PDA

View Full Version : Journal The Journal of Ederick Nilar Ennieth (Ebberon 3.5)



Squark
2014-10-06, 07:11 PM
EDIT: Yeah... This campaign didn't really go anywhere. I got in one more session (which had only 1 encounter to speak of), and then people canceled on me, and I decided waiting 5 hours on campus and taking an hour and a half to commute back home since I had to miss the coach bus, all to play d&d for 1 hour with a group whose play style didn't really mesh with my own wasn't worth it. Sorry to anyone who was hoping for a continuation.

Background Information: So, for the first time in years, I'm finally playing D&D again! I've joined a group on campus, and am playing with 3 other players (not including the DM). I'm the only one with any real optimization or metagame knowledge, so, let's watch what happens as my expectations collide with a group of people with relatively little exposure to the online community's ideas!

The Party:

Ederick Niarl Ennieth, Gnome Conjurer 5: Yours truly. Ederick is a professor of magic at the Morgave University who's a few years over 100, and currently going through a midlife crisis. On a whim, he took a leave of absence to study ancient magics in the field- Not really uncommon for the Morgave University, which subscribes to the Indiana Jones school of Archaeology. To add some intrigue, I gave him a distant relation to House Sivis, as a plot hook, and to keep the possibility of taking Heir of Siberys later (That got axed since the DM doesn't use action points. How the artificer he once played with used infusions in combat, I don't know).

"KleptoDruid", Elf Druid 5: I'll add her character's name in after the session on Wednesday, but I'm probably still going to call her that. KleptoDruid is probably the vocal player at the table, with me as the second. She's the one who speaks up and has the most characterization, although most of that comes in asking people to pay us and having her badger animal companion make a menace of itself. Determined to gain as large a menagerie as physically possible. Part of the original campaign, which split in two due to conflicting schedules (the DM had planned to start a new campaign and run the existing one. Instead he split the groups in two and has new recruits in each)

"The Quiet One", Elf Rogue 5: I can't recall this player talking in character, to be honest. She's new to d&d, and playing an archery focused rogue. I'm meaning to have my character ask her for her opinion during the next IC conversation, but I don't think she's unhappy with the game- Just maybe a tad overwhelmed.

"The ex-Bookstore Owner, Human Wizard 5: I can't recall much about his character aside from the fact he was apparently a bookstore owner who accidentally burnt down his shop. Quieter than KelptoDruid, but also fairly mercenary as I understand it. The other veteran of the old campaign.

The DM I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit I've known the guy for a few years through our university gamer's club but only just learned his name. He knows the game fairly well, and has a fair number of sourcebooks, but doesn't have much system mastery- He thought Collegiate Wizard, Dispel Magic, and Dragonmarks were overpowered.

I'd just like to say right now that I'm not trying to bash these guys; I'm having fun, although playing straight man is getting a little draining, and this wasn't what I expected when the DM said it was okay if I stepped outside of core.

So, on to the last two sessions.

From the Journal of Ederick Nilar Ennieth
9th of Nymm, 998 YK <I've arbitrarily assigned a date for timekeeping purposes. I'm assuming it's spring, although this will probably never be relevant>
Well, this certainly has been a peculiar day! I stopped by the local horticultural store, and to my surprise a trio of heavily armed travelers were inside, as well as a ferocious... I believe the technical term is Ratel, although the Elven woman calls it a "Honey Badger." Hmph. Nothing like the badgers we had back home, and certainly not as well trained, I'll tell you that! The beast was making a colossal mess of the flower pots. The poor shopkeeper was too surprised to call the guards or anything, especially when the woman got protective of him. I was considering calling the guards when a hurried looking man came in and asked if we were adventurers! I suppose I must have stood out or something because he assumed I was part of the group, and I was too surprised to correct him!

To make a long story short, this man has hired the four of us to retrieve a historical curio from a tribe of kobolds in Zilargo, who have apparently been making a menace of themselves. And for 7000 gold each, no less. I think the mention of such a sum must have put me in a state of shock, because the next thing I remember we were planning to meet at the Lightning Rail in three days, and I'd offered to let a fellow wizard copy a common disruptive spell from my spellbook while I added a few protective spells to my own. I've debated telling everyone that I'm just a professor, but... 7000 gold. And my colleagues have worked with adventurers from time to time in Xen'drik... Who knows? Maybe this time I'll be the one with a story to tell.
Commentary: Why a flower shop? I dare not delve into the mind of our druid. These preparations ended up taking up most of our session- the rest of which was derailed by youtube videos.
12th of Nym
That ratel is positively a menace! From the shrieks I heard outside our door, the thing has been chasing children! Eventually if slunk back into the passenger car and hid behind the Druid while the guards ran past. The rest of the journey went relatively uneventfully. We arrived in Zolanberg, and were greeted by the mayor himself! He was kind enough to direct us to some local merchants who could give us more information about these Kobold cultists, who have apparently been raiding local caravans. of course, our Druid was crass enough to ask for payment- As if we aren't being well compensated enough already! Although... something about this whole situation seems odd to me. Perhaps the trinket, a rune inscribed orb with a shifting image of a storm within is indeed worth... nearly 30,000 gold, but... Supposedly the kobold's have formed a cult around the thing. Our patron claims the orb has no magical power and that the Kobolds are just superstitious fools, but... Well, I shall have to examine the orb carefully when we find it. Still, the mayor mentioned there were no unusual weather patterns when I asked, so at least it doesn't seem to control the weather. Unless the Kobold's haven't activated it, but then why would they form a cult around such an object? [Ederick goes on like this for some time]

Regardless of such things, we've since acquired a local guide who can point us in the right direction. I also put in an appearance at the local branch of House Sivis, as is expected of me. Blasted inconvenient bloodlines, but I suppose it has opened doors at times. And of course the Trust is watching me now doubt. Really! I wonder how long they'll keep it up? Will my potential grandchildren and their cousins be followed as well? Ah well. Politics have always been a foreign animal to me.

I write now from the back of a cart- Somehow this peculiar group has taught a pair of writing lizards to home, as the beasts somehow made their way from Northern Breland all the way here. How they managed that, I'll never know. We should be leaving for the forest soon, so I'll have to put this book away until it comes time to rest.
Commentary: Seriously, I have no idea how the homing lizards got here. They just showed up. I gather there's a story behind how the party acquired them, but I didn't quite catch the specifics. We also got the first combat in this last week; Things went reasonably smoothly. Ederick glitterdusted three kobolds and left them to ineffectually flail against the party. I'm not sure how Ederick is going to react to all this. I mean, I've created a rather, well, normal person, and now he's worked to help kill four intelligent beings. Hmm... something to mull over before the next session.

Well, that's the adventure so far. Any comments? Suggestions on how to proceed now that I've found myself tied to a group of muderhobos instead of the campaign of intrigue I was expecting? Or just general amusement at Ederick's writing style?