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View Full Version : Campaign Journal: Kingdom of Erasmus



Lord Tyger
2012-07-15, 11:20 PM
So, I started a Pathfinder campaign for some friends of mine today and I decided I'd like to try making a campaign journal to go along with it. We should have four players most of the time, but only three were able to make the first session.


The party, thus far all human:
.
Jam- A Life Oracle with the haunted curse. A tall, gangly redheaded teen, shipped out from his monastery after they got sick of his constant accidents. He's headed to another monastery where an expert exorcist lives. Big on helping people.

Tibby (Isabel)- A Weather Domain druid, travelling the countryside to learn more about religion before becoming a spiritual leader for her people.

Felden- An Evocation Specialist Wizard, thus far with little backstory. (Which is cool. I'm adopting the theory of develop the character through the game).

The setting:

A homebrew kingdom called Erasmus, inhabited by the Estoi, a recently (five generations) arrived group of men and dwarves who worship a God of whom a human god and a dwarf goddess have been decided to be separate aspects, and the Lon, the natives who, having failed to rise successfully against the more recent arrivals several times, are being culturally and religiously converted.

The setting is fairly low magic- while there are a decent number of low level arcane magic users, high levels are few and far between, and divine magic is rarer still, though more organized through the church. This means no easy cleric healing, though the party mostly has that covered.

The First Session

The party, who had been travelling together for safety through the relative wilderness of the mid-country, came into the town of Kerradin just as a hanging was finished up in the town square. The hanged man was, according to the church inquisitor overseeing the affair, the wizard who had been robbing travelers in the woods. He then explained that he had been called away on important church business in the west, and so could not deal with the wizard's tower personally. He cautioned all present that though their might be treasure inside, there was no telling what sort of wily defenses might be guarding it.

The wizard in the party decided this sounded like a good place for plunder (both of treasure and knowledge) and the oracle wanted to make sure there was nothing left in the tower which might hurt the townsfolk, so they began questioning the townsfolk. It turned out the tower had once been the home of the infamous wizard Bardock the Red, a master transmutationist who could take on any form he desired. Five years ago, Bardock had vanished, and the tower had evidently been deserted, until this new fellow moved in.

Satisfied, the party set off. They found the tower easily enough, rising from the center of a lake, and connected by a bridge. When they tried to cross the bridge, two statues with large shields at the other end rushed forward, knocking Tibby back to the start of the bridge, and the other two into the water waist deep water. Other statues, wielding bows, turned to fire at them, but apparently lacked any ammunition. The party tried several more times before one of them managed to slip past the druids, and lower a rope for the others to climb up on the ledge that surrounded the tower.

Having heard voices arguing in the tower while they tried to cross the bridge, they knocked on the door, and were brusquely told to go away. A hilarious scene ensued wherein Jam and Felden opened windows with Mage Hand, only to have wizards rushing about the tower slam them shut.

Finally the wizards took a couple shots at Felden with Magic Missile, he returned fire, and they withdrew further into the tower. The party conferred, and decided to return to town and gather further information. Tibby and Felden stayed at the local inn, while Jam found a family welling to give him a bed in exchange for doing some chores.

A few days later, a traveler arrived at the inn, bearing a tale of being robbed in the woods by wizards and their horrible goop monster. Jam was sent for, and healed, drawing quite a bit of attention from the crowd. Jam also took a side trip to see the traveler's sick aunt, who lived in town and who he had come to see. He made the aunt some tea with honey and recommended a few days of bed rest.

The next day, the party set off into the woods again, this time deciding to lay in wait for the wizards when they emerged from their tower to rob travelers. A hilariously failed role from Felden and a quick magic fight later, they captured one of the wizards and interrogated him. The wizard, who turned out to be named Lux, claimed to be one of Bardock the Red's apprentices, and further announced that Bardock the Red was the rightful ruler of the area, but had traveled to the west to confer with a colleague years ago and never returned. In his absence, he explained, his apprentices were collecting taxes. A debate over the roles and responsibilities of authority ensued, with Lux maintaining that he and his brethren prevented other wizards from oppressing the area, and therefore had the right to collect taxes from travelers and townsfolk, forcibly if necessary. Jam argued that the role of a government was to help the people it administered, with Felden putting in to ask whether the taxes were used for civic improvements such as roads and bridges. Hilarity ensued when, upon Felden declaring that he and his companions represented rightful authority, was asked the last time he had built a bridge. Lux also identified the hanged wizard as Gerald, saying, "He may have been a bit of an incautious oaf, but he was still one of us, and we'll make the town pay for kiling him."

Leaving Lux bound and unconscious, but stable, the party took his keys and approached the tower again. Trying to open the door triggered the Burning Disarm trap, and the Jam nearly dropped the keys, but managed to hold on, though not without singed fingers. The party then managed to open the door and entered the tower.

They found another three wizards, and did battle, defeating and binding two of them while the third fled. They chased her through the door, and found a staircase. Climbing upwards didn't seem to get them anywhere's, as even after walking what should have been thirty feet, they were barely ten steps up. Climbing down proved easier, and they entered the basement, confronting a Giant Amoeba. This encounter left Tibby and Jam unconscious, but the Amoeba dead. Reviving them with smelling salts, Felden, also wounded in the fight with the wizards, though he avoided damage from the Amoeba, suggested they leave the tower for the moment, returning once they had had a chance to heal.

Back in town, Jam, being the selfless sort, healed Tibby, destabilizing himself and falling unconscious again. An exasperated Felden again revived Jam, who went to tell the family with whom he'd been living, explaining that he would be leaving to stay at the inn with the rest of the party. Word of his healing abilities having spread, and his holy symbol identifying him as a follower of the Church of Eo, the family was rather shamefaced at having made him work for his room and board, and offered to let him stay for free in their much more comfortable guest room.

Jam declined, explaining that he was quite content to do chores, as he had in the monastery growing up, but that for the moment he felt he should stay close to his companions. He rested, and the next day attempted to heal himself, regaining a a little health, but destabilizing himself again and falling once more unconscious. Fortunately Tibby had also prepared healing spells, and between the two of them, they were able to restore the party to full health. Relating the existence of yet more wizards in the tower, the party gathered together a posse of townsfolk, and made their preparations for a third attack. And that's where we ended the session.