Keltaris
2013-02-14, 02:40 PM
A couple of weeks ago I started playing in a Dragonlance campaign and, inspired by Saph, I decided to write a campaign journal. My writing skills can't even begin to compare to Saph's but I'll give it my best.
We used 40PB and reroll HP if the result is below average.
I'll start introducing the party:
3rd level CG Human Rogue 1/Bard 2: My character. I'm usually the one more versed with optimization, but this time I decided not to optimize, so I took Improved Disarm and decided to wield a whip. Skillmonkey and trapfinder.
3rd level NG Minotaur Barbarian: Lion totem for pounce, he aims at Frenzied Berserker.
3rd level Human Ranger: Ranged specialization and Undead as favoured enemy.
3rd level Dwarf Cleric of Paladine: Healbot. Wants to take RSoP.
3rd level Human Druid: Riding Dog animal companion, very fond of the Produce Fire spell.
First Sessions
The adventure starts at a tavern near the High Clerist's Tower, where we reunite after three years of solo adventuring, and basically RP the tale of our backgrounds to each other.
The next day we catch our first plot hook when we hear a Bard singing about some ancient temple in the valley, a temple that we knew nothing about, and that for Dragonlance history reasons, shouldn't be there.
Interested, we ask for more and he tells us that he heard about this place from the ramblings of a drifter named Eldena Firemane, a middle-aged woman he met a couple of weeks ago. He also tells us she was going to Vingaard Keep, so, hungry to know more about the matter, we set out to follow her.
After a couple of days of travel we get our first random encounter.
DM: "Getting close to the source of the noise you notice a set of feral eyes in a bush."
Barbarian: "I charge the bush!"
The Barbarian rolls for concealment, hit and damage and pummels into oblivion the poor Dire Weasel that the DM wanted to run away.
This encounter will set a trend for many to follow, like the one we had the next night, when attacked by 4 Bugbear, after a first moment of panic due to our inability to see in the darkness, the Barbarian proceeded to charge and one-shot our enemies, one by one, while I disarmed a couple.
A couple of days later, as we're nearing Vingaard Keep, we notice a kid (16 or so) with two horses and bad bruises all over, coming from the city.
Turns out he and his friend, seeking glory went to hunt down a known Troll that lives pretty close to the city. The friend didn't make it back.
The Cleric promises we'll avenge his friend's death in the name of Paladine and we proceed towards the city.
Once we get there we find Eldena (right after getting robbed of our flint & steel by a group of kenders) and we get the whole story from her.
Her recount is pretty confused but in the end we get an approximate location of the temple where some 10 years ago, she lost her boyfriend and her mental sanity.
The place should be near the High Clerist's Tower, but before we get back there, we decide to go slay the troll and his lovely half, motivated by the 1000 gp bounty on their heads.
Troll Hunting!
After a couple of Gather Information checks, we narrow down a location for their cave and with the Ranger tracking we start looking around in their territory, when we're interrupted by a sizable rock that almost hits me. Guess we found 'em.
Battle starts, I sing, the ranger shoots and the Barbarian... well, he charges the troll. He deals 20-some damage but now he's made him angry, and it's his turn. The Barbarian gets his 20-some damage thrown right back at him, and will be saved by a potion, the cleric running in to save him and the druid's dog, that took 30+ damage in his place while he was backing out to get healed.
In the end we manage to kill him with the Barbarian risking to drop in the negatives (or worse) a couple of times and as we're killing him we hear a deafening roar. His girlfriend's angry, so the Barbarian, that just got to full HP thanks to the Cleric, charges her.
Battle goes as the one previous one, with the Barbarian going into the negatives this time and the others barely killing the thing in a group effort (Masterwork Horn and Inspirational Boost for the +3 damage on IC were a great choice).
We heal up the Barbarian and we get back to town to get our hard-earned reward.
The session ends and we gain a level.
First thoughts: Well, when we sat down for character creation we all assumed the Ranger was going TWF (don't know why). Needless to say that now we are a bit frail in the melee department... An hint of what will happen in the next session: our favourite charging character will go down to negatives.
We used 40PB and reroll HP if the result is below average.
I'll start introducing the party:
3rd level CG Human Rogue 1/Bard 2: My character. I'm usually the one more versed with optimization, but this time I decided not to optimize, so I took Improved Disarm and decided to wield a whip. Skillmonkey and trapfinder.
3rd level NG Minotaur Barbarian: Lion totem for pounce, he aims at Frenzied Berserker.
3rd level Human Ranger: Ranged specialization and Undead as favoured enemy.
3rd level Dwarf Cleric of Paladine: Healbot. Wants to take RSoP.
3rd level Human Druid: Riding Dog animal companion, very fond of the Produce Fire spell.
First Sessions
The adventure starts at a tavern near the High Clerist's Tower, where we reunite after three years of solo adventuring, and basically RP the tale of our backgrounds to each other.
The next day we catch our first plot hook when we hear a Bard singing about some ancient temple in the valley, a temple that we knew nothing about, and that for Dragonlance history reasons, shouldn't be there.
Interested, we ask for more and he tells us that he heard about this place from the ramblings of a drifter named Eldena Firemane, a middle-aged woman he met a couple of weeks ago. He also tells us she was going to Vingaard Keep, so, hungry to know more about the matter, we set out to follow her.
After a couple of days of travel we get our first random encounter.
DM: "Getting close to the source of the noise you notice a set of feral eyes in a bush."
Barbarian: "I charge the bush!"
The Barbarian rolls for concealment, hit and damage and pummels into oblivion the poor Dire Weasel that the DM wanted to run away.
This encounter will set a trend for many to follow, like the one we had the next night, when attacked by 4 Bugbear, after a first moment of panic due to our inability to see in the darkness, the Barbarian proceeded to charge and one-shot our enemies, one by one, while I disarmed a couple.
A couple of days later, as we're nearing Vingaard Keep, we notice a kid (16 or so) with two horses and bad bruises all over, coming from the city.
Turns out he and his friend, seeking glory went to hunt down a known Troll that lives pretty close to the city. The friend didn't make it back.
The Cleric promises we'll avenge his friend's death in the name of Paladine and we proceed towards the city.
Once we get there we find Eldena (right after getting robbed of our flint & steel by a group of kenders) and we get the whole story from her.
Her recount is pretty confused but in the end we get an approximate location of the temple where some 10 years ago, she lost her boyfriend and her mental sanity.
The place should be near the High Clerist's Tower, but before we get back there, we decide to go slay the troll and his lovely half, motivated by the 1000 gp bounty on their heads.
Troll Hunting!
After a couple of Gather Information checks, we narrow down a location for their cave and with the Ranger tracking we start looking around in their territory, when we're interrupted by a sizable rock that almost hits me. Guess we found 'em.
Battle starts, I sing, the ranger shoots and the Barbarian... well, he charges the troll. He deals 20-some damage but now he's made him angry, and it's his turn. The Barbarian gets his 20-some damage thrown right back at him, and will be saved by a potion, the cleric running in to save him and the druid's dog, that took 30+ damage in his place while he was backing out to get healed.
In the end we manage to kill him with the Barbarian risking to drop in the negatives (or worse) a couple of times and as we're killing him we hear a deafening roar. His girlfriend's angry, so the Barbarian, that just got to full HP thanks to the Cleric, charges her.
Battle goes as the one previous one, with the Barbarian going into the negatives this time and the others barely killing the thing in a group effort (Masterwork Horn and Inspirational Boost for the +3 damage on IC were a great choice).
We heal up the Barbarian and we get back to town to get our hard-earned reward.
The session ends and we gain a level.
First thoughts: Well, when we sat down for character creation we all assumed the Ranger was going TWF (don't know why). Needless to say that now we are a bit frail in the melee department... An hint of what will happen in the next session: our favourite charging character will go down to negatives.