogated and dunked in sickly slimy water that can make you real sick for a while. They drag the soldier into a prison cell and lock him up.
Guchi brings the two zombies to the orcs jail room and convinces them that he needs their assistance. He claims he’s the new commander to the prisons. The fact that one of the zombies was the guy in charge, the orcs immediately obey him. After they remove the prisoners from the cell, Guchi slams the door and locks it, leaving the zombies in with them. He says if they make a sound, the zombies will attack and eat them. The orcs growl and attack the zombies, but are unarmed and only two survive, but too weak to shout for help, which they feel is useless anyway and sit and wait.
Ragnar gets ready to sleep in the room that is the gateway to the keep. Cyndaria and Leonine watch over the room, and at the same time Leonine begins stripping the remaining guards and tries to put together two sets of uniforms that aren’t bloodied before they sleep. Cyndaria wraps Ragnar's ribs to help keep the broken rib in place and then helps Leonine. Theses three decide to wait till Guchi returns the following day. They don’t believe he will. Before Guchi left, he animated Tzak and used him to help assist the prisoners away. They will continue with or without Guchi as soon as Ragnar has healed enough to go on.
The next installment could be by next week. For now the 2 recently formed NPC’s (Guchi and Tzak) will be out of the picture. Not quite what I was planning, but sometimes the dice decide something you don’t plan, like the death of Tzak. Standing toe to toe, that guy would have been crushed by Tzak, but he got one lucky shot and put him down like a wimp.
Since that is all that is going on, I was going to just post more detailed descriptions of the players as they currently are. They haven't been given an xp as of yet. I'm just stacking it all up for when they have at least a week of non-adventuring game time, in case they level up. I have a feeling they will.
Here is the RoleMaster stats and their abbreviations along with their D&D equivalent:
Strength (Str) = Strength
Agility (Agi) = Dexterity
Quickness (Qui) = Dexterity
Constitution (Con) = Constitution
Self Discipline (Dis) = Charisma
Presence (Pre) = Charisma
Memory (Mem) = Wisdom
Reasoning (Res) = Intelligence
Empathy (Emp) = Intelligence
Intuition (Int) = Wisdom
All stats numbers are converted to D&D for reading ease and the bonuses are including the racial bonus that RoleMaster uses so they will seem higher for some characters than others with the same score.
First player up:
1) Name: Cyndaria (Female)
Race: Avariel from the Mengut Mountains in Wendar
Class: Battle Mage (pretty much like the OD&D elf class)
Level: 1
Hair/Eyes: Platinum/Violet
Hgt/Wgt: 5'6" / 85 lbs
Age: 200 (appears as 21)
Alignment: Lawful Good
Personality: Moral, Ethical, Principaled
Str: 15 (+1)
Agi: 17 (+3) +1 Racial
Qui: 14 (+3) +2 Racial
Con: 15 (+1)
Dis: 14 (+2) +1 Racial
Pre: 15 (+3) +2 Racial
Mem: 17 (+2)
Res: 14 (+1)
Emp: 14 (+1)
Int: 13 (+2) +1 Racial
Stongest Skills: Flying (wings), Archery, Magic, Lores, Fletching, Alertness
Favorite Spells: Shockbolt (RoleMaster's version of Magic Missile)
Motivation: Wants to travel the world and rid as much evil from it as she can
Special Equipment: Bow that summons food/water. Ring of Invisiblity
2) Name: Ragnar Maximus (Male)
Race: Human Norseman from Whiteheart in the Soderfjord Jarldoms
Class: Barbarian/Berserker
Level: 1
Hair/Eyes: Brown/Brown
Hgt/Wgt: 6'6" / 260 lbs
Age: 23 (appears as 26)
Alignment: Neutral Good
Personality: Impatient, Angry
Str: 15 (+3) +2 Racial
Agi: 14 (+1)
Qui: 16 (+2)
Con: 16 (+4) +2 Racial
Dis: 15 (+0) -1 Racial
Pre: 13 (+0) -1 Racial
Mem: 14 (+1)
Res: 13 (+1)
Emp: 14 (+1)
Int: 14 (+1)
Strongest Skills: Dual Weapon Fighting, Frenzy, Sword Masteries , Athletics
Motivation: Searching for his parents murderer
Special Equipment: Longsword +2 (Actually it's a dormant intelligent sword with numerous powers, the player is currently unaware of this)
3) Name: Leonine (Female)
Race: Shiye Elf from the Shiye Lawr, near Alfeish
Class: Ranger (Shapeshifting Elf Sorority)
Level: 1
Hair/Eyes: Dk Brown/Green
Hgt/Wgt: 5'6" / 110 lbs
Age: 200 (appears as 28)
Alignment: Chaotic Nuetral
Personality: Arrogant
Str: 14 (+1)
Agi: 14 (+3) +2 Racial
Qui: 14 (+2) +1 Racial
Con: 15 (+1)
Dis: 16 (+2)
Pre: 17 (+3) +1 Racial
Mem: 14 (+1)
Res: 13 (+1)
Emp: 13 (+2) +1 Racial
Int: 15 (+2) +1 Racial
Strongest Skills: Shapeshifting, Archery, Survival, Animal Handling, Seduction, Tracking
Motivation: Only cares about her personal pleasure and riches
Special Equipment: A piercing that allows her to shapeshift into a Lion (Her secret society sisters will be wanting it back)
Well there they are. I was thinking of using these same 3 characters as the main heroes in the Comic book too. What do you guys think of that?
Some spoilers for later:
Show
Ragnar's parents were killed by the Iron Ring slavers. He'll find out inside the keep when he faces of with one of them. The Iron Ring wants his sword, because they are aware of it's power, which his father hid from him and commanded the sword to sleep till Ragnar was capable of handling the sword. The Iron Ring doesn't know this and believes they will be able to use it's power for their own purposes. I haven't decided what those are yet, but it will be intelligent and something along the lines of a DragonSlayer or Dragon Controller. Guchi is planning to return and steal the Eye form the players or get it before they do. He has a backup plan and Tzak's discovery of the secret door will make it much easier for him and his friends from the local thieve's guild.
Eye of Traldar: Part 3
They start out by Cyndaria using the ring of invisibility and then stripping naked so nobody sees her clothes or weapons floating around by themselves. She sneaks around the keep and avoids physical contact. The guards in the room above the dungeon are too busy playing cards to notice the door open and close by itself and she moves silently out into the courtyard. She scans the small tower in the middle of the keep and peaks into the two windows on the 2nd floor. In the one closest to the Guard Post she sees a man who is scribbling notes on parchments while sitting at a desk. She notices he is wearing leather armor and has a short sword leaning next to the desk, just below visibility from the door across the room. She sees nothing else of help so she flies around to the other side. The room she sees is a dusty old guard room that has a couple of cots and a small table by the window. She looks around the courtyard and only sees a few soldiers patrolling the outer walls. She returns to the dungeon and tells Ragnar and Leonine (whose player still hasn’t arrived).
Ragnar puts on his makeshift uniform and attaches the Watch Sergeant’s patch. He walks up the stairs and Cyndaria remains invisible but prepares her Shockbolt spell just in case. When the four guards see Ragnar enter form the dungeons they jump up and salute him. He nods and tells them to go about their business, so they return to their card game. One of them comments, “The Watch Sergeant seemed a bit taller and younger.” Another guard tells him “So what, if you pry into their business you’ll lose your head.”
Ragnar enters the courtyard and knocks on the Tower door. (The 2 players who showed up to play are going to try and play it safe tonight). The bored soldier opens the shutter and grumbles, “Not another one. What do you want?”
Ragnar says “Let me in, I’m the Watch Sergeant.”
The soldier rolls his eyes and replies, “Ok, you got the pass?”
Ragnar answers, “Uh, no?”
The soldier raises his voice slightly and says, “Come on, you know Galleret gots to give you a pass!” And he slams the shutter closed.
Ragnar stands in front of the door for a moment and talks to the invisible Cyndaria. They decide to ask the guards at the dungeon post about Galleret. Ragnar enters the room and asks, “Soldiers! Have you guys seen Galleret anywhere? I need to speak with him, now!” One of the soldiers replies quickly, “He’s probably still in his office over that way.” And he points in the direction of one of the buildings on the outer wall. Ragnar thanks him and leaves the Post again.
Cyndaria (who is still invisible and feeling a little naked) goes to the office and cracks open the door enough to slip in the office. Lt. Galleret is at his desk and his personal aide is sitting on the bed in the small room next to the office. Galleret barks at the aide who jumps up and closes the door and locks it. Cyndaria watches them for a while. Galleret walks over the lounging aide and hands him a note. He tells him to “Go to the stables and make sure this stuff is prepared within two hours.” Meanwhile Cyndaria flips through some papers on his desk and sees a note from a Captain Tiberian that if anything else goes wrong in the keep he’ll lose his head. She notices his keys on his belt and comes up with an idea. As the aide leaves, Galleret walks to the door with him and Cyndaria (who happens to have no ability in picking pockets, but has enough natural talent (RM rules allow players to attempt to use skill they have no training in with heavy penalties). She actually succeeds and hides the keys under a cushion in a couch before Galleret turns back around and finds his keys floating around by themselves.
He walks over to his desk and crumples up the letter from the Cap. Then he walks over to the small room with the bed and closes the door behind him. Cyndaria gets out the keys and unlocks his desk. She finds a leather plaque and guesses it might be the pass, she finds two silver flasks also with some liquid inside. She carries these to the door and opens it and whistles for Ragnar who is hiding around a corner. He runs over and gets the plaques and flasks and hides them under the uniform. Suddenly Galleret walks out of the bedroom and sees Ragnar. He looks tired and shouts at him, “What the bloody hell are you doing here!?”
Ragnar replies, “Uh, I don’t know, I think I’m drunk.”
Galleret walks over to him and says, “Well get your drunk ***** back down into the dungeon and make sure nothing happens like last time with that damn purple worm, or I’ll make a blanket out of your hide!”
Ragnar stumbles away and says, “Yes Sir!”
Cyndaria slips through the door before Galleret closes it and then Ragnar and Cyndaria decide to try the plaque at the Tower door.
Ragnar knocks again and the same bored soldier asks, “Well? Did you get it?”
Ragnar shows him the plaque and the soldier unlocks the door and lets him in. Cyndaria slips in by staying really close to Ragnar. Once in, Ragnar tells the soldier he should not be so rude. The soldier rolls his eyes and replies, “I don’t work for you, now go see whoever you’re here to see and leave me alone.”
Meanwhile Cyndaria succeeds in an observation roll and notices strange footprints in the dust near 2 doors next to the entrance. They appear like skeleton feet. This frightens Cyndaria and then she moves into the corridor past the guardroom and sees a stair and three doors. One is ajar and she peeks in and sees a man dressed in black armor with a heavy mace leaning against his daybed, which he is sprawled across and reading a book with a bone spine and cover. She thinks he might be a necromancer. Ragnar passes the room and only glances so as not to attract too much attention and open the door opposite the stair well. Inside is a storeroom with food and supplies. He goes in and Cyndaria follows him and shuts the door.
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This part is happening behind the player’s story and they have no idea. Leonine decided to help Guchi get the prisoners out (Leonine’s player called and said she wasn’t coming). So she, along with a couple of imprisoned Luln soldiers and some other helpful prisoners, they were able to get all the willing prisoners out. The dungeon torturer caught some of the prisoners, but he was overwhelmed by the several in the hall and strapped to his own machines to be left. An ogre was found starving in one cell, but they decided to leave him there. He demanded food in orcish and nobody had any. Guchi took Tzak’s animated corpse out of the caverns and into the sewers. Leonine oversaw the rescue and when Guchi returned he had several hooded men with him. The went up into the dungeon and Guchi said he would bring some more down, after a few groups came down with the soldiers of Luln and the other helpful prisoners, Leonine asked one of them what Guchi was doing. He said that he came up into the dungeon and asked how things were but then he went off to another area and nobody has seen him. They even looked in that area he went and he and the men he brought had vanished.
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Cyndaria begins exploring the tower while she’s invisible. The black clad man who was in his room walks into the hall while she is there and goes to the room with the guard and asks, “Who were those people who came in, and who were they meeting?”
Soldier replies “People? There was only the one.”
Black-clad rubs his chin and replies “You dumb fool, I distinctly heard two sets of footprints.”
The soldier raises an eyebrow out him and replies, “Well I only saw the one. A big fellow with the Watch Sergeant patch on his uniform.”
Black-clad commands, “Don’t let anyone leave, I’ll be right back.”
He goes upstairs, and Cyndaria waits in the hall to what else happens. A big guy, wearing plate mail and carrying a drawn sword, storms down the stairs with the black clad man close behind. He looks around the entrance room and at the soldier and asks, “Did he have a pass?” The soldier nods, and the armored guys growls and turns the other man, “Get your skeletons out and have them guard this door. Nobody leaves who doesn’t live in the tower. Understood Paurillian?” The black clad man nods and opens the doors next to the entrance. Cyndaria sees the skeletons come out and stand in front of the door. The armored guy marches back upstairs and Paurillian goes back to his room and closes the door. Cyndaria returns to find Ragnar gorging himself on rations. She tells him what she saw and then she leaves again and goes upstairs.
On the second floor she looks into the room without windows. The man wearing leather has his door cracked and is working hard on whatever he is writing and reading. The door she goes through takes her into a laboratory. A small old man is brewing up some smelly concoctions at a table facing the door. He looks up and sees the door close itself. He doesn’t say anything, but begins casting a spell of see invisible. (I made this character a bit stronger than the module had him, so he could help the players out a bit). Cyndaria tries to pretend to be a voice in his head and he plays along for a while before telling her he has never seen a winged elf before.
Cyndaria is stunned at first and is afraid he is evil. He tells her he is a slave in the tower and his job is to make potions for those in the keep, as well as some potent cleaning chemicals for Paurillian so he can bleach his skeletons. He makes a deal and says he will help them if they help him escape and take him with them. He figures since he’s been cooped up for a while and these adventurers are about to be on the run for a while he could get some traveling in maybe some freedom. He tells Cyndaria about the residents in the tower, Lt Aenolas and the wizard Aurelian living on the 3rd floor. Paurillian the Necromancer/Cleric who lives on the bottom. He tells them about the Iron Ring slaver Menelaus which his personal guard. The man says his name is Nikolai Monescu, Alchemist and magician.
He goes to Menelaus’ office and starts rambling to him and shuts the door while Cyndaria goes and drags Ragnar away from his feast of dried fruits, salted meats and sour wine. They go up into Nikolai’s lab and hide. Menelaus pushes Nikolai back into his lab and says, “Stay put old man! There is an intruder in the tower.”
Nikolai spends some time talking to Ragnar and Cyndaria (who is still invisible). They ask about the Iron Ring and he mentions some of their affiliations with the Baron. He also mentions that when they execute someone who refuses to give them what they want, they put an iron ring on their thumb. Ragnar gets furious at this. He remembers a strange iron ring on his parent’s hands after they were killed that he had never noticed before. He tells the others he wants to kill Menelaus but do it by himself. They come up with a plan.
Nikolai goes back into Menelaus’ office and tells him he heard a noise in the empty room. Menelaus is losing his temper and pick up his sword this time and follows Nikolai. Ragnar meanwhile had slipped into the empty room and drew his scimitar. There are two doors to this room, so Cyndaria holds one door closed and Nikolai shuts the other behind Menelaus and pushes against in hopes he isn’t overpowered. Menelaus orders him to open the door when he realizes he isn’t alone. Ragnar drinks a potion of speed that Nikolai gave him and says to Menelaus, “I have some questions for about my parents.”
Menelaus looks at his scimitar and then him and shakes his head. “No questions, you are about to make me a hero.” Menelaus charges, but Ragnar causes him to hesitate when he does a little swashbuckling and scores really high. He gets in the first to swings, but Menelaus is very agile and is barely hurt. They swing back and forth at each other and Ragnar realizes that without the potion, this guy would have cut him up. They trade cuts and Menelaus gets a good hit, but with minor damage, and Ragnar returns the favor. Ragnar finally gets a solid hit on Menelaus’s backside and he lets out a yell and collapses. He dies soon after. Ragnar takes his armor, which Nikolai says is magical and his short sword, which has runes, for himself. He takes the Iron Ring that signifies Menelaus’ affiliation and puts it in his pouch.
Cyndaria meanwhile investigates upstairs while Ragnar rummages through the slavers office. He finds a box with lots of coins and takes it along with a vellum bound book of all kinds of information on the Iron Ring, including contact names, locations and records of dealings, money, etc. He finds his parents names in one of the older records and next to their names a note is scrawled. “Killed, screamer is still missing” Ragnar wonders what that means and suspects his scimitar may be more than what he thought. He asks Nikolai to detect magic, but Nikolai says it seems to have some magic blocking all detections. He says he’ll have to find an expert in that realm of magic to break through. Cyndaria returns and tells them about Lt. Aenolas packing some bags. Nikolai leads the way and waits for Cyndaria to prepare her spell first and then she walks into the room, still invisible. Nikolai walks in and begins his spell of Sleep. Aenolas looks at him and says, “Quit fooling around, you can’t cast spells without your book.” (What he doesn’t know is that Nikolai had written some of them down on parchments so he could continue to memorize them daily, just in case). He realizes he’s wrong and pulls out his sword and charges at Nikolai as Ragnar steps into the room. Cyndaria suddenly appears and fires her shockbolt (Aenolas is also surprised as a naked winged elf appears next to Nikolai). She gets a really good hit and scorches Aenolas’ sword arm and burns all the clothing off of it and causes him to drop his sword as Nikolai casts the spell and Aenolas drops to the floor asleep. Ragnar ties him up and the search the room. They don’t find the Eye, so they slap Aenolas awake and Ragnar threatens, “I’ll cut off one finger at a time unless you tell me where the artifact is.”
Aenolas responds, “You can cut me into pieces and I’m not telling you nothing!”
Ragnar gets ready to hit him, but Nikolai tells him to wait and casts a charm person spell on Aenolas. Ragnar then begins his interrogation again after Nikolai tells him to be polite and he’ll answer him. “So where is the artifact?”
Aenolas responds with a huge grin on his face, “Well at the moment Aurelian has it. He went to the Gatehouse to meet with the captain. I better get his bags ready and take them to him.”
Ragnar says, “No you need to just answer my questions.”
Aenolas says, “Ok, muscle boy. Wow those arms are huge.”
Ragnar (whose player is inexperienced with D&D looks at me confused) he asks, “What is wrong with you?”
Aenalos responds while batting his eyes, “I don’t know, but I think I’m in love with you.”
Ragnar stands up immediately and raises one eyebrow like the Rock (a wrestler in WWE). He replies, “Uh, ok.”
While Ragnar interrogates him, Cyndaria stands by the stairs and listens to see if anyone tries to come up. She is now visible and geared up and armed with her bow again. She hears the sound of shouting below. She makes out some words “Ambushed… Gatehouse… Hurry!” Then she hears footsteps running up the stairs and she runs back and tells the others. She closes the door and locks it.
Ragnar and Cyndaria draw their weapons and Nikolai begins preparing a spell. Someone begins banging on the door and shouting, “Aenolas! Open my door, what are you doing in there? I have to go now! Someone tried to get it from me. They attacked the Gatehouse. Tiberian is trying to fight them off, but they are thieves!” Ragnar tells Aenolas to tell him he’s opening the door. Aenolas does so and Ragnar opens the door. Aurelian barges in and is shocked to see Nikolai casting a spell at him, Cyndaria fires an arrow but misses him, Ragnar charges, but trips over his feet and stumbles across the room like a drunk. Aurelian sneers and begins casting a fireball. Nikolai casts dispel magic on him and messes up his concentration. Ragnar is still trying to stop stumbling around and Cyndaria fires another arrow which hit Aurelian right in the forehead and kills him instantly as the flames of his fireball flicker out around his fingers.
Cyndaria grabs his bag and pulls out a box. Ragnar regains his balance and curses. Nikolai chuckles at him and says, “Well at least you were having a good time.” Cyndaria opens the box and finds all kinds of important documents regarding planned invasions of neighboring regions around Karameikos. She also finds the Eye of Traldar. She puts it in her bag and they all run out to the courtyard. Sounds of fighting are heard in the Gatehouse and they see fires burning along the walls.
They run down into the dungeon and head out through the caverns. They find Leonine with the Luln soldiers and some other prisoners. They all head out through the sewers and then steal a wagon and some horses that a merchant left unattended when he went to look at the burning keep. They ride out of Fort Doom and begin their trip back to Luln.
I still have one more surprise left for them when they get to Luln. The soldiers will probably take most of the paperwork they took and hand it over to their captain in Luln. The cleric who hired them…well there was an incident recently and the players will have to be in for a surprise when the return to the church to get paid. Stay tuned for the next installment…
Here is the RoleMaster stats and their abbreviations along with their OD&D equivalent:
Strength (Str) = Strength
Agility (Agi) = Dexterity
Quickness (Qui) = Dexterity
Constitution (Con) = Constitution
Self Discipline (Dis) = Charisma
Presence (Pre) = Charisma
Memory (Mem) = Wisdom
Reasoning (Res) = Intelligence
Empathy (Emp) = Intelligence
Intuition (Int) = Wisdom
All stats numbers are converted to OD&D for reading ease and the bonuses are including the racial bonus that RoleMaster uses so they will seem higher for some characters than others with the same score.
First player up:
1) Name: Seraphim (Female)
Race: Avariel from the Mengut Mountains in Wendar
Class: Battle Mage
Level: 2
Hair/Eyes: Platinum/Violet
Hgt/Wgt: 5'6" / 85 lbs
Age: 200 (appears as 21)
Alignment: Lawful Good
Personality: Moral, Ethical, Principaled
Str: 15 (+1)
Agi: 17 (+3) +1 Racial
Qui: 14 (+3) +2 Racial
Con: 15 (+1)
Dis: 14 (+2) +1 Racial
Pre: 15 (+3) +2 Racial
Mem: 17 (+2)
Res: 14 (+1)
Emp: 14 (+1)
Int: 13 (+2) +1 Racial
Strongest Skills: Flying (wings), Archery, Magic, Pick Pockets, Pick Locks, Stalking & Hiding, Lores, Fletching, Alertness
Favorite Spells: Shockbolt (RoleMaster's version of Magic Missile)
Motivation: Wants to travel the world and rid as much evil from it as she can
Special Equipment: Bow that summons food/water. Ring of Invisiblity
2) Name: Ragnar Maximus (Male)
Race: Human Norseman from Whiteheart in the Soderfjord Jarldoms
Class: Barbarian
Level: 2
Hair/Eyes: Brown/Brown
Hgt/Wgt: 6'6" / 260 lbs
Age: 23 (appears as 26)
Alignment: Neutral Good
Personality: Impatient, Angry
Str: 15 (+3) +2 Racial
Agi: 14 (+1)
Qui: 16 (+2)
Con: 16 (+4) +2 Racial
Dis: 15 (+0) -1 Racial
Pre: 13 (+0) -1 Racial
Mem: 14 (+1)
Res: 13 (+1)
Emp: 14 (+1)
Int: 14 (+1)
Strongest Skills: Dual Weapon Fighting, Frenzy, Sword & Two Hand Weapon Masteries, Weight Lifting, Boxing, Stun Recovery
Motivation: Searching for his parents murderers (Iron Ring Slavers)
Special Equipment: Longsword +2 (a dormant intelligent sword with numerous powers), Short Sword +1, Iron Ring Records & Documents
3) Name: Leonine (Female)
Race: Shiye Elf from the Shiye Lawr, near Alfeish
Class: Ranger (Shapeshifting Elf Sorority)
Level: 2
Hair/Eyes: Dk Brown/Green
Hgt/Wgt: 5'6" / 110 lbs
Age: 200 (appears as 28)
Alignment: Chaotic Nuetral
Personality: Arrogant
Str: 14 (+1)
Agi: 14 (+3) +2 Racial
Qui: 14 (+2) +1 Racial
Con: 15 (+1)
Dis: 16 (+2)
Pre: 17 (+3) +1 Racial
Mem: 14 (+1)
Res: 13 (+1)
Emp: 13 (+2) +1 Racial
Int: 15 (+2) +1 Racial
Strongest Skills: Shapeshifting, Archery, Seduction, Alertness, Survival, Animal Handling, Scaling & Climbing, Detect Traps, Lie Detection, Locate Hidden Things, Tracking
Motivation: Only cares about her personal pleasure and riches
Special Equipment: A piercing that allows her to shapeshift into a Lion (Her secret society sisters will be wanting it back)
4) Name: Wallace (Male)
Race: Morph-Lupin (Mixed breed)
Class: Paladin
Level: 2
Hair/Eyes: undecided
Hgt/Wgt: undecided
Age: undecided
Alignment: Lawful Good
Personality: undecided
Str: 15 (+2) +1 Racial
Agi: 14 (+1)
Qui: 14 (+1)
Con: 14 (+2) +1 Racial
Dis: 15 (+1)
Pre: 14 (+0) -1 Racial
Mem: 15 (+2) +1 Racial
Res: 16 (+3) +1 Racial
Emp: 13 (+2) +1 Racial
Int: 16 (+3) +1 Racial
Strongest Skills: undetermined
Favorite Spells: undetermined
Motivation: not specified
Special Equipment: Katana +2, Cat-o-Nine Tails +2, Pendant that casts Shield twice daily (It's in the form of the symbol of his former church, a cross).
The new player wanted something with lots of variety and something nobody had ever done. She is one of my best and most experienced players ever. She has played in about half my campaigns and is a great team leader. She also plays her characters well and makes sure they stay in character. Will be nice to have her on board again. She picked a strange race. She wanted something that looked like the Lupin, she really likes them and then had it marry a Metamorph which had approached the Lupin as a dog and befriended him, later to fall in love and revealed herself as a Metamorph. After giving birth to her character they were considered outcasts in his homeland because other than looking exactly like a normal Lupin, he inherited his mothers eyes (pure white). This bothered most Lupins and his family moved far away. They travelled east across the Savage Coast and made their home in an elven kingdom nearest the Serpent Peninsula. Once Wallace reached the age of adulthood, he began travelling. Even the elves were not so accepting of him, and his parents were talking of travelling to a mountain range and retiring from their normal jobs and trying to fit into society. Wallace tells them he wishes to see the world and begins travelling. He finds a small church near Hule that is dangerously blasphemous to the Master's fanatics. After a few years living with the clerics there and becoming a warrior of the church, he fights the Hule fanatics the night they finally come and he is knocked unconsious and forgotten in the woods next to the church. When he awakes, he finds the church is burned to the ground and the clerics were locked inside. He vows to continue the word of the soon forgot church and decided to travel as far from Hule as he can. He arrives in the City-States region and pays for passage to a place called Karameikos. There he arrives in Fort Doom by boat and the boat quickly leaves. Unaware of the danger he is in, he travels throught the town and is unbothered by anyone. The people are used to strange humanoids working for the Baron and assume he is one of them. As do the guards and they allow him to pass on through town unharrassed. He feels this place is not the place to start spreading his word. He begins his travel to a small town that a guard tells him is down the only road leaving the Fort.
This is where his background ends for now. His story will begin again when he meets the other players, either in the next session (Eye of Traldar: Part 4) or the following adventure which will involve a lot of traveling and some battling with Lightning Zombies. I am going to run Phase I of the Immortals Fury. By that time, Seraphim and possibley Ragnar will be level 3.
Stay tuned for the finale of the Eye of Traldar adventure this weekend...
Nikolai buys them all a round of drinks and after the barman gives him a tray of drinks he poors poison potions into them. The men drink up and 4 of them choke to death. The fifth guy stmbles around but isn't dieing. He grabs his throat and then reaches for his sword as he realizes what happened. The guy at the bar turns around and reaches for his sword as Cyndaria fires a shockbolt at him and burns him real good. Filsmorph uses his quick draw and attacks the man stunning him with a face cut. Her next attack removes the man's leg closest to him and he falls to the floor in shock. Filsmorph finishes him quicker than he would have taken to die. Cyndaria draws her bow and shoots the semi-poisoned guy in the forearm. The man stumbles to the ground and then the poison takes affect and kills him.
Upstairs, Ragnar follows Leonine and the man to his room. Nikolai trails behind. After they enter the room, Ragnar speaks to the man who recognizes him and attacks. Ragnar attempts to swashbuckle, but fails to impress the man who says, "Let me show you how to use a sword." They swing back and forth scratching eachother. Leonine transforms into a lion and attacks. She hurts him a bit and Ragnar scores a critical hit on the mans leg, which slows him down. Nikolai comes intot he room casting a sleep spell on the man. The question him but don't find out much useful.
This is where the game stopped. We got an interruptiona nd decided to continue in a week or two.
Here is the RoleMaster stats and their abbreviations along with their CD&D equivalent:
Strength (Str) = Strength
Agility (Agi) = Dexterity
Quickness (Qui) = Dexterity
Constitution (Con) = Constitution
Self Discipline (Dis) = Charisma
Presence (Pre) = Charisma
Memory (Mem) = Wisdom
Reasoning (Res) = Intelligence
Empathy (Emp) = Intelligence
Intuition (Int) = Wisdom
All stats numbers are converted to OD&D for reading ease and the bonuses are including the racial bonus that RoleMaster uses so they will seem higher for some characters than others with the same score.
First player up:
1) Name: Seraphim (Female)
Race: Avariel from the Mengut Mountains in Wendar
Class: Battle Mage
Level: 2
Hair/Eyes: Platinum/Violet
Hgt/Wgt: 5'6" / 85 lbs
Age: 200 (appears as 21)
Alignment: Lawful Good
Personality: Moral, Ethical, Principaled
Str: 15 (+1)
Agi: 17 (+3) +1 Racial
Qui: 14 (+3) +2 Racial
Con: 15 (+1)
Dis: 14 (+2) +1 Racial
Pre: 15 (+3) +2 Racial
Mem: 17 (+2)
Res: 14 (+1)
Emp: 14 (+1)
Int: 13 (+2) +1 Racial
Strongest Skills: Flying (wings), Archery, Magic, Pick Pockets, Pick Locks, Stalking & Hiding, Lores, Fletching, Alertness
Favorite Spells: Shockbolt (RoleMaster's version of Magic Missile)
Motivation: Wants to travel the world and rid as much evil from it as she can
Special Equipment: Bow that summons food/water. Ring of Invisiblity
2) Name: Ragnar Maximus (Male)
Race: Human Norseman from Whiteheart in the Soderfjord Jarldoms
Class: Barbarian
Level: 2
Hair/Eyes: Brown/Brown
Hgt/Wgt: 6'6" / 260 lbs
Age: 23 (appears as 26)
Alignment: Neutral Good
Personality: Impatient, Angry
Str: 15 (+3) +2 Racial
Agi: 14 (+1)
Qui: 16 (+2)
Con: 16 (+4) +2 Racial
Dis: 15 (+0) -1 Racial
Pre: 13 (+0) -1 Racial
Mem: 14 (+1)
Res: 13 (+1)
Emp: 14 (+1)
Int: 14 (+1)
Strongest Skills: Dual Weapon Fighting, Frenzy, Sword & Two Hand Weapon Masteries, Weight Lifting, Boxing, Stun Recovery
Motivation: Searching for his parents murderers (Iron Ring Slavers)
Special Equipment: Scimitar +2 (a dormant intelligent sword with numerous powers), Short Sword +1, Iron Ring Records & Documents
3) Name: Leonine (Female)
Race: Shiye Elf from the Shiye Lawr, near Alfeish
Class: Ranger (Shapeshifting Elf Sorority)
Level: 2
Hair/Eyes: Dk Brown/Green
Hgt/Wgt: 5'6" / 110 lbs
Age: 200 (appears as 28)
Alignment: Chaotic Nuetral
Personality: Arrogant
Str: 14 (+1)
Agi: 14 (+3) +2 Racial
Qui: 14 (+2) +1 Racial
Con: 15 (+1)
Dis: 16 (+2)
Pre: 17 (+3) +1 Racial
Mem: 14 (+1)
Res: 13 (+1)
Emp: 13 (+2) +1 Racial
Int: 15 (+2) +1 Racial
Strongest Skills: Shapeshifting, Archery, Seduction, Alertness, Survival, Animal Handling, Scaling & Climbing, Detect Traps, Lie Detection, Locate Hidden Things, Tracking
Motivation: Only cares about her personal pleasure and riches
Special Equipment: A piercing that allows her to shapeshift into a Lion (Her secret society sisters will be wanting it back)
4) Name: Filsmorph (Male)
Race: Morph-Lupin (Mixed breed)
Class: Paladin
Level: 2
Hair/Eyes: Auburn/White
Hgt/Wgt: 5'11" / 195lbs
Age: 28 (appears as 24)
Alignment: Lawful Good
Personality: Moral & Trustworthy
Str: 15 (+2) +1 Racial
Agi: 14 (+1)
Qui: 14 (+1)
Con: 14 (+2) +1 Racial
Dis: 15 (+1)
Pre: 14 (+0) -1 Racial
Mem: 15 (+2) +1 Racial
Res: 16 (+3) +1 Racial
Emp: 13 (+2) +1 Racial
Int: 16 (+3) +1 Racial
Strongest Skills: Quick Draw, Dual Weapon Fighting, First-Aid, Sword Mastery, Whip Mastery, Awareness, Tracking, Rope Mastery, Various Lores
Favorite Spells: Repel Undead, Healing magics
Motivation: Preserve his religion
Special Equipment: Katana +2, Cat-o-Nine Tails +2, Pendant that casts Shield twice daily (It's in the form of the symbol of his former church, a cross).
4) Name: Nikolai Monescu (Male) - NPC
Race: Human Traladaran
Class: Magician
Level: 6
Hair/Eyes: White/Brown
Hgt/Wgt: 5'4" / 125lbs
Age: 68 (appears as 52)
Alignment: True Neutral
Personality: Witty, Calm
Str: 9 (+1) +1 Racial
Agi: 10 (+0)
Qui: 13 (+1)
Con: 9 (+0)
Dis: 16 (+2)
Pre: 15 (+1)
Mem: 18 (+3)
Res: 18 (+4) +1 Racial
Emp: 14 (+1)
Int: 15 (+1)
Strongest Skills: Various Lore, Alchemy, Science, Influential Skills, Attunement
Favorite Spells: Sleep and Charm
Motivation: Freedom of his people from the Thyatian opressors
Special Equipment: Spellbook
Question: Anyone remember where the Keep on the Borderlands was at? Or where a good place to put it is?
Well another installment in the campaign. They made a deal with the inn keeper to clean up their mess (he was not a friend of the men they killed or the Baron himself). So they did, except Nikolai who went to bed, and well after nightfall they finish burying the bodies behind the inn. When they go back inside to get a night’s sleep, via the kitchen door in back, A 7 ½ foot man-like thing with a funny walks barges in the front room with two orcs trailing behind him. They question the innkeeper who denies seeing any strange travelers. The giant man thing leaves with the orcs afterwards. As Seraphim, Ragnar, Leonine and Filsmorph walk across the room to get to the stairs, and the giant man-thing bursts in with his sword drawn. Luckily the players never mentioned disarming themselves. They realize he’s a bugbear and he’s wearing the uniform of the Black Eagle Barony. Ragnar charges forward, the orcs come around to either side of the bugbear. Filsmorph steps away from the others and flanks the humanoids as they attack. Since they don’t have a description of him, they run past him. Seraphim fires off a shockbolt and burns the Bugbears weapon arm real good, but doesn’t slow him. Ragnar lands two solid blows with his swords, but mostly manages to unbalance the Bugbear. Leonine fires off an arrow but misses. Filsmorph slashes the arm of the nearest orc. All the humanoids attack Ragnar but only manage a couple of cuts. After swinging at Ragnar, the orc that Filsmorph slashed turns on him. Seraphim fires another shockbolt and misses. Filsmorph then gets a critical against the orc and cuts his eyes out. The orc dies soon after. Ragnar swings at the Bugbear again and injures him. Leonine lands a powerful hit with an arrow that rips open the bugbears side. The bugbear swings back, the other orc attacks Ragnar as well. They only manage more scratches. Leonine transforms into a Lion and everybody swings a little wild. Next round Leonine takes the bugbear down, and the other orc tries to run away. Too bad for him, Ragnar has a skill in sprinting and runs him down and ties him up. They interrogate the orc and then kill him and drag the bodies into the hills behind the inn. They found out that the hills are going to be soon be combed over by bugbears and orcs. They decided to wake all the refugees, the Luln soldiers and the fat merchant. They all get back on the wagon and take off.
They arrive in Luln by sunrise and decide to sleep most of the day in the guards barracks and freshen up before going to the church to hand over the Eye of Traldar. Seraphim explains the situation about the Eye to Filsmorph. When they arrive at the church they find out that the cleric who is supposed to pay them has left to Specularum for some reason. They aren’t a trustful group and they leave. Filsmorph questions the cleric there who admits to being a fake to him. He thinks Filsmorph is actually Tzak (He’s never seen a Gnoll or Lupin and doesn’t realize the difference). He admits to work for the thieves guild in Specularum and they have made a deal with Guchi. He tells Filsmorph that the clerics of the church are dead, and all the gold has been hauled back to the thieves guild. He tells him also that Guchi should be back in a day or so and he’s got about 30 men with him. They will take care of the other characters then weather or not they have the eye. Filsmorph claims to find out if they have the eye and then get back with him. Filsmorph tells the others and they decide to leave at nightfall.
They take off and pretty much have an uneventful trip. At Radlebb Keep they get a healer to heal Ragnar’s broken rib. He wanted 1,400 gp, but they convince him to take a pair of gold earrings and a box of ivory dice. They head onto the ruined former capital of Traladar. To avoid any contact with the thieves, Nikolai tells them of a cousin that lives in the ruins, during their travel Leonine sleeps with Ragnar and teases Seraphim. They have been camping at night, after leaving the keep, off the road in the woods. One of the nights they are camping and Seraphim is keeping watch. She is invisible and sees several horsemen traveling by. She flies over them and watches them for a while. Filsmorph and Ragnar wake up from hearing the horses. Filsmorph smells an awful smell from the horsemen as they pass. Seraphim sees eight caskets about 3’ long. Being hauled by some horses. They move on the next day and Nikolai’s cousin finds out that Guchi arrived and went to a church where Tzak was taken to recover. He didn’t have the smelly caskets with him though and apparently he has purchased passage on a boat. They don’t know where to though.
The players decide to continue with their plan to give the Eye back to the elves themselves. They gather their gear and travel the 16 day journey to Rugolav where they will try to find someone to help them get to the Lake of Lost Dreams and find the Seer to return the Eye to him. (The journey was uneventful, because we were short on time and the combat system for Rolemaster is too slow. Before our next session, I’m going to rework the whole system to more resemble RCD&D, yet with still more detail in the critical hits.) They are afraid that Guchi is taking the boat to Rugalov to spread word about them as being thieves or something. Nikolai says he knows the man who runs the town and keep and that he will speak with him about Guchi. The session ended here as they arrived at Rugalov.
My plans for their future. Well, I’m going to rework the Dymrak Dread module a bit and then have them go on a mission to prove they are not criminals of any sort and to get a guide to the Lake. It is a good tie in to that adventure and then I’ll be giving them some clues to the Dragon Mountain adventure. And possible do the Forge of Fury game and the Immortal’s Fury Part 1 somewhere in the middle of it.
Well it was a rather dull session, but the players seemed fine with it. They are really not happy with the RoleMaster’s skill and combat systems, so I’m going to be reworking it and making it faster and more basic. I have some ideas. Well they are others ideas, but I like them. It will be a combination of RCD&D, Diablo II (Video Game, not RPG) and Rolemaster. If anyone is interested, I’ll post those ideas up after I have completed it and the players have tested it.
Here is an update of the players stats:
Here is the RoleMaster stats and their abbreviations along with their CD&D equivalent:
Strength (Str) = Strength
Agility (Agi) = Dexterity
Quickness (Qui) = Dexterity
Constitution (Con) = Constitution
Self Discipline (Dis) = Charisma
Presence (Pre) = Charisma
Memory (Mem) = Wisdom
Reasoning (Res) = Intelligence
Empathy (Emp) = Intelligence
Intuition (Int) = Wisdom
All stats numbers are converted to OD&D for reading ease and the bonuses are including the racial bonus that RoleMaster uses so they will seem higher for some characters than others with the same score.
First player up:
1) Name: Seraphim (Female)
Race: Avariel from the Mengut Mountains in Wendar
Class: Battle Mage
Level: 3
Hair/Eyes: Platinum/Violet
Hgt/Wgt: 5'6" / 85 lbs
Age: 200 (appears as 21)
Alignment: Lawful Good
Personality: Moral, Ethical, Principaled
Str: 15 (+1)
Agi: 17 (+3) +1 Racial
Qui: 14 (+3) +2 Racial
Con: 15 (+1)
Dis: 14 (+2) +1 Racial
Pre: 15 (+3) +2 Racial
Mem: 17 (+2)
Res: 14 (+1)
Emp: 14 (+1)
Int: 13 (+2) +1 Racial
Strongest Skills: Flying (wings), Archery, Magic, Quick Draw, Pick Pockets, Pick Locks, Stalking & Hiding, Lores, Fletching, Alertness
Favorite Spells: Shockbolt (RoleMaster's version of Magic Missile)
Motivation: Wants to travel the world and rid as much evil from it as she can
Special Equipment: Bow that summons food/water. Ring of Invisiblity
2) Name: Ragnar Maximus (Male)
Race: Human Norseman from Whiteheart in the Soderfjord Jarldoms
Class: Barbarian
Level: 2
Hair/Eyes: Brown/Brown
Hgt/Wgt: 6'6" / 260 lbs
Age: 23 (appears as 26)
Alignment: Neutral Good
Personality: Impatient, Angry
Str: 15 (+3) +2 Racial
Agi: 14 (+1)
Qui: 16 (+2)
Con: 16 (+4) +2 Racial
Dis: 15 (+0) -1 Racial
Pre: 13 (+0) -1 Racial
Mem: 14 (+1)
Res: 13 (+1)
Emp: 14 (+1)
Int: 14 (+1)
Strongest Skills: Dual Weapon Fighting, Frenzy, Sword & Two Hand Weapon Masteries, Weight Lifting, Boxing, Stun Recovery
Motivation: Searching for his parents murderers (Iron Ring Slavers)
Special Equipment: Scimitar +2 (a dormant intelligent sword with numerous powers), Short Sword +1, Iron Ring Records & Documents
3) Name: Leonine (Female)
Race: Shiye Elf from the Shiye Lawr, near Alfeish
Class: Ranger (Shapeshifting Elf Sorority)
Level: 2
Hair/Eyes: Dk Brown/Green
Hgt/Wgt: 5'6" / 110 lbs
Age: 200 (appears as 28)
Alignment: Chaotic Nuetral
Personality: Arrogant
Str: 14 (+1)
Agi: 14 (+3) +2 Racial
Qui: 14 (+2) +1 Racial
Con: 15 (+1)
Dis: 16 (+2)
Pre: 17 (+3) +1 Racial
Mem: 14 (+1)
Res: 13 (+1)
Emp: 13 (+2) +1 Racial
Int: 15 (+2) +1 Racial
Strongest Skills: Shapeshifting, Archery, Seduction, Alertness, Survival, Animal Handling, Scaling & Climbing, Detect Traps, Lie Detection, Locate Hidden Things, Tracking
Motivation: Only cares about her personal pleasure and riches
Special Equipment: A piercing that allows her to shapeshift into a Lion (Her secret society sisters will be wanting it back)
4) Name: Filsmorph (Male)
Race: Morph-Lupin (Mixed breed)
Class: Paladin
Level: 2
Hair/Eyes: Auburn/White
Hgt/Wgt: 5'11" / 195lbs
Age: 28 (appears as 24)
Alignment: Lawful Good
Personality: Moral & Trustworthy
Str: 15 (+2) +1 Racial
Agi: 14 (+1)
Qui: 14 (+1)
Con: 14 (+2) +1 Racial
Dis: 15 (+1)
Pre: 14 (+0) -1 Racial
Mem: 15 (+2) +1 Racial
Res: 16 (+3) +1 Racial
Emp: 13 (+2) +1 Racial
Int: 16 (+3) +1 Racial
Strongest Skills: Quick Draw, Dual Weapon Fighting, First-Aid, Sword Mastery, Whip Mastery, Awareness, Tracking, Rope Mastery, Various Lores
Favorite Spells: Repel Undead, Healing magics
Motivation: Preserve his religion
Special Equipment: Katana +2, Cat-o-Nine Tails +2, Pendant that casts Shield twice daily (It's in the form of the symbol of his former church, a cross).
4) Name: Nikolai Monescu (Male) - NPC
Race: Human Traladaran
Class: Magician
Level: 6
Hair/Eyes: White/Brown
Hgt/Wgt: 5'4" / 125lbs
Age: 68 (appears as 52)
Alignment: True Neutral
Personality: Witty, Calm
Str: 9 (+1) +1 Racial
Agi: 10 (+0)
Qui: 13 (+1)
Con: 9 (+0)
Dis: 16 (+2)
Pre: 15 (+1)
Mem: 18 (+3)
Res: 18 (+4) +1 Racial
Emp: 14 (+1)
Int: 15 (+1)
Strongest Skills: Various Lore, Alchemy, Science, Influential Skills, Attunement
Favorite Spells: Sleep and Charm
Motivation: Freedom of his people from the Thyatian opressors
Special Equipment: Spellbook
Now all skills in my campaign will be able to go up 25 levels and armor ratings are simpler, the higher the number the harder to hit. Of course with the system, the standard %d rolls for Rolemaster are scrapped and the D&D 1d20 roll is tripled. now my players will be rolling 3d20 to hit rolls, this is due to all the bonuses from skills and some weapons will have certain bonuses or penalties depending on the situation or method of use, as well as the fact that a guy in full plate armor, a visored helm, an aventail as well and a tower shield could have an armor rating of around 65. A roll of 20+ points on a totaled roll (with the bonuses included) or a perfect roll of 60 will allow a critical hit on the target which will act the same as it does in Rolemaster (which could kill a powerful foe in only one hit).
Not sure if any of you guys cared, but I'm in a rambling mood and wanted to share my progress.
See you guys when I get back. And maybe we'll have time to play before then. Doubt it, but I can always hope.My town is going to get hit, and it was reported that Rita will be considered a Catagory 1 Hurricane when it reaches central Texas. Ouch, don't think that has ever happened before.
GW
GW
Eye of Traldar: Part 5 “The Dymrak Dread”
The players arrive at the town of Rugalov which has a new wooden wall erected around it and built all the way to about 25 feet into the river of the same name. The players are eventually allowed to enter after some arguing with the guards at the wooden gate. As they entered they were arrested. Their wagon is confiscated as their weapons, which are thrown into the back of the wagon and it is pulled into a stable. The players are taken to the ferry at the river and travel across to where the Duke lives. Inside Fort Rugalov, they realize the Eye of Traldar was still in the wagon. The Duke recognizes Nikolai and knowing him tells the players they are under arrest for murder and theft. A cleric by the name of Guchi had passed through on his way to Thyatis and left their descriptions. He informed the Duke that they were possible heading this way. He wanted them held until he could return and retrieve the artifact they had stolen form his church in Luln and then to be hung for the murders of his fellow clerics. The Duke has little patience with criminals and has agreed to do so. But realizing that the Nikolai described to him is the very same that taught him when he was a child, so he decides to test them.
The players stand before him and are tied up. He tells the guards to untie Nikolai and asks him what his side of the story is. Nikolai explains being a slave of the Iron Ring and that these adventurers rescued him and he is helping them return an artifact to it’s rightful owner. The artifact was stolen by the Iron Ring or someone working with them and that this “cleric” is trying to steal it from them before they can return it. He also explains that the cleric is not what he seems. The Duke decides to explain to the players about a goblin warlord who has been harassing the town and merchants trying to trade with it. He claims the Calarii and Vyalla elves have stopped trading with the town due to the danger the goblins bring. They used to be no problem as they would just have regular raids on rare occasions, but recently a new warlord has taken over the tribes of the Dymrak Dread and he seems to be gaining control of all the tribes and uniting them. This has made the goblins a serious threat. Due to the increased raids and the organization of their attacks. The Duke tells them his Lord Forester can lead them to the edge of the marsh where Kosivikh, the goblin warlord, is reported to be staying. He tells them they can prove their innocence by bringing back the Dread’s head. Ragnar asks him, “Or what?” The Duke responds calmly, “Or you can rot in prison until this cleric returns and you can be hung in the gallows and then thrown in the river.” Seraphim and Leonine both respond, “We’ll do it!” Ragnar grumbles and Filsmorph asks about being equipped for such a trip. The Duke tells them he will give them their weapons and equipment but Nikolai and the wagon will remain in the town.
The Lord Forester guides the players along with a few other foresters for protection. They question the Foresters and learn all kinds of rumors such as, The Dymrak Dread is actually a shaved Bugbear, and that he is not form the Dymrak woods but actually a magical experiment that escaped and came here. Some of the rumors were really crazy such as the Kosivikh could read minds and he had many powerful creatures protecting his lair. One forester told him he had seen him once and he was about 8 feet tall! The players at this point are thinking they have gotten in over their heads. Once they enter the marsh the foresters leave them and wish them luck. The Lord Forester mentions a bounty of a 1,000 gold coins to whoever brings back the head of Kosivikh. The players drool at this since they are having trouble gaining wealth in all this running around.
They begin their journey with Filsmorph in the lead looking for tracks. He finds some and they follow them into the marsh. After a bit of traveling, Ragnar says he wants to go back and get the “Eye.” Leonine agrees, but Filsmorph and Seraphim talk them out of it by explaining that they would just be thrown in prison. If a whole tribe of goblins with a supernatural leader couldn’t burn the town down, then how would they? Filsmorph pointed out that then they would also be fugitives in all of Karameikos, not just wanted by the corrupt guys. So they continued on.
After finally finding several sets of tracks, Filsmorph finds that one set is that of Lizardmen and the others are of goblins. One of the sets of prints in the goblins is rather large for a goblin. They follow the tracks and see that the Lizardmen tracks enter the same cave. They enter cautiously and are faced with 2 Lizardmen. After a quick battle, they kill the Lizardmen and then drag their bodies to a corner. They travel into the cave deeper and follow a flooded path. They find a prison cell a ways down a ways and open the cell. Inside is an elf and orc arguing. Neither seems friendly to the players but they decide to release the elf first. He tries to kill the orc, but Filsmorph and Seraphim drags him away. Ragnar asks why they did that, “It’s just an orc.” Filsmorph explains that they should question them both first and find out how they got here. They do and find out the elf is a trader who was ambushed near the river and brought here. The rest of the others that came with him have been eaten by the goblins and he was the only one left. The orc says he was part of a scouting party trying to find the headquarters of Kosivikh. He was caught by one of Kosivikh’s scouting parties on the other side of the marsh from Rugalov. His party was killed. He figures it doesn’t matter what he tells them since they will kill him anyway. After much arguing between Filsmorph and Ragnar they finally let the orc go and he runs off. The elf is furious and begins whining about it. The players tell him to leave the cave and Filsmorph escorts him out and tells him to follow the goblin trails and eventually he’ll be at the river. They figure the elf will be dead soon, so they hurry back into the cave.
The find a tunnel covered in giant webs and Seraphim casts firewall, which burns out all the webbing, but disturbs its owner a Giant Black Widow. They battle it out for a bit and eventually take it down with out much injury and nobody poisoned. Ragnar jokes that the elf might have been a useful decoy with that fight, and Leonine laughs, while Seraphim is annoyed by the comment. They look down the tunnel that the web was blocking and see that it continues on down quite a ways. Filsmorph points out that there are no tracks so the goblins haven’t been traveling this way for quite some time.
They return back to the main passage and find a small tunnel with a curtain hanging in it like a door. They sneak into the cave beyond the curtain and find a messy Wicca’s room. They are surprised and attacked by the Wicca who crawls out of a carcass of a Lizardman hanging in the corner. The Goblin Wicca casts sleep but everyone makes their save Throws. Somehow, and then they clobber him to death. They here laughing and arguing on the opposite side of another curtain in the room and set up an ambush. They make a bunch of noise to attract the voices. The voices quiet down while they yell and scream and then when they stop the voices just carry on. They decide the voices are used to strange noises form this room and decide to barge in. They surprise a room full of goblins and overtake them pretty quickly. A couple put up a good fight though and as they are taking down those, a big goblin about a foot taller than the rest barges in and joins the fight. They manage to capture him and kill the rest. They ask him if he is Kosivikh? He laughs and says Kosivikh is too much for them and they should run away now. After a little bit of this going back and forth, Seraphim hears heavy footsteps coming towards them from the same tunnel the big goblin came from.
She signals the others and Ragnar slits the goblins throat quickly and then they spread out in front of the opening. A huge goblin steps into the room and the players burst out laughing. He is as tall as Seraphim but very broad. He growls and swings his battle-ax a t them. After a tougher fight than the players had expected, Ragnar and Leonine sustained some serious injuries, Kosivikh goes down from an arrow. Seraphim removes his head and then explore the room where he came from. They return to the tunnel that had webbing and go on down.
At first Ragnar and Seraphim try to convince them to return back so they could finish returning the artifact. Filsmorph and Leonine both decide they are going down with or without them. Seraphim follows them and Ragnar decides he doesn’t want to go back alone. They travel down into the cave and find a little maze, with a dry spot big enough to camp and a door on the opposite side. At the door they find a body that is leaning against the door. They shove it aside and find that it was a thief that set off a poison trap and died. They thank him for opening the door for them and then go in. They explore a room that smells like dead bodies and discover the 6 statues around the room are actually dead people in armor. Filsmoprh uses a Detect Undead spell and finds out that all the statues are actually zombies. They figure that if they haven’t attacked then they must be triggered by something. They decide to leave the other door in the room alone and then return to the dry spot to camp out. Since the dry spot is completely surrounded by water they figure they won’t be surprised. And that’s where we left off.
I’ll try to keep this more up to date next time and the next session will hopefully be soon.
Here is an update of the players stats:
Here is the RoleMaster stats and their abbreviations along with their CD&D equivalent:
Strength (Str) = Strength
Agility (Agi) = Dexterity
Quickness (Qui) = Dexterity
Constitution (Con) = Constitution
Self Discipline (Dis) = Charisma
Presence (Pre) = Charisma
Memory (Mem) = Wisdom
Reasoning (Res) = Intelligence
Empathy (Emp) = Intelligence
Intuition (Int) = Wisdom
I’ve redone the stat system to resemble more D&D style. The Racial bonuses are now included with the stat score and that will in effect raise the bonus. I also included a system to allow players to increase these stats gradually up to a max score, which is determined by race.
First player up:
Note: In the process of converting the players, I have powered them down a bit. They now have less skills than the previously had.
1) Name: Seraphim (Female)
Race: Avariel from the Mengut Mountains in Wendar
Class: Battle Mage
Level: 3
Hair/Eyes: Platinum/Violet
Hgt/Wgt: 5'6" / 85 lbs
Age: 200 (appears as 21)
Alignment: Lawful
Personality: Moral, Ethical, Principled
Str: 15 (+3)
Agi: 18 (+5)
Qui: 15 (+3)
Con: 15 (+3)
Dis: 14 (+2)
Pre: 17 (+4)
Mem: 17 (+4)
Res: 14 (+2)
Emp: 14 (+2)
Int: 14 (+2)
Strongest Skills: Flying (wings), Archery, Magic, Quick Draw, Pick Pockets, Pick Locks, Stalking & Hiding, Lores, Fletching, Perception
Favorite Spells: Shockbolt (RoleMaster's version of Magic Missile), Wall of Fire, Waterbolt
Motivation: Wants to travel the world and rid as much evil from it as she can
Special Equipment: Bow that summons food/water, Ring of Invisibility, Elven Cloak, Kosivikh’s Head
2) Name: Ragnar Maximus (Male)
Race: Human Norseman from Whiteheart in the Soderfjord Jarldoms
Class: Barbarian
Level: 3
Hair/Eyes: Brown/Brown
Hgt/Wgt: 6'6" / 260 lbs
Age: 23 (appears as 26)
Alignment: Neutral
Personality: Impatient, Angry
Str: 17 (+4)
Agi: 14 (+2)
Qui: 17 (+4)
Con: 18 (+5)
Dis: 14 (+2)
Pre: 12 (+1)
Mem: 14 (+2)
Res: 13 (+2)
Emp: 14 (+2)
Int: 14 (+2)
Strongest Skills: Dual Weapon Fighting, Frenzy, Sword & Two Hand Weapon Masteries, Weight Lifting, Boxing, Sprinting
Motivation: Searching for his parent’s murderers (Iron Ring Slavers)
Special Equipment: Scimitar +2 (a dormant intelligent sword with numerous powers), Short Sword +1, Iron Ring Records & Documents
3) Name: Leonine (Female)
Race: Shiye Elf from the Shiye Lawr, near Alfeish
Class: Ranger (Shapeshifting Elf Sorority)
Level: 2
Hair/Eyes: Dk Brown/Green
Hgt/Wgt: 5'6" / 110 lbs
Age: 200 (appears as 28)
Alignment: Chaotic
Personality: Arrogant
Str: 14 (+2)
Agi: 16 (+3)
Qui: 15 (+3)
Con: 15 (+3)
Dis: 16 (+3)
Pre: 18 (+5)
Mem: 14 (+2)
Res: 14 (+2)
Emp: 14 (+2)
Int: 16 (+3)
Strongest Skills: Shapeshifting, Archery, Seduction, Perception, Survival, Animal Handling, Climbing, Locate Hidden Things
Motivation: Only cares about her personal pleasure and riches
Special Equipment: A piercing that allows her to shapeshift into a Lion (Her secret society sisters will be wanting it back)
4) Name: Filsmorph (Male)
Race: Morph-Lupin (Mixed breed)
Class: Paladin
Level: 2
Hair/Eyes: Auburn/White
Hgt/Wgt: 5'11" / 195lbs
Age: 28 (appears as 24)
Alignment: Lawful
Personality: Moral & Trustworthy
Str: 16 (+3)
Agi: 14 (+2)
Qui: 14 (+2)
Con: 15 (+3)
Dis: 15 (+3)
Pre: 13 (+2)
Mem: 16 (+3)
Res: 17 (+4)
Emp: 15 (+3)
Int: 17 (+4)
Strongest Skills: Quick Draw, Dual Weapon Fighting, First-Aid, Sword Mastery, Whip Mastery, Perception, Tracking, Rope Mastery, Undead and Religious Lores
Favorite Spells: Repel Undead, Healing, Exorcism, Bless
Motivation: Preserve his religion
Special Equipment: Katana +2, Cat-o-Nine Tails +2, Pendant that casts Shield twice daily (It's in the form of the symbol of his former church, a cross), Leather Breastplate +1
4) Name: Nikolai Monescu (Male) - NPC
Race: Human Traladaran
Class: Magician
Level: 6
Hair/Eyes: White/Brown
Hgt/Wgt: 5'4" / 125lbs
Age: 68 (appears as 52)
Alignment: True Neutral
Personality: Witty, Calm
Str: 10 (+0)
Agi: 10 (+0)
Qui: 10 (+0)
Con: 9 (+0)
Dis: 17 (+4)
Pre: 14 (+2)
Mem: 19 (+6)
Res: 19 (+6)
Emp: 14 (+2)
Int: 16 (+3)
Strongest Skills: Various Lore, Alchemy, Science, Influential Skills, Attunement
Favorite Spells: Sleep, Charm, Detect Magic
Motivation: Freedom of his people from the Thyatian oppressors
Special Equipment: Spellbook
The Eye of Traldar and Dymrak Dread Finale
We last left off when the Odd Company was resting down for the night. While they were settling down and seceding who had first watch, a visiting player and newcomer to D&D joined the session and his character, Bam Bam, came sloshing around in the dark in his search to find the Dymrak Dread himself and kill him. He figured this would be the quickest way to becoming a hero. He follows some strange tracks around in the cave he determines is the Dread’s. He finds all the goblins dead and headless body of a really large one. Disappointed as he is he continues to explore the cave in hopes of finding something useful. He finds a burnt out tunnel with a giant black widow body all cut up nearby. He gets curious and follows the footprints in the dust down into the tunnel where it splits into several directions of flooded tunnels. He sees a torch light down one and heads that way. He finds the Odd Company making camp on a dry rise of dirt at a small open room with three tunnels exiting from the same wall. They see him and draw their weapons. They question him till they think he doesn’t work for the Necromancer chasing them and then Leonine attempts to seduce him. She fails because he’s a dwarf and he isn’t real attracted to elves. She and him make first watch together anyway as she doesn’t like to be turned down and she figures she can convince him to fool around. After they watch for a couple hours they wake Ragnar and let him make watch, while they go to sleep. Leonine makes sure she sleeps right next to him. Ragnar chuckles and tells Bam Bam that she like to have an initiation ceremony with all the new guys in the group and then tells him about her trying to bed with Filsmorph.
As the night drags on Ragnar hears a splashing around in the water in a tunnel nearby. He wakes the others quietly and asks the elves to use their infravision. They can’t see any body heat at all, even when the splashes are occurring in their direct line of site. They figure it’s undead and Seraphim casts light on her palm and shines it down the tunnel. A ghoul turns to them and begins charging. They cut it down pretty quick and Filsmorph uses her undead lore skill to learn that ghouls can paralyze non elf people with the scratch. Everybody goes back to sleep and Ragnar continues his watch. After about an hour he hears voices from the tunnel they came from. He wakes everybody again and they slowly sneak up to where they can see. The elves see some goblins argueing at the edge of the water. Leonine and Seraphim shoot their bows and the others charge after the arrows. The goblins are surprised and disoriented by the attack and are cut down quickly.
Later Filsmorph has her watch and she hears scraping sounds from where the goblins were killed. She wakes everybody, they check it out and see 2 crab spiders tearing at the goblin bodies. Seraphim casts Firewall and Bam Bam throws his battle axe. The Axe sticks into one spider, Leonine fires an arrow and kills the other spider while they burn. Ragnar jumps in the fire and kills the spider with the axe in it. He inhales some of the fire and burns his lungs. Filsmorph casts Heal to prevent him from dieing and uses her magic to stabilize his lungs. Once again he is severely injured and will need some serious medical attention. At this point he is furious at Seraphim for casting that spell and everybody tells him he is an idiot for jumping in a wall of fire.
They go back to sleep and then when morning comes they head off back to the room with the zombie guards. Seraphim casts firewall on 3 of the zombies and they burn up. Ragnar and Bam Bam hack the other 3 up. They are all disappointed when I tell them there is no experience for hacking up unanimated undead. They go on and open the next door and see two statues that look like giant gargoyles at the end of the hall. They are paranoid at this point and they get the feeling the statues are real gargoyles and they are watching them. They decide to open the door between the gargoyles and keep an eye on them. Inside the next room is a sarcophagus. They open it while Bam Bam watches the gargoyles which never move (because they are just statues, but the players don’t realize it yet). They find a well preserved body with a bronze jeweled helm and a bronze ax with runes on it. They pick up the axe and helmet and decide to keep them. Bam Bam takes the axe when suddenly the body climbs out of the sarcophagus, with glowing blue eyes and a low moan. A cold wind rushes into the rooms and Bam Bam checks on the statues, while the others charge the wight. They hack it up despite it having a ton of hit points. It had touched Filsmorph but she succeeded in her save throw so it had no effect. They throw the body back in the sarcophagus and close it up and take the helm and axe anyway.
They leave the cave and head back to Rugalov. The Duke is excited about their success and pays them and lets them go free. He tells them if they with to go to see the Seer in the Lake of Lost Dreams then he will let them ride one of his river boats.
Within a couple of days they get real close when they are approached by someone in a cloak. He tells them he knows what they have and what they have done and they will pay soon. They ask if he is Guchi but he claims to work for the Baron and when he walks away he fades out of existence. They are confused about this and talk it over. When they arrive at the tower where the Seer lives on the lake, they ask the Seer about it and he tells them it was probably Bargle, who is an evil magician that tricked him and made off with the Eye before. He says he has made arrangements for Bargle if he tries again. He tells the characters that he will reward them. Ragnar has his lungs healed and his sword examined. Filsmorph asks for a Bag of Holding, Seraphim asks for a special weapon, Leonine asks for a new long bow and Bam Bam just wants to learn about the bronze battle axe.
The End for now.
Below is the updated characters and I’ll try to get the latest session posted soon. Looks like my new system is much faster than Rolemasters and just as detailed. I also think combat is simpler than D&D. I might have to market a variation of this system with my company some day.
Character Updates
Made another change to the bonuses. They were just too strong so I levled things a bit. The change was much better and made the game a bit more challenging. This makes the system more reflective to D&D also which I don't mind as I love the stat system in D&D anyway.
1) Name: Seraphim (Female)
Race: Avariel from the Mengut Mountains in Wendar
Class: Battle Mage
Level: 3
Hair/Eyes: Platinum/Violet
Hgt/Wgt: 5'6" / 85 lbs
Age: 200 (appears as 21)
Alignment: Lawful
Personality: Moral, Ethical, Principled
Str: 15 (+1)
Agi: 18 (+3)
Qui: 15 (+1)
Con: 15 (+1)
Dis: 14 (+1)
Pre: 17 (+2)
Mem: 17 (+2)
Res: 14 (+1)
Emp: 14 (+1)
Int: 14 (+1)
Strongest Skills: Flying (wings), Archery, Magic, Quick Draw, Pick Pockets, Pick Locks, Stalking & Hiding, Lores, Fletching, Perception
Favorite Spells: Shockbolt (Magic Missile), Wall of Fire, Waterbolt
Motivation: Wants to travel the world and rid as much evil from it as she can
Special Equipment: Bow that summons food/water, Ring of Invisibility, Elven Cloak
2) Name: Ragnar Maximus (Male)
Race: Human Norseman from Whiteheart in the Soderfjord Jarldoms
Class: Barbarian
Level: 3
Hair/Eyes: Brown/Brown
Hgt/Wgt: 6'6" / 260 lbs
Age: 23 (appears as 26)
Alignment: Neutral
Personality: Impatient, Angry
Str: 17 (+2)
Agi: 14 (+1)
Qui: 17 (+2)
Con: 18 (+3)
Dis: 14 (+1)
Pre: 12 (+0)
Mem: 14 (+1)
Res: 13 (+1)
Emp: 14 (+1)
Int: 14 (+1)
Strongest Skills: Dual Weapon Fighting, Frenzy, 1 Hand & 2 Hand Sword Masteries, Weight Lifting, Boxing, Sprinting
Motivation: Searching for his parent’s murderers (Iron Ring Slavers)
Special Equipment: Scimitar +2 (a dormant intelligent sword with numerous powers), Short Sword +1, Iron Ring Records & Documents
3) Name: Leonine (Female)
Race: Shiye Elf from the Shiye Lawr, near Alfeish
Class: Ranger (Shapeshifting Elf Sorority)
Level: 2
Hair/Eyes: Dk Brown/Green
Hgt/Wgt: 5'6" / 110 lbs
Age: 200 (appears as 28)
Alignment: Chaotic
Personality: Arrogant
Str: 14 (+1)
Agi: 16 (+2)
Qui: 15 (+1)
Con: 15 (+1)
Dis: 16 (+2)
Pre: 18 (+3)
Mem: 14 (+1)
Res: 14 (+1)
Emp: 14 (+1)
Int: 16 (+2)
Strongest Skills: Shapeshifting, Archery, Seduction, Perception, Survival, Animal Handling, Climbing, Locate Hidden Things
Motivation: Only cares about her personal pleasure and riches
Special Equipment: A piercing that allows her to shapeshift into a Lion (Her secret society sisters will be wanting it back)
4) Name: Filsmorph (Male)
Race: Morph-Lupin (Mixed breed)
Class: Paladin
Level: 2
Hair/Eyes: Auburn/White
Hgt/Wgt: 5'11" / 195lbs
Age: 28 (appears as 24)
Alignment: Lawful
Personality: Moral & Trustworthy
Str: 16 (+2)
Agi: 14 (+1)
Qui: 14 (+1)
Con: 15 (+1)
Dis: 15 (+1)
Pre: 13 (+1)
Mem: 16 (+2)
Res: 17 (+2)
Emp: 15 (+1)
Int: 17 (+2)
Strongest Skills: Quick Draw, Dual Weapon Fighting, First-Aid, Sword Mastery, Whip Mastery, Perception, Tracking, Rope Mastery, Undead and Religious Lores
Favorite Spells: Repel Undead, Healing, Exorcism, Bless
Motivation: Preserve his religion
Special Equipment: Katana +2, Cat-o-Nine Tails +2, Pendant that casts Shield twice daily (It's in the form of the symbol of his former church, a cross), Leather Breastplate +1
4) Name: Nikolai Monescu (Male) - NPC
Race: Human Traladaran
Class: Magician
Level: 6
Hair/Eyes: White/Brown
Hgt/Wgt: 5'4" / 125lbs
Age: 68 (appears as 52)
Alignment: True Neutral
Personality: Witty, Calm
Str: 10 (+0)
Agi: 10 (+0)
Qui: 10 (+0)
Con: 9 (+0)
Dis: 17 (+2)
Pre: 14 (+1)
Mem: 19 (+3)
Res: 19 (+3)
Emp: 14 (+1)
Int: 16 (+2)
Strongest Skills: Various Lore, Alchemy, Science, Influential Skills, Attunement
Favorite Spells: Sleep, Charm, Detect Magic
Motivation: Freedom of his people from the Thyatian oppressors
Special Equipment: Spellbook
2) Name: Bam Bam (Male)
Race: Dwarf from Greenston in Rockhome
Class: Warrior
Level: 1
Hair/Eyes: Brown/Brown
Hgt/Wgt: 4' / 150 lbs
Age: 27 (appears as 46)
Alignment: Neutral
Personality: Faithful, Polite, Calm
Str: 18 (+3)
Agi: 16 (+2)
Qui: 14 (+1)
Con: 18 (+3)
Dis: 14 (+1)
Pre: 12 (+0)
Mem: 16 (+3)
Res: 13 (+1)
Emp: 14 (+1)
Int: 14 (+1)
Strongest Skills: 2 Hand Ax Mastery, Metalcraft, Weight Lifting, 2 Hand Bludgeons, Athletic Games
Motivation: To become a rich and famous hero
Special Equipment: Bronze Battle Axe +1
The other characters get news on their requested rewards for returning the Eye of Traldar. Filsmorph had received a bag of holding so he was already done. Ragnar was informed that his scimitar is an intelligent sword with many powers, but it has been put to sleep. It can not wake until his character has enough willpower to control it. He wants to wake it anyway, but the Seer tells him its impossible till he’s ready and even if he could it would only take control of him, and he would be a slave to it. He grumbles but finally accepts. Leonine gets a new longbow +2, +8 vs Lycanthropes. Seraphim is informed that her request cannot be finished until she locates a rare metal known as Adamant. The seer gives her a small gem that will glow if she comes within 8 miles. She grudgingly takes the gem. After about a month of relaxing with the Seer, a man arrives by the name of Corran. Nikolai tells the characters that he is a Darokin merchant that is married to his niece. He asks the characters for their help in cleaning out a Keep that he recently discovered he had inherited. He tells them his son traveled to the remote location of the keep and discovered it was occupied by people and some birds that shoot sparks from their beaks. They agree to help for a box of misc magic items and the Seer tells them he can have them teleported to the nearest town, Akorros, which is where Corran says his son is waiting for them.
They appear in the market near the docks and quickly make their way to the docks due to the surprised crowd all pointing and staring at their sudden appearance. And strange looks. They meet Corrans young son and get on a trade ship with him. It sails for about a day or 2, until arriving at a seemingly uninhabited stretch of coast with rough hills. They take a small boat ashore and the young Corran leads them to a keep that seems to have been recently repaired. They decide to do some recon work for about 3 days. They watch some people, which Filsmorph uses his metamorph and stalking abilities to get close to and listen to some conversation. He gathers they are unusual humans and they seem to be afraid of someone in charge of the keep. Filsmorph later uses a detect undead spell to discover several undead in the area, including the people and the glowing birds. Nikolai uses a detect magic and says that there is something nearby in the mountain that is draining his spell when he tries to detect too close. He tells them he will remain outside with the Corran boy and his sailors due to the magic problem.
Seraphim decides to get the birds to attack them and stalks close to the keep where she fires and arrow and injures one. They swoop down toward her and the other characters and begin firing sparks at them. Leonine and Seraphim make short work of most of them using arrows and Ragnar swipes a couple that get to close, but he still gets a good shock.
Filsmorph rejoins them after staying out of the bird fight. They approach the keep and Seraphim flies over the wall. She is too weak to lift the wooden bar that holds the gate closed, so Leonine uses her good climbing skills and scales the wall. The two together succeed in lifting the pole and set it aside. Once inside, Ragnar and Filsmorph replace the pole to slow any escape by anyone trying to get away. Ragnar picks the lock on the door to the actual keep and they enter the greeting room filled with old and broken furniture. The “glowing people” try to scare them away and then attack them when it they aren’t running away. Ragnar gets shocked pretty good till Filsmorph uses a new spell of Protect from Elemental Damage. This keeps him from being charred to death. They kill 5 of the 6 and Seraphim injures one trying to escape with an arrow that pins him to some old shelves. They interrogate the prisoner and convince him that they only want to secure the keep for it’s true owner. They tell the Lightning Zombie they can take care of the one called Lord Kazakk. If they have to kill him. The Lightning Zombie agrees to their plan and runs into the keep to tell the others that the gate fell off it’s hinges and that they all need to go out to fix it before Kazakk finds out and gets mad. The trick works and once all the zombies are in the courtyard, they talk to the characters about their living in the keep. (This is not what I had in mind, but my players seem to not be interested in fighting if they don’t have to.) The zombies agree to wait in the courtyard till the characters return. They find the secret entrance and avoid the trap that the zombies warned them about. They find a flooded room and as they get near a lighted room, they hear a boy call out to them. They enter the caved library and find Crackle, a Lightning Zombie that appears to be 9 years old. They question him and he tells them about mean Kazakk and where to find him. They tell Crackle they will be right back and then go to the other tunnel in the flooded room and find a big Lightning Zombie who threatens them and then orders all the Lightning Zombies to attack the intruders, but they are in the courtyard so they don’t hear him and the characters kill him pretty easily. They grab Crackle and return to the courtyard after finding a shield that is like a mirror. Crackle tells them it is possessed. They take it to Nikolai and the young Corran returns to his ship to get his father.
Nikolai examines the shield and discovers Rheddrian. The characters speak to him at length and decide none of them are interested in trading places with him. Filsmorph says that if they don’t find anybody on Corran’s ship when it returns, then he’ll do it. They players hang out in the keep for a week, while the Zombies clean all the debris out of it and work at repairing as much as they can. When Corran returns he is impressed with their carpenter skills asks them to stay and serve him in the keep. They thank him and then Corran gets his wife to organize the zombies into maids and so on. The exchange for the zombies is they get to live in the secret tunnel and pay develop it as they wish. Corran encourages them to find a way to stop the flooding by fixing the well and to dig other tunnels to give them access to other floors of the keep and also an escape route. When Nikolai shows him the shield, he asks his servants that came with him if any would be interested and he offers them extra pay. An old maid agrees and Rheddrian trades places with her. He suddenly vanishes with the shield and the characters are outraged. So is Corran and he tells the characters they must leave in the morning to collect their pay in Akorros. During the night, Rheddrian returns with the old maid free and then leaves the a chest of gold before telling them he will find them again someday, and then vanishes again. The characters wake Corran and tell him the maid has returned. (P.S.-The reason Corran was so helpful with this is that Nikolai and Rheddrian were telling him that the shield appeared to be poisonous to living things and it was the reason the Sprackles and the Lightning Zombies existed. So he wanted it gone.)
The maid tells them of her journey into the clouds and then back to the ground where she passed through many walls until they arrived in a dungeon with a withered old thief who agreed to trade with the maid. He had nothing to live for and welcomed the chance to be free of the uncomfortable life in prison. The characters are awed and confused by the events and decide to go back to sleep.
Nothing happens till they return to Akorros, where the Young Corran gives them a box of magic items which they split up. Mostly odds and ends that aren’t worth much.
The session ended here. The players are loving my new combat system so I think I’m done with working that out. Now it’s just play time. Hopefully I can get some games going more frequently. I really miss playing, and so have my players.
Here is the latest on the characters so far. I’ve decided to shorten the descriptions so there is much less than before here. Figured it was taking up too much space.
Character Updates
1) Name: Seraphim (Female)
Race: Avariel from the Mengut Mountains in Wendar
Class: Battle Mage
Level: 4
Hair/Eyes: Platinum/Violet
Hgt/Wgt: 5'6" / 85 lbs
Age: 200 (appears as 21)
Alignment: Lawful
Personality: Moral, Ethical, Principled
Str: 15 (+1)
Agi: 18 (+3)
Qui: 15 (+1)
Con: 15 (+1)
Dis: 14 (+1)
Pre: 17 (+2)
Mem: 17 (+2)
Res: 14 (+1)
Emp: 14 (+1)
Int: 14 (+1)
Strongest Skills: Flying (wings), Archery, Magic, Quick Draw, Pick Pockets, Pick Locks, Stalking & Hiding, Lores, Fletching, Perception
Favorite Spells: Shockbolt (Magic Missile), Wall of Fire, Waterbolt
Motivation: Wants to travel the world and rid as much evil from it as she can
Special Equipment: Bow that summons food/water, Ring of Invisibility, Elven Cloak, Bowl of Commanding Water Elementals, Scroll of Creation, Scroll of Truth, Map to Dragon Mountain, Gem that detects Adamant
2) Name: Ragnar Maximus (Male)
Race: Human Norseman from Whiteheart in the Soderfjord Jarldoms
Class: Barbarian
Level: 3
Hair/Eyes: Brown/Brown
Hgt/Wgt: 6'6" / 260 lbs
Age: 23 (appears as 26)
Alignment: Neutral
Personality: Impatient, Angry
Str: 17 (+2)
Agi: 14 (+1)
Qui: 17 (+2)
Con: 18 (+3)
Dis: 14 (+1)
Pre: 12 (+0)
Mem: 14 (+1)
Res: 13 (+1)
Emp: 14 (+1)
Int: 14 (+1)
Strongest Skills: Dual Weapon Fighting, Frenzy, 1 Hand & 2 Hand Sword Masteries, Weight Lifting, Boxing, Sprinting
Motivation: Searching for his parent’s murderers (Iron Ring Slavers)
Special Equipment: Scimitar +2 (a dormant intelligent sword with numerous powers), Short Sword +1, Iron Ring Records & Documents, Intelligent Talking Sword that can find Secret Doors
3) Name: Leonine (Female)
Race: Shiye Elf from the Shiye Lawr, near Alfeish
Class: Ranger (Shapeshifting Elf Sorority)
Level: 3
Hair/Eyes: Dk Brown/Green
Hgt/Wgt: 5'6" / 110 lbs
Age: 200 (appears as 28)
Alignment: Chaotic
Personality: Arrogant
Str: 14 (+1)
Agi: 16 (+2)
Qui: 15 (+1)
Con: 15 (+1)
Dis: 16 (+2)
Pre: 18 (+3)
Mem: 14 (+1)
Res: 14 (+1)
Emp: 14 (+1)
Int: 16 (+2)
Strongest Skills: Shapeshifting, Archery, Seduction, Perception, Survival, Animal Handling, Climbing, Locate Hidden Things
Motivation: Only cares about her personal pleasure and riches
Special Equipment: A piercing that allows her to shapeshift into a Lion (Her secret society sisters will be wanting it back), Wand of Fear, Scroll of Equipment, Ring of Telekinesis
4) Name: Filsmorph (Male)
Race: Morph-Lupin (Mixed breed)
Class: Paladin
Level: 3
Hair/Eyes: Auburn/White
Hgt/Wgt: 5'11" / 195lbs
Age: 28 (appears as 24)
Alignment: Lawful
Personality: Moral & Trustworthy
Str: 16 (+2)
Agi: 14 (+1)
Qui: 14 (+1)
Con: 15 (+1)
Dis: 15 (+1)
Pre: 13 (+1)
Mem: 16 (+2)
Res: 17 (+2)
Emp: 15 (+1)
Int: 17 (+2)
Strongest Skills: Quick Draw, Dual Weapon Fighting, First-Aid, Sword Mastery, Whip Mastery, Perception, Tracking, Rope Mastery, Undead and Religious Lores
Favorite Spells: Repel Undead, Healing, Exorcism, Bless
Motivation: Preserve his religion
Special Equipment: Katana +2, Cat-o-Nine Tails +2, Pendant that casts Shield twice daily (It's in the form of the symbol of his former church, a cross), Leather Breastplate +1, Slate of Identification
5) Name: Nikolai Monescu (Male) - NPC
Race: Human Traladaran
Class: Magician
Level: 6
Hair/Eyes: White/Brown
Hgt/Wgt: 5'4" / 125lbs
Age: 68 (appears as 52)
Alignment: True Neutral
Personality: Witty, Calm
Str: 10 (+0)
Agi: 10 (+0)
Qui: 10 (+0)
Con: 9 (+0)
Dis: 17 (+2)
Pre: 14 (+1)
Mem: 19 (+3)
Res: 19 (+3)
Emp: 14 (+1)
Int: 16 (+2)
Strongest Skills: Various Lore, Alchemy, Science, Influential Skills, Attunement
Favorite Spells: Sleep, Charm, Detect Magic
Motivation: Freedom of his people from the Thyatian oppressors
Special Equipment: Spellbook
TJ,
I've already got a Mystara d20 conversion well underway...I intend to have the most important part of the conversion (character creation, races, classes, etc) finished very soon... yes I know I've said that several times, but this time I really am close--within a month.
If you would like, I could probably save you alot of time and headache... I've had enough headaches for the whole planet over this conversion in the past three years.
So, welcome back, and hoping that you like my work,
Roger