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View Full Version : Spinning Tales of the Steel Legion [ D&D 4e Campagin Journal]



Thanatos 51-50
2008-12-20, 02:57 PM
So, lets see how these campagain journal thingies work, as I've never really read one beyone the first few posts and never made one before - lets see what comes of this attempt.
We're three sessions in and meet on a somewhat weekly basis (Last week was a no-go because DM and I went out to ye aulde pub, instead)

This is a Fourth Edition game of D&D
Cast of Characters:
The DM - The only Civilian in the group - DMPCs a Leader (for now), mostly because no PCs rolle done up. We expect this Leader (Talhoon) to be phased out by The Great Plot in the Sky now that we have a new PC that plays a leader.

The PCs - All of us are Navy, and live literally next door to each other or are Room-mates.

No Name - Dopplegagner Wizard played by one of the guys next door, a real social retard (the character). Player is occasionally game-disrupting and de-rails alot, but its all usually in good fun. The primary reason the sessions run so long. Took time for preparing for a quest to buy a seemingly-domestic cat and named it Simba.
DM tells us the cat is not a "normal" cat. The cat has a character sheet.
The character is currently fighting a marijuana addiction and probably thinks the massive battle we just went through was a bad trip or something.

Pike - Played by the guy above's roomie. Your very stalwart, sterotypical Dragonborn Paladin of Bahamut. Also the group's only defender at the moment. Also doesn't show up to half the sessions, the prescene of this man makes all encounters easier, if not for his Defender qualities, then for his Aura of Aweomsome Dice Rolls which counteract No Name's Cursed Dice Aura.

Alam Dethgerd - Played by a complete and utter newb Alam was originally a tiefling mage. Then I bought Martial Power and brought it to the next session, combined with much conversing with his playerr (My roomie), and we now welcome the Drow Beastmaster Ranger into the fold. The wofl is named Feng. Running gag is that he has a pikachu-like colour scheme, also, his absurd trained skills always give us a laugh.
Feng - "Hes dead, Jim Alam - I mean... er... Arf."

Jorden Saalak - Shadar-Kai rogue. Because thats how we make swasbucklers, now. I play this guy, and he is the most shifty, shady parrty member present. NPCs comment on the creepy vibe and sense of the willies they get from him, which makes it all very delicious. His way of gaining acceptance into the party was "I have. A Dashing Hat." Currently manipulating the party and skimming totally off the top. Every last gold piece of skim, however, goes towards the party ( Yay for Good Alignments). Is slowly usurping leadership from our DMPC - which the DM absolutely ecnourages. Wields a rapier and throws daggers alot.

Unglar - Played by New Guy. Also a roomie of mine, has only been with us for one session. He also happens to be a Minotaur Warlord, and we're (By which I mean "I") totally expecting this to be the reason Talhoon leaves the Legion. Has recently ditched a 1d12 Greatsword for a 2d8 Maul. Its beautiful. Very stoic and dsiciplined type (Lawful Neutral at its purest)

Session one was just Talhoon, Pike and No Name. I didn't even know this game existed, yet, and apparently much fun and goblin-killing was had by all.
The next post will attempt to cover session two.

Thanatos 51-50
2008-12-30, 09:07 AM
Session Two: Covered mostly from memory - and asking the DM questions about his setting over AIM - because I'm just now actualywriting it down, like an idiot. It was more than a month ago.

Players/Characters present:
No Name, Tal'hoon, Jorden, Alam (In Tiefling Wizard form)

The DM opens this session by explaining the continent his little campagin world takes place on.
Hes drawn a rough sketch for me, recently, on a piece of paper, complete with an example of the leylines around Abnauticus. I don't have a printer, so you'll have to settle for a shoddy re-telling.

The continent, through an amazing display of contiental drift, erosion, and other natural forces, forms a pretty little "T" Shape.
Cartographers rejoice.
There are three kingdoms here, one on each "Branch" of the T. If you could imagine it as a mickey mouse head, quickly, theres one on Left Ear, one on Right Ear, and one on Head. There is a natural border that clearly defines the edge of the Ear nations and the head. Its a mountain range which none of our characters know the name of (as none of us know geography beyond "Thats a mountain, red dragons live there are try to eat me") As such, Ears and head get along fine, while Ears have constant boreder disputes with each other, causing them to be, as I understand it, in a state of war.

Real kingdom names are: (Evain [My character has some... history up that way - its one of the ears]. On'Thalac [other ear], and Crieos [the head])) Sine this campagin takes place in the "head", its more background knwledge for now.
At the very base of the T, in the kingdom of Crieos, is the major trading port-city of Abnauticus, where out adventure starts, and currently still is (That one is my fault, kinda).
Jorden comes in working as a hired caravan guard on unimportant caravan A from Unamed Village on Trade Route B for Reason: I needed something to pay me.
He takes his "meager" pay of five gold and makes his way to a tavern called the Welcome Wench.
Theres a backstoryless doppleganger and a backstoryless tiefling amongst the NPCs. Said doppleganger is causing havoc by shapeshifting into the form of one of the titular Wecloming Wenches with some masculine additions, which, much to his dismay is leading to the rather amorus attention of some of the sailors therein.
The Tiefling is watching this all with a brooding sense of.... something. I guess the player was going for the "cool loner"/"Badass longcoat" approach.

Hes still trying to do that, actually.

Jorden, being the man in the Dashing Hat that he is, attempts to sterlise his optical nerves with the nearest source of alcohol.
He succeeds (Many, many botched perception checks).

After No Name sheds his armours pursuit, Piken and Tal'hoon enter the bar, hold a boisterously loud conversation with No Name about how many goblins they slew and all the rich spoils they recieve.
Dashin Hat man relises hes spent 20% of his life savings on alcoholten seconds ago, and the tiefling mage is greedy (there was a hilarious incident where he tried to Mage Hand away a single gold piece as Tal'hoon gave No Name his share. And, eventually, Jorden and Alam get recruited into The Steel Legion for more goblin-slaughter. Apparently, they've taken to mining saltpeter for no discernable reason.
The mayor doesn't care about the reason, he just wants the mining stopped. Tal'hoon decides that the way to do this is kill all the Goblins in there.

Pre-adventure goodies involves:

Alam's player discovering his limitations ("No, you cannot decalre that you see a trading ship pull into port, thats a DM declaration") No Name going on a cat-buying spree. He eventually selects a very creepy female cat. The cat gets named Simba after his player completes a very hilarious "Circle of Life/Lion King" impression, and the DM does not allow the name to be changed.

Jorden spends another 40% of his life savings on a good meal and a top-notch hooker. (for those of you keeping track at home, yes, he does have only two gold left, and yes, it was spent on entirely frivolous things. That same two gold would later go to grease a few palms next session.)

The party then heads out to the saltpeter mines on foot, and nothing really exciting happens on the way.
We find the mine situated near a lake, with sparse scrub bushes between the entrance and us. Alam and Jorden decide they'll sneak up to the cave for scouting purposes.

In an odd twist of fate, the trained, talented theif is caught, whereas the mage working solely off natural grace is unseen. Jorden repositions himself behind a scrub brush, pulls a small mirror from the inside of his cloakand nervously flashes an imprompetu "DANGER! I'VE BEEN SPOTTED!" signal to Tal'hoon who, thankfully, understands the message and charges in with No Name.

As Pike's player is not present he valiantly guards the rear with Simba and is nowhere near the engagement.

A short battle with a quartet of minions, a couple Cutters and some Javeliners commences, with No Name wasting his most powerful spell at the onset, sending an acid arrow at one of the minions, melting him and two others. Jorden quickly rushes up and lops off the head of the remaining minion.

The cutters cause no end of trouble as Tal'Hoon and Jorden focus their efforts on them, who has Combat Advantage and flanking (and therefore, Sneak Attack dice) changing every turn. The mages utilize some of the more powerful spells in their aresenal to try to protect themselves from the harrying javelin-armed goblins.
Eventually, Alam and No Name fend off the javelinners and the cutters finally die. Jorden and Tal'Hoon work on the last javelinners, and Jorden falls to a lucky javelin-throw.
His wounds are tended to and he shakes of dying. Pike returns to the rest of the party, reporting the rear was remarkably well-behavied and needed no guarding

~~~End of Session Two~~~
~~~Session Three~~~
Characters/Players present:
No Name, Pike, Talhoon, Alam (mysteriously changing into a drow beastmaster ranger), and Jorden

After spotting an irrigation ditch leading into the cave, the party considers what to do. Tal'hoon, Alam, and No Name ignore it, Piken wants to block it off, and Jorden wants to throw the corpses in the water to possibly corrupt it, because he lacks the tools to poison the water.

Pike cites the advantage of sieging the cave. Jorden cites that they lack the provisions for seigng the cave being practical, and besides, they're goblins. Mining saltpeter. No Name confirms that Saltpeter blows up.

Pike and Jorden agree to not do anything to the irrigation ditch and just use sharp steel to end the goblin mining operation.
Jorden and the now-much-stealthier drow sneak (very successfully!) down the dark corridor and see nothing but a wooden lift, with the water disappearing near it. A quick examination reveals a lever atop said platform and that the water is being used to power said platform. After sending Alam back to go get the other party members, Jorden rams the lever all the way to the other side.
The platform drops like a stone.

Fortunatly, the thief's reflexes are fast enough to slow the platform's desecent and he makes it to the bottom safely and mostly quietly.

He sends the elevator back up for the rest of the aprty and sneaks to the end of the corridor.

The rest of the party all climb aboard and go throw the lever all the way over. None of their reflexes allow them to stop the platform falling too quickly to be saf, but a few are able to soften the impact of their fall. Notably, Feng (Alam's wolf) and Pike are unhurt by the fall.

The noise draws the attention of a hobgoblin and a few shield-bearers from the next room as Jorden attempts to hide against the wall and lets the Goblins rush past him. The hobgoblin, however, spots our rogue and greets him with a spiked flail to the face.

The rest of the party attacks the shield-locked goblins as Jorden Lashes out with a quick sting from his Rapier and teleports out of the hobbo's sight. The next room has slaves chained together, and looking as if they WERE mining at the wall under threats of pain, punishment and malnourishment. The happily move in to conceal the heavily wounded rogue. The hobgoblin runs in, and looks around, not being able to see our valiant swashbuckler.

Meanwhile, in the hallway, the rest of the party breaks through, just in time for Piken to rush into the main chamber, where he engaged the hobgoblin, distracting him long enough for Jorden to drop out of hiding and implant a sharp piece of steel into the hobbo's kidneys. Under the combined might of the Steel Legion, the hobgoblin falls quickly.

Before securing loot from the battlefield, Jorden moves towards the first slave in the line and begins picking the locks on his manacles. Piken has a slightly different idea and sunders the chan holding them to the wall.
We hold them back from their escape and question them about the forces inside, which apparently consist of "Only a few more Goblins" and their leader, a large goblin called Ripclaw.

As a result of the slave's description and in an out of character moment, we immediatly begin treating the goblins as 40k Orks, and there are many shouts of WAAAGH! From around the table.

Bodies are looted and the slaves are turned loose to return to Abnauticus.

The rest of the party descends deeper into the mines, to eventually confront Ripclaw and his crew.
The Steel Legion bursts in, taken the drunken Ripclaw and his also-drunken cronies by surprise, with a motly assortment of battle cries (Most notably, a swashbuckler screaming "For the Emporer!" and a Warlord proclaiming "Blood for the Blood God!") Pike, Alam, Tal'Hoon, and Fang head for Ripclaw, while the heavily wounded (with no healing surges left) Jorden hides around the corner, waiting for an oppertunity to jump in, and No Name blasting away at the cronies.

After a few rounds of combat, Jorden finally sneaks into the fray, and combat quickly resolves. No Name begins throwing alchemical ingrediants from a work bench and a large bear rug over Ripclaw to distract him, and Fang almost bites it, but the Steel Legion emerges victorious, with not a single member critically wounded or dead. The room and bodies are looted.

The most significant bit of loot is an amulet in the shape of a skull wearing a red cowl, humming with magickal enhancements and the words "The Flesh is weak" engraved onto the back, found around Ripclaw's neck. The Ranger is the only one to find this and hides it from the rest of the party.

Their task complete, the party returns to Abnauticus, and selfishly hordes whatever good they acquired. (This isue took a few sessions to be resolved).

Back in Abnauticus, the party rests at the Welcoming Wench, and recieves their payment from Tal'Hoon. Alam shows Jorden the amulet, and Jorden volunteers to hold onto it for a bit, and try to find out what thats all about, promising to return the amulet after the deed was done.
The party sells their loot.
~~~End of this adventure~~~

~~> Next post: Still catching up to current events, same gaming session, but nothing interesting happens outside of Jorden's investigation.

Thanatos 51-50
2009-01-11, 11:07 AM
~~~Jorden Investigates the Amulet~~~

Jorden finds himself poking around town, prodding in the shady underbellies of the city with the amulet, greasing a few palms with money he stashed and never showed the rest of the party.

Greased palms eventually led his to a very sterotypical shady back alley and a man who called himself Miles, who was adorned in a cloak and spoke in a mild irish accent. The Shadar-kai's keen eyes caught tell-tale glints of bright steel. Dagger's Galore, and more than likely enough skill to use them well.

Miles reveals that he works for the Rogue's Guild in Abnauticus, and that the amulet belongs to their rivals, a faction known as the Red Skulls. Jorden prys into questions regarding the Skulls and their operations. Miles offers a job to sic Jorden and his party a role against the Skulls. The Pay is one thousand gold, a "fair share" of the haul, split however he deems fit amongst the party. There is an Eladrin running a trade caraven up to the North, and Jorden and crew are going to sign up as sellswords to guard it. The Rogue's Guild will have a man on the inside, who will hit as soon as possible, and take what the caravan is hauling.

The Guild expects the Skulls to hit it on the third night, attempting to take the same thing. The major hint Miles drops is that it has to do with Residiuum.
(For those of you who don't know, Residiuum is a type of magickal powder used to enchant magickal weapons, armour, and other items.)
Miles offers a very well-forged document - supposedly from the Captain of the Guard, recommending Jorden and his friends as capable caravan guards, to help them get an "in". Our friendly neighborhood thief accepts the task and returns to the Legion, giving them the briefing, saying that h found something that "Pays a little better than Goblin-hunting".

~~~End of Session~~~