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Lord Loss
2010-07-15, 07:01 AM
The Broken Thrones Campaign Journal

Well, my group is starting a new campaign and I figured I’d share our experiences. I made a thread for it, but then I realized I’d done it all wrong. So here’s mark two. Before we get started, I’d like to give you a bit of background information about the Characters (For now, there’s only two of them) as well as the world and the Gods.

So, here’s some background information. This is going to be a relatively long campaign (at least by my standards) and it’ll be played in D&D 3.5, with a few modifications. Goodbye alignment system. Goodbye XP. The protagonists each receive a Mark of Destiny, which gives them extra powers at levels 5,10, 15 and 20. I’ll be throwing in a Sanity system around level 5. Critical Successes apply to skill rolls as well. Apart from that, however, it’ll be good old D&D 3.5.

Now that we’re through with rules changes, I guess it’s time to bring in the characters. There’s Fat Axe, a level one human barbarian who’s tribe was destroyed by an arctic undead. The second is Anorix, a Half-Elf Avatar of Shadow (Modified version of Rich Burlew’s champion class, found on these very forums). He is half Shadow Demon and half elf, which is why he has his powers of transformation). He is the godson of a god of shadow (his namesake) who helped him contain his powers. However, for unknown reasons the seals keeping Anorix in check broke and a wave of demonic energy rippled across his town, killing most of the villagers. He was the banished, for the safety of the other villagers , and his parents were trapped in the Blind Eternities as a punishment for creating such a child. He now has mastery over his powers and can transform into an avatar of shadow at times.

A Bit on The World

The world is composed of two worlds, the Inner World and the Outer World. The Players are currently on the Outer World. The Outer World is a standard fanatsy world, or would be were it not for th presence of ''Him''. The Inner World, however, is a hellish wasteland covered in ash and sand. Crysta is one of the few bastions of good in the Inner World, the Sharoken, a group of elves that transform into terrible and mad creatures known as Baschuls, inhabit most of the lands, along with a great many horrendous monstrosities. To cross from world to world, one must find and enter The Portal, a rift between the two worlds. It was created during the Great War, a war between the Light and Dark gods. of the Kelrhyn Pantheon.
A bit about the Gods

The Kelrhyn Pantheon

The Kelrhyn pantheon is composed of ten gods who rule the worlds. they are seperated into three groups: The Light Gods, The Dark Gods and the Elder Gods. The Light gods are composed of Krollos, Sol, Nale and Elforn. The Dark gods count Mare, Oni, Anorix and Majol. As for the Elders, they are but two: Dark Gaia and Light Gaia.

Krollos is the God of Creation, Heroism, and Deities. Oni is His brother, and he is father to Sol, Anorix, Nale and Elforn.

Sol is the deity of flame and war, and constantly competing with Anorix for his father's favor,a task at which he succeeded. Due to his meddling, Anorix was forced into the Shadows, turned into a Dark god.

Nale is the god of time, space and astronomy.

Elforn is the goddess of hunting and the wild. People pray to them for bountiful hunts and massive harvests.

Oni is the father of Mare. He is the patron of the Dark gods and god of fury and rage.

Mare is the god of beasts and monsters. He spent the beginning of his existence creating monsters on the Outer World, before running rampant upon the Inner World, banished there by Krollos.

Anorix never wanted to be a Dark god, but was forced there by his father, sick and tired of Anorix's jealousy towards his brother and their constant squabbles. Anorix is god, of shadows and darkness, as well as Dragons.

Majol is the god of magic and death, he ferries the dead through the Blind Eternities. He was sent to the Inner World when he gave the secrets of arcane magic to man, who krollos wanted to keep for the gods and dragons.

Little is known about the duo of Elder gods, Light Gaia and Dark Gaia.

The Sharoken Pantheon

The Sharoken pantheon counts five Gods. They are:

Zakul, Deity of War and Peace. Leader of these Gods.

Sashaan, Godess of love & Women

Masilu, God of Hunting and Men

Disgul, Deity of Fear & Death

Darnotch, Deity of Evil and Betrayal

The Elder Evils

A few of the horrendous Elder Evils remain from a world before this one, some trapped in the Blind Eternities, some trapped on the material plane, physically or mentally trapped. For those who know little about them, they are monstrosities that could conquer (or, more commonly destroy) the world. They are in some ways comparable to Cthulhu.

Recent History

A mysterious Lord rose from the Underdark, bringing it's races to power and damning the others to horrible fates in horrible prisons and slave camps guarded by the terrible Grimlocks and their Drow Masters. Very few untaken lands remain, small villages full of despairing survivors, some wishing they had perished in the beginnings of the Invasion.
The Players

Lucky

His D20 rolls a 20 between ¼ and 1/5 of the time. He plays Fat Axe, the barbarian. He enjoys a variety of roleplay and combat and is known for his remarkable plans. He plays all sorts of characters, most recently a CE cleric of the Dice Gods some evil deity.

D

D usually plays half-elves with tragic backstories and dark powers. He tends to write Pages and Pages and PAGES of character backstory.


With that over, Let the Campaign Journal begin!

Session 1: We are one. We are many. We are LEGION.

The campaign begins with the heroes trapped in Skullgate Prison, a two-storied prison guarded by Quaggoths and Grimlocks.

Note: Quaggoth are Underdark-dwelling creatures that are covered in black fur (dyed) and use rage to swiftly dispatch their enemies. Grimlocks are grey-skinned creatures with flesh covering their eyes. They are mustcular and as tall as an average creature.
Without further ado, let the Campaign Begin.

The PCs are woken in the night by screaming. It’s coming from a cell on the wall opposite of theirs. Within said cell a human screams. He seems to have gone mad and his hair lies all around the room. A Grimlock runs in to beat the madman into submission. As he runs, a dwarf spits at him. He spins around , whipping his keys out of his pocket . As he does so, he trips and falls to the ground. The keys fall towards Anorix and he promptly lets himself out, freeing everyone excluding the now-bald madman. In all, they are five. Anorix, the Spitting Dwarf, Fat Axe, a kobold in black robes, and a Kuo-Toa (a Frog-Person). The Grimlock had a Rapier and a Greataxe. Anorix takes the Rapier and the Barbarian takes the Greataxe. Anorix slices the deceased guard open and fashions weapons from his bones. Once everyone is armed, Fat Axe throws the door open and they come face to face with yet another guard. Initiative is rolled, and the Barbarian wins. He slashes at the Grimlock with his axe and rolls a natural twenty, instantly killing it. Anorix releases the prisoners. They area: a gnome etching words in Abysmal all over his cell, a nymph, an Uldra Warrior, a high elf and a grey elf, an aged human and a Halfling with red eyes. Bursting into the hallway, our armada is offered a choice.

There are two paths the characters may follow: a long hallway counting many doors, or a door marked Dangerous Creature Holding. With a grin and a prayer, they open the holding area’s double doors and prepare for whatever hell may lie within.

Five cages lie within the room. A Grimlock fiddles with the lock of the first, home to a strange cross between lizard and centaur. The second cages hosts a Maug, a sentient golem-like creature with blue-grey rock in the place of flesh. The third keeps captive a griffin, the fourth a strange orange-colored spider with ten legs, eight eyes, great big mandibles and eight eyes filled with a horrible, malign intelligence. The final cage contains a Howler, a gaunt hound with a back that’s covered in spikes and jaws with far too many teeth. The barbarian wins initiative -again- and charges the Grimlock, nearly killing him. He lets go of the lock, surprised, and the Barbarian makes an unpleasant discovery: The lizard centaur is actually a Dracotaur, a cross between Dragon and Centaur. He takes damage from the fiery spit, which kills the Grimlock. Anorix, who speaks Draconic tries to talk to the Dracotaur, but his inherent mistrust of two-legged being sends him into a frenzy. He makes a full attack at the nearest creature - the Uldra, killing it. As Anorix continues to talk to the beast, who does not yet see sense. It murders the Kuo-Toa with relative ease. Finally, Anorix convinces the Dracotaur to stop his attacks. Realizing that he will need help to escape he allied with the PCs. Meanwhile, I grumbled. Stupid natural twenties. The half-elf decided to pick the other cages. He managed to release the Maug, which joined the characters. He didn’t hit the DC for the Griffin’s cage, nor the spider’s. When he opened that of the howler, I gave him a ghoulish grin and said ‘‘ The creature leaps upon you attempting to pin you to the ground. Roll a grapple check, knowing darn well he’d need a twenty to make it. He got a nineteen. Still smiling, I continued: The creatures screeches at the other characters: Move, and he dies! ’’

That’s when initiative got rolled and the Barbarian attacked it. Critical hit. Full Damage. Insta-Kill. Again. I grumbled something about Nat 20s and the players grinned at me from across the table. Stupid Nat 20s.

So they marched on. In the first room, they found the personal items of prisoners scattered around the room, most notably a dagger that has a random effect each time it hits. Some are good, some are bad. There was some powder of dispersion, as well as a few other mediocre magic items. The walked into the next room, where three Grimlocks stood around a Shifter in an iron maiden. He could last another few rounds before the torture implement killed him. The players agreed that the Dracotaur would make short work of the Grimlocks. He ran in, spat fire at the Grimlocks, killing one, whereupon Fat Axe and the Maug finished off the remaining torturers. They then pried open the Iron maiden, letting loose a badly hurt, but still breathing Shifter, who thanked them and decided to join the ranks.

In the next room, a gnome illusionist was bent over a Guillotine and a sadistic Quaggoth was just about to pull the rope and end the terrified creature’s life. It was going to be difficult for the heroes to save the gnome. Anorix, who had been rolling very, very low for most of the session won initiative and rolled a Nat. 20 (sigh…) , pulling the executioner under the guillotine whilst freeing the gnome from a nearly certain death. The guillotine dropped and there was one less baddie in Skullgate Prison.

The final encounter in the hallway included a more powerful version of the Quaggoth they had encountered in the other room. Now, you can probably guess what happened now. Fat axe ran out and attacked the Quaggoth. A nat 20. I knew it couldn’t kill him, it was far stronger than that. Confirmation: Twenty. Auto-Kill: TWENNEEE. Insta-Kill AGAIN. My beautiful encounter was scrapped. Well no, not quite.

To the horror of the Players, the flesh of the two Grimlocks started to bubble and their bodies started to grow as they morphed into a pair of enormous tigers. They swiped at Fat Axe, dealing quite a bit of damage, when Anorix shifted into avatar form. He then proceeded to deal quite a bit of damage to the first Were-tiger. The lycanthropes and the humanoids exchanged blows for a while before Anorix fell, reverting to elf form before passing out. At this point the players realized they weren’t supposed to defeat these creatures. Instead of running, they called in their two tanks to attack. The Maug and Dracotaur killed them within a round or two, giving the dwarf (a cleric) time to heal Anorix up to nearly full HP.

Leaving the room, the players continued down the corridor and walked down a staircase where a Darkmantle was hiding and I rolled the hide and spot checks. The Darkmantle got a 20, ensuring that it would not be seen. As they advanced, the Darkmantle attached itself to his head. It didn’t have time to do much of anything before a blow from Fat Axe sword quickly put an end to it.

At the bottom of the stairs, the PCs arrived at a fork. One path was lit by torches, the other was dark. As they selected the lit pathway, they didn’t notice my gigantic grin. End of Session 1.



Session 2: Jumping The Shark

In the first session, Anorix and Fat Axe escaped from their prison cells in Skullgate prison, battling Grimlocks and Quaggoths and raising a small army of fellow prisoners, including a Dracotaur, a Maug and even a Nymph. The session came to a close when they elected to take the torch-lit path.

As the escapees walked, the torches lighting their way became more and more sparse as the passage progressed. When they finally got to it’s end, they found themselves in a natural cavern filled with luminous fungi. After taking a few steps, they walked into a somewhat larger area that contained two sleeping Vril, purple-skinned goblins that are far stronger than their brethren. They have acute senses and can let out a high pitched scream that stuns their enemies. Wary of a trap, the players gave me a look and exclaimed: ‘‘Send in the Dracotaur’’! Who promptly blew fire at the sleeping pair. The players were right, and the cunning goblinoids leapt out of the way at the last second. One of the duo escaped the flames, whilst the second took a small amount of damage. Anorix and Fat Axe, along with the rescued nymph charged into battle. Fat Axe made short work of the already-damaged Vril, rolling high (I swear I’m going to throw out his D20 sometime soon), but Anorix wasn’t as lucky. The creature swung at him with it’s claws, reducing his hitpoints to -5. The creature then used one of it’s natural abilities to increase the strength of it’s skin, giving it DR 5. As Fat Axe traded blows with the death-defying Vril, Anorix’s conditioned deteriorated. The nymph managed to heal him back to full health with a well rolled healing spell and the barbarian finished off the final enemy in the room. As the PCs (and their allies) were about to leave, they noticed a pile containing five gems, which they promptly scooped up.

The next chamber ended with a cliff, with a very deep body of water containing some sort of aquatic creature at the bottom. Three mesa-like rock formations permitted them to cross. Each leap seemed relatively easy, but they were almost sure to lose some people. The players thought the Maug could give them a boost onto the first ledge, so I counted this as ‘‘ aiding another ’’, effectively conferring a +2 bonus to their Jump checks. Anorix went first. He made his first leap with ease, nearly missed the second and landed the last. Fat Axe was next. He rolled high on the first two checks, but (finally) ran out of luck on his third and final leap, falling to a near-certain death…

At the last possible moment, Anorix caught Fat Axe’s hand and pulled the hefty human up to safety. He was safe. Now it was the turn of the NPCs to cross. I don’t remember the exact order of the jumps, but I do remember what happened. So here goes. The Kobold went first. He made the first leap, but narrowly overshot the second. The other characters watched in horror as the creature - a shark - leapt into the air, catching the scaled humanoid in it’s maw and devouring it with a series of loud crunching noises. The Shifter went second. With three expertly executed leaps, he landed on the ledge at the other side of the chamber. Next came the duo of elves, which both crossed the gorge adequately. The daerf cleric made the first two jumps, but, come the third, only managed to hang onto the ledge with one hand. As he began to slip away, Fat Axe pulled him up. The Nymph, endowed with Sylvan grace made her jumps as well. The old man came next. Old and frail, he fell into the water, attempting to hit the shark with his ‘‘ Walking Stick ’’, a bone from one of the Grimlocks. He knocked a few teeth out before becoming a snack.

The Players decided that the Maug would throw the remaining NPCs (all small) over the gorge. It worked for the two gnomes, but the Halfling wasn’t quite so lucky. Next the Dracotaur leapt across, landing with great agility. The Maug leapt, but fell into the water. As he fell, he picked up the shark and ripped it in two, leaving a multitude of corpses to float in the water, as well as one scarred, bleeding, but living old man. The player laughed as the Maug threw him onto the ledge, where he sat, somewhat traumatized. Their good mood died, however when they realized that the Maug, one of their favorite NPCs, couldn’t swim. Desperately, the barbarian leapt into the water. He made his swim check. To get the Maug out, I ruled that he needed to partially pull it out, then support it whilst it grabbed the ledge. Once that was accomplished, I ruled that a successful climb check would be required from the Maug.

Simple in theory. It seemed that the dice gods were in a strange moods that day. The players spent 10+ minutes watching an exchange somewhat like this:
LUCKY: *Rolls* 15!
ME: He’s out!
Him: 8!
ME: He falls Back in!
Him:19
ME: He’s out!
Him: 18
ME: He’s climbing! *Roll* Ugh, he fall back in again.

This went on for 5-10 minutes, until the Maug was finally able to climb back up, leaving the players in fits of laughter.

The band of ex-prisoners walked down the long corridor, until they finally found an exit that led to the exterior. Between them and freedom, however, stood a trio of hellhounds. Having recently discovered the CR of the nymph, the players elected to send her forth. She used call lightning to fry the puppies through the exit, damaging the first. One of them managed to hurt her quite badly before he and one of his companions fell to the combined Fury of a barbarian, a Maug and a Dracotaur. The last of them rushed past those who killed his companions, eager to sink his teeth into the weak nymph. Surviving the attacks of opportunity, he made short work of the Nymph, killing her with a critical hit. Fat Axe became enraged and killed the Hound with a critical hit of his own (what a surprise). Anorix used Black Candle, a minor power earned at first level due to his MOD (mark of destiny) to set the Nymph’s corpse a blaze, whereupon a heavy-hearted Fat Axe and their somewhat reduced army exited the caverns where so many had died.

Arriving outside, the characters noticed a sign giving them three options of paths to choose. The first led to somewhere beginning with the letter N - the rest was too faded to read -, the second led to somewhere called Silverymoon, the third led to ‘‘ The Marshes’’. However, someone had written in the words Of Death after the title, so that it read ‘‘ The marshes of death ’’. The players, after a few minutes of discussion, chose to head for Silverymoon, hoping to find a town there, not knowing that they’d be wishing they’d gone somewhere else by the end of it. End of Session Two.

Session 3: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, who's the Deadest of us All?

Session 3: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, who’s the Deadest of us All?

Last session, the brave adventurers escaped from Skullgate Prison and followed the road to Silverymoon. the next session begins when they arrive in said town.

After a few our of walking, our hardy band of adventurers reach the gates of village. Two watchtowers guard the gate. As they approach a human female at the top shouts down to them: Two guards will come down to take your weapons. You can retrieve them tomorrow, at the Town Watch HQ, once they’ve been tested for Black Magic. Fat Axe, infuriated by this development debates whether or not to fight them off, when Anorix slaps him across the face. He rolls a natural twenty, which confirms, and deals 12 damage (1d4 x3) to the Barbarian. Frustrated, he hands over his weapons, as do the others. As the gates begin to open, revealing a shabby but jovial-looking town, the female guard informs the PCs that they must get admission papers at the Scaled Villa tomorrow, as it is closed today. This is because the town Council is holding a meeting to prepare for the Festival Of Masks. As the characters walk into town, a few members of the band leave, others decide to stay, for various reasons. The non-illusionist gnome and the male elf leave, but the others stay, some for protection, others because they feel indebted and a few to get a taste of Adventure. As they walk into the town, they meet a gnome with a high pitched voice called Quillion, who gives them directions. They decide to head to the Dancing Dragon, an inn, tavern and gambling house. As they arrive, they discover a large, illusory Red Dragon dancing upon the roof of the establishment. They enter, intent on having the first enjoyable night they’ve had in a long while.

Walking through the deserted lounge, they head to the third floor (past the second, which holds the gambling area and the bar), where they buy rooms for themselves and the companions that did not manage to find any money during the escape and do not have any valuables they can sell. Heading back down, we discover that Anorix is not much of a gambler, so they decide to engage in one of the many drinking contests.

Now, to determine the victor, I name a drink and give a fortitude DC. Each participant rolls the save. Failure adds one Mark. Two marks makes you drunk, three very drunk, a fourth means you pass out. Being drunk gives you -2 to your Fort. checks, being very drunk incurs a penalty of -4. If you roll under 3 on some of the stronger drinks, you automatically pass out. Also, the bar offers a potion that miraculously renders you sober, for a fee of 2 GP.

The first contest includes a dwarf, a half-orc and a gnome. The gnome passes out first, then the half-orc. Only Anorix and Fat Axe remain. A few rolls later, they’re each very drunk, when finally Fat Axe rolls a Six and is eliminated from the contest. When they buy sobriety drinks, the bartender notices two new faces and decides to host a large drinking contest, done in three rounds. Taking interest, some of the gamblers come and play, as does most of the bar.

Fat Axe, Anorix, The Dwarven Cleric, a Halfling and a strange humanoid with leaves in his hair and a look of perpetual drunkenness on his face made up the roster of round one, group one. Anorix rolled ridiculously low and was the first to pass out. Fat Axe had an easy time winning. He won 10 GP and moved up to the next round, where he and all the other contestants were easily defeated by a half-dragon. The heroes went outside and looked around town, before returning to the Dancing Dragon. And that’s when things got interesting.

Whilst the Barbarian ran around seducing everyone that looked the least bit like a girl , Anorix found an aged man wearing a monocle and a top hat., who was reading a book and holding a mirror. Anorix struck up a chat. Startled, the man quickly put away the book and the mirror. Anorix glimpsed the title as he put the book away, and decided to ask the man why he had been so swift in hiding the Tome of Dark Reflection. The man nervously explained to Anorix that many town members believed old legends saying that reading the book called dark creatures from within mirrors into the world, whereupon they slaughtered and kidnapped everyone they could. Seeing as he was a council member, his council seat could be compromised if he was found with the book. Anorix told the man his secret was safe, then went up to bed. He ran into Fat Axe on the way, and told him about the superstition. The Barbarian smashed his mirror, just in case. As he did so, he noticed that his reflection was several seconds off, as though it had to wait to see what he was doing before mimicking his actions. He took no notice of this, and went to sleep, as did Anorix.

During the night , the protagonists and their NPC allies were woken by the town watch, suspected of murdering one of the council members, Callven Vitori in his sleep. The watch explained that though it was likely they were innocent, their arrival coincided with the murder and they would need to help with the investigation. As they gave a description of the man, Anorix realized with a jolt that it was the very same person he had seen the previous day at the dancing Dragon! Worst of all, was the manner of the man’s demise: Stabbed to death with the shards of a mirror!

Led to the crime scene, the PCs and some of the NPCs began their investigation. A mirror had been shattered in the room beside Callven’s and it’s shards had been used to kill the victim whilst he slept. Two important discoveries were made: The Tome of Dark Reflection was found in a secret compartment of the deceased nobleman’s night table, and a set of footprints led from the broken mirror to the corpse and back, from where they disappeared. After this discovery was made, a piercing cry was heard from downstairs, where they found a maid stabbed dead with the shards of a nearby mirror.

At this point, the characters elected to destroy as many mirrors as they could and to have the watch spread this message to everyone in town. As they went to destroy a mirror they had found in another part of the house, they discovered it could not be destroyed. As soon as it was struck by an axe, the mirror’s cracks swiftly disappeared. Looking through the Tome of Dark Reflection, they realized that the book was completely blank.

The adventurers asked the town watch if they new any more about the curse. The watch knew nothing more, however, instead directing them to Loremaster Sallin. With great haste they rushed to the town archives. The Loremaster knew how to read the tome, but warned the heroes that reading it exposed the reader and those nearby to the beings within the mirrors. During the week-long Festival of Masks, however, if the book had been read in the month preceding it, the creatures could emerge from the mirrors more and more freely as the week progressed, and that if the curse was not lifted before the end of the festival, which began in two days, the whole town would be slaughtered. He then explained how to read the dreaded book.

The PCs decided to take the risk of reading it. Back at the inn, Fat Axe and Anorix used their mirror to read the book (the writing was shown in the reflection). As they began to read, Anorix saw a far older version of himself in the mirror, grey-haired and wrinkled, whilst Fat Axe saw his own rotting corpse. They knew most of what they found in the book, which dubbed the beasts within the mirrors ‘‘ Nerra ’’. However, at the end of the Tome, the words Tormod’s Crypt could be found, written as they should be through a mirror (the rest of the book could be read normally).

A few Gather Information checks later, they discovered that Tormod was the name of one of the town’s founders, a peaceful and kind man who disappeared off the face of the earth whilst he was an old man. A crypt was made for him and his family, and it can be found just a bit outside the town. Before heading out, the characters retrieved their weapons, got admission papers at the Scaled Villa (where they met Icarus Draighenhart, the son of a favorite PC from a previous campaign who was devoured by Grell) and were led to the crypt, by a member of the town watch. End of session.

I hope you enjoy this, please post comments/criticism/compliments and notify me about any errors there may be.

ka_bna
2010-07-15, 11:12 AM
Interesting! I read a quick glance over it (haven't got much time right now), but I'm going to read it a bit later.

How often do you game/write?

Lord Loss
2010-07-15, 12:37 PM
i ought to have the second session up tomorrow or the day after and the third session will take place a day or two later than that. Glad to hear you enjoy it!

Just to make it official

Session 2: Jumping The Shark coming soon.

Lord Loss
2010-07-15, 04:09 PM
And... it's ready!

Session 2: Jumping The Shark

In the first session, Anorix and Fat Axe escaped from their prison cells in Skullgate prison, battling Grimlocks and Quaggoths and raising a small army of fellow prisoners, including a Dracotaur, a Maug and even a Nymph. The session came to a close when they elected to take the torch-lit path.

As the escapees walked, the torches lighting their way became more and more sparse as the passage progressed. When they finally got to it’s end, they found themselves in a natural cavern filled with luminous fungi. After taking a few steps, they walked into a somewhat larger area that contained two sleeping Vril, purple-skinned goblins that are far stronger than their brethren. They have acute senses and can let out a high pitched scream that stuns their enemies. Wary of a trap, the players gave me a look and exclaimed: ‘‘Send in the Dracotaur’’! Who promptly blew fire at the sleeping pair. The players were right, and the cunning goblinoids leapt out of the way at the last second. One of the duo escaped the flames, whilst the second took a small amount of damage. Anorix and Fat Axe, along with the rescued nymph charged into battle. Fat Axe made short work of the already-damaged Vril, rolling high (I swear I’m going to throw out his D20 sometime soon), but Anorix wasn’t as lucky. The creature swung at him with it’s claws, reducing his hitpoints to -5. The creature then used one of it’s natural abilities to increase the strength of it’s skin, giving it DR 5. As Fat Axe traded blows with the death-defying Vril, Anorix’s conditioned deteriorated. The nymph managed to heal him back to full health with a well rolled healing spell and the barbarian finished off the final enemy in the room. As the PCs (and their allies) were about to leave, they noticed a pile containing five gems, which they promptly scooped up.

The next chamber ended with a cliff, with a very deep body of water containing some sort of aquatic creature at the bottom. Three mesa-like rock formations permitted them to cross. Each leap seemed relatively easy, but they were almost sure to lose some people. The players thought the Maug could give them a boost onto the first ledge, so I counted this as ‘‘ aiding another ’’, effectively conferring a +2 bonus to their Jump checks. Anorix went first. He made his first leap with ease, nearly missed the second and landed the last. Fat Axe was next. He rolled high on the first two checks, but (finally) ran out of luck on his third and final leap, falling to a near-certain death…

At the last possible moment, Anorix caught Fat Axe’s hand and pulled the hefty human up to safety. He was safe. Now it was the turn of the NPCs to cross. I don’t remember the exact order of the jumps, but I do remember what happened. So here goes. The Kobold went first. He made the first leap, but narrowly overshot the second. The other characters watched in horror as the creature - a shark - leapt into the air, catching the scaled humanoid in it’s maw and devouring it with a series of loud crunching noises. The Shifter went second. With three expertly executed leaps, he landed on the ledge at the other side of the chamber. Next came the duo of elves, which both crossed the gorge adequately. The daerf cleric made the first two jumps, but, come the third, only managed to hang onto the ledge with one hand. As he began to slip away, Fat Axe pulled him up. The Nymph, endowed with Sylvan grace made her jumps as well. The old man came next. Old and frail, he fell into the water, attempting to hit the shark with his ‘‘ Walking Stick ’’, a bone from one of the Grimlocks. He knocked a few teeth out before becoming a snack.

The Players decided that the Maug would throw the remaining NPCs (all small) over the gorge. It worked for the two gnomes, but the Halfling wasn’t quite so lucky. Next the Dracotaur leapt across, landing with great agility. The Maug leapt, but fell into the water. As he fell, he picked up the shark and ripped it in two, leaving a multitude of corpses to float in the water, as well as one scarred, bleeding, but living old man. The player laughed as the Maug threw him onto the ledge, where he sat, somewhat traumatized. Their good mood died, however when they realized that the Maug, one of their favorite NPCs, couldn’t swim. Desperately, the barbarian leapt into the water. He made his swim check. To get the Maug out, I ruled that he needed to partially pull it out, then support it whilst it grabbed the ledge. Once that was accomplished, I ruled that a successful climb check would be required from the Maug.

Simple in theory. It seemed that the dice gods were in a strange moods that day. The players spent 10+ minutes watching an exchange somewhat like this:
LUCKY: *Rolls* 15!
ME: He’s out!
Him: 8!
ME: He falls Back in!
Him:19
ME: He’s out!
Him: 18
ME: He’s climbing! *Roll* Ugh, he fall back in again.

This went on for 5-10 minutes, until the Maug was finally able to climb back up, leaving the players in fits of laughter.

The band of ex-prisoners walked down the long corridor, until they finally found an exit that led to the exterior. Between them and freedom, however, stood a trio of hellhounds. Having recently discovered the CR of the nymph, the players elected to send her forth. She used call lightning to fry the puppies through the exit, damaging the first. One of them managed to hurt her quite badly before he and one of his companions fell to the combined Fury of a barbarian, a Maug and a Dracotaur. The last of them rushed past those who killed his companions, eager to sink his teeth into the weak nymph. Surviving the attacks of opportunity, he made short work of the Nymph, killing her with a critical hit. Fat Axe became enraged and killed the Hound with a critical hit of his own (what a surprise). Anorix used Black Candle, a minor power earned at first level due to his MOD (mark of destiny) to set the Nymph’s corpse a blaze, whereupon a heavy-hearted Fat Axe and their somewhat reduced army exited the caverns where so many had died.

Arriving outside, the characters noticed a sign giving them three options of paths to choose. The first led to somewhere beginning with the letter N - the rest was too faded to read -, the second led to somewhere called Silverymoon, the third led to ‘‘ The Marshes’’. However, someone had written in the words Of Death after the title, so that it read ‘‘ The marshes of death ’’. The players, after a few minutes of discussion, chose to head for Silverymoon, hoping to find a town there, not knowing that they’d be wishing they’d gone somewhere else by the end of it. End of Session Two.

ka_bna
2010-07-16, 04:01 PM
Done reading! I really enjoy the alliance of the prisoners!
About XP, you are just making them level up at certain points of the campaign?

Lord Vampyre
2010-07-16, 04:47 PM
Interesting so far. Well done.

Lord Loss
2010-07-16, 06:59 PM
Done reading! I really enjoy the alliance of the prisoners!
About XP, you are just making them level up at certain points of the campaign?

Correct! they level at certain plot points! I'm glad you guys enjoy it. Feel free to give suggestions on writing/ on what should happen next. Session 3 is taking place on tuesday, and the write up should be done on wednesday or thursday.

Drothmal
2010-07-16, 07:54 PM
This is great! Thank you for sharing!

I feel that Silverymoon should be a town overridden by zombies and skeletons that look silverish in the moonlight

How many NPC's do they have right now?

Lord Loss
2010-07-17, 07:08 AM
This is great! Thank you for sharing!

I feel that Silverymoon should be a town overridden by zombies and skeletons that look silverish in the moonlight

How many NPC's do they have right now?

I intend on doing a zombie adventure soon. Right now, however I have big plans for Silverymoon. I'm happy you enjoy the campaign journal! Thanks for suggestions, I'll try to introduce each one into the campaign if I can.

Their NPCs are currently: Gnome Illusionist. Regular Gnome. Shifter (Monster Manual III, they're animalistic people that can take on the traits of said animal at will, to a lesser degree to that of werewolves), Elf, Grey Elf, Maug, Dracotaur, Dwarf Cleric and the Old Human.

Also,we may have a new player next session, if we're in luck.

ka_bna
2010-07-17, 11:44 AM
the Old Human sounds either as a tutorial npc in a computer game, or as a dragon/deity in disguise, especially after his fight with the shark:smallwink:

Lord Loss
2010-07-17, 01:46 PM
the Old Human sounds either as a tutorial npc in a computer game, or as a dragon/deity in disguise, especially after his fight with the shark:smallwink:

That's for me to know and for you and my players to find out... :smalltongue:.

For the record though, I do have something planned for him.

Lord Loss
2010-07-19, 12:22 PM
Quick Question: Would anyone here like a few entries from the POV of the characters? If so, which ones? Also, next session is tomorrow, so I should have the new session up a little after that.

Drothmal
2010-07-19, 05:25 PM
Actually, I had a question for the OP. Have you found it hard to balance the champion class? About a year ago I made a champion with my group and it turned out to be quite a bit OP (think average optimization), which possibly led to the early retirement of the character just after the first adventure

In my case, I had just given him a very high STR to begin with. Combined with the 4 ability points at lvl 1 (which I put in STR) and monkey grip, the avatar form was doing 3d6+9 or some ridiculous amount like that. I crit a guy we were not supposed even to fight and completely killed him, after which I proceeded to run around the dungeon killing everything in front of me before the transformation ran out...

It seems like you give them much harder challenges than my DM was giving us, but I was wondering what were the stats of the avatar form for your player and if you are concerned about that at all

Lord Loss
2010-07-20, 04:20 PM
Quite on the contrary, the Avatar in our group was underpowered that he switched it in favor of a homebrew class, the Abyssal Heritor. It gives him bonus Abyssal Heritor feats, claws and other demonic abilities such as Scaly Hide. I'll type the new session up tomorrow.

Lord Loss
2010-07-21, 08:45 AM
Well, here's the new Session.

Session 3: Mirror Mirror on the Wall, who's the deadest of us all?

Session 3: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, who’s the Deadest of us All?

Last session, the brave adventurers escaped from Skullgate Prison and followed the road to Silverymoon. the next session begins when they arrive in said town.

After a few our of walking, our hardy band of adventurers reach the gates of village. Two watchtowers guard the gate. As they approach a human female at the top shouts down to them: Two guards will come down to take your weapons. You can retrieve them tomorrow, at the Town Watch HQ, once they’ve been tested for Black Magic. Fat Axe, infuriated by this development debates whether or not to fight them off, when Anorix slaps him across the face. He rolls a natural twenty, which confirms, and deals 12 damage (1d4 x3) to the Barbarian. Frustrated, he hands over his weapons, as do the others. As the gates begin to open, revealing a shabby but jovial-looking town, the female guard informs the PCs that they must get admission papers at the Scaled Villa tomorrow, as it is closed today. This is because the town Council is holding a meeting to prepare for the Festival Of Masks. As the characters walk into town, a few members of the band leave, others decide to stay, for various reasons. The non-illusionist gnome and the male elf leave, but the others stay, some for protection, others because they feel indebted and a few to get a taste of Adventure. As they walk into the town, they meet a gnome with a high pitched voice called Quillion, who gives them directions. They decide to head to the Dancing Dragon, an inn, tavern and gambling house. As they arrive, they discover a large, illusory Red Dragon dancing upon the roof of the establishment. They enter, intent on having the first enjoyable night they’ve had in a long while.

Walking through the deserted lounge, they head to the third floor (past the second, which holds the gambling area and the bar), where they buy rooms for themselves and the companions that did not manage to find any money during the escape and do not have any valuables they can sell. Heading back down, we discover that Anorix is not much of a gambler, so they decide to engage in one of the many drinking contests.

Now, to determine the victor, I name a drink and give a fortitude DC. Each participant rolls the save. Failure adds one Mark. Two marks makes you drunk, three very drunk, a fourth means you pass out. Being drunk gives you -2 to your Fort. checks, being very drunk incurs a penalty of -4. If you roll under 3 on some of the stronger drinks, you automatically pass out. Also, the bar offers a potion that miraculously renders you sober, for a fee of 2 GP.

The first contest includes a dwarf, a half-orc and a gnome. The gnome passes out first, then the half-orc. Only Anorix and Fat Axe remain. A few rolls later, they’re each very drunk, when finally Fat Axe rolls a Six and is eliminated from the contest. When they buy sobriety drinks, the bartender notices two new faces and decides to host a large drinking contest, done in three rounds. Taking interest, some of the gamblers come and play, as does most of the bar.

Fat Axe, Anorix, The Dwarven Cleric, a Halfling and a strange humanoid with leaves in his hair and a look of perpetual drunkenness on his face made up the roster of round one, group one. Anorix rolled ridiculously low and was the first to pass out. Fat Axe had an easy time winning. He won 10 GP and moved up to the next round, where he and all the other contestants were easily defeated by a half-dragon. The heroes went outside and looked around town, before returning to the Dancing Dragon. And that’s when things got interesting.

Whilst the Barbarian ran around seducing everyone that looked the least bit like a girl , Anorix found an aged man wearing a monocle and a top hat., who was reading a book and holding a mirror. Anorix struck up a chat. Startled, the man quickly put away the book and the mirror. Anorix glimpsed the title as he put the book away, and decided to ask the man why he had been so swift in hiding the Tome of Dark Reflection. The man nervously explained to Anorix that many town members believed old legends saying that reading the book called dark creatures from within mirrors into the world, whereupon they slaughtered and kidnapped everyone they could. Seeing as he was a council member, his council seat could be compromised if he was found with the book. Anorix told the man his secret was safe, then went up to bed. He ran into Fat Axe on the way, and told him about the superstition. The Barbarian smashed his mirror, just in case. As he did so, he noticed that his reflection was several seconds off, as though it had to wait to see what he was doing before mimicking his actions. He took no notice of this, and went to sleep, as did Anorix.

During the night , the protagonists and their NPC allies were woken by the town watch, suspected of murdering one of the council members, Callven Vitori in his sleep. The watch explained that though it was likely they were innocent, their arrival coincided with the murder and they would need to help with the investigation. As they gave a description of the man, Anorix realized with a jolt that it was the very same person he had seen the previous day at the dancing Dragon! Worst of all, was the manner of the man’s demise: Stabbed to death with the shards of a mirror!

Led to the crime scene, the PCs and some of the NPCs began their investigation. A mirror had been shattered in the room beside Callven’s and it’s shards had been used to kill the victim whilst he slept. Two important discoveries were made: The Tome of Dark Reflection was found in a secret compartment of the deceased nobleman’s night table, and a set of footprints led from the broken mirror to the corpse and back, from where they disappeared. After this discovery was made, a piercing cry was heard from downstairs, where they found a maid stabbed dead with the shards of a nearby mirror.

At this point, the characters elected to destroy as many mirrors as they could and to have the watch spread this message to everyone in town. As they went to destroy a mirror they had found in another part of the house, they discovered it could not be destroyed. As soon as it was struck by an axe, the mirror’s cracks swiftly disappeared. Looking through the Tome of Dark Reflection, they realized that the book was completely blank.

The adventurers asked the town watch if they new any more about the curse. The watch knew nothing more, however, instead directing them to Loremaster Sallin. With great haste they rushed to the town archives. The Loremaster knew how to read the tome, but warned the heroes that reading it exposed the reader and those nearby to the beings within the mirrors. During the week-long Festival of Masks, however, if the book had been read in the month preceding it, the creatures could emerge from the mirrors more and more freely as the week progressed, and that if the curse was not lifted before the end of the festival, which began in two days, the whole town would be slaughtered. He then explained how to read the dreaded book.

The PCs decided to take the risk of reading it. Back at the inn, Fat Axe and Anorix used their mirror to read the book (the writing was shown in the reflection). As they began to read, Anorix saw a far older version of himself in the mirror, grey-haired and wrinkled, whilst Fat Axe saw his own rotting corpse. They knew most of what they found in the book, which dubbed the beasts within the mirrors ‘‘ Nerra ’’. However, at the end of the Tome, the words Tormod’s Crypt could be found, written as they should be through a mirror (the rest of the book could be read normally).

A few Gather Information checks later, they discovered that Tormod was the name of one of the town’s founders, a peaceful and kind man who disappeared off the face of the earth whilst he was an old man. A crypt was made for him and his family, and it can be found just a bit outside the town. Before heading out, the characters retrieved their weapons, got admission papers at the Scaled Villa (where they met Icarus Draighenhart, the son of a favorite PC from a previous campaign who was devoured by Grell) and were led to the crypt, by a member of the town watch. End of session.

ka_bna
2010-07-21, 01:14 PM
Interesting plot! Waiting how this mirrorplot turns out...

Lord Loss
2010-07-21, 03:28 PM
Interesting plot! Waiting how this mirrorplot turns out...

Before I get cracking on the crypt, anything you guys want to see?

certain themes, traps, monsters...

ka_bna
2010-07-22, 11:31 AM
Personally I'd like a band of kobolds, or some more ally's (a cute blink dog, or something:p)
And please, let the Old Man live:smalltongue: (the NPC Old Man, not Tormod)

Lord Loss
2010-07-23, 05:24 AM
The first half of the crypt will be ovverun by Kobolds, the rest by something far more sinister, which they worship...

Lord Loss
2010-07-26, 03:06 PM
Next Session is tomorrow, in which we run into Kobolds and an intriguing NPC...

ka_bna
2010-07-26, 03:13 PM
Can't wait to hear your report! (Summer holidays are suspending my own d&d, so I'd like to use the reading of your journal as a subsitute:smalltongue:)

Lord Loss
2010-07-27, 06:54 PM
Session Just Ended. We only played for a few hours. I'll write the report out tomorrow.