This session happened Friday, July 1, 2011, and was the only session I ran this past weekend.
Adventuring Group:
Su Bel (human cleric)
– Dame Yasha of Bereste (Su Bel’s human cavalier cohort)
Mog the Doomed (half-orc barbarian)
Tycho von Helmont (elf alchemist)
Agnes Sunbeard (dwarf rogue)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
– Halfgrim (Kainen’s stone giant warrior cohort)
Sal Ty (elf wizard) [via Skype]
– Maenwen (Sal’s human wizard cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier) [via Skype]
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
– Thomin (Alys’s gnome bard hireling)
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
“I really expect a couple of PC deaths this session.” The DM overly optimistic at the dragon's chances
In-game Starting Date: April 1, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
After thoroughly exploring the Banshee Copper Mine and finding the stashed treasure of the previous inhabitants, the adventurers spent the entire month of March having Sal, Maenwen, and Xin craft magic items for the fight against the red dragon, plowing all of their funds into the effort. It would pay off.
The first morning of April, the magic-item-bedecked adventurers were teleported by Sal to the entrance of the Banshee Copper Mine. From there, Halfgrim led the group to the Dragon's Mountain, a march of some four hours. Along the way the group finalized their attack plans. This conversation took up most of the trip [and a large part of the game session].
Approaching the mountain, the adventurers could see a main entrance low on the mountain and several potential exits up high on the mountain. There was some discussion of Thorngrim using wall of stone to seal them off, but it was decided to wait on that as a small group [6] of stone giants was exiting the main entrance cave. These turned out to be giants providing food stuffs for the dragon returning from that errand. They asked Halfgrim who the short people were. Kainen took this moment to step forward and declare himself their chief by right of combat, displaying the ruling stone he had taken from the previous chief.
The stone giants as one looked at Halfgrim to see if the runt was serious. Halfgrim indicated Kainen was serious. The leader of the stone giant group was skeptical to say the least and stepped forward to take the stone from Kainen and a fight between the two started. The stone giant was only able to land a single blow, despite the large number thrown, while Kainen was able to hit often and repeatedly trip the giant. After getting thoroughly bloodied and knocked on his ass, the giant yielded. He and the other giants agreed to spread word that Kainen was now chief. Kainen was informed that to make the claim stick, the dragon had to be killed without help from the rest of the tribe. Also, there were some die-hard supporters of the dragon guarding a stone bridge over a chasm that was the only way to get to the dragon's lair on foot and Kainen would have to kill them before getting to the dragon. Those giants were arrogant and abusive, so the rest of the tribe would not hold that against their new chief.
With this information and the neutrality of most of the other stone giants secured, the adventurers entered the mountain. After making their way through the entry caves, they came upon a large cavern cut in two by a VERY deep chasm. Guarding the stone bridge across it were four stone giants with breastplates, shields, and morningstars. Kainen stepped forward and announced his claim as chief and the giants sneered. The expected fight ensued. Su Bel put up a wall of fire behind the far pair of giants to keep them from fleeing [and burn them some]. Sal summoned a huge earth elemental that wrestled with one of the giants [and got in Mog's way the entire fight] while the rest of the party took out the other giants with a combination of spells and melee attacks.
Once past the sentinels, the adventurers advanced deeper into the mountain to the dragon's lair. Shortly before they expected to arrive, they cast the last of their preparatory spells and advanced in a rush to confront the dragon. They found the lair to be an immense cavern with a partially exposed river of magma crossing it. Tycho and Sal were able to spot the invisible dragon with see invisible and true sight, respectively. Sal immediately cast greater dispel magic on the dragon, canceling three of the spells it had cast on itself in preparation for the fight. This was when the dragon really should have fled. It didn't and paid the price for its arrogance.
The dragon had based its attack plan on being able to fly and a greater invisibility spell. Sal took out the latter immediately and the former was nullified by potions of flying taken by several of the adventurers, notably Mog. Mog flew into combat, raging, and buried his huge axe in the dragon's ribcage [150 points of damage on a confirmed critical hit]. The dragon, enraged beyond intelligence attempted to eliminate Mog by concentrating all of its attacks on the half-orc. Mog laughed like a maniac under the dragon's assault. Alys, riding Mr. Boodles and wielding a dragon's bane lance gifted to her by her father-in-law-to-be, the Iron Baron, made two successive charges at the dragon, the second one killing the beast.
After the [distressing short – at least to the DM] fight with the dragon, the adventurers searched the adjacent caves for the stone giant hostages the dragon had taken and freed them. Kainen led the hostages to back to the stone giant village and was confirmed as their new chief. The adventurers spent the next couple of days ferrying the dragon's treasure back to Drop-off Keep. Thomin, having been dragged along by Alys, immediately (immediately after a quick change of pants anyways) started composing songs to commemorate the victory against the dragon.
*End of session*
[I have some thoughts on the final game session, but it's been a busy holiday weekend here in the States and I'll need some more time to get all my thoughts written down.]
Showing posts with label Southern_Reaches. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Southern_Reaches. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Thoughts on an Experimental RPG Campaign
This Friday will be the conclusion of the Southern Reaches campaign. This campaign was an experiment for me on many fronts. It has provided me with a great deal of data and feedback on what I like and don't like as a DM. I've also received a minimal amount of feedback from the players and have thoughts on that and how to fix it. Finally, I have thoughts of using services like Skype to bring in remote players.
First was the use a West Marches-style campaign. I've never run a "real" sandbox setting before and it seemed to meet an issue I was having with the other two campaigns I was running at the time - missing players meaning no game. I tended to run a more adventure driven (if not actually story driven) games, asking the players where they wanted to go next at the end of a session and writing up an adventure that integrated that as much as I could. This ran into issues when a player (or players) whose character was critical for an adventure could not make the (at the time monthly) session. Real life gets in the way that way, but them's the breaks.
A West Marches-style campaign uses who ever shows up and whatever they want to do that session is what happens. This can cause issues of its own, but coupled with a switch to a weekly game session, there were I think two times during the entire year-long campaign where we could not play due to not enough players and that dropped off when the players started taking cohorts. Additionally, missing one week of a weekly game was much easier to get past than missing the only game that month, especially during holiday season.
The weekly play helped the game greatly, even if it did kill my other two campaigns. Running a game only once a month let me be lazy about my prep work, but giving me enough time to run two different campaigns. I thought adding a sandbox game would require some heavy up front work, but then I could drift and just make tweaks as things went along. Boy was I wrong. Weekly games mean a need to update the world on a weekly basis. On weekends when a monthly game also happened, I had to prep for two different campaigns and balance not alienating my wife (who, admittedly, played in one of them, but we still need "us" time that does not include other people around a table).
Maintaining a weekly game keeps it more alive, for me and the players, making all the work very much worth it. Additionally, many players will try to start making an impact on the world, causing it to develop in interesting ways. In the Southern Reaches, Thorngrim used multiple castings of wall of stone at the end of each day to create rude towers for the adventurers to camp in. These towers, abandoned after the PCs move on, can become the nucleus of settlements, both of "civilized" races and "barbaric" humanoids. Or just monsters who value keeping the rain off. Why are their ruins all over the place? Early adventurers camping in some sort of style.
The one experiment I was unhappy about was bringing in remote players via Skype. The service is fine, but there were definite issues with the execution. The biggest was remote players not being able to hear everything going on. While they had headsets and we could hear them fine (sometimes too fine, especially when candies were being unwrapped), they often had difficulty hearing everything said at the table. This caused long pauses of apparent silence when nothing seemed to be going on at the table when in reality, significant conversations were actually going on.
The other issue was visibility. Skype assumes all parties are pointing their cameras at themselves. In order to show the map, we obviously had to point the camera at it. This is where it stayed for most of the game, which meant the remote players were seeing a static map image and might or might not be hearing conversations at the table. Boredom city. This is antithetical to the social experience tabletop RPGs are strongest at. If the entire group was using Skype and had headsets and the group was using some sort of electronic tabletop, this would work, and work well. However, a mixed group of remote and at-the-table players is not the best place for this technology. Now, we could have spent more money and effort getting a multiple microphone system and setting up multiple camera feeds, but that is way past what we were really interested in doing and, frankly, beyond what we could afford to spend.
So, that's my thoughts right now. I may have more to say later, after I've had a chance to talk with the remote players about what their experience was really like.
Until then, later!
First was the use a West Marches-style campaign. I've never run a "real" sandbox setting before and it seemed to meet an issue I was having with the other two campaigns I was running at the time - missing players meaning no game. I tended to run a more adventure driven (if not actually story driven) games, asking the players where they wanted to go next at the end of a session and writing up an adventure that integrated that as much as I could. This ran into issues when a player (or players) whose character was critical for an adventure could not make the (at the time monthly) session. Real life gets in the way that way, but them's the breaks.
A West Marches-style campaign uses who ever shows up and whatever they want to do that session is what happens. This can cause issues of its own, but coupled with a switch to a weekly game session, there were I think two times during the entire year-long campaign where we could not play due to not enough players and that dropped off when the players started taking cohorts. Additionally, missing one week of a weekly game was much easier to get past than missing the only game that month, especially during holiday season.
The weekly play helped the game greatly, even if it did kill my other two campaigns. Running a game only once a month let me be lazy about my prep work, but giving me enough time to run two different campaigns. I thought adding a sandbox game would require some heavy up front work, but then I could drift and just make tweaks as things went along. Boy was I wrong. Weekly games mean a need to update the world on a weekly basis. On weekends when a monthly game also happened, I had to prep for two different campaigns and balance not alienating my wife (who, admittedly, played in one of them, but we still need "us" time that does not include other people around a table).
Maintaining a weekly game keeps it more alive, for me and the players, making all the work very much worth it. Additionally, many players will try to start making an impact on the world, causing it to develop in interesting ways. In the Southern Reaches, Thorngrim used multiple castings of wall of stone at the end of each day to create rude towers for the adventurers to camp in. These towers, abandoned after the PCs move on, can become the nucleus of settlements, both of "civilized" races and "barbaric" humanoids. Or just monsters who value keeping the rain off. Why are their ruins all over the place? Early adventurers camping in some sort of style.
The one experiment I was unhappy about was bringing in remote players via Skype. The service is fine, but there were definite issues with the execution. The biggest was remote players not being able to hear everything going on. While they had headsets and we could hear them fine (sometimes too fine, especially when candies were being unwrapped), they often had difficulty hearing everything said at the table. This caused long pauses of apparent silence when nothing seemed to be going on at the table when in reality, significant conversations were actually going on.
The other issue was visibility. Skype assumes all parties are pointing their cameras at themselves. In order to show the map, we obviously had to point the camera at it. This is where it stayed for most of the game, which meant the remote players were seeing a static map image and might or might not be hearing conversations at the table. Boredom city. This is antithetical to the social experience tabletop RPGs are strongest at. If the entire group was using Skype and had headsets and the group was using some sort of electronic tabletop, this would work, and work well. However, a mixed group of remote and at-the-table players is not the best place for this technology. Now, we could have spent more money and effort getting a multiple microphone system and setting up multiple camera feeds, but that is way past what we were really interested in doing and, frankly, beyond what we could afford to spend.
So, that's my thoughts right now. I may have more to say later, after I've had a chance to talk with the remote players about what their experience was really like.
Until then, later!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
SR49: Penultimate Session – Looting the Copper Mine
This session happened Friday, June 24, 2011, and was the only session I ran this past weekend.
Adventuring Group:
Su Bel (human cleric)
– Dame Yasha of Bereste (Su Bel’s human cavalier cohort)
Tycho von Helmont (elf alchemist)
Agnes Sunbeard (dwarf rogue)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
– Halgrim (Kainen’s stone giant warrior cohort)
Sal Ty (elf wizard) [via Skype]
– Maenwen (Sal’s human wizard cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier) [via Skype]
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
“All the mummy, but only half the rot.” ~Tycho von Helmont on alchemical undead
In-game Starting Date: February 25, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
Over the last week, Sal had scouted the Banshee Copper Mine, looking for loot using summoned earth elementals. He failed. As a result, he had to go to Agnes, hat in hand, and ask for her assistance in finding “the banshee’s loot”. Now he had confirmed the existence of a couple of copper seams in the mine, but no gold coins or other valuables and he could not accept that none existed.
Agnes agreed to go explore the mine, but only if the rest of the group went as well as they had found very dangerous things in the mine. Sal conceded this point – he hated to face danger if he could have put a meatshield, er, combat specialist between himself and the danger.
Once the available adventurers were assembled (Xin had gone to Westcastle Crossing to get spell reagents and took Mog as a bodyguard), Sal cast mass reduce person on everyone else, picked them up, and then cast teleport on himself to move the entire group to the entrance of the Banshee Copper Mine. [He had studied the area on previous trips.]
The group entered the mine, following Thorngrim’s sketch map of the mine. They descended to the third level of the mine and re-checked the bone chamber, where Agnes had previously found a bag of gold coins. This was done at Sal’s insistence and there may have been some rolled eyes, but the room was professionally searched. Nothing new was found.
After this, the group decided to descend to the bottom of the main shaft. They found two tunnels leading away and that the level was flooded with three feet of water. This was problematic for Agnes (3 ft, 8 in) and Alys if she wanted to dismount from Mr. Boodles. Sal, Maenwen, and Thorngrim pool their magic and cast waterbreathing on every member of the party, then the group climbed down to the bottom of the shaft.
The group followed the tunnel to the right, which led up a ramp (and out of the water) and to another shaft. This shaft was about 30 ft across and extended up and down a level. The walls were much more natural in appearance and seemed to be a natural formation that the miners took advantage of. There were two tunnels branching off at this level, one on the level above, and two down at the bottom.
The tunnel to the left ended at a suspiciously warm wall and Sal sent an earth elemental to find out why it was warm. The adventurers were supposing the red dragon, but the elemental reported a lava tube instead. Backtracking to the new shaft, they followed the other tunnel and ran into a gibbering mouther at the end of the tunnel. The combined firepower of the adventurers destroyed it before the mouther could attack.
Rather than descend any further, the group backtracked all the way back to the third level of the main shaft and followed a different tunnel to the west. They discovered that the tunnel breaks into a more natural underground passage that extended two directions until they were out of sight. After following it one direction for an hour and finding nothing but more tunnel, this seemed to be part of the underworld and not part of the mine at all. The adventurers tracked back and decided to finish exploring the mine. They went to the second shaft and investigated the tunnels at the bottom of that [roughly level 5 of the mine], but discovered that these tunnels had been just started when things apparently went bad in the mine. Going to the top of this shaft, they followed the single tunnel there and found their way back to the main shaft.
At this point, the group descended to the flooded bottom of the main shaft and followed the remaining tunnel. This tunnel had a y-intersection and the group followed the right fork, which ended at a wooden wall with a door. Agnes also noticed that the supports for the last 30 ft of the tunnel were rigged to easily collapse the tunnel. Curious, the adventurers investigated the wooden wall and door. The wood was swollen with the water pressing against it and quite stout. Not certain what was on the other side and it being late in the day, the adventurers decided to fall back to the workroom on the second level to camp.
The next morning, the adventurers returned to the flooded fourth level and the wooden wall. After Agnes checked and cleared the door of traps, Kainen was brought forward and forced the door open, pushing against the flow of water into the next chamber, a chamber that was extremely warm and lit with an orange-red light. After watching the water quickly flow for a moment or two, Thorngrim cast wall of stone to create a low wall to stop the flow of water, just as the cold water that had flowed through reached the lava pool in the next room and flashed to steam!
The instant geyser filled the chamber and started blasting back up the tunnel. The adventurers dove into the remaining water, some making it, some not [Halfgrim amongst the “not” category due to size]. Those who did not make it in time were scalded with the boiling steam before getting under the water surface. Not knowing how long the geyser would last and having neglected to cast waterbreathing this day, Thorngrim cast a silent version of wall of stone, sealing off the tunnel and stopping the geyser. This saved Halfgrim’s life. Gasping for air, the rest of the adventurers surfaced and Su Bel set to healing everyone (including herself).
The adventurers returned to the second level of the main shaft and follow the last unexplored tunnel. After making their way past a room covered with thousands of crystals, the adventurers found the end of the tunnel, an apparent dead-end. Looking around, Agnes noticed that the cart track stopper had an additional mechanism hidden in it. Showing Thorngrim how to activate the mechanism, the group moved back. Thorngrim reach with his rubbery long arms and tripped the mechanism.
This caused the end 10 ft of the cart tracks and the floor under the tracks to angle down, exposing a low-ceilinged small chamber with three chests and a pile of something covered with a tarp. Agnes crept forward and investigated. The tarp covered a stack of platinum ingots. The chests contained gold coins, valuable gems, an endless decanter, the broken remains of many potion bottles, and a scroll tube. Only one of the potions was still good – a potion of stone giant control. [Convenient, no?] The scroll tube contained a mostly complete map of the entire mine (it didn’t show the starter tunnels on the fifth level).
The group spent another hour checking the accuracy of the map before camping for the night. In the morning they decided it was time to return to Drop-off Keep. Sal cast mass reduce person and teleported everyone back.
*End of session*
[This is the second to last session for the campaign. The finale will be next week and will be the attack on the red dragon. I think the PCs have a good chance of winning a tough fight, but if they don’t, that will definitely effect the landscape of the next campaign set here. I’m looking forward to see what happens.
Between sessions I granted the characters 2 levels, putting most of the party at 12th level. I did this as the campaign is getting close to the end and I want the characters to do the coolest things they can these last two sessions. I originally wanted to run the campaign until the PCs reached 15th level, but there is a good ending here and I’m ready to end this story and move on to the next one. Adding two levels now gets the characters closer to the endpoint I originally sold to the players and should allow a cool final battle.
Finally, after the campaign ends, I’m going to drop using Skype to bring in remote players. For a mixed group of some here some remote, it isn’t working anywhere near where I want it to be. I’ll post a more detailed posting on this later.]
Adventuring Group:
Su Bel (human cleric)
– Dame Yasha of Bereste (Su Bel’s human cavalier cohort)
Tycho von Helmont (elf alchemist)
Agnes Sunbeard (dwarf rogue)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
– Halgrim (Kainen’s stone giant warrior cohort)
Sal Ty (elf wizard) [via Skype]
– Maenwen (Sal’s human wizard cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier) [via Skype]
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
“All the mummy, but only half the rot.” ~Tycho von Helmont on alchemical undead
In-game Starting Date: February 25, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
Over the last week, Sal had scouted the Banshee Copper Mine, looking for loot using summoned earth elementals. He failed. As a result, he had to go to Agnes, hat in hand, and ask for her assistance in finding “the banshee’s loot”. Now he had confirmed the existence of a couple of copper seams in the mine, but no gold coins or other valuables and he could not accept that none existed.
Agnes agreed to go explore the mine, but only if the rest of the group went as well as they had found very dangerous things in the mine. Sal conceded this point – he hated to face danger if he could have put a meatshield, er, combat specialist between himself and the danger.
Once the available adventurers were assembled (Xin had gone to Westcastle Crossing to get spell reagents and took Mog as a bodyguard), Sal cast mass reduce person on everyone else, picked them up, and then cast teleport on himself to move the entire group to the entrance of the Banshee Copper Mine. [He had studied the area on previous trips.]
The group entered the mine, following Thorngrim’s sketch map of the mine. They descended to the third level of the mine and re-checked the bone chamber, where Agnes had previously found a bag of gold coins. This was done at Sal’s insistence and there may have been some rolled eyes, but the room was professionally searched. Nothing new was found.
After this, the group decided to descend to the bottom of the main shaft. They found two tunnels leading away and that the level was flooded with three feet of water. This was problematic for Agnes (3 ft, 8 in) and Alys if she wanted to dismount from Mr. Boodles. Sal, Maenwen, and Thorngrim pool their magic and cast waterbreathing on every member of the party, then the group climbed down to the bottom of the shaft.
The group followed the tunnel to the right, which led up a ramp (and out of the water) and to another shaft. This shaft was about 30 ft across and extended up and down a level. The walls were much more natural in appearance and seemed to be a natural formation that the miners took advantage of. There were two tunnels branching off at this level, one on the level above, and two down at the bottom.
The tunnel to the left ended at a suspiciously warm wall and Sal sent an earth elemental to find out why it was warm. The adventurers were supposing the red dragon, but the elemental reported a lava tube instead. Backtracking to the new shaft, they followed the other tunnel and ran into a gibbering mouther at the end of the tunnel. The combined firepower of the adventurers destroyed it before the mouther could attack.
Rather than descend any further, the group backtracked all the way back to the third level of the main shaft and followed a different tunnel to the west. They discovered that the tunnel breaks into a more natural underground passage that extended two directions until they were out of sight. After following it one direction for an hour and finding nothing but more tunnel, this seemed to be part of the underworld and not part of the mine at all. The adventurers tracked back and decided to finish exploring the mine. They went to the second shaft and investigated the tunnels at the bottom of that [roughly level 5 of the mine], but discovered that these tunnels had been just started when things apparently went bad in the mine. Going to the top of this shaft, they followed the single tunnel there and found their way back to the main shaft.
At this point, the group descended to the flooded bottom of the main shaft and followed the remaining tunnel. This tunnel had a y-intersection and the group followed the right fork, which ended at a wooden wall with a door. Agnes also noticed that the supports for the last 30 ft of the tunnel were rigged to easily collapse the tunnel. Curious, the adventurers investigated the wooden wall and door. The wood was swollen with the water pressing against it and quite stout. Not certain what was on the other side and it being late in the day, the adventurers decided to fall back to the workroom on the second level to camp.
The next morning, the adventurers returned to the flooded fourth level and the wooden wall. After Agnes checked and cleared the door of traps, Kainen was brought forward and forced the door open, pushing against the flow of water into the next chamber, a chamber that was extremely warm and lit with an orange-red light. After watching the water quickly flow for a moment or two, Thorngrim cast wall of stone to create a low wall to stop the flow of water, just as the cold water that had flowed through reached the lava pool in the next room and flashed to steam!
The instant geyser filled the chamber and started blasting back up the tunnel. The adventurers dove into the remaining water, some making it, some not [Halfgrim amongst the “not” category due to size]. Those who did not make it in time were scalded with the boiling steam before getting under the water surface. Not knowing how long the geyser would last and having neglected to cast waterbreathing this day, Thorngrim cast a silent version of wall of stone, sealing off the tunnel and stopping the geyser. This saved Halfgrim’s life. Gasping for air, the rest of the adventurers surfaced and Su Bel set to healing everyone (including herself).
The adventurers returned to the second level of the main shaft and follow the last unexplored tunnel. After making their way past a room covered with thousands of crystals, the adventurers found the end of the tunnel, an apparent dead-end. Looking around, Agnes noticed that the cart track stopper had an additional mechanism hidden in it. Showing Thorngrim how to activate the mechanism, the group moved back. Thorngrim reach with his rubbery long arms and tripped the mechanism.
This caused the end 10 ft of the cart tracks and the floor under the tracks to angle down, exposing a low-ceilinged small chamber with three chests and a pile of something covered with a tarp. Agnes crept forward and investigated. The tarp covered a stack of platinum ingots. The chests contained gold coins, valuable gems, an endless decanter, the broken remains of many potion bottles, and a scroll tube. Only one of the potions was still good – a potion of stone giant control. [Convenient, no?] The scroll tube contained a mostly complete map of the entire mine (it didn’t show the starter tunnels on the fifth level).
The group spent another hour checking the accuracy of the map before camping for the night. In the morning they decided it was time to return to Drop-off Keep. Sal cast mass reduce person and teleported everyone back.
*End of session*
[This is the second to last session for the campaign. The finale will be next week and will be the attack on the red dragon. I think the PCs have a good chance of winning a tough fight, but if they don’t, that will definitely effect the landscape of the next campaign set here. I’m looking forward to see what happens.
Between sessions I granted the characters 2 levels, putting most of the party at 12th level. I did this as the campaign is getting close to the end and I want the characters to do the coolest things they can these last two sessions. I originally wanted to run the campaign until the PCs reached 15th level, but there is a good ending here and I’m ready to end this story and move on to the next one. Adding two levels now gets the characters closer to the endpoint I originally sold to the players and should allow a cool final battle.
Finally, after the campaign ends, I’m going to drop using Skype to bring in remote players. For a mixed group of some here some remote, it isn’t working anywhere near where I want it to be. I’ll post a more detailed posting on this later.]
Thursday, June 9, 2011
SR48: The Cleansing of the Banshee Copper Mine
This session happened Friday, June 3, 2011, and was the only session I ran this past weekend.
Adventuring Group:
Su Bel (human cleric)
– Dame Yasha of Bereste (Su Bel’s human cavalier cohort)
Tycho von Helmont (elf alchemist)
Agnes Sunbeard (dwarf rogue)
Mog the Doomed (half-orc barbarian)
Sal Ty (elf wizard)
– Maenwen (Sal’s human wizard cohort)
Xin (human wizard)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier) [via Skype]
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
In-game Starting Date: February 15, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
After the cold, snow-heavy winter months, the adventurers decided it was time to free the copper mine of the banshee living in it. They took the 3 Peaks Road south and then followed the sporadic trail of arcane marks across the Great River, pushing on until dusk to reach the crooked tower Thorngrim erected there last year. The night passed mostly quietly, with those on guard duty allowing the wildlife seen to pass in peace.
The next day, the adventurers hiked into the foot hills of the mountains, heading towards the plateau where the mine entrance was located. As they reached the edge of the plateau and were looking for a good route to climb, Agnes noticed the remains of an old road leading up the side. There was not much left of the road, but it did mark an easier path up the side of the plateau. Once they reached the top of the plateau, they set up a covert camp. Sal cast [magic mansion - I need to look up the exact spell name] for a place to camp while Thorngrim cast illusionary terrain to hide the campsite, particularly from any dragons that might fly overhead.
During the second watch, Sal spotted a group of giants moving across the plateau. He flew after them to find out where they were going. The giants moved across the plateau and entered the higher mountains on the far (eastern) side of the plateau. Once the giants were out of sight in the mountains, Sal placed an invisible arcane mark on the spot so it could be found later. As it was getting towards dawn, Sal flew back and reported what he had learned. He had a tendency to yawn for the rest of the day and was down a few spells from lack of rest.
After a couple hours hike, the adventurers reached the entrance to the copper mine. They entered the mine and set up a camp in the first cavern so they would be at minimum encumbrance while exploring the mine and looking for the banshee. They set a rope and climbed down the main shaft to the next level of the mine. Down one passage they found the mine’s workshop, long abandoned. Agnes was able to determine the mine belonged to humans based on the materials and tools found here. This area was also the home for the elevator’s tread wheel and it was estimated that if the top pulleys were replaced and new ropes strung, the elevator would work again. This was filed away for later use.
The passage out the back of the workshop eventually dead-ended and the adventurers followed the next passage clock-wise off the main shaft. They could hear water moving behind the walls and shortly came to a cavern where the underground stream was exposed. They (carefully, one might say paranoidally) made their way across the bridge and deeper into the mine. At a Y-intersection, Agnes noticed the wooden braces holding the ceiling up were acid damaged and weak. Looking around for the cause of this damage, she located a huge black pudding as it roiled up for the attack. A couple of bombs and fireballs later, the pudding was destroyed, but the ceiling started to collapse. Thorngrim attempted to shore up the ceiling with a wall of stone, but the weight involved merely shattered his wall. The group ran for their lives, trying to stay ahead of the collapse. When they cleared the bridge over the stream, the collapse finished, blocking off any further passage in the direction they had been heading.
It also attracted the attention of the banshee.
The adventurers heard the wail of the banshee from deeper in the mine and cautiously made their way back to the main shaft. There they spotted the banshee as it flew out of a passage on a lower level. The main shaft was over forty feet across and over a hundred feet deep, which allowed Mr. Boodles to take flight as the other adventurers spread out along the ledge of the shaft. The banshee flew up towards Mr. Boodles, her face twisted with rage, and struck him, dark energies flowing through the contact. Alys was able to share the damage, keeping Mr. Boodles from being destroyed, but terror was now in his heart. Just as Mr. Boodles was bolting away from the banshee, Sal placed a horizontal force wall UNDER them and covering most of the shaft, providing a surface for Alys to quick dismount onto…and for Mog to charge across.
As the adventurers moved around her and struck at her with their magic weapons, the banshee wailed again. Agnes, Dame Yasha, and Xin all fell to the ground dead from the attack and the rest were sickened for a round [I rolled minimum on the die for how long the effect lasted]. With anger in their hearts, the remaining adventurers renewed their attacks and put down the banshee, Tycho dealing the final damage to her.
In the immediate aftermath of the fight, Su Bel regretted letting vengeance guide her hand. She had breath of life ready and could have brought back one of the fallen, but now the time was past. The fallen were bound in their cloaks and set aside for later transport – first the banshee’s lair had to be found.
The living adventurers descended to the mines third level and entered the passage the banshee had appeared through. It led to a chamber full of bones, bones of Man and of Elf. All of the bones were collected and taken to the surface, where they were given burial and the ground consecrated. [This permanently banished the banshee, but the players might not have known that.]
After the burial, the fallen were gathered and Sal teleported all of the adventurers back to Drop-off Keep. The following day, Su Bel cast raise dead multiple times to bring the fallen back. She then started the long process of restoring them to their full capabilities.
While the copper mine was purged of the banshee, the cost had been high.
*End of session*
[We had a full group this session with all but one player physically present, a rare occurrence now-a-days.
A note about the in-game dates: the year changes on the King’s Ascension Day, which is July 10. So when that date comes around again, it will be July 10, 24th Year of King Nikola V. I bring this up now as the winter season has just passed and while that signals the new year in the Gregorian Calendar, it doesn’t in the in-game calendar. This is something I can play with when the current campaign ends and I re-boot several decades in the future. More on that later.]
Adventuring Group:
Su Bel (human cleric)
– Dame Yasha of Bereste (Su Bel’s human cavalier cohort)
Tycho von Helmont (elf alchemist)
Agnes Sunbeard (dwarf rogue)
Mog the Doomed (half-orc barbarian)
Sal Ty (elf wizard)
– Maenwen (Sal’s human wizard cohort)
Xin (human wizard)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier) [via Skype]
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
In-game Starting Date: February 15, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
After the cold, snow-heavy winter months, the adventurers decided it was time to free the copper mine of the banshee living in it. They took the 3 Peaks Road south and then followed the sporadic trail of arcane marks across the Great River, pushing on until dusk to reach the crooked tower Thorngrim erected there last year. The night passed mostly quietly, with those on guard duty allowing the wildlife seen to pass in peace.
The next day, the adventurers hiked into the foot hills of the mountains, heading towards the plateau where the mine entrance was located. As they reached the edge of the plateau and were looking for a good route to climb, Agnes noticed the remains of an old road leading up the side. There was not much left of the road, but it did mark an easier path up the side of the plateau. Once they reached the top of the plateau, they set up a covert camp. Sal cast [magic mansion - I need to look up the exact spell name] for a place to camp while Thorngrim cast illusionary terrain to hide the campsite, particularly from any dragons that might fly overhead.
During the second watch, Sal spotted a group of giants moving across the plateau. He flew after them to find out where they were going. The giants moved across the plateau and entered the higher mountains on the far (eastern) side of the plateau. Once the giants were out of sight in the mountains, Sal placed an invisible arcane mark on the spot so it could be found later. As it was getting towards dawn, Sal flew back and reported what he had learned. He had a tendency to yawn for the rest of the day and was down a few spells from lack of rest.
After a couple hours hike, the adventurers reached the entrance to the copper mine. They entered the mine and set up a camp in the first cavern so they would be at minimum encumbrance while exploring the mine and looking for the banshee. They set a rope and climbed down the main shaft to the next level of the mine. Down one passage they found the mine’s workshop, long abandoned. Agnes was able to determine the mine belonged to humans based on the materials and tools found here. This area was also the home for the elevator’s tread wheel and it was estimated that if the top pulleys were replaced and new ropes strung, the elevator would work again. This was filed away for later use.
The passage out the back of the workshop eventually dead-ended and the adventurers followed the next passage clock-wise off the main shaft. They could hear water moving behind the walls and shortly came to a cavern where the underground stream was exposed. They (carefully, one might say paranoidally) made their way across the bridge and deeper into the mine. At a Y-intersection, Agnes noticed the wooden braces holding the ceiling up were acid damaged and weak. Looking around for the cause of this damage, she located a huge black pudding as it roiled up for the attack. A couple of bombs and fireballs later, the pudding was destroyed, but the ceiling started to collapse. Thorngrim attempted to shore up the ceiling with a wall of stone, but the weight involved merely shattered his wall. The group ran for their lives, trying to stay ahead of the collapse. When they cleared the bridge over the stream, the collapse finished, blocking off any further passage in the direction they had been heading.
It also attracted the attention of the banshee.
The adventurers heard the wail of the banshee from deeper in the mine and cautiously made their way back to the main shaft. There they spotted the banshee as it flew out of a passage on a lower level. The main shaft was over forty feet across and over a hundred feet deep, which allowed Mr. Boodles to take flight as the other adventurers spread out along the ledge of the shaft. The banshee flew up towards Mr. Boodles, her face twisted with rage, and struck him, dark energies flowing through the contact. Alys was able to share the damage, keeping Mr. Boodles from being destroyed, but terror was now in his heart. Just as Mr. Boodles was bolting away from the banshee, Sal placed a horizontal force wall UNDER them and covering most of the shaft, providing a surface for Alys to quick dismount onto…and for Mog to charge across.
As the adventurers moved around her and struck at her with their magic weapons, the banshee wailed again. Agnes, Dame Yasha, and Xin all fell to the ground dead from the attack and the rest were sickened for a round [I rolled minimum on the die for how long the effect lasted]. With anger in their hearts, the remaining adventurers renewed their attacks and put down the banshee, Tycho dealing the final damage to her.
In the immediate aftermath of the fight, Su Bel regretted letting vengeance guide her hand. She had breath of life ready and could have brought back one of the fallen, but now the time was past. The fallen were bound in their cloaks and set aside for later transport – first the banshee’s lair had to be found.
The living adventurers descended to the mines third level and entered the passage the banshee had appeared through. It led to a chamber full of bones, bones of Man and of Elf. All of the bones were collected and taken to the surface, where they were given burial and the ground consecrated. [This permanently banished the banshee, but the players might not have known that.]
After the burial, the fallen were gathered and Sal teleported all of the adventurers back to Drop-off Keep. The following day, Su Bel cast raise dead multiple times to bring the fallen back. She then started the long process of restoring them to their full capabilities.
While the copper mine was purged of the banshee, the cost had been high.
*End of session*
[We had a full group this session with all but one player physically present, a rare occurrence now-a-days.
A note about the in-game dates: the year changes on the King’s Ascension Day, which is July 10. So when that date comes around again, it will be July 10, 24th Year of King Nikola V. I bring this up now as the winter season has just passed and while that signals the new year in the Gregorian Calendar, it doesn’t in the in-game calendar. This is something I can play with when the current campaign ends and I re-boot several decades in the future. More on that later.]
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
SR47: Alys, the Jagirdar Kaah, Goes to Town
This session happened Friday, May 27, 2011, and was the only session I ran this past weekend. We skipped two weeks, one on purpose and one because the DayJob became incredibly busy and I had no time to prepare.
Adventuring Group:
Su Bel (human cleric)
– Dame Yasha of Bereste (Su Bel’s human cavalier cohort)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
Sal Ty (elf wizard) [via Skype]
– Maenwen (Sal’s human wizard cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier) [via Skype]
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
“I know better than to eat anything in here – especially ceiling food.” ~Thorngrim
In-game Starting Date: December 9, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
Prior to the actual starting date, Sal and Maenwen spent 21 days (mostly concurrent with Xin’s time crafting) forging a ring of wizardry [+2] and placing a permanent circle of protection on Su Bel’s armor.
As the time to meet with the Baron had come, there was further discussion as to what he might want and how they would get there. There was solid support for making an impressive entrance to keep the baron from trying to buffalo the adventurers (sort of a pre-emptive buffalo-ing). It was decided the Alys would arrive first as part of a procession and then signal the rest of the adventurers to arrive via teleportation. Alys put her minion Thomin to work arranging the procession, plunking down 120 gold coins for the project. Thomin did not disappoint her.
Alys met Thomin and the rest of the procession at the Woodcutter’s Camp. Thomin had hired the ten biggest, burliest guys he could find from Westcastle Crossing and dressed them in leather clothes with extra fur stitched on. Each man carried a 20-foot banner pole. The banner was white with Alys’s owlbear coat of arms (field Argent, an Owlbear displayed Tawny, armed Or). In addition to the banner bearers, there were two other men carrying huge kettle drums and a group of children (from Iron Keep) with (seemingly bottomless) bags of flower petals.
The procession lined up with the kids in front to strew petals, followed by Alys riding Mr. Boodles and flanked by Thomin, followed by the standard bearers, followed by the drummers. The procession started out with the drummers marking a beat and the standard bearers working out a marching step. After the first hour they were solidly in step with each other. When the procession was within 30 minutes of the Keep, they started calling out on the fourth step: one-two-three-“Hwah!” Thomin used his magic to supply the sounds of 30 brass horns blowing regular fanfares: “b-WAH!, b-WAH!, b-WAH!”
As the procession approached the walls of the Keep, Alys could see the guards on the walls starting to congregate to see what was making all the noise. She could also see an argument going on amongst the guards at the gate as to what to do. Eventually one poor bastard lost the argument and was left alone to “greet” the procession. As the procession arrived, each “Hwah!” causing the guard to visibly flinch and the ghostly horns drowning out all nearby conversations, the guard took a breath to speak.
Thomin cut him off.
Using magic to amplify his voice, Thomin boomed out, “Alys, the Jagirdar Kaah comes to meet with the Baron! Make way!” The guard went to speak again and Thomin thundered, “ALYS, THE JAGIRDAR KAAH COMES TO MEET WITH THE BARON! MAKE WAY!” Beat back by the volume of Thomin’s pronouncement an the ten sweaty and burly guys backing Alys up (not to mention the winged owlbear she was riding on), the guard relented and motioned for the procession to enter the Keep.
By this point, many people living in the Keep were leaning out windows or milling in the streets to see what the noise was. As the procession made its noisy way through the streets to the Baron’s Castle (his residence in the Keep), the townsfolk started following in its wake to see what happened next, cheering all the way.
At the Baron’s castle, the procession was greeted by the Castellan, who was made of sterner stuff than the gate guard. The castellan invited Alys and Thomin in, but the rest had to wait outside. Thomin gave the banner bearers and the drummers some coin and sent them over to a nearby tavern, where they were followed by the crowd and much drinking ensued.
Meanwhile, inside the main hall of the Baron’s castle, the Castellan stated “I was expecting more people.” With a theatrical flourish, Alys handed Thomin the sending scroll. Thomin then sent the message that now was the time for the rest of the adventurers to arrive to Sal. Sal cast feather fall on the assembled adventurers (Sal, Su Bel, Dame Yasha, Thorngrim, and Kainen – Maenwen stayed at the Tower in case there were…troubles), then teleportation, and then prestidigitation to create a theatric flash of light just as the adventurers arrived in the hall, a few inches off the floor, and serenely settled to the floor. Alys turned to the Castellan and simply said, “And now there are.”
The adventurers were escorted to a “small” study where the Baron and some of his servants awaited. The group was invited to sit and drinks were provided. Only a minor breach of etiquette happened, leaving Thomin with a jug of moonshine and a cup while the rest has wine in glasses.
The conversation was a mix of side-stepping and occasional directness. The Baron wanted to recognize the work the adventurers had done improving his lands and secure some measure of loyalty in the form of knighthood for those members interested. He was also willing to discuss title to lands in the Edgewood, if only the adventurers would tell him what they wanted. At one point the adventurers confessed they were concerned that the Baron wanted them to make war on Westcastle Crossing, which surprised him and he denied it completely and (as much as they could tell) truthfully. He genuinely seemed more concerned with securing his claims rather than removing other claims.
The upshot of the meeting was that Alys accepted a knighthood (dependant upon her title of jagirdar being recognized); Dame Yasha, Su Bel, and Sal declined for their own reasons; and the rest were asked to respond by the end of March. Preferably verbally. Alys also opened a separate line of negotiation as jagirdar, seeking a personal alliance with the Baron through marriage to one of his sons. This line of negotiations is being handled via correspondence over the winter.
The adventurers took their leave of the baron after the meeting (the Baron ended the meeting with “please, don’t let me keep you from leaving”). Alys had Thomin re-gather her procession, which also brought a crowd along with it. With the procession (and the crowd) re-assembled, Sal did flashy magic to whisk away all the adventurers but Alys. Alys topped her entrance (and possibly Sal) by re-summoning Mr. Boodles and flying low swoops down the streets as the banner bearers and drummers followed at a quick march.
The next day, the adventurers decided to explore the Shadowed Obelisk some more, looking for some adventure [read: experience]. The twisted space and time inside the Shadowed Obelisk skewed their mapping again and seemingly brought them in prior to their original trip. This was based on the “classroom” of wights and ghouls with the mummy “lecturer” being back in place. While the ghouls and wights were easy to handle, Thorngrim exploded the mummy with a spell, filling the room with mummy dust. This led to Su Bel catching a bad case of mummy rot and the group deciding to leave. Sal teleported the group back to Drop-off Keep. It took two days of trying before Su Bel was able to remove the curse and cure the disease.
*End of session*
[I feel I broke a cardinal rule of running a sandbox game: I put some adventure in town. This is an outgrowth of the characters becoming powerful and setting down roots. I’m not certain how this would have been handled in the original West Marches campaign. Is it OK if there was no combat or exploring? I don’t know. It is something I’ll have to think on when I reboot the campaign (more on that soon).]
Adventuring Group:
Su Bel (human cleric)
– Dame Yasha of Bereste (Su Bel’s human cavalier cohort)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
Sal Ty (elf wizard) [via Skype]
– Maenwen (Sal’s human wizard cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier) [via Skype]
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
“I know better than to eat anything in here – especially ceiling food.” ~Thorngrim
In-game Starting Date: December 9, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
Prior to the actual starting date, Sal and Maenwen spent 21 days (mostly concurrent with Xin’s time crafting) forging a ring of wizardry [+2] and placing a permanent circle of protection on Su Bel’s armor.
As the time to meet with the Baron had come, there was further discussion as to what he might want and how they would get there. There was solid support for making an impressive entrance to keep the baron from trying to buffalo the adventurers (sort of a pre-emptive buffalo-ing). It was decided the Alys would arrive first as part of a procession and then signal the rest of the adventurers to arrive via teleportation. Alys put her minion Thomin to work arranging the procession, plunking down 120 gold coins for the project. Thomin did not disappoint her.
Alys met Thomin and the rest of the procession at the Woodcutter’s Camp. Thomin had hired the ten biggest, burliest guys he could find from Westcastle Crossing and dressed them in leather clothes with extra fur stitched on. Each man carried a 20-foot banner pole. The banner was white with Alys’s owlbear coat of arms (field Argent, an Owlbear displayed Tawny, armed Or). In addition to the banner bearers, there were two other men carrying huge kettle drums and a group of children (from Iron Keep) with (seemingly bottomless) bags of flower petals.
The procession lined up with the kids in front to strew petals, followed by Alys riding Mr. Boodles and flanked by Thomin, followed by the standard bearers, followed by the drummers. The procession started out with the drummers marking a beat and the standard bearers working out a marching step. After the first hour they were solidly in step with each other. When the procession was within 30 minutes of the Keep, they started calling out on the fourth step: one-two-three-“Hwah!” Thomin used his magic to supply the sounds of 30 brass horns blowing regular fanfares: “b-WAH!, b-WAH!, b-WAH!”
As the procession approached the walls of the Keep, Alys could see the guards on the walls starting to congregate to see what was making all the noise. She could also see an argument going on amongst the guards at the gate as to what to do. Eventually one poor bastard lost the argument and was left alone to “greet” the procession. As the procession arrived, each “Hwah!” causing the guard to visibly flinch and the ghostly horns drowning out all nearby conversations, the guard took a breath to speak.
Thomin cut him off.
Using magic to amplify his voice, Thomin boomed out, “Alys, the Jagirdar Kaah comes to meet with the Baron! Make way!” The guard went to speak again and Thomin thundered, “ALYS, THE JAGIRDAR KAAH COMES TO MEET WITH THE BARON! MAKE WAY!” Beat back by the volume of Thomin’s pronouncement an the ten sweaty and burly guys backing Alys up (not to mention the winged owlbear she was riding on), the guard relented and motioned for the procession to enter the Keep.
By this point, many people living in the Keep were leaning out windows or milling in the streets to see what the noise was. As the procession made its noisy way through the streets to the Baron’s Castle (his residence in the Keep), the townsfolk started following in its wake to see what happened next, cheering all the way.
At the Baron’s castle, the procession was greeted by the Castellan, who was made of sterner stuff than the gate guard. The castellan invited Alys and Thomin in, but the rest had to wait outside. Thomin gave the banner bearers and the drummers some coin and sent them over to a nearby tavern, where they were followed by the crowd and much drinking ensued.
Meanwhile, inside the main hall of the Baron’s castle, the Castellan stated “I was expecting more people.” With a theatrical flourish, Alys handed Thomin the sending scroll. Thomin then sent the message that now was the time for the rest of the adventurers to arrive to Sal. Sal cast feather fall on the assembled adventurers (Sal, Su Bel, Dame Yasha, Thorngrim, and Kainen – Maenwen stayed at the Tower in case there were…troubles), then teleportation, and then prestidigitation to create a theatric flash of light just as the adventurers arrived in the hall, a few inches off the floor, and serenely settled to the floor. Alys turned to the Castellan and simply said, “And now there are.”
The adventurers were escorted to a “small” study where the Baron and some of his servants awaited. The group was invited to sit and drinks were provided. Only a minor breach of etiquette happened, leaving Thomin with a jug of moonshine and a cup while the rest has wine in glasses.
The conversation was a mix of side-stepping and occasional directness. The Baron wanted to recognize the work the adventurers had done improving his lands and secure some measure of loyalty in the form of knighthood for those members interested. He was also willing to discuss title to lands in the Edgewood, if only the adventurers would tell him what they wanted. At one point the adventurers confessed they were concerned that the Baron wanted them to make war on Westcastle Crossing, which surprised him and he denied it completely and (as much as they could tell) truthfully. He genuinely seemed more concerned with securing his claims rather than removing other claims.
The upshot of the meeting was that Alys accepted a knighthood (dependant upon her title of jagirdar being recognized); Dame Yasha, Su Bel, and Sal declined for their own reasons; and the rest were asked to respond by the end of March. Preferably verbally. Alys also opened a separate line of negotiation as jagirdar, seeking a personal alliance with the Baron through marriage to one of his sons. This line of negotiations is being handled via correspondence over the winter.
The adventurers took their leave of the baron after the meeting (the Baron ended the meeting with “please, don’t let me keep you from leaving”). Alys had Thomin re-gather her procession, which also brought a crowd along with it. With the procession (and the crowd) re-assembled, Sal did flashy magic to whisk away all the adventurers but Alys. Alys topped her entrance (and possibly Sal) by re-summoning Mr. Boodles and flying low swoops down the streets as the banner bearers and drummers followed at a quick march.
The next day, the adventurers decided to explore the Shadowed Obelisk some more, looking for some adventure [read: experience]. The twisted space and time inside the Shadowed Obelisk skewed their mapping again and seemingly brought them in prior to their original trip. This was based on the “classroom” of wights and ghouls with the mummy “lecturer” being back in place. While the ghouls and wights were easy to handle, Thorngrim exploded the mummy with a spell, filling the room with mummy dust. This led to Su Bel catching a bad case of mummy rot and the group deciding to leave. Sal teleported the group back to Drop-off Keep. It took two days of trying before Su Bel was able to remove the curse and cure the disease.
*End of session*
[I feel I broke a cardinal rule of running a sandbox game: I put some adventure in town. This is an outgrowth of the characters becoming powerful and setting down roots. I’m not certain how this would have been handled in the original West Marches campaign. Is it OK if there was no combat or exploring? I don’t know. It is something I’ll have to think on when I reboot the campaign (more on that soon).]
Friday, June 3, 2011
SR46: Last Tombs on the Terrace
This session happened Friday, May 6, 2011, and was the only session I ran that weekend.
Adventuring Group:
Su Bel (human cleric)
– Dame Yasha of Bereste (Su Bel’s human cavalier cohort)
Mog the Doomed (half-orc barbarian)
Tycho von Helmont (elf alchemist)
Agnes Sunbeard (dwarf rogue)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier) [via Skype]
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
Xin (human wizard) [via Skype]
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
In-game Starting Date: November 6, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
With a full group of adventurers, it was decided to return to the Terrace of Fallen Horses to finish exploring the tombs there. Riding on magical steeds, the adventurers took Gravemarker Road to Terrace Road, making good time. The Sea of Grass was deep with mud due recent heavy rains and instead of making it to the Terrace to camp, they instead camped at the branching of the road leading to Westcastle Crossing.
The next day they achieved the Terrace of Fallen Horses, only to discover signs of an abandoned campfire. Mog scoured the area for tracks and clues, but the best he could determine was that sometime in the last two weeks, probably before the last big rains, some group other than them had camped here and explored one of the tombs on the lower terrace. It did not appear that the "interlopers" had taken anything of value as the explored tomb was one previously explored.
Making their way up to the upper terrace, the adventurers opened the next tomb. This tomb had a short passage leading to a plaster door. The murals on the left showed giants attacking human villages, taking prisoners, and eating the prisoners in various ways. The mural on the right shows the king leading a cavalry charge against the king of the giants, cutting down many a giant.
After Mog pounded down the wall of river stones behind the plaster door, he saw a giant skull and attacked it immediately! He shattered the skull with the sledgehammer and prepared to keep fighting until Agnes verbally reined him in.
The chamber was ringed with nine three-foot tall giant skulls (one now smashed) surrounding a cenotaph, covered in glyphs. Resting on the skull in the center back was a giant-sized crown, matching the crown shown in the murals on the king of the giants. Hanging from the ceiling length-wise was a huge greatsword. Mog immediately started eyeing it with lust in his heart.
Tycho mixed up an extract of comprehend languages and read the cenotaph to the others. It commemorated the king who led the charge against the giants. The human king slayed the giant king, but then fell to the giant king's bodyguards, who took away the body of human king , including the crown of the Horse Lords. Realizing that taking the gold crown of the giant king and the huge sword would strain their abilities, the adventurers held off disturbing either one [beyond determining the sword was magical] and proceeded to the next tomb.
The next tomb was the most elaborate of the tombs on the upper terrace, containing four chambers. The wall murals in the central passage were elaborate and showed signs of modification, mostly the addition of scenes – apparently a second and then a third wife, many children, and many great deeds. The first chamber they explored seemed to confirm much of this as it contained many gold-inlaid urns topped with porcelain faces. The urns contained the cremated remains of 17 people.
The next chamber contained eight, life-sized terra cotta statues, each wearing a golden torc. Agnes examined the room and the statues for traps, thoroughly. She found the room trap free and noticed that each statue was unique and the torcs each held a different gem and were quite valuable. She carefully removed the torcs and stashed them away.
The next chamber was empty, but the walls were covered in writing. The entire text detected as magic, so Tycho fixed up another dose of comprehend language and started reading. The text covered the history of the king, but after reading a few lines, Tycho triggered a sepia snake sigil. He was able to avoid the effects of the spell. After the spell dissipated, Agnes came in and started checking for magical traps. She was able to disarm several explosive runes and another sepia snake sigil.
The final chamber explored was the king's crypt. The doorway was trapped with an empowered disintegrate, which nearly got Mog. Inside the chamber was the king's sarcophagus, which was comprised of a stone exterior shell and a golden coffin inside.
After clearing the king's crypt, the adventurers camped for the night. During the night, the camp was attacked by five burning skeletons that wandered in from the surrounding hills. The fight was short and the skeletons really stood no chance.
In the morning, the adventurers climbed back up to the upper terrace and opened the last tomb on the upper terrace. This tomb appeared to be hurriedly finished. The wall murals show the king riding triumphantly on a griffin, but his remains told a different story. When the adventurers opened the sarcophagus, every bone in the king's body was broken, including his skull – clearly he had died after a great fall, probably from his griffin.
After inventorying their loot, Xin reduced the gold crown, the gold sarcophagus, and the huge greatsword so they would fit within bags of holding. The gold covered sarcophagus lid from the fallen king would have to be carried by Kainen with the assistance of a ant haul spell. It did slow down the group's return as no horse could carry Kainen and the sarcophagus lid. In addition to packing their loot, they also consolidated the terra cotta statues into a single tomb, which Agnes then trapped to keep out whoever else knew of this place.
On the way back, the group had to camp on the road across the Sea of Grass. An auroch herd moved by during the evening, indicating that the herds were arriving from the southern pastures. The next day they made the Woodcutter's camp by dusk and camped there. Kainen made some money by offering tries to any woodcutter who wanted to lift the sarcophagus lid, offering to let them keep it if they could walk ten steps while carrying it. No one could even lift it off the ground.
At Noon on the third day of their trip back, they arrived at Drop-off Tower. Several people wanted to use their share of the loot to have Xin upgrade some of their items. As money was tight (they wanted some significant upgrades), Xin and Mog went to Westcastle Crossing to look for supplies. They found what Xin was looking for and were able to purchase it – without the 40% markup the Baron enforces at the Iron Keep. When Xin reported this back at the Tower, the adventurers were very pleased to hear this as they were very tired of the 40% mark-up on all goods.
Xin spent the 16 days upgrading Mog's axe (to keen), Alys's lance (now fire and frost damage), and Mog's chainmail (from +1 to +2).
*End of session*
[Sorry if this write up seems a bit skimpy on details. It's been a month since the session actually happened and my notes are a bit sketchy in nature. This covers the basics of what happened, but I no longer remember exactly which sarcophagi were gold and which were merely inlaid with gold and that info is not in my notes. Bad DM, bad!]
Adventuring Group:
Su Bel (human cleric)
– Dame Yasha of Bereste (Su Bel’s human cavalier cohort)
Mog the Doomed (half-orc barbarian)
Tycho von Helmont (elf alchemist)
Agnes Sunbeard (dwarf rogue)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier) [via Skype]
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
Xin (human wizard) [via Skype]
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
In-game Starting Date: November 6, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
With a full group of adventurers, it was decided to return to the Terrace of Fallen Horses to finish exploring the tombs there. Riding on magical steeds, the adventurers took Gravemarker Road to Terrace Road, making good time. The Sea of Grass was deep with mud due recent heavy rains and instead of making it to the Terrace to camp, they instead camped at the branching of the road leading to Westcastle Crossing.
The next day they achieved the Terrace of Fallen Horses, only to discover signs of an abandoned campfire. Mog scoured the area for tracks and clues, but the best he could determine was that sometime in the last two weeks, probably before the last big rains, some group other than them had camped here and explored one of the tombs on the lower terrace. It did not appear that the "interlopers" had taken anything of value as the explored tomb was one previously explored.
Making their way up to the upper terrace, the adventurers opened the next tomb. This tomb had a short passage leading to a plaster door. The murals on the left showed giants attacking human villages, taking prisoners, and eating the prisoners in various ways. The mural on the right shows the king leading a cavalry charge against the king of the giants, cutting down many a giant.
After Mog pounded down the wall of river stones behind the plaster door, he saw a giant skull and attacked it immediately! He shattered the skull with the sledgehammer and prepared to keep fighting until Agnes verbally reined him in.
The chamber was ringed with nine three-foot tall giant skulls (one now smashed) surrounding a cenotaph, covered in glyphs. Resting on the skull in the center back was a giant-sized crown, matching the crown shown in the murals on the king of the giants. Hanging from the ceiling length-wise was a huge greatsword. Mog immediately started eyeing it with lust in his heart.
Tycho mixed up an extract of comprehend languages and read the cenotaph to the others. It commemorated the king who led the charge against the giants. The human king slayed the giant king, but then fell to the giant king's bodyguards, who took away the body of human king , including the crown of the Horse Lords. Realizing that taking the gold crown of the giant king and the huge sword would strain their abilities, the adventurers held off disturbing either one [beyond determining the sword was magical] and proceeded to the next tomb.
The next tomb was the most elaborate of the tombs on the upper terrace, containing four chambers. The wall murals in the central passage were elaborate and showed signs of modification, mostly the addition of scenes – apparently a second and then a third wife, many children, and many great deeds. The first chamber they explored seemed to confirm much of this as it contained many gold-inlaid urns topped with porcelain faces. The urns contained the cremated remains of 17 people.
The next chamber contained eight, life-sized terra cotta statues, each wearing a golden torc. Agnes examined the room and the statues for traps, thoroughly. She found the room trap free and noticed that each statue was unique and the torcs each held a different gem and were quite valuable. She carefully removed the torcs and stashed them away.
The next chamber was empty, but the walls were covered in writing. The entire text detected as magic, so Tycho fixed up another dose of comprehend language and started reading. The text covered the history of the king, but after reading a few lines, Tycho triggered a sepia snake sigil. He was able to avoid the effects of the spell. After the spell dissipated, Agnes came in and started checking for magical traps. She was able to disarm several explosive runes and another sepia snake sigil.
The final chamber explored was the king's crypt. The doorway was trapped with an empowered disintegrate, which nearly got Mog. Inside the chamber was the king's sarcophagus, which was comprised of a stone exterior shell and a golden coffin inside.
After clearing the king's crypt, the adventurers camped for the night. During the night, the camp was attacked by five burning skeletons that wandered in from the surrounding hills. The fight was short and the skeletons really stood no chance.
In the morning, the adventurers climbed back up to the upper terrace and opened the last tomb on the upper terrace. This tomb appeared to be hurriedly finished. The wall murals show the king riding triumphantly on a griffin, but his remains told a different story. When the adventurers opened the sarcophagus, every bone in the king's body was broken, including his skull – clearly he had died after a great fall, probably from his griffin.
After inventorying their loot, Xin reduced the gold crown, the gold sarcophagus, and the huge greatsword so they would fit within bags of holding. The gold covered sarcophagus lid from the fallen king would have to be carried by Kainen with the assistance of a ant haul spell. It did slow down the group's return as no horse could carry Kainen and the sarcophagus lid. In addition to packing their loot, they also consolidated the terra cotta statues into a single tomb, which Agnes then trapped to keep out whoever else knew of this place.
On the way back, the group had to camp on the road across the Sea of Grass. An auroch herd moved by during the evening, indicating that the herds were arriving from the southern pastures. The next day they made the Woodcutter's camp by dusk and camped there. Kainen made some money by offering tries to any woodcutter who wanted to lift the sarcophagus lid, offering to let them keep it if they could walk ten steps while carrying it. No one could even lift it off the ground.
At Noon on the third day of their trip back, they arrived at Drop-off Tower. Several people wanted to use their share of the loot to have Xin upgrade some of their items. As money was tight (they wanted some significant upgrades), Xin and Mog went to Westcastle Crossing to look for supplies. They found what Xin was looking for and were able to purchase it – without the 40% markup the Baron enforces at the Iron Keep. When Xin reported this back at the Tower, the adventurers were very pleased to hear this as they were very tired of the 40% mark-up on all goods.
Xin spent the 16 days upgrading Mog's axe (to keen), Alys's lance (now fire and frost damage), and Mog's chainmail (from +1 to +2).
*End of session*
[Sorry if this write up seems a bit skimpy on details. It's been a month since the session actually happened and my notes are a bit sketchy in nature. This covers the basics of what happened, but I no longer remember exactly which sarcophagi were gold and which were merely inlaid with gold and that info is not in my notes. Bad DM, bad!]
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
SR45: Through the Rope Trick
This session happened Friday, April 29, 2011, and was the only session I ran this past weekend.
Adventuring Group:
Su Bel (human cleric)
– Dame Yasha of Bereste (Su Bel’s human cavalier cohort)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier) [via Skype]
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
Xin (human wizard) [via Skype]
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
In-game Starting Date: October 28, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
"If we go to any other plane and die, I'm not talking to you again." ~ Xin to Thorngrim
While in Drop-off Tower, Alys called all the adventurers currently in residence out to the front steps, as excited as a 3-year old dragging her parents to look at something she found. Once the adventurers were assembled, she summoned Mr. Boodles, who now has wings and can fly. She then mounted her miniature owlbear mount and took off, flying circles around the tower. The other adventurers were suitably impressed. Once Alys landed again, there was a conversation about what would happen if she flew upside-down and how she could not fall off. Many of the options involved gluing her pants to the saddle, though she eventually settled for restraining straps.
Half the group was firmly of the opinion that it was time to return to the elemental chaos via opening a rope trick in the center of Old Stones. With no one bringing up the possible lethality of the location, all quickly agreed on that as their location of choice. Some quick preparations and they were away on mounts summoned by Thorngrim (except Alys, of course, who rode Mr. Boodles).
Heading south on Old Road, thence to Stone Road, the only significant hold up was the attack of a dire tiger. As a measure of how much the adventurers have grown, they did not flee from the encounter, but instead attacked successfully. The dire tiger attempted to savagely maul Mr. Boodles, but Alys transferred most of the damage to herself via her link with the eidolon. This kept Mr. Boodles from assuredly dying, but was very dangerous to Alys. Once the dire tiger was killed (and she was healed by Su Bel), Alys had Xin use prestidigitation to clean the skull of the dire tiger so she could take it as a trophy.
A couple of hours later, the group arrived at Old Stones. Thorngrim cast see invisible to locate the elder air elemental the group had been warned about. He found it. And then some. Inside the rings of stones, on the ethereal plane, were several large and dangerous creatures. Thorngrim spied the purportedly insane air elemental, plus a pack of phase spiders and several other creatures he could not identify but were monstrous in the extreme. The creatures did not seem to notice the adventurers yet, but Thorngrim had the feeling that if the group stayed in the vicinity and/or cast a lot of magic, the ethereal monsters would take notice.
So when it came time to select a camp (as it was late in the afternoon already), Thorngrim recommended a site nearly a mile away from the stone circles. When asked why, he was very evasive in his answers, mostly suggesting that anywhere near the circle would be "not good". Taking into account Thorngrim's firm statements that camp should be away from the stones, the group conceded and made camp about a mile away. Thorngrim erected another stone tower, this time with Kainen's assistance [Kainen had apparently been studying with Sal on the topic]. During second watch, Kainen and Alys could see the ghostly air elemental stalking around inside the stone circles and woke the others. The quick consensus was that it could not get out of the stone circle and therefore was no threat.
The next morning, the group returned to the stone circles and Thorngrim led them into the center ring of stones. There he cast rope trick. Just as he finished his casting, a bright light surrounded the adventurers. When it dimmed, they were no longer on the plains of the Sea of Grass. They were instead standing on an icy sphere some 30 ft in diameter – and each of them had a slightly different "down" orientation. Su Bel and Thorngrim, experienced in this, looked above and away, through the multi-colored "sky", at a basalt sphere with fiery cracks exposing its molten core. On that sphere they could just make out the end of the rope indicating the exit from this place. Orbiting between the two spheres was a third, slightly smaller orb covered in meadow grasses.
While Su Bel and Thorngrim oriented the other adventurers, a frost-covered, four-armed gorilla approached from far side of the ice ball. As it approached, Su Bel and Dame Yasha suddenly winked out of existence! This distressed the adventurers as Su Bel was their only source of healing! The adventurers killed the icy four-armed ape and then immediately started working on their way out. Thorngrim easily jumped from the icy sphere to the grass sphere on its next orbit, but the others were not ready for it and missed. While waiting for the grassy sphere to come around again, an elder ice elemental erupted from the far side of the icy sphere and advanced to the attack.
Xin attempted to negotiate with the elemental, greeting it in Aquan. This amused the elemental, so much so that it swatted Xin so hard that he was knocked off the sphere and started tumbling helplessly through the void towards the basalt sphere. This was quickly followed by the elemental slamming Kainen, knocking him of the planetoid as well. Alys took wing on Mr. Boodles to rescue the two tumbling adventurers, barely avoiding getting slammed by the grass sphere as it came around on its next orbit. The elemental called out to the basalt sphere, waking an iron golem with an immense sword blade. The two started positioning themselves for a game of "adventurer ball".
The adventurers wisely stayed on the grass sphere as it orbited between the other two spheres, lobbing spells at each enemy as they came near. Except Alys, who, not certain of what else to do, fell back on here cavalier training and charged the iron golem. This had little appreciable effect as the iron golem's defenses greatly blunted her attack. In return, she was hit multiple times by the iron golem's sword, taking many grievous wounds. Kainen, attempting to support Alys when the grass sphere was swinging by, also took nearly fatal wounds from the iron golem. In fact, it was only the surprise cleric levels held by Xin that kept Kainen alive.
Thorngrim's multiple fireball spells eventually weakened the ice elemental to the point where Alys charged it and shattered it into an explosion of ice fragments, which she and Mr. Boodles flew through. It took a combined casting effort from Xin, Thorngrim, and Alys, all using acid-based spells to wear away and defeat the iron golem. Once they did so, they quickly made their way through the rope trick exit and back to Old Stones. There they found Su Bel and Dame Yasha sprawled on the ground next to them with no idea what had happened.
Taking their cue, the adventurers made their way back to Drop-off Tower, post haste. They were richer for the experience, but no richer in the pocket for their trip.
*End of session*
[Su Bel disappearing was due to her player (my wife) needing to stop playing and pack for a trip. This was apparently distracting enough that she could not concentrate on the game until it was done. So I had her character and cohort disappear for reasons to be explained later in game. I would have preferred she not played and done the things she needed to do, but that's life.
Also, until this game session, no one knew that Xin had taken 2 cleric levels along with his wizard levels. As it turned out, this was critical to keeping Kainen and probably Alys walking during the big fight. This was simply explained by Xin as the goddess granting many different powers, which impressed Alys.
Also, also, early back in April, the campaign crossed the One Year mark. In-game, the PCs are at the year and a half mark of elapsed time. In case anyone was interested.]
EDIT: Corrected who dealt the killing blow to the elder ice elemental.
Adventuring Group:
Su Bel (human cleric)
– Dame Yasha of Bereste (Su Bel’s human cavalier cohort)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier) [via Skype]
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
Xin (human wizard) [via Skype]
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
In-game Starting Date: October 28, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
"If we go to any other plane and die, I'm not talking to you again." ~ Xin to Thorngrim
While in Drop-off Tower, Alys called all the adventurers currently in residence out to the front steps, as excited as a 3-year old dragging her parents to look at something she found. Once the adventurers were assembled, she summoned Mr. Boodles, who now has wings and can fly. She then mounted her miniature owlbear mount and took off, flying circles around the tower. The other adventurers were suitably impressed. Once Alys landed again, there was a conversation about what would happen if she flew upside-down and how she could not fall off. Many of the options involved gluing her pants to the saddle, though she eventually settled for restraining straps.
Half the group was firmly of the opinion that it was time to return to the elemental chaos via opening a rope trick in the center of Old Stones. With no one bringing up the possible lethality of the location, all quickly agreed on that as their location of choice. Some quick preparations and they were away on mounts summoned by Thorngrim (except Alys, of course, who rode Mr. Boodles).
Heading south on Old Road, thence to Stone Road, the only significant hold up was the attack of a dire tiger. As a measure of how much the adventurers have grown, they did not flee from the encounter, but instead attacked successfully. The dire tiger attempted to savagely maul Mr. Boodles, but Alys transferred most of the damage to herself via her link with the eidolon. This kept Mr. Boodles from assuredly dying, but was very dangerous to Alys. Once the dire tiger was killed (and she was healed by Su Bel), Alys had Xin use prestidigitation to clean the skull of the dire tiger so she could take it as a trophy.
A couple of hours later, the group arrived at Old Stones. Thorngrim cast see invisible to locate the elder air elemental the group had been warned about. He found it. And then some. Inside the rings of stones, on the ethereal plane, were several large and dangerous creatures. Thorngrim spied the purportedly insane air elemental, plus a pack of phase spiders and several other creatures he could not identify but were monstrous in the extreme. The creatures did not seem to notice the adventurers yet, but Thorngrim had the feeling that if the group stayed in the vicinity and/or cast a lot of magic, the ethereal monsters would take notice.
So when it came time to select a camp (as it was late in the afternoon already), Thorngrim recommended a site nearly a mile away from the stone circles. When asked why, he was very evasive in his answers, mostly suggesting that anywhere near the circle would be "not good". Taking into account Thorngrim's firm statements that camp should be away from the stones, the group conceded and made camp about a mile away. Thorngrim erected another stone tower, this time with Kainen's assistance [Kainen had apparently been studying with Sal on the topic]. During second watch, Kainen and Alys could see the ghostly air elemental stalking around inside the stone circles and woke the others. The quick consensus was that it could not get out of the stone circle and therefore was no threat.
The next morning, the group returned to the stone circles and Thorngrim led them into the center ring of stones. There he cast rope trick. Just as he finished his casting, a bright light surrounded the adventurers. When it dimmed, they were no longer on the plains of the Sea of Grass. They were instead standing on an icy sphere some 30 ft in diameter – and each of them had a slightly different "down" orientation. Su Bel and Thorngrim, experienced in this, looked above and away, through the multi-colored "sky", at a basalt sphere with fiery cracks exposing its molten core. On that sphere they could just make out the end of the rope indicating the exit from this place. Orbiting between the two spheres was a third, slightly smaller orb covered in meadow grasses.
While Su Bel and Thorngrim oriented the other adventurers, a frost-covered, four-armed gorilla approached from far side of the ice ball. As it approached, Su Bel and Dame Yasha suddenly winked out of existence! This distressed the adventurers as Su Bel was their only source of healing! The adventurers killed the icy four-armed ape and then immediately started working on their way out. Thorngrim easily jumped from the icy sphere to the grass sphere on its next orbit, but the others were not ready for it and missed. While waiting for the grassy sphere to come around again, an elder ice elemental erupted from the far side of the icy sphere and advanced to the attack.
Xin attempted to negotiate with the elemental, greeting it in Aquan. This amused the elemental, so much so that it swatted Xin so hard that he was knocked off the sphere and started tumbling helplessly through the void towards the basalt sphere. This was quickly followed by the elemental slamming Kainen, knocking him of the planetoid as well. Alys took wing on Mr. Boodles to rescue the two tumbling adventurers, barely avoiding getting slammed by the grass sphere as it came around on its next orbit. The elemental called out to the basalt sphere, waking an iron golem with an immense sword blade. The two started positioning themselves for a game of "adventurer ball".
The adventurers wisely stayed on the grass sphere as it orbited between the other two spheres, lobbing spells at each enemy as they came near. Except Alys, who, not certain of what else to do, fell back on here cavalier training and charged the iron golem. This had little appreciable effect as the iron golem's defenses greatly blunted her attack. In return, she was hit multiple times by the iron golem's sword, taking many grievous wounds. Kainen, attempting to support Alys when the grass sphere was swinging by, also took nearly fatal wounds from the iron golem. In fact, it was only the surprise cleric levels held by Xin that kept Kainen alive.
Thorngrim's multiple fireball spells eventually weakened the ice elemental to the point where Alys charged it and shattered it into an explosion of ice fragments, which she and Mr. Boodles flew through. It took a combined casting effort from Xin, Thorngrim, and Alys, all using acid-based spells to wear away and defeat the iron golem. Once they did so, they quickly made their way through the rope trick exit and back to Old Stones. There they found Su Bel and Dame Yasha sprawled on the ground next to them with no idea what had happened.
Taking their cue, the adventurers made their way back to Drop-off Tower, post haste. They were richer for the experience, but no richer in the pocket for their trip.
*End of session*
[Su Bel disappearing was due to her player (my wife) needing to stop playing and pack for a trip. This was apparently distracting enough that she could not concentrate on the game until it was done. So I had her character and cohort disappear for reasons to be explained later in game. I would have preferred she not played and done the things she needed to do, but that's life.
Also, until this game session, no one knew that Xin had taken 2 cleric levels along with his wizard levels. As it turned out, this was critical to keeping Kainen and probably Alys walking during the big fight. This was simply explained by Xin as the goddess granting many different powers, which impressed Alys.
Also, also, early back in April, the campaign crossed the One Year mark. In-game, the PCs are at the year and a half mark of elapsed time. In case anyone was interested.]
EDIT: Corrected who dealt the killing blow to the elder ice elemental.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
SR44: Hunting Giants
This session happened Friday, April 22, 2011, and was the only session I ran this past weekend.
Adventuring Group:
Su Bel (human cleric)
– Dame Yasha of Bereste (Su Bel’s human cavalier cohort)
Mog the Doomed (half-orc barbarian)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier) [via Skype]
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
Xin (human wizard) [via Skype]
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
In-game Starting Date: October 17, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
"Ya, mon! I and I put da fires out no problem!" ~ summoned water elemental to Su Bel
Returning to the problem of the dragon in the mountains to the south, the adventurers decided to go find some giants. They headed south on Three Peaks Road, went through the foot hills around the western side of Three Peaks, and then down into the Sea of Grass. Pushing south, they were able to cross the large, unnamed river that flowed east into the great canyons between Three Peaks and the southern mountains. There they made camp in a (barely acceptable) tower of stone created by Thorngrim using several wall of stone spells.
During first watch, Thorngrim and Kainen observed a herd of wild horses stampeding by the tower, heading east. Thorngrim also spotted what had set the horses to running - a pride of dire lions on the hunt. Thorngrim immediately cast an illusionary wall to make that side of the tower look taller and then started casting fireballs through it onto the dire lions. Xin leaned down through the hatch in the roof of the tower and yelled to wake up the rest of the adventurers, who were sleeping in the extra-dimensional space of a rope trick. This roused most of the adventures, who moved to defend the tower and kill off the dire lions when they moved to attack the tower…except the two cavaliers, who were found still asleep and snuggled next to each other after the fight. After Su Bel summoned a water elemental to put out the fires Thorngrim had started, the adventurers went back to sleep or watch, as was appropriate.
The next morning, the group made their way into the foothills, looking for giants and wary of the dragon appearing. Just as they were reaching the actual mountains, the adventurers realized they were about to walk into a stone giant ambush. Reacting quickly, the adventurers attacked the stone giant first and before they were in the center of the ambush. Kainen single-handedly held off three of the stone giants while the rest of the adventurers killed the other five. By the time they were done with that and turned to help Kainen, he had killed one giant outright, forced another to flee, and accepted the surrender of the third.
Su Bel cast zone of truth and the group questioned the stone giant. They learned that the giant's name was Hafgrim and his tribe was being blackmailed into working for the dragon. The dragon had seized all their valuables and many hostages. Hafgrim also shared the location of the dragon's lair. Hafgrim agreed to follow Kainen if the adventurers worked towards killing the dragon and freeing the stone giant hostages.
Wanting to share this knowledge with those adventurers not present, the group decided to return to Drop-off Tower. While crossing the Sea of Grass, the adventurers spotted a barrow mound. Feeling they were on something more important, they made a note of it on their map and continued on, arriving at the Tower the following day.
*End of session*
[While this was a full session, the recap came out kind of short. I GREATLY summed up the fight, skipping over the cavaliers charging around the hill-line the stone giants were concealed behind and Mog hurling insults at the stone giants, trying to provoke them into attacking him instead of the spellcasters. This is because I feel blow-by-blow descriptions of combat are only interesting if you were there or something important happened. Plus, my notes are minimal and I've slept since then. Meh.]
Adventuring Group:
Su Bel (human cleric)
– Dame Yasha of Bereste (Su Bel’s human cavalier cohort)
Mog the Doomed (half-orc barbarian)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier) [via Skype]
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
Xin (human wizard) [via Skype]
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
In-game Starting Date: October 17, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
"Ya, mon! I and I put da fires out no problem!" ~ summoned water elemental to Su Bel
Returning to the problem of the dragon in the mountains to the south, the adventurers decided to go find some giants. They headed south on Three Peaks Road, went through the foot hills around the western side of Three Peaks, and then down into the Sea of Grass. Pushing south, they were able to cross the large, unnamed river that flowed east into the great canyons between Three Peaks and the southern mountains. There they made camp in a (barely acceptable) tower of stone created by Thorngrim using several wall of stone spells.
During first watch, Thorngrim and Kainen observed a herd of wild horses stampeding by the tower, heading east. Thorngrim also spotted what had set the horses to running - a pride of dire lions on the hunt. Thorngrim immediately cast an illusionary wall to make that side of the tower look taller and then started casting fireballs through it onto the dire lions. Xin leaned down through the hatch in the roof of the tower and yelled to wake up the rest of the adventurers, who were sleeping in the extra-dimensional space of a rope trick. This roused most of the adventures, who moved to defend the tower and kill off the dire lions when they moved to attack the tower…except the two cavaliers, who were found still asleep and snuggled next to each other after the fight. After Su Bel summoned a water elemental to put out the fires Thorngrim had started, the adventurers went back to sleep or watch, as was appropriate.
The next morning, the group made their way into the foothills, looking for giants and wary of the dragon appearing. Just as they were reaching the actual mountains, the adventurers realized they were about to walk into a stone giant ambush. Reacting quickly, the adventurers attacked the stone giant first and before they were in the center of the ambush. Kainen single-handedly held off three of the stone giants while the rest of the adventurers killed the other five. By the time they were done with that and turned to help Kainen, he had killed one giant outright, forced another to flee, and accepted the surrender of the third.
Su Bel cast zone of truth and the group questioned the stone giant. They learned that the giant's name was Hafgrim and his tribe was being blackmailed into working for the dragon. The dragon had seized all their valuables and many hostages. Hafgrim also shared the location of the dragon's lair. Hafgrim agreed to follow Kainen if the adventurers worked towards killing the dragon and freeing the stone giant hostages.
Wanting to share this knowledge with those adventurers not present, the group decided to return to Drop-off Tower. While crossing the Sea of Grass, the adventurers spotted a barrow mound. Feeling they were on something more important, they made a note of it on their map and continued on, arriving at the Tower the following day.
*End of session*
[While this was a full session, the recap came out kind of short. I GREATLY summed up the fight, skipping over the cavaliers charging around the hill-line the stone giants were concealed behind and Mog hurling insults at the stone giants, trying to provoke them into attacking him instead of the spellcasters. This is because I feel blow-by-blow descriptions of combat are only interesting if you were there or something important happened. Plus, my notes are minimal and I've slept since then. Meh.]
Monday, April 25, 2011
SR43: Showdown at the River
This session happened Friday, April 15, 2011, and was the only session I ran this past weekend.
Adventuring Group:
Su Bel (human cleric)
– Dame Yasha of Bereste (Su Bel’s human cavalier cohort)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier) [via Skype]
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
Sal Ty (elf wizard) [via Skype]
– Maenwen (Sal’s human wizard cohort)
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
In-game Starting Date: October 7, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
"It's not to the death, it's to the 'shut the fuck up'!" ~ Alys Kaah
Thorngrim, much to the consternation of the contractors, used the lyre of building to construct another two towers on the keep around Drop-off Tower. This used up what little stone had been received from the quarries, forcing Agnes and Tycho to go arrange for more stone, again. On the other hand, All four curtain walls are now up along with three of the four corner towers. When more stone arrives, the workers can resume work on the front gate and the fourth tower – assuming Thorngrim doesn't do it all in week when the lyre is available again.
In the meantime, the available adventurers decided to go far afield and explore near the Spiderwood, an area the group has shunned since first laying eyes on the Table Map. There was some discussion as to the actual route to take: either west on the Grass Road to the Ruined Hills and then south across an unexplored stretch of the Sea of Grass to the Spider wood or south along Old Road to Santa Fe, through those (mostly unexplored) hills, and then west across a different unexplored stretch of the Sea of Grass. After weighing the amounts of unknown, it was decided to take the southern rout past Santa Fe [whose name, by the way, is a result of admittedly poor DMing never corrected – I'll fix that in the reboot].
The path along Old Road was quiet. When the group arrived at the Sea of Grass, they found huge swaths burned to stubble from the fires a tenday ago. Luckily it had no effect on Thorngrim's mage signs and the group was able to follow the path of the Southern Grass Road. Along the way, they saw auroch herds moving north from their summer pastures far, far to the south.
Making good time on their mounts, the group crossed the hilly region near Santa Fe and the previously untraveled stretch of the Sea of Grass to the very fringe of the Spiderwood, where they made camp. The trees of the Spiderwood were covered in webbing, with large nets of the stuff spread heavily from tree to tree and amongst the undergrowth. On the positive side, there was little in the way of mosquitos or gnats in the area. Sal used his engineering knowledge to assist Thorngrim in the construction of a basic tower by way of several wall of stone spells. As opposed to the Crooked Tower, this one looked stable and safe to camp inside.
The next morning, the group pressed into the Spiderwood itself. The going was slow due to the webbing, but progress was made by following the few relatively clear paths. Around mid-morning the group came across a group of spider swarms looking for a meal, but quickly eliminated the swarms with a judicious use of fire and lightning. During this fight, Dame Yasha fell back from a forward position so a lightning bolt could be cast without her being in the area of effect. Afterward, Alys razzed Dame Yasha for "retreating from the enemy". This did not sit well with the Knight of the Order of the Dragon.
The lightning bolt seemed to have attracted some attention as shortly thereafter they ran across a phase spider heading in their general direction. Not wanting to deal with it, they took evasive actions and avoided it [they spent a resolve token to avoid the encounter]. As the sun set, the woods darkened quickly and camp was made. Sal and Thorngrim worked together to create another stable tower for the group to camp inside. Due to all the webbing in the area, Sal refrained from setting up a campfire wall around the tower.
In the morning, the group explored a little farther into the Spiderwood and were attacked by an ogre spider. After killing it, they decided that they had had enough with spiders and turned back to return to Drop-off Tower. When crossing one of the streams winding through the Sea of Grass, Dame Yasha's horse, Lakshmi, deliberately splashed a great deal of water on Alys and Mr. Boodles. Alys, Knight of the Order of the Chimera, had had enough and threw her mailed glove at Dame Yasha, issuing a challenge. Dame Yasha accepted, tired of the gnome and her little pet claiming to be a knight.
Once to the other side of the river, a jousting pitch was cleared and the two knights set up at either end of the pitch, with the rest of the adventurers taking seats to the side to watch the event. The signal was given and the two knights rode at each other, (blunted) lances flying across the pitch. There was a huge crash at the two knights struck. Surprisingly, it was Dame Yasha who was unhorsed and was laying on her back gasping for breath. As it turns out, Alys is a top notch jouster, significantly more skilled at it than Dame Yasha. When Alys returned to the center of the pitch and offered a hand up to Dame Yasha, Dame Yasha accepted it and congratulated Alys on her victory – clearly Dame Yasha has significant respect for Alys's skills now. Alys was also gracious about the event and both considered the matter settled.
Pushing on as fast as they could, the group of adventurers made it back to Drop-off Tower just as the sun was setting. Tired from their travels, they settled in to the somewhat overcrowded tower for rest.
*End of session*
[The joust was spontaneously developed from the group's roleplaying and both players had a good time. I put together a quick set of rules for adjudicating the joust, based on the critical parts of what was happening (how hard did each hit and were they able to stay mounted after the hit). It was fun to give the knights a way to show off and challenge each other without an actual fight happening.]
Adventuring Group:
Su Bel (human cleric)
– Dame Yasha of Bereste (Su Bel’s human cavalier cohort)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier) [via Skype]
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
Sal Ty (elf wizard) [via Skype]
– Maenwen (Sal’s human wizard cohort)
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
In-game Starting Date: October 7, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
"It's not to the death, it's to the 'shut the fuck up'!" ~ Alys Kaah
Thorngrim, much to the consternation of the contractors, used the lyre of building to construct another two towers on the keep around Drop-off Tower. This used up what little stone had been received from the quarries, forcing Agnes and Tycho to go arrange for more stone, again. On the other hand, All four curtain walls are now up along with three of the four corner towers. When more stone arrives, the workers can resume work on the front gate and the fourth tower – assuming Thorngrim doesn't do it all in week when the lyre is available again.
In the meantime, the available adventurers decided to go far afield and explore near the Spiderwood, an area the group has shunned since first laying eyes on the Table Map. There was some discussion as to the actual route to take: either west on the Grass Road to the Ruined Hills and then south across an unexplored stretch of the Sea of Grass to the Spider wood or south along Old Road to Santa Fe, through those (mostly unexplored) hills, and then west across a different unexplored stretch of the Sea of Grass. After weighing the amounts of unknown, it was decided to take the southern rout past Santa Fe [whose name, by the way, is a result of admittedly poor DMing never corrected – I'll fix that in the reboot].
The path along Old Road was quiet. When the group arrived at the Sea of Grass, they found huge swaths burned to stubble from the fires a tenday ago. Luckily it had no effect on Thorngrim's mage signs and the group was able to follow the path of the Southern Grass Road. Along the way, they saw auroch herds moving north from their summer pastures far, far to the south.
Making good time on their mounts, the group crossed the hilly region near Santa Fe and the previously untraveled stretch of the Sea of Grass to the very fringe of the Spiderwood, where they made camp. The trees of the Spiderwood were covered in webbing, with large nets of the stuff spread heavily from tree to tree and amongst the undergrowth. On the positive side, there was little in the way of mosquitos or gnats in the area. Sal used his engineering knowledge to assist Thorngrim in the construction of a basic tower by way of several wall of stone spells. As opposed to the Crooked Tower, this one looked stable and safe to camp inside.
The next morning, the group pressed into the Spiderwood itself. The going was slow due to the webbing, but progress was made by following the few relatively clear paths. Around mid-morning the group came across a group of spider swarms looking for a meal, but quickly eliminated the swarms with a judicious use of fire and lightning. During this fight, Dame Yasha fell back from a forward position so a lightning bolt could be cast without her being in the area of effect. Afterward, Alys razzed Dame Yasha for "retreating from the enemy". This did not sit well with the Knight of the Order of the Dragon.
The lightning bolt seemed to have attracted some attention as shortly thereafter they ran across a phase spider heading in their general direction. Not wanting to deal with it, they took evasive actions and avoided it [they spent a resolve token to avoid the encounter]. As the sun set, the woods darkened quickly and camp was made. Sal and Thorngrim worked together to create another stable tower for the group to camp inside. Due to all the webbing in the area, Sal refrained from setting up a campfire wall around the tower.
In the morning, the group explored a little farther into the Spiderwood and were attacked by an ogre spider. After killing it, they decided that they had had enough with spiders and turned back to return to Drop-off Tower. When crossing one of the streams winding through the Sea of Grass, Dame Yasha's horse, Lakshmi, deliberately splashed a great deal of water on Alys and Mr. Boodles. Alys, Knight of the Order of the Chimera, had had enough and threw her mailed glove at Dame Yasha, issuing a challenge. Dame Yasha accepted, tired of the gnome and her little pet claiming to be a knight.
Once to the other side of the river, a jousting pitch was cleared and the two knights set up at either end of the pitch, with the rest of the adventurers taking seats to the side to watch the event. The signal was given and the two knights rode at each other, (blunted) lances flying across the pitch. There was a huge crash at the two knights struck. Surprisingly, it was Dame Yasha who was unhorsed and was laying on her back gasping for breath. As it turns out, Alys is a top notch jouster, significantly more skilled at it than Dame Yasha. When Alys returned to the center of the pitch and offered a hand up to Dame Yasha, Dame Yasha accepted it and congratulated Alys on her victory – clearly Dame Yasha has significant respect for Alys's skills now. Alys was also gracious about the event and both considered the matter settled.
Pushing on as fast as they could, the group of adventurers made it back to Drop-off Tower just as the sun was setting. Tired from their travels, they settled in to the somewhat overcrowded tower for rest.
*End of session*
[The joust was spontaneously developed from the group's roleplaying and both players had a good time. I put together a quick set of rules for adjudicating the joust, based on the critical parts of what was happening (how hard did each hit and were they able to stay mounted after the hit). It was fun to give the knights a way to show off and challenge each other without an actual fight happening.]
Thursday, April 21, 2011
SR42: Diversionary Fires and Leucrotta
This session happened Friday, April 8, 2011, and was the only session I ran this past weekend.
Adventuring Group:
Mog the Doomed (half-orc barbarian)
Xin (human wizard)
Sal Ty (elf wizard) [via Skype]
– Maenwen (Sal’s human wizard cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier) [via Skype]
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
In-game Starting Date: September 27, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
"Oh this isn't going to end well." ~Sal after hearing Alys had a plan.
Having more heroic exploits to pass on to her PR flak, Alys went to Iron Keep to look Thomin up. She found him passed out in Spider's Bar. After borrowing a ready bucket of water from Spider, Alys awoke Thomin by drenching him. Interrogating her bard, Alys discovered that Thomin had not been spreading the word of her good deeds, but had, instead, been spreading the legs of some local lasses and getting into trouble over it. Alys was not pleased and read Thomin the Riot Act. Afterwards, she gave him explicit instructions to arrange a coat of arms for her, come up a believable title for her, and to spread word about the "visiting dignitary from the Fae Court". Thomin was not enthused, but 100 gold coins changed that quickly.
Alys also picked up a message from the Baron for "The Adventurers of the Tower". The Baron apparently wants to meet to formalize the relationship between him and the adventurers. The word "fealty" was used. This was not well received at Drop-off Tower, but Sal sent a response indicating that a delegation would meet with him "in two full moons."
After the usual discussion about where to explore with those adventurers available, the group decided to scout further south in the Sea of Grass. They followed Old Road south from the Tower, across the Edge Hills to where the Old Road ended at the Sea of Grass. There was smoke everywhere and a huge grassfire could be seen moving towards the hills.
Not wanting to spend the magic to make the fire survivable, the group instead turned west and explored the southern edge of the Edge Hills. While exploring, the group observed a lone air elemental making its way along the ridgeline. Sal approached and greeted it in Auran. This intrigued the air elemental enough to fly down and converse. [Note: Air elementals have outrageous French accents.] Sal played up to its ego and the elemental offered to make a deal: an exchange of information that would likely save their lives for a major favor later. After some hemming and hawing, Sal took the deal.
The air elemental told the group about the air elemental at Old Stones. The adventurers already knew of it and said so. "Ah! But did you know it is trapped there and has gone insane because of it?" That they did not know and they agreed it was valuable information. The deal concluded, the air elemental left.
Later in the day, the group was attacked by a pair of hungry griffins. The adventurers killed the griffins and, after making camp, had griffin steaks. Alys harvested the wings of one of the griffins with an eye towards the creation of wings of flying. Or a really awesome hat. Camp was a more traditional rope trick surrounded by a campfire wall.
During the second watch, with Sal, Maenwen, and Alys on duty, a group of leucrottas attempted to sneak close to the camp. Sal noticed them and alerted the others. Before the leucrotta could get close enough to do anything, Sal lobbed a fireball at them, Maenwen summoned a fire elemental and sent it after them, and Alys charged into combat on Mr. Boodles, nearly killing one of the beasts outright. Being intelligent beasts, the leucrotta realized that this camp was much too powerful for them and they fled immediately.
The next morning, while exploring, the adventurers came across the tracks to the leucrotta and followed them. They followed the trail to the entrance of a canyon. Sal noticed some gnolls up on the canyon rim waiting in ambush. Sal and Maenwen granted flight to the entire party and they attacked. The gnolls had two ballistas and the crews to run them, plus some arches and some spearmen, but it was no avail – the adventurers were too strong for them and all the gnolls were killed. Deeper into the canyon the adventurers found a fortified cave entrance. It looked strong enough that they did not want to face it just then and so Sal teleported everyone back to Drop-off Tower.
*End of session*
[This session was most unusual because I had two players present and two attending via Skype. One of the players physically attending has moved out of town for work and wants to keep playing via Skype, so it is entirely possible I may have a game where there are more virtual players than living bodies at the table. The future is strange.]
Adventuring Group:
Mog the Doomed (half-orc barbarian)
Xin (human wizard)
Sal Ty (elf wizard) [via Skype]
– Maenwen (Sal’s human wizard cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier) [via Skype]
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
In-game Starting Date: September 27, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
"Oh this isn't going to end well." ~Sal after hearing Alys had a plan.
Having more heroic exploits to pass on to her PR flak, Alys went to Iron Keep to look Thomin up. She found him passed out in Spider's Bar. After borrowing a ready bucket of water from Spider, Alys awoke Thomin by drenching him. Interrogating her bard, Alys discovered that Thomin had not been spreading the word of her good deeds, but had, instead, been spreading the legs of some local lasses and getting into trouble over it. Alys was not pleased and read Thomin the Riot Act. Afterwards, she gave him explicit instructions to arrange a coat of arms for her, come up a believable title for her, and to spread word about the "visiting dignitary from the Fae Court". Thomin was not enthused, but 100 gold coins changed that quickly.
Alys also picked up a message from the Baron for "The Adventurers of the Tower". The Baron apparently wants to meet to formalize the relationship between him and the adventurers. The word "fealty" was used. This was not well received at Drop-off Tower, but Sal sent a response indicating that a delegation would meet with him "in two full moons."
After the usual discussion about where to explore with those adventurers available, the group decided to scout further south in the Sea of Grass. They followed Old Road south from the Tower, across the Edge Hills to where the Old Road ended at the Sea of Grass. There was smoke everywhere and a huge grassfire could be seen moving towards the hills.
Not wanting to spend the magic to make the fire survivable, the group instead turned west and explored the southern edge of the Edge Hills. While exploring, the group observed a lone air elemental making its way along the ridgeline. Sal approached and greeted it in Auran. This intrigued the air elemental enough to fly down and converse. [Note: Air elementals have outrageous French accents.] Sal played up to its ego and the elemental offered to make a deal: an exchange of information that would likely save their lives for a major favor later. After some hemming and hawing, Sal took the deal.
The air elemental told the group about the air elemental at Old Stones. The adventurers already knew of it and said so. "Ah! But did you know it is trapped there and has gone insane because of it?" That they did not know and they agreed it was valuable information. The deal concluded, the air elemental left.
Later in the day, the group was attacked by a pair of hungry griffins. The adventurers killed the griffins and, after making camp, had griffin steaks. Alys harvested the wings of one of the griffins with an eye towards the creation of wings of flying. Or a really awesome hat. Camp was a more traditional rope trick surrounded by a campfire wall.
During the second watch, with Sal, Maenwen, and Alys on duty, a group of leucrottas attempted to sneak close to the camp. Sal noticed them and alerted the others. Before the leucrotta could get close enough to do anything, Sal lobbed a fireball at them, Maenwen summoned a fire elemental and sent it after them, and Alys charged into combat on Mr. Boodles, nearly killing one of the beasts outright. Being intelligent beasts, the leucrotta realized that this camp was much too powerful for them and they fled immediately.
The next morning, while exploring, the adventurers came across the tracks to the leucrotta and followed them. They followed the trail to the entrance of a canyon. Sal noticed some gnolls up on the canyon rim waiting in ambush. Sal and Maenwen granted flight to the entire party and they attacked. The gnolls had two ballistas and the crews to run them, plus some arches and some spearmen, but it was no avail – the adventurers were too strong for them and all the gnolls were killed. Deeper into the canyon the adventurers found a fortified cave entrance. It looked strong enough that they did not want to face it just then and so Sal teleported everyone back to Drop-off Tower.
*End of session*
[This session was most unusual because I had two players present and two attending via Skype. One of the players physically attending has moved out of town for work and wants to keep playing via Skype, so it is entirely possible I may have a game where there are more virtual players than living bodies at the table. The future is strange.]
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
SR41: The Crooked Tower
This session happened Friday, April 1, 2011, and was the only session I ran this past weekend.
Adventuring Group:
Su Bel (human cleric)
– Dame Yasha of Bereste (Su Bel’s human cavalier cohort)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier) [via Skype]
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
In-game Starting Date: September 17, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
Between sessions (prior to the in-game starting date), a few things happened. Alys went to Iron Keep looking for a bard. In one of the “townie” taverns, she found Thomin, an orange-haired gnome bard. After getting him over to Spider’s Bar, she hired him to spread good (positive) stories about her in town, paying him 20 gold coins.
Back at Drop-off Tower, Thorngrim was able to make a good showing on his lyre of building, converting all of the available stone supplies into the keep walls and completing one of the corner towers. This moved the keep well ahead of schedule, but left the workers without much to work with until more stone could arrive. This forced Agnes and Tycho to go to the quarries to place an emergency order for stone. Mog wandered off somewhere and the three wizards (Sal, Maenwen, and Xin) were performing arcane research.
Once the available adventurers assembled, the small group decided to go to Old Stones and attempt another breach into the Elemental Chaos. When Alys asked for explanations of what this entailed, they essentially talked themselves out of doing such a dangerous thing and instead decided to explore the Edge Hills north and west of the Old Road.
On the first day of explorations in the hills the group was attacked by a manticore, a fight that went quick, and found giant ant trails. Later in the day, they were attacked by three wyverns, during which Su Bel summoned a bishonen warrior, er, a Bralani azata to assist in the fight. Much later in the day the group located the wyvern nest and found quite a bit of loose loot, including a set of platemail +1. Sadly, the only one who could wear it was wearing better armor. With “waste not, want not” as their motto, the armor was packed away for later use.
Without several people who had become part of the groups camping SOP, a new plan was devised: Thorngrim would use wall of stone to build a stone tower for the group to camp in. While a fine idea, without a good set of plans and Sal’s engineering expertise, Thorngrim created what is now known as the Crooked Tower. Plus, it was relatively short – only 20 ft tall. Thorngrim would come to regret this.
During first watch, a dire tiger, the one creature whose lethality the adventurers truly respect, moved into the area, tracking the scent of wyvern steaks. Alys wanted to go out and charge it on Mr. Boodles and had to be physically restrained by Dame Yasha. Sulking, Alys returned to the roof of the Crooked Tower where Thorngrim watched the dire tiger’s approach. The tiger was attacked at range [I don’t remember by who, but the PCs definitely initiated the fight]. When the tiger attacked, it charged the tower and leapt up at the top, catching hold just enough to lash out with a claw and grab Thorngrim, pulling him down to the ground when it let go of the tower.
Thorngrim, rather than attempt to escape (which he knew he would fail at), cast scorching ray at the dire tiger, one of his two rays burning the skin and much of the flesh off the animals head [a critical hit for near maximum damage]. Hearing that Thorngrim was on the ground from Alys, Kainen bolted out the tower door and attacked the critically wounded dire tiger, putting it out of its misery.
After the fight, Alys was very contrite and apologized to Thorngrim for pushing to attack the dire tiger. Thorngrim accepted the apology and they were good friends again.
The next day, the small group explored further, reaching the northwest tip of the hills, following signs of a bulette. They eventually cornered the bulette. During the fight, Alys charged the beast and Su Bel summoned an earth elemental. Between Alys and the elemental, the bulette did not stand a chance.
The beast killed, the adventurers returned to the Crooked Tower to camp. In the morning, they made their way back to Drop-off Tower with their loot and trophies.
*End of session*
[This was a short-ish session as we did not get word that Agnes and Tycho would not be available until later than normal. That said, the group did get most of the hills north and west of Old Road explored and created a new landmark on the map – the Crooked Tower. I like it when players physically add to the world as it gives me things to work with that are tied in to the world in a way the players have a stake in.]
Adventuring Group:
Su Bel (human cleric)
– Dame Yasha of Bereste (Su Bel’s human cavalier cohort)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier) [via Skype]
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
In-game Starting Date: September 17, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
Between sessions (prior to the in-game starting date), a few things happened. Alys went to Iron Keep looking for a bard. In one of the “townie” taverns, she found Thomin, an orange-haired gnome bard. After getting him over to Spider’s Bar, she hired him to spread good (positive) stories about her in town, paying him 20 gold coins.
Back at Drop-off Tower, Thorngrim was able to make a good showing on his lyre of building, converting all of the available stone supplies into the keep walls and completing one of the corner towers. This moved the keep well ahead of schedule, but left the workers without much to work with until more stone could arrive. This forced Agnes and Tycho to go to the quarries to place an emergency order for stone. Mog wandered off somewhere and the three wizards (Sal, Maenwen, and Xin) were performing arcane research.
Once the available adventurers assembled, the small group decided to go to Old Stones and attempt another breach into the Elemental Chaos. When Alys asked for explanations of what this entailed, they essentially talked themselves out of doing such a dangerous thing and instead decided to explore the Edge Hills north and west of the Old Road.
On the first day of explorations in the hills the group was attacked by a manticore, a fight that went quick, and found giant ant trails. Later in the day, they were attacked by three wyverns, during which Su Bel summoned a bishonen warrior, er, a Bralani azata to assist in the fight. Much later in the day the group located the wyvern nest and found quite a bit of loose loot, including a set of platemail +1. Sadly, the only one who could wear it was wearing better armor. With “waste not, want not” as their motto, the armor was packed away for later use.
Without several people who had become part of the groups camping SOP, a new plan was devised: Thorngrim would use wall of stone to build a stone tower for the group to camp in. While a fine idea, without a good set of plans and Sal’s engineering expertise, Thorngrim created what is now known as the Crooked Tower. Plus, it was relatively short – only 20 ft tall. Thorngrim would come to regret this.
During first watch, a dire tiger, the one creature whose lethality the adventurers truly respect, moved into the area, tracking the scent of wyvern steaks. Alys wanted to go out and charge it on Mr. Boodles and had to be physically restrained by Dame Yasha. Sulking, Alys returned to the roof of the Crooked Tower where Thorngrim watched the dire tiger’s approach. The tiger was attacked at range [I don’t remember by who, but the PCs definitely initiated the fight]. When the tiger attacked, it charged the tower and leapt up at the top, catching hold just enough to lash out with a claw and grab Thorngrim, pulling him down to the ground when it let go of the tower.
Thorngrim, rather than attempt to escape (which he knew he would fail at), cast scorching ray at the dire tiger, one of his two rays burning the skin and much of the flesh off the animals head [a critical hit for near maximum damage]. Hearing that Thorngrim was on the ground from Alys, Kainen bolted out the tower door and attacked the critically wounded dire tiger, putting it out of its misery.
After the fight, Alys was very contrite and apologized to Thorngrim for pushing to attack the dire tiger. Thorngrim accepted the apology and they were good friends again.
The next day, the small group explored further, reaching the northwest tip of the hills, following signs of a bulette. They eventually cornered the bulette. During the fight, Alys charged the beast and Su Bel summoned an earth elemental. Between Alys and the elemental, the bulette did not stand a chance.
The beast killed, the adventurers returned to the Crooked Tower to camp. In the morning, they made their way back to Drop-off Tower with their loot and trophies.
*End of session*
[This was a short-ish session as we did not get word that Agnes and Tycho would not be available until later than normal. That said, the group did get most of the hills north and west of Old Road explored and created a new landmark on the map – the Crooked Tower. I like it when players physically add to the world as it gives me things to work with that are tied in to the world in a way the players have a stake in.]
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
SR40: Ghosts, Terra Cotta Warriors, and a Lightning Elemental
This session happened Friday, March 25, 2011, and was the only session I ran this past weekend. Due to DM frazzlement, no game was held on the 18th, but we did play boardgames, including Arkham Horror. I strongly recommend this co-operative boardgame.
Adventuring Group:
Su Bel (human cleric)
– Dame Yasha of Bereste (Su Bel’s human cavalier cohort)
Mog the Doomed (half-orc barbarian)
Tycho von Helmont (elf alchemist)
Agnes Sunbeard (dwarf rogue)
Xin (human wizard)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier) [via Skype]
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
In-game Starting Date: September 7, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
Since the previous outing, Alys sold her cheetah pelt and used the proceeds to purchase a cheetah fur cloak, floppy hat, and a lining for her saddle (this was through a deal with clothier). If only she could have had it dyed purple like she wanted...
After some discussion, the group decided that a return to the Terrace of Fallen Horses was in order. The group left Drop-off Tower and headed west on mounts, first along Gravemarker Road and then on the Grass Road. Arriving as the sun was setting, the group camped beside the reflecting pond in front of the terraces.
At the end of the last watch, a ghost floated out of a tomb on the upper terrace (the last tomb the adventurers had explored up there). As the ghost approached, Mog charged the ghost, which promptly possessed him. The possessed Mog then turned on his companions, slaying Xin in one blow. Su Bel was able to drive the ghost from Mog [turn undead feat] and Thorngrim was able to evaporate the ghost via a fireball. Mog needed healing from the clobbering an invisible Agnes handed to him while attempting to subdue Mog. At dawn, Su Bel raised Xin and cast a restoration on him, reducing the worst effects of his death. Luckily, Xin appeared to have blanked the memory of his death, although he now gets unaccountably nervous when Mog rages.
Having explored all of the tombs on the lower terrace, the adventurers decided to resume explorations of the tombs on the upper terrace. Mog was set to removing the earth from the next tomb down (the one next to the ghost's tomb). This tomb turned out to be fairly simple, consisting of a corridor and a single chamber. The walls of the corridor were painted to show the travels of the king. There were scenes showing the king standing on the steps of a stepped pyramid, talking to people in a town on stilts in a swamp, talking with dog-headed warriors in their camp, and among giants wrapped in furs on a snowy mountain.
The king's burial chamber contained a large stone sarcophagus and five terra cotta warriors, each slightly different in appearance. Agnes carefully checked the statues and the sarcophagus for traps and found one set to launch a hail of spears across the chamber and down the corridor. Due to her great experience with the traps of the horse people, she was able to disable the trap fairly easily. The sarcophagus contained only a few treasures, but they were very valuable, including an amulet of might fists, and adamantine dagger, and four urns full of gold coins.
The next tomb was much more complex, with several side chambers. Additionally, the bottom half of the corridor walls were stone covered and the top half covered in stucco. The wall paintings were of the highest quality found so far on the upper terrace, on par with the lower tombs. The first chamber contained a chariot with a jewel encrusted shield in it and wall paintings of the king riding to battle in the chariot. The next room contained two stone sarcophagi, the wall paintings indicating these were the king's wives. The third chamber was dominated by an immense wall painting showing the family tree of the king. Thorngrim took the time to copy this down for later review.
The final room was the resting place of the king. The chamber doors of this tomb had been covered with river stones and then plaster, as was common here. The stone layer for this king's chamber was nearly four feet thick and took a great deal of effort for Mog to break through. When he did, a greater lightning elemental was unleashed. This provided some challenge to the adventurers, but the lack of space for the elemental to maneuver worked to their advantage. After defeating the elemental, the adventurers were able to actually explore the room. The sarcophagus was ornate lacquer work and gold and was treasure in and of itself. Inside were the remains of the king, who had a twisted left leg, covered with a gold "boot".
With their bags of holding full and the day getting late, the adventurers returned to their camp. Luckily, the night was quiet, and the next day they returned to the Iron Keep to convert their findings to coin. This was one of the most profitable expeditions in some time and an evening of celebration was had.
*End of session*
Adventuring Group:
Su Bel (human cleric)
– Dame Yasha of Bereste (Su Bel’s human cavalier cohort)
Mog the Doomed (half-orc barbarian)
Tycho von Helmont (elf alchemist)
Agnes Sunbeard (dwarf rogue)
Xin (human wizard)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier) [via Skype]
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
In-game Starting Date: September 7, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
Since the previous outing, Alys sold her cheetah pelt and used the proceeds to purchase a cheetah fur cloak, floppy hat, and a lining for her saddle (this was through a deal with clothier). If only she could have had it dyed purple like she wanted...
After some discussion, the group decided that a return to the Terrace of Fallen Horses was in order. The group left Drop-off Tower and headed west on mounts, first along Gravemarker Road and then on the Grass Road. Arriving as the sun was setting, the group camped beside the reflecting pond in front of the terraces.
At the end of the last watch, a ghost floated out of a tomb on the upper terrace (the last tomb the adventurers had explored up there). As the ghost approached, Mog charged the ghost, which promptly possessed him. The possessed Mog then turned on his companions, slaying Xin in one blow. Su Bel was able to drive the ghost from Mog [turn undead feat] and Thorngrim was able to evaporate the ghost via a fireball. Mog needed healing from the clobbering an invisible Agnes handed to him while attempting to subdue Mog. At dawn, Su Bel raised Xin and cast a restoration on him, reducing the worst effects of his death. Luckily, Xin appeared to have blanked the memory of his death, although he now gets unaccountably nervous when Mog rages.
Having explored all of the tombs on the lower terrace, the adventurers decided to resume explorations of the tombs on the upper terrace. Mog was set to removing the earth from the next tomb down (the one next to the ghost's tomb). This tomb turned out to be fairly simple, consisting of a corridor and a single chamber. The walls of the corridor were painted to show the travels of the king. There were scenes showing the king standing on the steps of a stepped pyramid, talking to people in a town on stilts in a swamp, talking with dog-headed warriors in their camp, and among giants wrapped in furs on a snowy mountain.
The king's burial chamber contained a large stone sarcophagus and five terra cotta warriors, each slightly different in appearance. Agnes carefully checked the statues and the sarcophagus for traps and found one set to launch a hail of spears across the chamber and down the corridor. Due to her great experience with the traps of the horse people, she was able to disable the trap fairly easily. The sarcophagus contained only a few treasures, but they were very valuable, including an amulet of might fists, and adamantine dagger, and four urns full of gold coins.
The next tomb was much more complex, with several side chambers. Additionally, the bottom half of the corridor walls were stone covered and the top half covered in stucco. The wall paintings were of the highest quality found so far on the upper terrace, on par with the lower tombs. The first chamber contained a chariot with a jewel encrusted shield in it and wall paintings of the king riding to battle in the chariot. The next room contained two stone sarcophagi, the wall paintings indicating these were the king's wives. The third chamber was dominated by an immense wall painting showing the family tree of the king. Thorngrim took the time to copy this down for later review.
The final room was the resting place of the king. The chamber doors of this tomb had been covered with river stones and then plaster, as was common here. The stone layer for this king's chamber was nearly four feet thick and took a great deal of effort for Mog to break through. When he did, a greater lightning elemental was unleashed. This provided some challenge to the adventurers, but the lack of space for the elemental to maneuver worked to their advantage. After defeating the elemental, the adventurers were able to actually explore the room. The sarcophagus was ornate lacquer work and gold and was treasure in and of itself. Inside were the remains of the king, who had a twisted left leg, covered with a gold "boot".
With their bags of holding full and the day getting late, the adventurers returned to their camp. Luckily, the night was quiet, and the next day they returned to the Iron Keep to convert their findings to coin. This was one of the most profitable expeditions in some time and an evening of celebration was had.
*End of session*
Monday, April 11, 2011
SR39: Cave Fishing with Alys
This session happened Friday, March 11, 2011, and was the only session I ran this past weekend. Erin Palette of Lurking Rhythmically joined the game via Skype this session, playing Alys Kaah. Normally I wouldn't call out a player like this, but Erin'd never forgive me for not doing so. Just ask her.
Adventuring Group:
Mog the Doomed (half-orc barbarian)
Tycho von Helmont (elf alchemist)
Agnes Sunbeard (dwarf rogue)
Xin (human wizard)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
Sal Ty (elf wizard) [via Skype]
– Maenwen (Sal’s human wizard cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier)
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
In-game Starting Date: August 28, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
Alys Kaah came across the Southern Sea to Westcastle Crossing to avoid boredom. She was not impressed. The town was full of miners, quarrymen, and farmers. When she heard adventurers were in the village tavern, she went there immediately to introduce herself. She did this by jumping up into Thorngrim's lap and declaring she too was an adventurer and she would like to adventure with the group. This direct approach (and the gnome's very strange appearance) took the group back a bit, but they decided they could use another person when they eventually faced the dragon. Alys was happy as fighting a dragon would definitely not be boring. The group left Westcastle Crossing and headed east on the Road of Grass to return to Drop-off Tower.
After introducing Alys around at the Tower, the group discussed what they would do next. It was decided that a puzzling marking east of Santa Fe on their map should be investigated. The group head south on Old Road. While still in the forest, the group was ambushed by dire tigers out hunting. During the combat Maenwyn was killed by one of the dire tigers before the party could kill the tigers. This forced Sal to detour back to Drop-off Tower using flight to have Su Bel cast raise dead on Maenwyn. He (and the newly risen Maenwyn) caught up with the group where Old Road ended.
At the end of the day the group camped on the Sea of Grass. While the rest of the group went about the process of setting up camp (and their defenses), Alys explored the nearby area. She found two cheetahs stalking the camp and charged them riding Mr. Boodles. She killed one of the cheetahs with her lance, while Mr. Boodles's attacks drove of the other. Alys returned with the dead cheetah and had Mog skin it for her.
In the morning, the group started exploring the plains east of the Adobe Hills. They found a steep cliff surrounding a large depression in the plains with several rivers draining into what appeared to be an enormous sinkhole, nearly 100 ft across. The sinkhole was deep enough that the bottom was shadowed. Pooling all the rope they carried, they were able to make a single line 300 ft in length (if of varying diameter and materials). Using an improvised pulley system, Alys (the lightest) was lowered into the sinkhole.
The walls fell back from the edge and Alys could see that the sinkhole was actually a deep cavern whose ceiling had collapsed in the past. The rivers pouring over the edge spread out as it fell until it filled most of the cavern, drenching Alys and masking most sounds. She could see that there were many cave fishers crawling along the walls, catching birds for meals. This would make the trip back up much less than boring.
At the bottom was a jumble of fallen rock with brush and other plants growing thickly. There was a small lake where the falling water gathered and then flowed deeper into the ground through a very low tunnel. In the opposite direction was a wide and tall tunnel leading to the west. Alys untied herself from the rope to explore the area some. Mog noticed the lack of weight and started pulling the rope back up to see what happened. When he was done and the rope was found to neither be cut not damaged, the group decided Alys was looking around and would very much want to see the rope again, so Mog fed the rope down again.
Alys did indeed very much want to see the rope again and eagerly retied herself to it when it returned. She then yanked twice to get Mog to pull it back up. One of the cave fishers did notice the Alys-shaped meal on the rope and caught her with its sticky tongue. Thorngrim, who had been watching, relayed this to the group and Kainen joined Mog on pulling the rope back up. After a short tug of war, the cave fisher's tongue lost and Alys broke free. Thorngrim lobbed a fireball down to get the creature to back off while Mog turned and ran with the rope, pulling Alys the rest of the way back up at nearly dangerous speed.
After some discussion, the group decided to explore the cavern further. Sal and Thorngrim cast feather fall on everyone and then the group leapt over the edge. Judicious use of magic spells kept the group safe all the way down. At the bottom, the group started down the tall tunnel, seeking where it went. Not very far down the tunnel the group was attacked by a gargantuan purple worm!
During the chaotic fight, Kainen was swallowed by the purple worm. Mog was able to kill the beast and cut Kainen free just in time to save Thorngrim's cohort. The group uses what little healing magic they have with them to heal up. Mog then started cutting up the carcass and skinning the parts he could get to (much of the worm was still in its burrow. Alys had a tooth removed from its maw, with plans to have the tooth made into a gnomish greatsword for her use.
Once everyone was mostly healed, the group decided that perhaps they wanted to have their healer with them before exploring any further. Through the use of Sal's magics the group returned to the surface safely and then rode their horses back to Drop-off Tower. Sadly, Su Bel and Dame Yasha were away, assisting in the Baron's iron mines where a collapse had killed and injured many workers. Again.
*End of session*
Adventuring Group:
Mog the Doomed (half-orc barbarian)
Tycho von Helmont (elf alchemist)
Agnes Sunbeard (dwarf rogue)
Xin (human wizard)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
Sal Ty (elf wizard) [via Skype]
– Maenwen (Sal’s human wizard cohort)
Alys Kaah (gnome summoner/cavalier)
– Mr. Boodles (Alys’s owlbear-looking eidolon and mount)
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table and then on my laptop via Skype.
In-game Starting Date: August 28, 23rd Year of King Nikola V
Alys Kaah came across the Southern Sea to Westcastle Crossing to avoid boredom. She was not impressed. The town was full of miners, quarrymen, and farmers. When she heard adventurers were in the village tavern, she went there immediately to introduce herself. She did this by jumping up into Thorngrim's lap and declaring she too was an adventurer and she would like to adventure with the group. This direct approach (and the gnome's very strange appearance) took the group back a bit, but they decided they could use another person when they eventually faced the dragon. Alys was happy as fighting a dragon would definitely not be boring. The group left Westcastle Crossing and headed east on the Road of Grass to return to Drop-off Tower.
After introducing Alys around at the Tower, the group discussed what they would do next. It was decided that a puzzling marking east of Santa Fe on their map should be investigated. The group head south on Old Road. While still in the forest, the group was ambushed by dire tigers out hunting. During the combat Maenwyn was killed by one of the dire tigers before the party could kill the tigers. This forced Sal to detour back to Drop-off Tower using flight to have Su Bel cast raise dead on Maenwyn. He (and the newly risen Maenwyn) caught up with the group where Old Road ended.
At the end of the day the group camped on the Sea of Grass. While the rest of the group went about the process of setting up camp (and their defenses), Alys explored the nearby area. She found two cheetahs stalking the camp and charged them riding Mr. Boodles. She killed one of the cheetahs with her lance, while Mr. Boodles's attacks drove of the other. Alys returned with the dead cheetah and had Mog skin it for her.
In the morning, the group started exploring the plains east of the Adobe Hills. They found a steep cliff surrounding a large depression in the plains with several rivers draining into what appeared to be an enormous sinkhole, nearly 100 ft across. The sinkhole was deep enough that the bottom was shadowed. Pooling all the rope they carried, they were able to make a single line 300 ft in length (if of varying diameter and materials). Using an improvised pulley system, Alys (the lightest) was lowered into the sinkhole.
The walls fell back from the edge and Alys could see that the sinkhole was actually a deep cavern whose ceiling had collapsed in the past. The rivers pouring over the edge spread out as it fell until it filled most of the cavern, drenching Alys and masking most sounds. She could see that there were many cave fishers crawling along the walls, catching birds for meals. This would make the trip back up much less than boring.
At the bottom was a jumble of fallen rock with brush and other plants growing thickly. There was a small lake where the falling water gathered and then flowed deeper into the ground through a very low tunnel. In the opposite direction was a wide and tall tunnel leading to the west. Alys untied herself from the rope to explore the area some. Mog noticed the lack of weight and started pulling the rope back up to see what happened. When he was done and the rope was found to neither be cut not damaged, the group decided Alys was looking around and would very much want to see the rope again, so Mog fed the rope down again.
Alys did indeed very much want to see the rope again and eagerly retied herself to it when it returned. She then yanked twice to get Mog to pull it back up. One of the cave fishers did notice the Alys-shaped meal on the rope and caught her with its sticky tongue. Thorngrim, who had been watching, relayed this to the group and Kainen joined Mog on pulling the rope back up. After a short tug of war, the cave fisher's tongue lost and Alys broke free. Thorngrim lobbed a fireball down to get the creature to back off while Mog turned and ran with the rope, pulling Alys the rest of the way back up at nearly dangerous speed.
After some discussion, the group decided to explore the cavern further. Sal and Thorngrim cast feather fall on everyone and then the group leapt over the edge. Judicious use of magic spells kept the group safe all the way down. At the bottom, the group started down the tall tunnel, seeking where it went. Not very far down the tunnel the group was attacked by a gargantuan purple worm!
During the chaotic fight, Kainen was swallowed by the purple worm. Mog was able to kill the beast and cut Kainen free just in time to save Thorngrim's cohort. The group uses what little healing magic they have with them to heal up. Mog then started cutting up the carcass and skinning the parts he could get to (much of the worm was still in its burrow. Alys had a tooth removed from its maw, with plans to have the tooth made into a gnomish greatsword for her use.
Once everyone was mostly healed, the group decided that perhaps they wanted to have their healer with them before exploring any further. Through the use of Sal's magics the group returned to the surface safely and then rode their horses back to Drop-off Tower. Sadly, Su Bel and Dame Yasha were away, assisting in the Baron's iron mines where a collapse had killed and injured many workers. Again.
*End of session*
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Status of Things
I realized that, looking forward, I will not get a timely posting here until Thursday morning due to a busy schedule and no ability to post during the day. That’s a long time to go, so I’m writing what I have in my head at the moment and posting it now while I wait for dinner to cook. Tonight is, of course, my Tuesday night Pathfinder game (The Aldelle Group) and since my wife and I will miss next week (due to our Anniversary), we don’t want to miss out tonight. Yes, I married a lovely woman who games. You may be jealous if it makes you feel better. ;-)
I’ve been working on the world descriptions for the starting sector for my Hero Traveller game. I’m taking what Stars Without Numbers’ random sector generator spit out as a starter and embroidering from there, then tacking on Traveller’s planetary codes and naming the worlds. It’s a bit slow as I mull each world over, but I can get 2-3 worlds done when I sit down to write for an hour or two. Still, it’s a good thing I’m starting now as it will take me some time to generate the entire sector, let alone the neighboring sectors the PCs can easily get to. The next sector I generate will use the sector generator from the MGP Traveller rules for comparison.
I want to post some of the material here, but I know several of the players read this (occasionally) and I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’m thinking of writing what the Pre-Crash blurb for each world would have read like and posting that. I usually envision what the world was like prior to The Crash so I can develop how things went south after the Crash, so this may be a matter of just re-writing part of my entry and adding some additional color that is no longer true. Should make for some interesting disinformation amongst the players: what’s still accurate and what has completely changed.
I’ve had an insight on my Southern Reaches game. If I expect the PCs to make 15th level by the end of June and want them to build cool stuff, why am I being so stingy with experience points and treasure? This is a habit from the old days that I think I’m going to jettison for a while. I want the PCs to do cool things and achieve fame and wealth. Time to stop GMing like I’m running a gritty, scrabble-for-your-wealth kind of game. I’m not going to go all Monty Haul or anything, but wealth will be there to be had and big time monsters (with big time XP) are making appearances.
That’s it for now. I’ll have time to type up one or two actual adventure logs tomorrow (Wednesday) and post them to appear Thursday and Friday mornings. Later!
I’ve been working on the world descriptions for the starting sector for my Hero Traveller game. I’m taking what Stars Without Numbers’ random sector generator spit out as a starter and embroidering from there, then tacking on Traveller’s planetary codes and naming the worlds. It’s a bit slow as I mull each world over, but I can get 2-3 worlds done when I sit down to write for an hour or two. Still, it’s a good thing I’m starting now as it will take me some time to generate the entire sector, let alone the neighboring sectors the PCs can easily get to. The next sector I generate will use the sector generator from the MGP Traveller rules for comparison.
I want to post some of the material here, but I know several of the players read this (occasionally) and I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’m thinking of writing what the Pre-Crash blurb for each world would have read like and posting that. I usually envision what the world was like prior to The Crash so I can develop how things went south after the Crash, so this may be a matter of just re-writing part of my entry and adding some additional color that is no longer true. Should make for some interesting disinformation amongst the players: what’s still accurate and what has completely changed.
I’ve had an insight on my Southern Reaches game. If I expect the PCs to make 15th level by the end of June and want them to build cool stuff, why am I being so stingy with experience points and treasure? This is a habit from the old days that I think I’m going to jettison for a while. I want the PCs to do cool things and achieve fame and wealth. Time to stop GMing like I’m running a gritty, scrabble-for-your-wealth kind of game. I’m not going to go all Monty Haul or anything, but wealth will be there to be had and big time monsters (with big time XP) are making appearances.
That’s it for now. I’ll have time to type up one or two actual adventure logs tomorrow (Wednesday) and post them to appear Thursday and Friday mornings. Later!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Skyping in Players
I’ve recently added virtual players to my Southern Reaches game via Skype. The first player was a regular who was sent to a different state 440 miles away for 3-6 months by his employers. It’s a small town and he knew no one there, so he requested we try using Skype so he could stay current in the campaign and get his gaming fix. He even offered to supply the camera. So we gave it a try.
The second player is a friend I’ve chatted with online (Erin Palette of Lurking Rhythmically fame) and done some editing work for who showed some interest. The Southern Reaches game is designed to be easy to add players and I now had the capabilities to do so, so I made the offer. She prefers to not transmit video (in fact, does not have a camera), but is willing to set an avatar and communicate verbally.
Things we’ve learned:
I’m still adjusting to the remote players myself. I am not certain that this is providing as good a game as could be had, nor am I 100% certain that it is something I want to keep doing. I think things would go better if we were all using a virtual table top of some sort, but that side-steps why we get together in the first place.
So to sum up: We are still experimenting with this and I’ll have more to report in the future.
[So I've been more busy at the DayJob in the last five business days than I was the entire five weeks prior to that. This has eased off, so I should be able to maintain a regular posting schedule again. I have a post queued for tomorrow already and will write up an adventure log for Friday (I have notes from multiple campaigns ready to type up).]
EDIT: Named a name - Erin at Lurking Rhythmically.
The second player is a friend I’ve chatted with online (Erin Palette of Lurking Rhythmically fame) and done some editing work for who showed some interest. The Southern Reaches game is designed to be easy to add players and I now had the capabilities to do so, so I made the offer. She prefers to not transmit video (in fact, does not have a camera), but is willing to set an avatar and communicate verbally.
Things we’ve learned:
- Having some folks present and some only on a screen takes a little getting used to, especially if, by request, the camera only points at the map. The reduction in facial clues and body language sometimes makes for awkward communication, with folks either talking over each other or huge pauses while everyone waits for someone else to speak.
- Microphones are important. The camera I have has a directional mike, which I point up to catch as talking as possible, but a lot of the more quiet stuff gets dropped or missed, especially if multiple people are talking at the same time.
- Voices need to be projected. As part of my job I attend teleconferences with some small regularity, so I’ve learned to project my voice at the microphone when communicating through an open mike. Not everyone in my gaming group has those skills, which contributes to stuff getting dropped.
I’m still adjusting to the remote players myself. I am not certain that this is providing as good a game as could be had, nor am I 100% certain that it is something I want to keep doing. I think things would go better if we were all using a virtual table top of some sort, but that side-steps why we get together in the first place.
So to sum up: We are still experimenting with this and I’ll have more to report in the future.
[So I've been more busy at the DayJob in the last five business days than I was the entire five weeks prior to that. This has eased off, so I should be able to maintain a regular posting schedule again. I have a post queued for tomorrow already and will write up an adventure log for Friday (I have notes from multiple campaigns ready to type up).]
EDIT: Named a name - Erin at Lurking Rhythmically.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
SR38: Cheap Crypt ("He's tight!")
This session happened Friday, March 4, 2011, and was the only session I ran this past weekend.
Adventuring Group:
Su Bel (human cleric)
– Dame Yasha of Bereste (Su Bel’s human cavalier cohort)
Tycho von Helmont (elf alchemist)
Agnes Sunbeard (dwarf rogue)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
Sal Ty (elf wizard) [via Skype]
– Maenwen (Sal’s human wizard cohort)
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table.
After the disaster of the stone giant fight, the adventurers spent time recovering (Maenwen needing a week before Su Bel could recast restoration and remove the remaining negative level she was under) and then making or improving some magic items to address flaws in their camping procedures (not enough fighting types ready on each watch). All told, this entailed staying at Drop-off Tower for 17 days before heading back out.
Seeking to supplement their experience and wealth, the group decided to travel west and revisit the Terrace of Fallen Horses. They rode on horses west, following Gravemarker Road to the Woodcutter’s camp. There they discovered that the camp now boasted a ditch and earthen wall to protect the camp from auroch stampedes. Continuing west, they took Terrace Road out into the Sea of Grass. The grasses the road was cut through were not as high as they expected. At the bend where the road turns southwest to the Ruined Hills, they found a new trail splitting off and heading northwest. It had none of Thorngrim’s arcane marks – in fact it had no marks at all. Curious, but on their way elsewhere, the adventurers made note of the new road and continued to the Ruined Hills. They arrived at the Terrace of Fallen Horses as the sun was setting and made camp.
The next morning, the adventurers started off surveying the site, attempting to see if anyone else had explored the area during the two months since they had last been here. To the best of their ability, this did not seem to be the case. Having checked all but one of the tombs on the lower terrace, the adventurers decided to investigate that last tomb.
Sadly, they were disappointed. The wall paintings along the entry hall were generic and of a lower quality than the other tombs on the lower terrace. The first chamber they entered was decorated with a sky-scape. The domed ceiling was supported by three columns, the bottoms of which were carved to resemble goddesses of some sort. As Sal entered the room to scan it with detect magic, the “goddesses” animated and moved to attack. After a short fight, the animated statues were rubble and Sal let the rest of the adventurers enter the chamber before re-entering himself (he had run to the back of the party during the fight).
With nothing supporting the upper halves of the three columns, the ceiling started to groan and cracks appeared. Agnes was able to identify a pending collapse and warned the rest of the adventurers. Su Bel quickly stepped up and cast a wall of stone in the shape of an upside-down “U” and braced the ceiling with it, stopping the impending collapse. Agnes continued to investigate the now safe chamber, eventually identifying a door concealed behind some plaster work. This was protected by a minor pit trap, which she easily disabled with a few spikes, and a puzzle lock, which she quickly solved. Beyond was the tomb itself with a huge granite sarcophagus. Inside, the king was entombed with a red dust (fake cinnabar) and low quality beaded clothing. Clearly entombed on a budget.
Disgusted with this, the adventurers decided to return to Drop-off Tower, rather than check any of the other tombs. [Actually, we needed to stop earlier than normal so my wife could go to a friend’s house that was near a business conference she was attending all weekend and we had gotten a late start.] Just as they were passing the Woodcutter’s Camp, they met an elderly human leading three burros loaded with sacks and crates back west, away from the Iron Keep. This was very unusual, so they stopped to chat with him.
His name was Curtains (he admitted it was a nickname, but he had been using it so long it was the name he regularly used) and he was a merchant for a new place named Westcastle Crossing. The adventurers learned that Westcastle Crossing was a new settlement in the coastal hills to the west, apparently based around a tin mine and a stone quarry. Very curious about this, most of the adventurers decided to follow Curtains west, back to Westcastle Crossing while Su Bel and Dame Yasha returned east to Drop-off Tower. Westcastle Crossing turned out to be more of a walled village, but showed signs of expected growth. From the flags being flown, Sal was able to determine that whoever ruled here was a minor member of a different duchy than the one the Baron belonged to. Suddenly possibilities started appearing in the adventurers eyes.
The adventurers very nearly did not enter the village when the gate guards asked for a five copper a person toll for entry. [Actually, the PLAYERS balked at paying the toll until it was explained that this was a historically common practice. You’d have thought I was asking to pay with real money from the way they squawked.] After having the toll explained to them and paying the five copper each, they went to the village’s tavern/inn for drinks. They were pleasantly surprised to find that goods here had no 40% upcharge as they did at the Iron Keep. Considering how much this saved them on meals and drinks that night alone, the five copper entry toll suddenly seemed a minor inconvenience.
*End of session*
[So this is where I finally introduced the new, competing “town” to the players. I had originally thought to put it on the coast to the east of the Iron Keep, possibly in the ruins of the old village the PCs had discovered at the mouth of the eastern river (still unnamed), but eventually decided that the coastal hills to the west were more defensible and a better place for a new colony. The entry toll was a last minute addition, mostly to test the player’s reactions to minor taxation. They reacted about how I thought they would – they squawked like outraged chickens. I’m interested in seeing how they react when the Iron Baron demands an actual oath of fealty in exchange for allowing the construction of Drop-off Keep. Or the yearly taxes, which are due soon. This skirts really close to breaking the sandbox mantra “there is no adventure in town”, but I think it is worth doing. Name level should require some maturity on the PCs part and picking a fight with the Baron should not be their first option. Although it is what I’m expecting. We’ll see.]
Adventuring Group:
Su Bel (human cleric)
– Dame Yasha of Bereste (Su Bel’s human cavalier cohort)
Tycho von Helmont (elf alchemist)
Agnes Sunbeard (dwarf rogue)
Thorngrim (half-orc sorcerer)
– Kainen (Thorngrim’s human fighter cohort)
Sal Ty (elf wizard) [via Skype]
– Maenwen (Sal’s human wizard cohort)
Note: the list of player characters is in player sitting order, from my left and then clockwise around the table.
After the disaster of the stone giant fight, the adventurers spent time recovering (Maenwen needing a week before Su Bel could recast restoration and remove the remaining negative level she was under) and then making or improving some magic items to address flaws in their camping procedures (not enough fighting types ready on each watch). All told, this entailed staying at Drop-off Tower for 17 days before heading back out.
Seeking to supplement their experience and wealth, the group decided to travel west and revisit the Terrace of Fallen Horses. They rode on horses west, following Gravemarker Road to the Woodcutter’s camp. There they discovered that the camp now boasted a ditch and earthen wall to protect the camp from auroch stampedes. Continuing west, they took Terrace Road out into the Sea of Grass. The grasses the road was cut through were not as high as they expected. At the bend where the road turns southwest to the Ruined Hills, they found a new trail splitting off and heading northwest. It had none of Thorngrim’s arcane marks – in fact it had no marks at all. Curious, but on their way elsewhere, the adventurers made note of the new road and continued to the Ruined Hills. They arrived at the Terrace of Fallen Horses as the sun was setting and made camp.
The next morning, the adventurers started off surveying the site, attempting to see if anyone else had explored the area during the two months since they had last been here. To the best of their ability, this did not seem to be the case. Having checked all but one of the tombs on the lower terrace, the adventurers decided to investigate that last tomb.
Sadly, they were disappointed. The wall paintings along the entry hall were generic and of a lower quality than the other tombs on the lower terrace. The first chamber they entered was decorated with a sky-scape. The domed ceiling was supported by three columns, the bottoms of which were carved to resemble goddesses of some sort. As Sal entered the room to scan it with detect magic, the “goddesses” animated and moved to attack. After a short fight, the animated statues were rubble and Sal let the rest of the adventurers enter the chamber before re-entering himself (he had run to the back of the party during the fight).
With nothing supporting the upper halves of the three columns, the ceiling started to groan and cracks appeared. Agnes was able to identify a pending collapse and warned the rest of the adventurers. Su Bel quickly stepped up and cast a wall of stone in the shape of an upside-down “U” and braced the ceiling with it, stopping the impending collapse. Agnes continued to investigate the now safe chamber, eventually identifying a door concealed behind some plaster work. This was protected by a minor pit trap, which she easily disabled with a few spikes, and a puzzle lock, which she quickly solved. Beyond was the tomb itself with a huge granite sarcophagus. Inside, the king was entombed with a red dust (fake cinnabar) and low quality beaded clothing. Clearly entombed on a budget.
Disgusted with this, the adventurers decided to return to Drop-off Tower, rather than check any of the other tombs. [Actually, we needed to stop earlier than normal so my wife could go to a friend’s house that was near a business conference she was attending all weekend and we had gotten a late start.] Just as they were passing the Woodcutter’s Camp, they met an elderly human leading three burros loaded with sacks and crates back west, away from the Iron Keep. This was very unusual, so they stopped to chat with him.
His name was Curtains (he admitted it was a nickname, but he had been using it so long it was the name he regularly used) and he was a merchant for a new place named Westcastle Crossing. The adventurers learned that Westcastle Crossing was a new settlement in the coastal hills to the west, apparently based around a tin mine and a stone quarry. Very curious about this, most of the adventurers decided to follow Curtains west, back to Westcastle Crossing while Su Bel and Dame Yasha returned east to Drop-off Tower. Westcastle Crossing turned out to be more of a walled village, but showed signs of expected growth. From the flags being flown, Sal was able to determine that whoever ruled here was a minor member of a different duchy than the one the Baron belonged to. Suddenly possibilities started appearing in the adventurers eyes.
The adventurers very nearly did not enter the village when the gate guards asked for a five copper a person toll for entry. [Actually, the PLAYERS balked at paying the toll until it was explained that this was a historically common practice. You’d have thought I was asking to pay with real money from the way they squawked.] After having the toll explained to them and paying the five copper each, they went to the village’s tavern/inn for drinks. They were pleasantly surprised to find that goods here had no 40% upcharge as they did at the Iron Keep. Considering how much this saved them on meals and drinks that night alone, the five copper entry toll suddenly seemed a minor inconvenience.
*End of session*
[So this is where I finally introduced the new, competing “town” to the players. I had originally thought to put it on the coast to the east of the Iron Keep, possibly in the ruins of the old village the PCs had discovered at the mouth of the eastern river (still unnamed), but eventually decided that the coastal hills to the west were more defensible and a better place for a new colony. The entry toll was a last minute addition, mostly to test the player’s reactions to minor taxation. They reacted about how I thought they would – they squawked like outraged chickens. I’m interested in seeing how they react when the Iron Baron demands an actual oath of fealty in exchange for allowing the construction of Drop-off Keep. Or the yearly taxes, which are due soon. This skirts really close to breaking the sandbox mantra “there is no adventure in town”, but I think it is worth doing. Name level should require some maturity on the PCs part and picking a fight with the Baron should not be their first option. Although it is what I’m expecting. We’ll see.]
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