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mrroney13
2015-06-13, 03:35 AM
So, this whole campaign was originally started by my buddy, Jeff, the DM as an add-on to the world created by his long-time DM, Bill’s, world. We had decided to start at level two and there were going to be four PC’s to start, my wife, Katie, our roommate, Nick, Jeff’s girlfriend, Marianne, and myself. The story begins with a small kingdom of four towns and a castle/city center being attacked by a large group of goblins. The vast majority of the small towns are destroyed, and we, the PC’s are all left homeless as refugees in the city, Sunhold. Here I will take a moment to introduce the original characters (I’m writing this about six months into the actual campaign).

Cicero (piloted by myself)
Rogue 2 Tibbit (shapechanger cat-man)
Recently orphaned by the attack, Cicero (actually named Pinkpads by his parents, look up tibbit lore for more info) turns to his favored profession of thief in order to survive. He is a small fuzzy humanoid, and when he shape-changes to his alternate (read “superior”) cat form he is a plump tuxedo cat. He thinks he is better than all others and that everything he and his group achieve is due to his sheer awesomeness, because he’s a ****ing cat. These tales will be told from Cicero’s point of view because he is an egocentric monster, and I can’t get out of his cat-logic using and maniacal character. (Side note Tibbits acquire names as they do cool things, so Cicero’s name will just keep getting longer and longer.)


Sabrina (piloted by Katie)
Ninja 2 Wild Elf female
Katie, as it happens, is completely incapable of playing any alignment other than chaotic evil. That is not to say that she didn’t try to be neutral with this character. She simply hated it, but the character itself didn’t really flesh out well with her, and thus lacked a lot of personality. Fear not though, as later she will provide plenty of hilarity with her other character.


The Miko (piloted by Nick)
Wu Jen 2 Human female
The embodiment of a water priestess, Nick wanted to find a far-East flavored caster that he could experiment with liquidy-things. Later he also decided to change characters because of flavor reasons that he later found a way to make palatable, so she lacked a lot of personality too.

Elenwen (piloted by Marianne)
Druid 2 Half-Elf female
Marianne, sadly, has had zero table-top experience before this game, and she didn’t really get the hang of it for a while. This character oddly enough was one of the more fleshed out of the original party, and provided a few giggles. She has done really well as a player, and as you will see later, has since learned the ropes.


“The Gathering (Because We Are All Magic Dorks)”
Following the train of destitute peasants, Cicero walked across the bridge away from his burned village of Moorfell and the murders of his parents to the protection of the castle and the city of Sunhold. Thinking he was slick, he tried about three times to pickpocket the homeless vagabonds around him and failed. Every. Freaking. Time. The guards were called, but though he was not nimble enough to go unnoticed with his paws in other people’s belongings, he was able to use his cat shape to easily duck into the crowd and disappear so as to not be caught. After realizing he probably shouldn’t press his luck, he sulked into the city and followed the trail of listless hobos around him. As a cat, no one expected him to be anything more than a mere alley cat, but one of the other hobos had a wolf. That was interesting to him, and he decided to follow her (surprise! a party appeared!) with the other people near her.
The captain of the guard was standing on a platform in the middle of the market near the gates, and was shouting that everyone able-bodied would need to group up and proceed to look for signs of the path the goblins took to get away after their devastating raid. The group he was following with the rest of the party in it, also had another since cats weren’t able-bodied people expected to do such work. A man named Token was with them, the token commoner. They were instructed to go to the armory, and they would be outfitted according to the means of the guard, and from there they would set out on their missions. Upon hearing this, though, Cicero had other ideas. He snuck into the armory (in cat shape of course) and accidentally set off an alarm closing the room with himself inside. As the attendant ushered in the normal party to outfit them, Cicero had stacked his pockets with weapons and donned a suit of leather armor then reverted back to his superior feline form. Unnoticed, he simply yowled to be freed by the guard, but then Sabrina… Sabrina also tried to steal something. In an effort to save them from dying in the first session, as they tried to run out Cicero managed to (only because of a nat 20 and liberal rulings for style I assume) succeed on a trip attack on the guard chasing the party out of the armory. They managed to escape into the crowd of beggars. They were to leave for their mission in the morning apparently and as they were preparing to find a place to sleep, Cicero explored the alleys. To his excitement, he encountered an explosion that after a bit of investigation, turned out to be an alchemist’s shop. After letting the smoke dissipate, humanoid Cicero snuck in (curse the need for thumbs) and noticed an unconscious alchemist. Promptly after pocketing the money in the open (42 cp…) the alchemist woke up, and Cicero pretended to be worried about him, and asked if he needed medical attention. After talking for a moment, the alchemist remembered that his apprentice was also in the blast, and the boy was dug out from under a table. Unconscious though unharmed, the alchemist asked Cicero to take the boy home, and offered recompense for the services. Cicero agreed, and thus cues the entrance of the most badass 10-year-old you will ever meet, Jimmy Jr.


This is my first post on these forums after months of lurking. Hopefully some of you are intrigued, and I will have an audience. I would love to continue transcribing our adventures through this world, but it just won't be as fun without people's responses. Anyway, I hope you like it!

Maglubiyet
2015-06-13, 09:41 AM
Cool story. Is Jimmy Jr. a PC?

Bad Wolf
2015-06-13, 03:01 PM
Interesting. I want more of Cicero.

mrroney13
2015-06-13, 11:15 PM
Ok, so I just finished writing chapter two. You have to forgive me, as I will only probably be able to spit out a chapter every day or so. I have to work around a toddler unless it's after 8 pm. I also think that I like the idea of writing this tale as more of a poor quality novel (more for my writing skill on the quality adjective) than along the same style as most campaign journals that I've read on these forums. Also, shout-out to the journal that inspired me to write mine down: The Romanov Incident. I hope mine is anywhere near as good as y'all's eventually.

“Are You a Wizard?”
Cicero, having just been promised payment in return for bringing this poor child home, he carried the boy in his arms through the city streets to nearly the edge of the castle walls. When the boy stirred in his arms, he realized a fuzzy stranger was carrying him, and yelped while trying to jump away.
“Who are you? Where are you taking me? Why does my head hurt?” the boy asked abruptly.
“Calm down! Your boss blew up his shop, and you were inside. Everything is relatively fine, but he asked me to take you home. I assume he didn’t want do it himself because he was too lazy or sore, but that is something you can take up with him when you go back tomorrow.”
Jimmy did not appear happy to be going back the next day, but they continued to go forth walking toward Jimmy’s house. Somewhere after the beginning of an awkward silence, Cicero noticed a tug on his pocket, and looked down to find the little wretch with his mitts in his pocket. After promptly swatting away Jimmy’s hand, Cicero looked at him and said, “You can’t beat me at my own game, kid! Save it for some other sap.”
At this, Jimmy became quite excited and started asking more questions than Cicero had time to answer. “You mean you’re a thief! Can you teach me!? Please!? Please!? Please!? I’ve always wanted to be a thief, but my uncle makes me work as that awful man’s apprentice so that someday I can ‘make something of myself’! Bah, I want to be a burglar and steal jewels and treasures!”
Cicero, having found someone who recognized his skill appropriately, reveled in the fact that he was being nigh worshiped and liked the thought of having someone to follow him around to toot his horn. Cicero thought it may even be fun to teach this kid how to be a thief, and let him help. After about five seconds Cicero looked over his shoulder, and told Jimmy to follow him into an alley and that he would show him how he made his infiltrations. After a moment, where Cicero had stood there was now a large, sleek tuxedo cat looking at Jimmy without words but still conveying a smug attitude. After shifting back to his small humanoid shape, Cicero was bombarded with even more questions than had previously flown out of Jimmy’s mouth.
“Oh, my gods! Are you a wizard? Can you teach me how to do that? How do I learn how to do that! Do I have to be a cat, or can I be a lizard?” The questions just kept flowing!
“Kid, slow down! I can’t teach you how to do that. No, I’m not a wizard, my ancestors worked for wizards. I have no idea how you might acquire the ability to do that, nor what animal your shape would be” whispered tersely aiming for at least a tiny bit of discretion. He was secretly enjoying every bit of the excitement oozing from the kid though. It was nice to be worshiped.
The duo continued walking along the streets until they found a dilapidated house with a cow in front that Jimmy pointed out as named Bessie. Jimmy ran up to the door and promptly told his uncle that he didn’t want to be the alchemist’s apprentice anymore. He wanted to work for Cicero, but the kid didn’t think about the fact that telling his half-orc uncle that he wanted to be a thief may not go over so well. Jim-Bob the half-orc was not thrilled with this fuzzy Halfling (as far as he could tell) giving his nephew delusions of grandeur about becoming some sort of master thief, and less than politely asked Cicero to leave.
Cicero would not be denied so easily of his adoring fan, though. After politely leaving, he shifted to his more useful form and jumped up on the window ledge after the Sun went down. Jimmy came and opened the window, and Cicero turned back to his humanoid form sitting in the window sill to speak to Jimmy.
“Kid, do you still want to come with me? Learn how to be a master thief?” he asked expectantly.
“You betcha, Cicero!” he whispered excitedly.
“All right, then. What you need to do, is grab a knife, a rope, and some food for the road. Meet me by the alchemist’s shop in about an hour. Sound good?”
Jimmy nodded, and Cicero turned back to his cat shape to leave. No one expects the alley cat to convince children they will be master thieves and enlist them as apprentices.
The duo met up at the alchemist’s shop, and the alchemist reimbursed Cicero with a couple of healing potions. Then they found room for the night, and prepared for the journey ahead of them the next day.


Also, if it isn't explicitly clear, Jimmy is just a commoner 1 that I picked up. At this point in the story no one expected him to be very important. Just let it be known that whenever his birthday rolls around irl, we are baking a cake and having a session. He has literally made this campaign after six months of nearly weekly sessions.

mrroney13
2015-06-15, 12:24 AM
So here is the third installment in the Tail of Cicero. Thanks for reading these, guys. I know I haven't gotten to the juicy action too much yet. There is just so much to tell. There is a bit of fighting in this one, but I promise, Chapter 4 will be very exciting. Anyway, I hope you like it.



“I Cast Light on the Cat”

Early the next morning, Cicero awoke to the sounds of people gathering in the market square. Guardsmen were barking orders at commoners, and he realized that many interesting things were about to start happening. He woke Jimmy, and after a few minutes of explaining the plan, they set out to find the woman with the wolf. Cicero was excited to see a canine forced into the bonds of servitude and couldn’t contain his enthusiasm as he thought about the opportunity he had to watch the dog in its subjugation while everyone he could do as he pleased. After prowling around with Jimmy on his heels (in feline shape of course) they caught the scent of the dirty mutt and followed it out of the gate. Near the edge of the forest, they caught up to the group they saw the day before, and Cicero notified (read “yowled loudly at”) Jimmy that these were the interesting people he had been telling him about. As the duo approached the group of four at the edge of the forest, Jimmy ran up to them and yelled, “Hey, wait! We’re coming with you guys!”

They looked at the boy with confused looks on their faces. “Who is we, boy?” asked the half-elf dog-lover. She didn’t seem upset, but genuinely concerned that someone would allow a child out alone in the wild so shortly after a goblin attack.

“Me and the wizard, of course!” he replied with a smile oozing with excitement. “Boss, show them your trick!”

“Are you talking to that cat?” asked an elf clad in furs and using vines for sashes. “I don’t think you’ll get much of a response.”

“Child, where are your parents-eek!” The eastern-looking woman was cut off as the cat leaped into her arms. “Away from me! Oh, gods!” she heaved as the ten pound cat in her arms became 60 pounds worth of fuzzy Halfling and adventuring gear. Cicero grabbed her boob for good measure as he was getting up and addressed the rest of them.

“Hello, everyone. I’ve been following you for a bit, because you lot have taken my fancy more so than the other sorry groups out searching for those wretched goblins. Mind if we join you? I’ve a set of useful skills, and my apprentice, Jimmy, here may prove to be helpful as well. The name’s Cicero, Cicero Orphan-Face.” The only thing in him more powerful than his love of self was his burning hatred for goblins. It was time to make them pay for what they did to his parents, and he hoped these folks would prove useful on that quest.

“So, you’re a wizard?” asked the elf. “Sounds like you could be useful. You never know when magic could be handy. I’m a ninja, so I can sneak around, climb, and jump pretty well, but I’m not exactly suited to spell-slinging.”

“I’m not a wizard, I’m a cat that can shapeshift. My people, we’re called tibbits. Our ancestors were familiars to wizards and sorcerers. I’m a thief. Sneak in, sneak out. Grab any valuables, you know the deal,” Cicero stated matter-of-factly. He strapped his boots tighter and threw his pack over his shoulder. “Shall we start looking for these green-skin ****ers, or are we going to just talk all day? In the tavern Jimmy and I stayed in we overheard that the goblins left to the north-west. I suggest we start walking that way. What about you, big guy?” Cicero was addressing a rather quiet man that did not appear to be much of a fighter that said that he had been instructed by the guards to accompany these women (This was the token commoner the other players had acquired, named affectionately, Token.)

The party marched off through the deep, dark forest and after a couple hours, began hearing the whimpering of a small animal. The sun had begun to go down, and since light was becoming an issue, the miko chose to cast light on Cicero. Cicero, now unable to hide well in the brush, chose to climb up a tree with Jimmy so as to hopefully be out of reach of whatever trouble may be on its way. Token looked up, and noticed there was a glowing figure in the tree, and stopped in his tracks (somehow he did not notice anything that transpired before). “Who are you, spirit?” he asked with a trembling voice.

As he realized that Token didn’t recognize him, Cicero decided to take advantage of the situation in order to have as much fun as possible at Token’s expense. “I! Am! Death! Fear me, mortal!” As he tried to keep a straight face, Token became afraid for his life, and he ran away as fast as he could screaming.
After laughing for more than just a moment, the party continued on, until it encountered a rather pissed-off mother bear that as far as the druid (the half-elf), Elenwen, let the party know appeared to be looking for her cub. She tried to talk to it for a moment, but the delegation went south quickly, and the bear attacked. The party faced no real challenge from the bear, until Cicero stumbled into the bear’s mouth on accident (read nat 1 from Cicero vs nat 20 from bear) and became grappled. Cicero fought the beast for a few rounds until the constant biting became too much, and he succumbed and was rendered unconscious. Jimmy, however, in a spurt of great bravery, hit the bear as hard as he could with his tiny fist and knocked it unconscious. Cicero was healed back to consciousness by the druid, and his companions told him of how Jimmy had landed the final blow on the foul beast. He couldn’t help but think that there may be something special to this kid after all and that he might make a fine apprentice with a bit of training.

No more than a few minutes after fighting the bear, Token came running up to them once again from the west. They heard loud crashing sounds like trees breaking in half and asked him what he was running from that was making such easy work of the trees (as a note, during the actual game my ~9 month old was grabbing pieces off the board, notably Token, and banging them on the ground and table while yelling with glee). That was when the banging was replaced by a deep booming voice that the miko recognized as the Giant word for “porkchop.” Immediately Token screamed, “I fear no flame!” and ran off with the shortsword the guards had given him with intentions to fight the giant by himself. Cicero and his companions, though initially confused, decided they did not want to fight that battle and that he was on his own. Just a few minutes after Token had taken off, the stomping and Giant screams ceased, and they went to investigate.

When they found the newly-made clearing in the forest, there was no sign of Token, but the giant was lying dead in the middle of the stumps with a small tree through its eye. The ninja immediately went for the sack on the ground next to the body, but found nothing but three small boulders. Cicero also took a look inside and found a ruby hidden amongst them; he pocketed it and suggested that they press on since he didn’t want to be in that forest when night fell.

After about another twenty minutes of walking, the edge of the forest became visible, and through it, the base of a great mountain standing alone. The smell alone near the mouth of the cave facing the party was enough to be certain. They had found the goblins’ lair.

mrroney13
2015-06-15, 10:33 PM
Alright, guys. I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far. Most everyone is lurking it appears, but please don't be afraid to chime in. I'm excited to hear what everyone thinks of this new chapter in the story! The plot, it thickens like a delicious plot stew.



“I Think I’m Starting to Get This Sneak Attack Thing”

The party made camp that night at the edge of the woods, but they refused to build a fire. They didn’t want to draw any unwanted attention, and so spent a night with the elf and half-elf alternating watch since they only needed to meditate for four hours.

Shortly before dawn, the party awoke and made their way into the goblin base. Upon entering, there was a narrow passage that then opened up into a large room. Four goblins were standing watch, but none of them seemed particularly competent. Three of them were in a group talking, and one was off by himself with a crossbow that despite being more attentive than the others still didn’t see the approaching threat.

Cicero sneaked around from the opening of the room into a hidden position somewhat ahead of the party, appearing to be readying an attack. Before he could do anything, the miko cast a spell, and suddenly, the three goblins that were originally clamoring about food and fire were all dozing on the floor. The fourth goblin saw them fall asleep, and in a fit of confusion, ran forward to try to wake them. His only mistake was walking right by Cicero who put a dagger in his shoulder. A near miss, but significant damage had been done.

The other party members had come into the opening as well. Jimmy did as he had been told by Cicero and remained to the back where he hopefully would not be injured. Elenwen, the druid, and her wolf named **** were not far behind (as a new character, she didn’t even think about naming it. One day we just decided his name was ****, and it stuck.) They began to coup de grace the sleeping goblins and managed to eliminate two of them. Finally in came the ninja, Sabrina. She shot her bow directly at the already injured goblin beside Cicero but barely missed.

Gravely injured, the goblin ran as fast as he could toward the other narrow hallway at the opposite end of the cavern. He was screaming in Goblinese, “It hurts! It hurts! Why are you doing this! What did Kindle do wrong?” The wolf was instructed to chase him down and prevent his escape, but Cicero knew that all this screaming would draw more attention than was necessary.

“Stop being a baby, Kindle!” Cicero yelled after him in Goblinese. “You don’t want to play the game! Boo hoo! Poor Kindle!” Hopefully that would keep the other goblins from looking into the yelling too much. He also chased the goblin, but the little devil carried himself faster than his little legs would lead one to believe. The wolf shot by Cicero, and just as the goblin reached the door begging to be allowed in, Cicero heard the sounds of goblins on the other side jeering at him and keeping him locked out. The wolf grabbed him, and finished him off. To be on the safe side, Cicero walked up to the door, and said “Everything’s fine out here. We made Kindle go stand watch at the mouth of the cave.”

The party moved the bodies in front of the door as a makeshift barricade, and Cicero gave the crossbow that belonged to Kindle to Jimmy. “Do you know how to use this thing, kid?” He asked.

“Yeah, actually! (We rolled randomly, and Jimmy was indeed proficient with light xbows) My uncle taught me how to shoot, but I’m not allowed to anymore because I always kill the neighbor’s chickens.” Jimmy smiled broadly as Cicero handed it to him. It was just his size, and Kindle had had plenty of bolts.

“Try to stay back, and don’t accidentally shoot me, eh?” Cicero smiled as he saw the look on Jimmy’s face. Jimmy was an orphan, too. Maybe he had found a greater purpose in life than just acquiring creature comforts. Maybe he had a hairball, he couldn’t tell. He only knew that there was something gratifying about having Jimmy along with them.

After stripping the goblins of every stinky pebble that they had on them and building a makeshift barricade of bodies, the party decided to follow another hall. This one led into another narrow hallway, but there was a large pitfall in it, only about ten feet deep, but as soon as they were about to pass it, the door on the other side began to open, and a jabbering goblin carrying a heavy sack began to walk through the door. The party jumped into the pit quickly to avoid being seen, and somehow (seriously bad listen check) the goblin did not hear the six of them landing in a pile in the bottom of that pit. When it became apparent that the goblin intended to go into the room that they had just filled with four bodies, Sabrina and Cicero climbed out of the pit, and eliminated him quickly and quietly. They threw his body in the pit, and lo and behold, there was a door in the wall. After checking it for traps, they went through, and they found yet another narrow hallway. Following it until it ended, they found no doors, and they encountered no creatures. The only thing in the entire passage was a single sliding door that appeared to be nothing more than a part of the wall itself. Listening to the other side, the group heard a large number of goblins swearing, yelling, and eating. They decided to turn back, climbed out of the pit, and went through the same way that the lone goblin had come through.

After they went through a couple empty passages, they finally encountered the goblins’ kitchens. There was no one there, but there was a large commotion coming from the other side of a pair of double doors. Cracking the door open, they realized that this was the same room that the hidden passage led to, and that the door they had found was right behind the head of the table. There were six goblins in the room, and one of them, the one that was wearing blue robes and a pointy hat, was obviously in charge.
Cicero suggested to the others that he and Jimmy double back, and he would try to take out the one in robes. When they heard or saw him do that, he told them, they should come in from the other door and flank them. Everyone seemed to like this plan, so he and Jimmy went back to the pit, climbed down, and got into position.

When Cicero opened the door, no goblins were paying attention to him, and he took his chance to try to kill the leader outright. He sliced his dagger through the air right after his spinal column, and he just missed, knocking the goblin’s hat off with an unlucky, ill-timed ducking motion from his target. The others stormed in, and the goblins were all caught unaware. The ensuing fight was nothing too difficult for the party, but Cicero and Jimmy were fighting the leader one on two until the others cleaned up the five cooks. So, they party quickly rounded up the bodies and brought them into the secret passage. They listened intently as some other goblins came in, and wondered aloud where the others had gone. The party decided after those goblins had lost interest, that they would troll the goblins, and they stripped all the dead goblins in the passage of their items and clothes. They then piled the bodies in the corner of the dining room and since the druid and wu jen had used most of their spells for the day, the party rested in the passage.

The next morning they awoke to shrieks coming from the other side of the secret door. As they listened to the goblins, Cicero quietly translated what they were saying.

“Something in this room not right! We’sa must find the problem. Something come here. Kill da geblin.”

“Do you guys want to take out this lot?” Cicero asked as he opened the door wide enough to make a small slit to look through.

“Sure, boss. How many?” Jimmy asked.

“There are another six. None wearing robes though,” Cicero replied. “A couple of them have decent armor on. By goblin standards at least.”

“Let’s do it then,” said Sabrina. “The more we kill, the less that come back to hit the city next time.”
With the majority vote, Cicero charged the nearest one to the door, and the rest of the party followed after him. They cut off the escape routes, and made short work of these new goblins. The ones in armor didn’t even look like they knew how to move in it. They stripped these new goblins in the same fashion as the others, but they took one and put him naked on the table on his knees and face with his ass facing the doors the goblins kept emerging through with a sausage link hanging from where the Sun never shone.

The party was preparing to hide in the secret passage again, but then a group of well-armed goblins began to file into the room. With only a moment’s notice, the party found places to hide, and prepared to fight. They quickly recognized that this fight would not be so simple though, and as soon as the goblin warriors noticed the druid, Cicero charged the one that appeared to be the leader, another one in robes and a pointy hat. He lunged at him with dagger drawn, but to no avail! He had swung wide. From there complete chaos ensued, arrows began flying from the four goblin archers and the other four goblin warriors began forming a line of spears. After the first round of combat, the party had taken a few hits, and little progress had been made. That was until Jimmy tried to shoot the leader.

He let mumbled to himself, “I think I’m starting to get this sneak attack thing,” and let his bolt fly. It found its mark perfectly and the goblin sorcerer went down without even making a squeak (Jimmy rolled a crit and max damage as well as max sneak attack because Cicero had been teaching him to be a rogue). The other goblins began to panic and their ranks broke apart. From there the fight was tough, but the group prevailed.

The party, sorely weary and short on spells, hauled these new bodies into the secret passage as well and began to loot them. They arranged all the items in a line, and when the miko casted Detect Magic on the loot, a robe and a cloak began to glow for her. The cloak (Cloak of Resistance) had been taken off of the sorcerer Jimmy killed, and the entire party thought it prudent that he be given it as a memento of his first kill. The second was of even more interesting consequence. Digging through the pockets of the robe, Cicero found a statue of a beautiful, naked woman that was alight with fire that did not burn when it was touched. The party had no idea what it was, but they knew that it must be important if it was in the hands of one of the goblin casters.

After neatly arranging what loot they could in the passage, they prepared themselves to rest again. The next day, they were going to explore the rest of the cave, and hopefully find some clues as to the purpose of the statue of the burning woman.

Bad Wolf
2015-06-17, 12:03 AM
And the plot thickens.