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View Full Version : Another Campaign Log - A world torn asunder



Sipex
2009-08-06, 10:42 AM
Alright, I'm jumping on the bandwagon. I'm currently the DM for a 4e campaign which runs nearly every week, we're also about 20ish sessions in so I'll be behind for a while.

Also note while I try to be original in some aspects it's not the key to my campaign, so you'll notice snippets taken from various sources.

Cast:


(Note: I know R'tas and Thel are halo names, the guys wanted matching names and it fit well enough in that I let it slide)

R'tas - Half-elf Rogue
Was arrested for lewd behavior and indecent exposure and locked up in the South Farathon Prison, low security section...he won't go into details about it. We got him out right before the campaign started.

Thel - Half-elf Wizard
Student at Tarrow's Academy for the Magically Gifted, leading school of magic on the continent. Currently getting field experience and as such was joined with the group when we accepted our current job.

Caelynna - Eladrin Warrior
Very hateful to her culture although she won't tell us why. Works alongside Selena as a travelling mercenary.

Selena - Tiefling Warlock
Lost a good portion of her memory and has been working as a mercenary ever since. Classic amnesia with a twist, she believes she's human. Also, bears an odd tattoo on her forearm which looks like two crossed chains over-top of some runes.

Harrow - Dwarven Cleric
Also known as "the dwarf". Joined the party for personal reasons which he won't divulge. Very protective of his personal information, won't even tell the party his name.


Setting:


Our adventure starts on the continent of Farathon, specifically the southern half. This area is home to two of the largest cities on the continent, Tarrow (being the capital) and Farathon...or formally "South Farathon City". South Farathon City was originally the capital of the region (which also used to be called South Farathon but is now Tarrow) but it's position was usurped when the city of Tarrow built a gigantic wall around it's west and south perimeters. This wall allows for generations of growth while still offering optimal protection as the north end of the city borders the mountain and the east end borders Tarrow Lake. South Farathon City's growth was stunted as the creation of the Tarrow Straight boxed it in between the strait and the South Farathon River. Both cities are connected to the main trade road heading south which is lined with farm land, hamlets and villages until it reaches Port Twiddlekins (named after it's founder's cat, no joke) in the south. Reaching out far west from the trade road is the South Farathon Forest which is currently under protection by the local government. Citizens are only allowed limited access to the forest at their own risk with stern warnings that they are to refrain from heading too far west as a tribe of goblins occupies that half of the forest.


Session #1: To Yorkton

We, the five of us, had been hired by the Mayor of South Farathon City and Warden of the South Farathon Prison, Astral Caine, to investigate a surge of goblin attacks and stop them. Apparently hunters from the smaller villages have been spotting goblins in the eastern half of the forest (the South Farathon Forest is the only forest nearby, so we just call it the forest here) and some have even been attacked! This is odd behavior for the goblins as they usually make a habit of staying out of the eastern end of the forest...sort of a they avoid us we avoid them type of thing. My new companions were all relatively quiet and uneasy which was fine with me except for the damned wizard who wouldn't shut his trap! What's even worse is he got R'tas going and then they both became loud idiots, making jokes and what not. Half-elves...think everyone has to be friends.

We neared the village of Yorkton where our contact Aaron Carrey awaited us at the Huntsmen's Lodge Inn. He apparently came across a sort of goblin camp nestled a few hours into the forest and offered to lead us to it...although I don't know what we can do as the mayor didn't have the foresight to send us with someone who speaks goblin. Up ahead of us a lone human boy, no older than 18 stood in our path all official-like and as we neared he announced himself as "Johnathan Cain" and demanded that we lay down our coin pouches 'or else'.

He was fairly well armed but there was only one of him and five of us; R'tas must've sensed something was up as he immediately dashed past the young man and stabbed a bush! Immediately afterwards two thuggish men jumped out of the bushes, one bleeding from a stab wound, while two more leaped out of the forest behind us. Caelynna rushed forward and locked into combat with John while R'tas proceeded to take a beating from the two thugs he had surprised. Selena (the warlock) and myself quickly dispatched the thugs who had ambushed us while Thel gravely injured a tree and a rock with a couple of stray spells. We made short work of the thugs, R'tas took some heavy injuries but managed to best both the men who had attacked him, forcing one to flee. John, the boy, soon realised he was outmatched and threw a cloud of daggers at us and tried to run only to have Thel actually land an ice spell on him which slowed his movement drastically. In no time we had him bound and gagged. On the young lad we found a coin purse which even I'm not above taking for our own gain (consider it compensation for the hardship we suffered) and a medallion bearing a symbol of a hammer striking an anvil. Thel proved his usefulness here by automatically identifying it as the seal for the blacksmiths guild.

We entered Yorkton after sundown and immediately came across the Lodge...Inn...whatever, as it sat at the north end of the village. We took our captive inside earning us a concerned look from the keeper before we explained to him what had happened. After paying for our rooms we locked our captive up in one of them as we had to meet our contact before we could go about delivering justice. Aaron was at the bar of the...Lodge and as soon as we spotted him both Thel and R'tas rush over and the three of them are shaking hands and hugging. Turns out the guy is ANOTHER half-elf and that all these half-elves have some sort of kinship; some sort of noisy, rambunctious kinship.

After some light discussion with Aaron we established our schedule, how we would be getting up at the break of dawn to meet Aaron in the lobby to guide us to the goblin camp and hopefully get us back before sunset.

Afterwards my companions decided to interrogate our captive while I stood guard outside the room. I didn't get to see the look on his face but I imagine he was scared out of his knickers by the end of it. At one point they sent the Tiefling in and she's absolutely nuts. I managed to overhear that the lad was the son of the local blacksmith and that he was misunderstood and under appreciated by his father. He resorted to thievery in order to start a shop in Tarrow and couldn't ask his father for help because "he wouldn't understand". By the end of all this we had apparently decided to take the boy back to his father and see if we could meddle in fix their relationship.

Talking to the boy's father was pleasant, he was a kind man, very understanding...some kids don't know when they have a good thing. Apparently the lad had two older brothers who helped run the business so he just went up and assumed he'd be doing it too. After a heart-touching family reunion the blacksmith offered all of us free sharpenings for our weapons for returning his son...unfortunately for us this ended up only applying to R'tas and Caelynna as they're the only two who carry blades.

We finished the night off with me drinking the two half-elves under the table and dragging them to their rooms.

vampire2948
2009-08-06, 10:44 AM
Looks good so far. I'm not familiar with 4e, but i'll keep an eye on this thread. Good luck!

Vampire2948,

XiaoTie
2009-08-06, 11:09 AM
This does look good so far. Keep it up dude!

Sipex
2009-08-06, 11:56 AM
Glad you like it, I'm going over old notes so I try to remember all I can about the fun details.

That said, I left out the end of Session #1 so I've appended it here.

Session #2: To the forest camp!

We were awoken at the break of dawn...as promised, and stumbled about getting our gear in order. Breakfast was...well, we skipped breakfast.

Right, so Aaron proceeded to lead us through Yorkton along the South Trade Road which ran straight through the village. Many small dirt paths branched off the road, leading to several small homes while large establishments and what have you lined the road. About halfway through the village (which isn't far, trust me) we came to a wide, well worn path leading west towards the forest which also had more little homes branching off of it.

About half an hour outside of the village we came across the Hunter's Lodge, the local guild office for hunters, and Aaron ushered us inside stating that "I have to check up on things before we set out" and we were allowed to make ourselves comfortable. It was a small wooden hut, something you'd expect a hunter's lodge to look like...complete with bearskin rug in front of the fire.

Barely a minute after sitting down crashes and broken glass filled the air. Several goblins wielding blades entered the cabin windows from all sides and attacked! Sustaining several small wounds our party leapt into action, R'tas again proving his abilities as he sliced through the goblins. I managed to smash a couple into a fine paste and our warlock even set one on fire which was a nice touch. Crossbow bolts entered the cabin from the north side hitting a couple of us and a hail of javelins followed and we took cover. Outside were more melee fighters along with goblins carrying...well, crossbows and javelins obviously. Thel, being inactive up until this point jumped out of hiding, aimed his staff out the window and nearly immediately put a large group of the buggers to sleep. Caelynna and myself ran out the front door to deal with the approaching group of fighters while Thel preferred to use a window. Selena proved herself deadly as she rained destruction from afar while Thel proved he could only be so useful and froze a tree.

We made short work of the goblins, even though they got the jump on us and soon the survivors retreated north. I tended to our wounds while Aaron ordered his men to clean up the mess and we were soon on our way.

Our walk was long and uneventful, Thel tried to be a smart ass and tell us about the forest before realising he didn't know a thing about it then proceeded to look for traces of magic. Meanwhile R'tas and Caelynna stuck with good old eyes and ears to figure out what was what.

So, I'll probably say this again but I hate forests, they're lumpy, humid, and full of cover for all sorts of nasty things, so about 2 hours into our journey when Aaron suddenly told us to stop the first thing I did was jump into the nearest bush. Turns out I wasn't the only one with this idea, soon the only person left in the open was poor clueless Thel who nearly announced our presence trying to figure out what just happened.

After dragging Thel into cover we were lead to a ridge overlooking a camp full of goblins running about doing their menial tasks for the day. We all soon realised that with the weapons racks, armed warriors and designs on the tents that this was a goblin war camp.

Now, what do you think we did? Well, we should have left it there and gotten backup I think but we didn't, somehow everyone (myself included) thought it was a grand idea to set up a perimeter then jump and slaughter the green buggers wholesale.

This worked out great at first, we all jumped out, hammering, slicing, burning and freezing through the few goblins wandering around the small camp. Aaron prooved that he was much better at shooting deer than something which has the ability to fight back...he even made Thel look good.

Well, like I said, at first this was great, we did get roughed up but we nearly routed them...until a hunting...or scouting party of some sort ran in from the south and just as we're getting through them more rush out of the tents, including one carrying a staff with a skull on it who called up mist and fired very painful bits of magic at the lot of us. Selena blasted the goblins mercilessly with cover from Caelynna while I ran about trying to keep everyone alive. Thel performed in a pinch and fired off two beams of magical energy in opposite directions at one time, felling two goblins. R'tas was right at home, if I didn't know better I'd guess he likes killing.

By the end of it we were absolutely exhausted but we killed all of them except one which we tied up...Selena and Caelynna got the sick idea to keep it as a pet. I really don't know why I joined this group.

Inside the goblin shaman's tent we found an old locked chest which R'tas made short work of, it was almost packed to the brim with treasure. In all we found gold, a garnet, a couple healing potions, a wand, a set of magical scale armor (turns out it was Razor Armor) and a Cloak of Resistance. We divided up the treasure evenly, gave the healing potions to Caelynna and R'tas, gave the wand to Selena, the Razor Armor to Caelynna and the Cloak of Resistance to R'tas. Thel and I turned down offers for the items as we felt our more...hot headed companions needed all the help they could get.

Caelynna also found a rough sort of map written entirely in goblin and Selena copied it down 'just in case'.

On the way back to Yorkton Thel wondered aloud why the goblins would set up a war camp near Yorkton when traditionally they've always avoided human contact. The hand-drawn map seemed to indicate something in the west end of the forest drawn in the shape of an axe which might be worth investigating.

As we neared Yorkton we noticed thick, black smoke rising from the direction of the town, fearing the worst Aaron ran ahead and we struggled to keep up. While the worst was not what happened, it did turn out that the goblins returned to the Hunter's Lodge and burned it to the ground after we left. Aaron left us at this point to tend to the injured and we elected to return to South Farathon City to claim our reward.

A few days passed, we openly discussed what the map could mean and a small feeling of kinship began to burn within all of us.

Finally we arrived at the twin gates of South Farathon City, one of the biggest, busiest, and most diverse cities on the continent (second to Tarrow of course). None of us had really seen the city too much before as we simply came in to get our job assignment (or, in R'tas' case, to get thrown in prison) so we took the route best known to us and headed straight for the Mayor's manor which stood at the foot of the cliff the prison was perched upon. Turns out it's tradition in South Farathon City for the new mayor to take double duty as the prison warden.

Discussion with Mayor Astral Caine, a very presentable Tiefling, turned out how I expected it...professional. Thel and Selena spoke for the group, explaining what happened and what we learned and presented the map to the mayor. He seemed very interested in it and asked if he could keep it, get it translated and have some of his men check it out. I didn't object and neither did my allies so we took our pay of 100gp each and left.

Thel spoke up after we left the manor stating that something about the mayor didn't seem right to him and that he'd like us to all stick around for the next week if possible. He mentioned that if something was up we've probably gotten involved now so it was best to stick together until 'further information comes to light' he said.

I took a position at the Temple of 11 gods where I would serve Bahamut in exchange for room and board while my companions tell me they found lodgings at a hidden tavern just off market street called "Nowhere Tavern". Selena knew the owner there and apparently it was the safest place they could stay while keeping R'tas out of sight from the local guards.