PDA

View Full Version : Journal [Campaign Log] Therinfall (5e)



The Shadowdove
2015-11-18, 10:33 PM
Hey everyone,

[This is my first campaign log on here. So please leave comments! As long as I know people are reading, I'll keep posting our weekly sessions.

My group is a few friends who met each other playing video games and decided to play Dungeons and Dragons together.

Our Dungeon Master is a pretty cool guy. He has written up a pretty fresh world for us toplay this time, so he is constantly adding cool-new things to the universe as we play along. It allows us all to feel as if we are contributing to the shaping of the world, as our character backgrounds also assist in the history of Therinfall.

We also roll for random encounters as we travel. 'if' we do, we roll again to see if its a) location or b) encounter.

Note: You'll see in parenthesis or quotation marks player/DM responses to what I wrote. I put it in a google doc so they can correct my poor memory as they see fit.

forewarning: I am horrible at indenting using the forum "increase indent" button. I decided to stop trying when I posted session 3. It just makes thing choppy/unaligned.



Quick summary of the world:

In this universe the dungeon master has created a world where humans began expanding from small tribal folk to citybound conquerors and pilgrims for the past 600 years. There is only one large human city named “Starkwall” from where the main concentration of humans and their allies form a base of power for their expansion and military/political progress. There are various small settlements/strongholds in the immediate area, and a single town further out to the east called “Haven” from where people can find jobs or join the actual military efforts to cut further into the wild in the name of Starkwall. For some unknown reason the forest around Haven, which is rather huge, seems to be the place of origin for all of the known creatures in this part of the world.
The only other somewhat known large group of peoples are to the northwest in a desert. These are the dragonborn. The humans originally saw them as monsters and fought/enslaved them. Thus they became the frontlines of their military and construction efforts. Over time they realized that it was somewhat unethical, especially as relationships with the dragonborn opened their eyes. Now they’re allies, with peacekeeping groups in the desert territories who serve as an aid against other desert enemies.
Everywhere ELSE is mostly untamed and filled with what you’d expect. Ruins of old civilizations, monsters of all types, and the other races whom are dealing with the sudden outbreak of human activity in their own ways; via allegiances, hostilities, or avoidance.
In other words, the world is a blank slate full of monsters and dungeons. The deities, histories of different factions, and geography are introduced/created as we go. There is a very very simplistic/vague map of the world outside of Starkwall, the southernmost part of the desert, and the area between the city and the town Haven.
On top of this, the king has recently passed away without leaving an heir. As political rivals push for the position, they are removing the titles or even lives of loyalists to weaken the likelihood any resistance aside from the other nobles.




Jarvin. Previously known as Emrick Oakenshield (My character): Level 1 Human Fighter:
Now masquerading as an ex-soldier who’d been kicked out of the army, Jarvin is a 57 year old war dog loyalist who faked his own death after having his title/lands taken from him by the late king’s rivals. He is following rumors of a new heir surrounding haven.

Visna. Level 1 wood elf Abjuration wizard:
Visna is currently under the disguise as an adventurer. In truth, she’s scouting out the state of the world for her order. She comes from a hidden monastery in the forest near haven(about 3 weeks travel for someone who knows the location) which was known for it’s Abjuration studies before it went into hiding 1200 years ago. Her people magically froze their warriors and hid themselves from the world as it suddenly became more and more untame. Every monster on this continent is known to have been birthed in her homeforest. She’s actually more of a scout/archer than a blaster mage. Using her spells primarily defensively.

Vorkax. Level 1 Gold Dragonborn Paladin:
Vorkax grew tired of his years as a quartermaster in the aligned military. He’s not so good with numbers anyway (8 intelligence). He took up adventuring to get some more action.
Killian. Level 1 Human Illusion Wizard:
Killian is the son of a lesser lord and lady who decided wizardry was more his cup of tea. His family easily afforded his entrance into the arcane academy in the city, where he was found to be talented but not the most diligent nor well mannered. He thought all other schools aside from illusion inferior, and that his instructors are dried up has-beens. He left to learn on the road like “Every true mage in the past” before they could kick him out. Believing (or at least saying) that he should learn out in the world as the true original wizards did.

(Note:Killian is absent the first couple of games due to health problems. We're all hoping he'll get well enough to play soon!)


Let's Begin!

"Weasels in the dark"




We all start off the adventure in the traditional tavern. This one happens to be called “Born’s Tavern”, which is ran by a somewhat detached black-bearded dwarf. Born himself is said to have set up in Haven with the expectation of it’s becoming a full-fledged and respectable location. Instead, his establishment became the gathering place of all manner of people who gather around a board each day to look for jobs. Lucky for him, it is still good business.

Quick note: In the past I’ve found it common for most DMs to use middle-earth/bad british/even cockney accents. Our dm (for some reason) can’t help but use horrible Irish accents for all of his npcs.

(DM’s Response: The region of Therinfall is based loosely off Celtic and Irish lore hence the accents. Plus I’m infinitely worse at anything but that accent)


The DM sets us up in the tavern. We’ve all been around Haven for a little while and most of the jobs posted on the boards have been too mundane and house-cleaney to interest us. When we enter today, the board has a few more postings and we all find our way over to them to read.

Each is read in the voice of the npc who wrote it.

-Bandits stole my magic amulet(Alright, more like it) Irish Accent
-Deliver some flowers to girlfriend(none of us speak thieves cant..pass)Irish Accent
-Oracle foretells Wizard nearby going to destroy the town if left to his ways
(we assume written by a crazy) Irish Accent
-My husband disappeared please find him(Mreh) Irish Accent
-Artifact “Gatekeeper’s eye” in a crypt. Accompany me(Dungeon!) Cowboy Accent!


We all Decide to take up the Gatekeeper’s Eye mission. Wherein the woman signed her last name “Lavellan” at the bottom. It mentions going 50/50 on the spoils, and Visna calls “First Dibs” on the loot. We argue a bit about that, with me suggesting that we divvy the spoiled according to who can use the items to the most effectiveness(to his questionable perception of “effectiveness” is how Visna saw it). This leads to a dice-game, which I win; much to Visna’s dismay.


Jarvin(Me): Alright who do we talk to?
DM: There’s a good few people you can ask, I imagine.
Vorkax: Let’s ask the barkeep.
Visna: (To Barkeep) Is Lady La--- What was her name? Love- something… is she here?
Barkeep: Uh, I dont know who that is.
Me: Barman, where can we find the old woman who goes by the name “Lavellan”?
From behind me a feminine cowboy voice: Old woman you say?


Behind us is standing what can only be described as a female cowboy/wizard elf. Of course she’s wearing the chaps, hat, boots, and duster.

Cowgirl Elf: Ah’m the one who put the job up if yall’re lookin’ fer work.
Vorkax: Yes that is us.

Visna immediately jumps to business.
Visna: What's this about splitting half of the loot?
Cowgirl elf: I had to pay a fair bit for this information. I have to compensate for the loss somehow. If you're honestly worried about it, you can have the first pick.
Visna: Oh. (sounds pretty darn pleased) Sounds good to me. (Que sidelong look at the old man)


Blank stare from me.

Cowgirl elf: By the way, I didn’t catch yalls names. The name’s Willow.


She extends her hand, we shake, and exchange names. Then I ask for more information on the quest and when we will be leaving.

Willow: Well ah’m lookin fer an artifact called the Gatekeepers Eye so that I can use it to find somethin’ else. It took me a lot ta find it, but it's supposed ta be a couple days out from here and I need some muscle in case I get mahself inta trouble. We will split the loot halfway and I'll keep the eye. Ill also pay you lot 200 gold for your trouble. (During this discussion she tells us explicitly not to touch it, for whatever reason. Making it seem potentially dangerous to touch, when asked about how SHE will pick it up if not touching it she says she will figure something out)

(GM Response: My southern accent probably needs work if this horrid spelling is anything like what the players heard)


We all agree to her terms. I myself have exactly 1g left, and figure it wouldn't hurt to get to know the surrounding area and the two I've been talking to lately a bit better.

Willow is assigned navigator, Visna scout, Vorkax mapkeeper, and myself treasurer.


Along the way we happen across a strange obelisk standing amidst a part of the forest. I mention it perhaps being related to the Oracle job. We decide we would rather not be distracted from our mission and mark it on the map for a later date.


The next day we also come across a farming village surrounded by many fields and wary farmerfolk. Insight checks don't gain us anything suspicious and we decide against asking them about the not-so faraway obelisk in fear of their safety/the safety of our potential loot.

We continue on uneventfully.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now, our DM encourages campfire role play. Especially in the form of flashbacks in reference to our characters defining moments. I took this as an opportunity to show a bit of Martin’s PTSD riddled past.


While laying on his side, propped up on an elbow, Jarvin takes out a bone dagger as Visna sets out on first watch (background token item) and begins to spin it from the pummel as he watches the firelight reflect off of the blade. As the light disappears on each spin he begins to see glimpses of a memory of him in a room, a couple of decades younger.

Spin, darkness. He’s holding the scaled tale of a creature, a barbed spike protrudes from the end and his arms are covered in dried blood up to his elbows. Someone is pounding at the door begging for him to come out and assist them

Spin, light. Vorkax seems to have taken an interest in his unblinking stare.

Spin, darkness. Jarvin is shearing the flesh from the barb and the person on the other side of the door gives up and walks away with someone else.

Spin, Light. The blade lights up before him.

Spin, darkness. Jarvin is whittling the barb into the very blade he’s holding now.

Spin, light.

Vorkax asks: Where did you get that blade?
Jarvin Responds: I took it from a fallen enemy.



Jarvin sheaths it, seeming to be out of his trance, and lies down to go to sleep.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day the party continues further into the more barren territory near their destination. We agree to follow the treeline instead of walking out in the open. The trees are sparse in this area, and the ground rolls on in small hills of tall grass with small groupings of trees; blocking the distant view.

Visna, our scout, stops as she sees two cloaked figures approaching the group. They don’t appear to be hiding, and she totally biffs her stealth check. They see her before she has a chance to find somewhere. In doing so, she runs back and calls out to us before she uses her “mask of the wild” racial ability to hide.

We all take up defensive positions in the field, and I roll high against a low stealth check to notice another figure poorly obscured by a bush nearby. The approaching figures brandish short-swords and reveal themselves to be black-feathered bird-bipeds. They look just like little crow people (Kenku). The larger of the two is holding out a feathery palm while looking to us and opens it’s mouth as if to say something. The smaller one hides behind him with a blade readied.

Lead Kenku: *Opens mouth and, instead of words, is the distinct sound of coins clattering together*
Vorkax: What do you think that is supposed to mean?



We roll insight and gather that their little crew is trying to shake us down.

Jarvin: Be away with you, before we run you through you little pests! *Looks to the group* That’s the plan, right?
Willow: I don’t care what we do.
Vorkax: *Shrug*
Jarvin: I don’t like the idea of being shaken down by pidgeons…*He sighs* Alright, holdon. *Jarvin opens his coin pouch up and drops the one and only coin out of it into his palm. He raises one finger to show that it’s all he has.



The kenku doesn’t seem to understand, but happily lets me drop the coin into its palm. It looks down at the coin, then pulls some sleight of hands to make it disappear somewhere. The single gold coin seems to satisfy it, as it turns and walks off.


Visna: *comes out of hiding* I thought we were going to take them...
Jarvin: ...GET EM’ !


The group turns on the kenku, gaining a surprise round. Jarvin barrels into the back of them, clobbering the smaller one in one attack/bonus attack butt-strike from polearm mastery. The lead one turns to see Visna pop up and throw a dart into the bush Vorkax just charged with his trident. Willow is shooting a firebolt at some unseen Kenku behind us.


I miss my next attack on the Kenku and it responds by opening its beak and making a sound like the “canned laughs” on a sitcom. The kenku willow shot at misses Visna with a shortbow arrow. Vorkax downs the one in the bush. I shut the lead one up with a cracked skull (non lethal) and they tear the other one apart.

Jarvin: I left one alive *Takes his one coin back*
Visna: What’re are going to do with it, it can’t talk..
Vorkax: Kill it. It’ll just be annoying.
Willow: *Shrug* I don’t see much use in keepin’ it either.


In all we collect two short swords, some pocket change, and a dagger for the group to split later. Visna is given the shortbow.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few hours of walking reveals a more barren area with trees fewer and fewer apart. Willow welcomes us to “The Barrows” and comments on a few notable names inscribed upon old headstones as we just walk on by unamused. She leads us to a large mound of dirt and rock which actually has a door leading downward.

Willow: Well, here it is.
Jarvin: It’s a little dark isn’t it.
Willow: Oh, ya just reminded me!


Willow summons a familiar and a weasel shows up. She immediately fastens it with a harness that a lantern /INDENT]hooks to.[

Willow:Figured that’d be useful for you nearsighted folk. His name’s Wesley.
Jarvin: Nice, a rat.

[INDENT]In truth Jarvin is appreciative for the ability to see in the dark death hole. I imagine Vorkax is as well. Visna was well off with her darkvision. Vorkax and Jarvin position themselves at the forefront, stopping only momentarily to check the dirt door hey encounter for traps before opening up.

On the other side is a dimly lit rectangular room with a northern and western door. The northern door is described as something from a rockin haunted house. It's shaped as a demons skull and has wispy smoke falling from the roof of its mouth. On the eastern wall is an altar with monetary offerings.

What catches our attention the most if the group of four overly-bloated rotting creatures being lectured by a small-flying demon creature. Willow informs us that there demon is a quasit, and the undead creatures manes. Of course, given the lantern weasel and the dragonborn opening the door, they hear us.

Quasit:(In a lazy brooklyn accent)Don’t just stand there, go get em’ ya’ numbskulls!


The Manes all slowly begin to make their way to us.

Vorkax: GrrrraaAaaH!! *With a yell he charges the monsters, lining them up for his breath weapon’s cone attack.*


The manes are apparently fire resistant, but that doesn’t stop Vorkax. He shrugs off their blows with his shield and readies his trident.


Willow blasts one on the left with a firebolt, and Visna begins peppering them with arrows. Jarvin decides not to leave Vorkax to take them all on and charges in after them, crushing one into a pile of rotten flesh and bones with his quarterstaff.


Vorkax skewers one through the stomach and kicks it off of his trident before turning onto the next one. Jarvin gets an attack of opportunity as the mane approaching maddox steps into his reach. Crushing it’s skull.

Quasit: Ah, screw this.



The Quasit quickly dissipates and vanishes from sight. None of us see where it goes, of course, but the opening and closing of the western door, followed by the sound of a turnlock, give us a good guess.


Vorkax and I put a couple of hefty hits onto the remaining two manes, leaving Willow and Visna to take them out with ease. Vorkax uses his paladin ability to heal himself then sits down to rest.


We take a long rest and end the session here to go to bed. The game resumes next Saturday.



I'll post the next session before too long. Just waiting to see what the players / DM say about it!

The Shadowdove
2015-11-18, 10:41 PM
Session 2:

"Hi, I'm Steward"



We pick up the session where we left off the previous week.


Visna: I don’t think it’s a good idea to touch that altar until we know more about it.
Jarvin: I don’t like the looks of that demonskull door either. For all we know, that smoke could be poison.
Vorkax: Agreed. To both.
Willow: Well, that leaves only the other way *She motions to the door the Quasit just left through*
Jarvin: Hold On, I got it. *He takes a crowbar from his pack and jams it into the door.*


The leverage seems to be enough, as the door pops open to reveal a dark hallway ahead. Visna promptly volunteers to go ahead and scout. Makes sense, Vorkax and I are both clad in chainmail. And she didn’t seem to care for my “crowbar” approach.


Her scouting reveals a door to the right about 15 feet down the hall, which has a right degree turn after another 15 or so feet. Down the hallway is some shambling humanoid mindlessly pressing his skull against a wall about 40 or so feet away.


She reports her findings to us, and we volunteer her to open the door and look inside. The room is a mausoleum about 30 by 40 with 5 more of the shambling creatures in it, and a door on the left that is open to the hallway (where the other monster is).


Our plan is to block the doorway and kill them as they come at us one at a time. If there proves to be more, or they’re smarter than they look, we will back up to the door Jarvin opened with the crowbar and resume tactics.


Jarvin: I have an idea. *He looks down the hall behind them to the weasel* Come here Charlie!
Willow: His name is Wesley.
Jarvin: Whatever, that’s what I said. C’mere Weasely! *Waves his hand*
Willow:*Rolls her eyes and nods to the lantern bearing weasel, who strolls over*
Jarvin: Let’s send him in to lure them our way, then pop out n’ smack them as they come to the door. Catch them by their ears.


Willow Just glares.

Vorkax: Sounds good to me.
Visna: Wait, why can’t we just surprise them with a few arrows before they get to the door?
Willow: That sounds better.
Visna: Oh, I meant after Wesley goes in.

Willow resumes her unimpressed look.

Jarvin: I’m all for that. *Leans his quarterstaff by the door and pulls out a crossbow*


Vorkax shrugs and takes up a position by the door, ready to throw a dart Visna gave him. Willow sighs and gets Wesley ready to run for his life; lantern still mounted on his back. He runs in, catching the attention of the monsters, and we hear them shambling our way as he runs back into the hallway unharmed. After a few moments we all pop our heads out and each score a hit on the shamblers, which turn out to be zombies, but not to much deterrence.

They near the long doorway, and Vorkax positions himself in the way. I stand to his left and attack adjacently as the zombie walks into the hallway. The zombies don’t seem to cause much of a problem, despite luckily high initiative rolls, as they all file in behind the original one. We pummel on them one at a time until they stop getting back up, only to hear the sound of feet dragging down the hall.

The loner brought a friend, and we shift positions just in time to catch them. We plan to go back into the room and use it as a bottleneck from the opposite direction, as we had with the others. However, Vorkax engages them as they come around the corner. Visna eats an attack of opportunity as she fires her bow before heading into the room. She becomes somewhat irritated when the rest of us remain in the hallway instead of following the plan. Vorkax and I provide a shield wall in the 10 foot wide hallway, and the other two finish them off with relative ease via spell/arrows.

Visna searches the room and, on one of the skeleton in the walls, finds a jewelled necklace with the gems forming an eyeball on the pendant. Willow confirms it’s not the Gatekeeper’s Eye, so it’s given to Jarvin (treasurer) to hold onto.

We’re level one so, even though we feel we womped on the monsters, we still took a bit of damage from their nibbles. We decide to take a short rest here. Nothing interesting happens and, while the amulet appears to be magical, we don’t discover much about it in such a short amount of time.
The hallway outside of the room’s left-hand door continues a bit then turns right. The right hand hallway, as Visna scouts it ahead, is found to have some arcane sigil inscribed upon the floor about halfway. As we catch up, Visna grabs Wesley and urges him ahead.
As soon as Wesley crosses over the arcane sigil, a spectral image appears with a fearful look and points at us, as if upset that we disturbed it, before disappearing. Wesley makes sure to flee around the corner to where Jarvin is still approaching, and now confused.
The spectre didn’t do much else, and the floor is found to be safe(we have wesley go across it twice to make sure), so we follow it to find a double door after another turn. The door appears harmless, and we discuss what to do from here.

Jarvin: Let’s send in Chuckie.
Willow: Wesley.
Visna: No, I can scout it out. You’ve seen that I’ve been more than capable so far.
Willow: Ah’m alright with that.
Vorkax: Alright.
Jarvin: *Shrugs* That’ll work too, s’pose.


Visna opens the left hand door and peeks in. In the middle of the room is a sarcophagus and a rather large painting on the back wall reveals the image of a scowling old woman in victorian style. The spectre from before rises out of the sarcophagus just as Visna turns around to report her findings to the party. It casts a spell on Visna as she does so. Fortunately she is able to shrug off, feeling as if something is watching her; causing her to be slightly unnerved when she returns to us.

Vorkax: What is it?
Visna: Theres a picture of an old woman, and a sarcophagus.
Willow: I think we should take a look around.


We all agree to continue so Vorkax opens the door and I follow beside him. Sitting on the sarcophagus is a little green frog.

Frog: “Ribbit”


The party stops for a moment and meets the gaze of the toad, who sits a moment before he speaks.

Frog: “Ribbit” Go away.
Jarvin: I think that frog just said something.
The others: mhm, yup, I heard it too.
Frog: yeah “Ribbit” leave this place”ribbit” fools.
Jarvin: I don’t like this frog’s attitude.
Vorkax: I like frog legs, let’s cook it up. *Intimidates*



The frog, afraid, suddenly reveals itself to be the quasit.

Quasit: I mean it, my mastah isn’t very nice when he’s angry. Ya better leave before it gets bad for you guys.
Visna: Why should we listen to you?
Quasit:Ya don’t know my master. If he knew there are intruders this far into the place I’D be the one in real trouble.
At this moment Visna notices a collar around it’s neck with a red gem at the throat, and she nudged Jarvin pointing it out subtley.
Jarvin: Holdon, how about you show us the way “out” of here, and we settle this in a friendly way. You seem to “Like” and respect your master a lot. We can appreciate that.
Quasit: What?..oh! Yeah, *Winks at us* How abouts we just head...ungh *hops down off of the sarcophagus and saunters over to us* out and I send ya guys on your way


Vorkax lunges at the quasit, who evades, having not caught on to the fact that we are not trying to establish an understanding.

Quasit:WHOA, HEY! *points at the dragonborn*what s the no deal scaley?!
Jarvin: It's alright soldier, he's helping us.
Vorkax:oh, I thought we were going to eat it.


Jarvin motions for the Quasit to continue past as Vorkax steps back.
He proceeds to shows his collar to us, and Visna/willow arcane knowledge check.

The necklace turns out to be some form of dimension shackle that keeps the quasit bound to his master’s will. Visna also rolls high enough to discover that expelling a spell slot into the gem is enough to reverse it’s magic.

Visna: Hey *wink* Let me give you this for being so helpful. *She expels a magical surge into the necklace*


The gem at the center splits, dropping the collar to the floor useless/beyond recovery. Visna, obviously preferring to keep magic items, isn't too happy about its breaking.

Preoccupied, none of us noticed Vorkax prying open the sarcophagus with a crowbar. Inside is an old dried up humanoid body. It’s holding an interestingly twisted stick and is surrounded by various items. What catches Vorkax’s attention the most is a large black orb which is obviously the Gatekeeper’s Eye.


Quasit: Alright, screw this place! Let's get the heck outta here!
Vorkax: The item you’re looking for is in here.*Reaches for it*
Visna:No no no! Dont touch it!
Quasit:*sees what Vorkax is doing* oh, now ya done it! The mastah’s probably pissed off.


As if in response, a showy image detaches itself from the painting. It’s about 8 feet tall and seems to be a semi-translucent being with a head and clawed hands, with no legs as it’s lower body goes directly into the shadows surrounding it.


Vorkax flame breaths the thing and rotates around it to give our guys a clean shot. As he does so it pierces it’s shadowed claws straight into Vorkax’s chest, doing necrotic damage on top of sapping his strength. Jarvin rushes to assist, fighting it from the side and his quarterstaff is described as striking it, but it feels somewhat inconsistent as the shadowy body deforms and reforms behind the passing weapon.

Visna and Willow begin casting spells into it. Slinging them at it while it beats on the two frontliners. I take a heavy hit that leaves me at 2 hit points and saps a lot of my strength. Vorkax is still wailing away at it similarly low,and it’s starting to look like a potential Team Kill in our first dungeon, as this thing could likely make mincemeat out of our casters who are running low on spells.

Vorkax and I both miss out next attacks, and are now playing defensively. Visna saves me by hitting the shadow monster with a spell that grants it disadvantage on it’s attack against me. Willow misses her next spell. I’m biting my nails by now. Just then Willow lands a heavy firebolt, and Visna saves me with a another Frostbite spell; which freezes the shadow before it lets out a howl and dissipates before us.

Visna goes over and collects everything except for the artifact, which is left for willow, and hands it to me to keep track of.

Jarvin: Never seen anything like that one before…
Vorkax: *Grunts*

The quasit appears from his invisibility.
Quasit: Phew, good job guys. ‘Now’ I think it’s time to get out of here.
Jarvin: Yeah, we have what we came for. What’s your name?
Quasit: Me? Well..uhmm..the mastah used to call me *grumbles the name*Steward.
Jarvin: What’s your real name?
Quasit: My real name.. you couldn’t pronounce it even if it were written on paper. It’s “Treozhorfocarun Zilar”.
Jarvin: You’re right, that’s tough.
Steward:So uh, where ya guys headin’. I was thinkin’...maybe I could go with ya… since… you know…

Steward looks back at the sarcophagus. Visna, Willow,and Vorkax don’t seem to mind. They’re more interested in investigating the room, the items, and patching themselves up after the fight.

Jarvin: *Looks around to the others who are well within earshot* Well, I guess that’s alright.
Steward: Great!*Disappears momentarily, then reappears sitting atop of Jarvin’s pack* Let’s go then! So this place you’re from. I bet it’s big. How big is it?
Jarvin: Big enough.

Jarvin sits down in the entry room
Steward; Are there a lot of people?
Jarvin: Enough.
Steward: how far away is it.
Jarvin: Far.
Steward: Ah, well that’s alright. I haven’t been outta here in ages.
Jarvin: Are you going to keep asking me questions? I’m trying to rest.
Steward:Oh, alright. Ya, no problem. I’ll let you sleep.
Visna: Is this stuff safe to take?
Steward: What, the altar? Hell ya!

Visna proceeds to ransack the place.(in case you haven’t gathered as much, Visna’s player is ALL about the loot. In previous games she had almost always ended up the most wealthy)


The others take turns resting as well, and gather from “Steward” that the other door is definitely not something we want to tangle with. The only other group of people that went in never came back. We make a note of it.


We make it back to haven safely, deciding to take on the obelisk at a future date and revisit the barrows when we’ve covered more territory. The DM gives us enough experience to bump us to level 2.

The others progress in their respective classes, I take a level of warlock (more on this later). Willow gives us 200 gold for helping her. Visna identifies the “stick” that the entombed humanoid was holding as a magical bow that you can choose between elements (Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Thunder) 3 times per day for 1 minute.

Visna takes the bow, allowing us to split the rest of the loot. Overall, we sell Willow the two scrolls we get, and end up with some gold to split. Vorkax and I split the gold evenly, and I give Steward 5 gold for helping us. The amulet is to be shared, and grants temporary future or past sight whenever we’re struck by an enemy. We each also receive a healing potion.


We end the session here. We resume again 11/22/2015.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Shadowdove
2015-11-20, 01:07 AM
Session 3:

"Goats, Oracles, and Faerie Poo"



Our next session takes places about a week after we’d finished the quest with Willow. In that week, Visna now has a cat familiar and commissioned a lantern cart for it to pull around, Vorkax turned out to have an amusingly profitable gambling addiction, and Jarvin has been stressfully making no progress on his hunt for information regarding the existence of the late king’s heir.

Jarvin, sitting on a bench outside of Born's tavern, is approached by the imp and propositioned a meeting with a friend who knows of his quest. Jarvin, skeptical, agrees; mostly due to the fact that it’s the only lead he’s had. Steward follows Jarvin back to his room and explains that he’ll need to put Jarvin to sleep. Of course Jarvin was hesitant, almost violently so, but finally agreed to this as well; threatening to maim Steward were it some trick.

When Jarvin wakes up he’s in a blackened void. While rising, he’s greeted by a friendly enough voice. The voice belongs to a noble looking man who is seated immediately behind him at a desk. The man seems cordial enough, but impatient, and immediately asks Jarvin if he’s ready for his “interview”.

Man at desk: You can ask your questions when you’re done, Emrick. Let’s get started.

The man summons a duo of duplicates behind him, one sitting to his right taking notes on a piece of parchment and the other seated at his left looking sternly at Jarvin.



This gets Jarvins attention. The man used his real name, which means he knows a lot more than anyone else. Jarvin tells him to carry one.

Man at desk: Tell me about yourself.
Jarvin: I’m on a quest to find the heir of the late king, who is rumored to be somewhere around haven; if he exists.
Man at desk: Ah, quite to the point. Ser Oakenshield, or whatever you’re calling yourself these days.
Jarvin: Well, I figure you already know more than I’d care to tell anyone.
Man at desk: Yes, and so much more. Do you know who I am?
Jarvin: That’s obvious, you’re some kind of witch. Now what do you want from me?


The seated duplicate stands angrily then.

Angry Man at desk: You will address Lord Edgar, The Grey King, Keeper of Secrets with due respect!
Man at desk: Enough of that, sit back down.


Duplicate sits

Man at desk: I am well aware of the details of your mission, Jarvin. I’m also willing to offer you the tools you need to serve your purposes.


Jarvin stands, slamming his hand on the desk; which turns out to be incorporeal.

Jarvin: This ain’t a game, witch, it’s the future of everything we humans have come to accomplish. If I don’t find an heir, those bastards will take the throne and devour everything til there’s nothing left!
Edgar stands and grips Jarvin by the front of his shirt and looks into his eyes. Jarvin cannot move.
Lord Edgar: Oh this IS a game, Emrick. You’re all just pawns to be played with. I’ve already seen the outcome. Your heir Does exist, and he IS alive. I’m willing to give you the power to make sure he finds his way home and you’re not listening.


He lets Jarvin go.

Jarvin: I’ll do anything. What’s the catch?
Lord Edgar: The catch?


Edgar spins jarvin around, where now stands a duplicate jarvin.

Second Jarvin (In Jarvin’s voice): The catch is *His eyes roll into the back of his head* You have no choice.


The duplicate falls to the ground and dies. Then, in an instant, Jarvin wakes up in his room. Steward is still sitting atop of him.
Steward: Ey’, uh, How’d it go?


Jarvin sits up, hard faces, and with a tightened and shaking hand places it on Steward’s shoulder.

Jarvin: Fine, Thank you Steward. Now, get out of my room.
Steward: Ah, sure thing big guy. *Flees*

Jarvin stands up, and sees Lord Edgar looking into the mirror. Standing as if he were the reflection of Jarvin. He smiles and then the image turns back to normal.
(GM Note: Hehehehehe… This will be fun.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day Visna and I walk into Born's and take a seat with Vorkax as a couple of other people are leaving, having left their money with the gambling dragonborn. We're not much for talking in the mornings, so we are going through our routine of eating our breakfast while waiting to see if anything interesting gets posted on the board.

Not much long after we get our drinks a young human walks up to our table. He's noble looking enough and smells a bit much of perfume that he claims is actually something called “cologne”.

Young Guy: It's nice to finally meet you. I am Killian. I have been hearing a lot about the misfit group of adventurers who have been defeating demons and undead. I am fortunate you made your base in Haven. I am on a quest to find a wizard who I have been told to suspect lives not far from here.


Our group still looks at him as if he's a bit out of place, but he just rang a bell.

Vorkax: Wait, you want to find a wizard..where did I hear about a wizard from recently?
Visna: hey, the job board!

At this point the guy playing killian and the DM are amused by how Killian’s long term goal just conveniently had a lead from a few weeks ago.

Killian: Wait, there's a wizard nearby?


We all look over the job posting, which now has a couple more notes pinned beneath it.




“ Our oracle has foretold of a great travesty. A mighty wizard near our town is planning our destruction! Please come save us!
- Harold, Hand of the Oracle”

“P.S.- Forgot to mention, town is northeast of Velka's Mill. HELP!”

“P.P.S.- Seriously guys he's going to kill us all!”

“P.P.P.S.- Is anyone taking this seriously?”

“Written in different handwriting: "Nope"”


Jarvin: Isn't this the guy we called a doomsday crazy last week?
Visna:yes.
Vorkax:yup.
Visna: well, if there is a wizard there's bound to be lots of loot. And we'll figure out if this is the wizard Killians looking for.
Vorkax: Well I think we should get the bandits. They're easy money.
Jarvin: I don't care what we do. I still think the guy who wrote it is probably a whack job.


We gather that the “bandits stole my magical amulet” mission is on the way and that it wouldn't hurt to kill two birds with one stone. We also end up rolling dice to see which job wins priority. The wizard won out. The plan is to talk to both of the employers before heading out to find the wizard. Double rations are packed.

On the way to the Velka’s Mill to talk to the employer for the bandit job, we roll for encounters. We roll for random encounters as we go and, toward the end of the day we roll one. As we near what can only be Velka’s mill/surrounding homes in the distance an old abandoned barn comes into view alongside the road. We don't think much of it until a sheep walks out of it, stares at us, and bleats.

Jarvin: That’s weird, aren’t they supposed to be skittish?
Visna: I’ll take a look into the barn.
Vorkax: *Licks his lips* mmm, mutton.
Killian: Don’t be silly, we should simply take it to the town and collect a reward for the creature. It seems well cared for, not a wild beast.


Visna returns

Visna: It’s just an old barn that has not seen any use in years.
Vorkax: I got it *Lunges toward the sheep, which flees into the woods before he can get close*
Jarvin: Well, that was a waste of time. Let’s go.
Visna: I shall continue to scout ahead.

We approach the town, which appears to be dead, all for the sound of wood striking upon wood somewhere amidst the few scattered homes. The mill is on the opposite side of town. Visna has us hold our place whilst she investigates the striking wood sound, we are all on alert.

After hefting herself up to a window sill, she is embarrassed to find herself looking in on the hairy backs of two dwarves as they “enjoy each others company”. The sound is the bed's headboard striking the wall. She found her way back to us a bit flustered, but informed us the town is perfectly normal.

We arrive at the mill after a short walk and knock.Someone is heard hurrying to get to the door.

Voice behind door: oh, just a moment! Who, umm, who is there?
Visna: We have come to answer the job posting in Haven. Is this Velka’s mill?
Voice: Yes, I am Velka. *peers from the crack in the door* But, ehhh, I didn't post any job.
Jarvin:... right, the paper said they live northeast of here. What was that name?
Vorkax: Hextia.
Killian: Would you happen to know where this woman lives?
Velka:Yes, the witch a couple of hours due that way *points *
Jarvin: Ugh, witch. Don't like the sound of that. Thanks for the help Ma'am.
Velka: I'm a man, and you're welcome.
Jarvin: Ah, beg your pardon sir… I couldn't tell with..the whining.
Visna:*cutting in before Jarvin can continue* Think you could put us up for the night?
Velka: Sure. Come on in.

We spend an uneventful night at Velka's, and head out early thanking him. The trip to Hextia’s was uneventful. Aka no encounters were rolled.

Through the treeline we see a hut surrounded by a plain wooden fence standing in a glade. Killian is nominated door knocker, and he notices a couple of strange door pieces as he approaches. As soon as he sets foot on the porch, a pair of rooster heads,which were mounted on top of sticks, let out loud screams to announce his presents.

Hextia: Alright, hold your horses!



The door opens just enough for the little old lady to see Killian standing somewhat perplexed.

Hextia: ah…*looks Killian over once more* You're here for the sexual augmentation. Come on and have a seat.



She opens the door to let him in, revealing the rest of us. Quite the opposite in demeanor than Killian.

Hextia: Oh...you're here for the job add huh?..not..the...enhancement.
Killian:WELL, that we are. *he says in a rather forward fashion* However, I'd be willing to help you test this augmentations potency should you cut me a deal.
Hextia: *a bit taken aback and obviously disinterested*You're a good kid, I can tell. But my tastes are for men that are, well, bigger. *she pointedly looks the dragonborn’s way*
Vorkax: what? OH!...oh no….
Hextia: Shame.. Well, come in then. Let's talk business. I suppose you'll want tea too.
She leads us inside and the chairs from around the table pull themselves out so we can be seated.
Jarvin: I think I'll stand, if it isn't much of a difference. These old bones, you know.

Hextia waves it off as no problem as a pair of tea pots and cups float in, placing themselves before everyone on the table with tea poured. Jarvin also politely declines, masking his paranoia poorly.

Hextia: Now that we are all comfortable, let's talk about my problem.
Visna: let's.
Hextia: As the board saya, Bandits broke in and stole an amulet from me while I wasn't home and I don't have the means to take it from them.
Vorkax:How many?
Hextia:I don't know for sure, I believe a good handful. Can't say really.
Killian: what properties might this amulet have. Not that I'd consider keeping it. Just curious.
Hextia:As I said, it's no use to anyone but me. I'm the only one who can attune to it. It's just a pretty bobble in anyone else's hands. Besides, if you folk decided to keep it, I could just hire another group to track you down. Right?
Jarvin: Sounds fine to me. Track down the thieves, give them what they deserve, bring back the amulet. We'll bring back a couple of heads as souvenirs for you. Where are they?
Hextia: I like this one, he speaks my language. Leave my hut and head due north. Can't miss em’.
Vorkax: that's all we need.
Jarvin:I agree, let's go.
Visna:we'll be back once we've finished. We also have another task to tend to on the way, so excuse is.
Killian: I might be interested in any potions or spells that might aid my research.
Hextia: I may. Let's talk about it when ya all return.

We all leave Hextia’s and begin immediately west toward Harold’s, to ask about the wizard his “Oracle” speaks of?

On the way we roll an encounter right as we are about to reach our destination. As Visna is scouting 60-80 feet ahead, I see her coin purse lift off of her belt and begin to float away. I immediately hail her down, alerting her to the danger. She begins pursuing it up a tree and I plant myself defensively at the trunk to ward off threats. The other two close in and begin scanning for threats.

The coin purse begins floating along a branch about 12 feet up the tree, and Visna sits in the branch to fire her bow Right above the pouch. Her arrow nearly hits as, an obviously startled, tiny, red, dragon like creature with pixie wings shimmers out of invisibility momentarily.

Visna: Stop, give it back! *in sylvan*
Faery Dragon: aww, but there are shinies.*in sylvan*
Visna: Give it back and I'll give you some.
Faery Dragon: mmm, really?
Visna: yes, of course, I'll share. Let me show you.

As it approaches her Jarvin feels something wet on his shoulder. Alarmed, he strikes the air around and above him.

Jarvin: beware, there is something else about.

Jarvin then touches his shoulder, pulling back a wet and white substance. A giggling sound from above reveals itself to be an orange faerie dragon, which just defecated on him. He eyes it murderously.
Visna proceeds to take out twenty or so copper and a couple of silver, handing them to the delighted red faerie dragon.

Red: thank you lady! I'll bring it back to my family.*disappears*
Visna: wait!*she looks to The orange one* you, come here.
Orange: what, why? *begins slowly flying up to her*
Visna: How about you come with me, we can find lots of treasure. *natural 20,it loves the idea*
Orange: lots of shinies?! I will come with you pretty lady.*hops into her shoulder as she descends the tree* Call me speck.

As they reach the forest floor once again, it lowers its head and lifts a little clawed hand toward Jarvin.
Speck:Sorry, ally. I was just having fun


Visna translates

Jarvin: I don't like it, it defiled my cloak. I'm likely to accidentally step on it should I get the chance.
Visna: *to speck* He says not to worry about it. Just don't do it again,


We called there for the night. Killian's character states he would rather sleep the whole night than stand a watch. Speck made it a game to poke and tickle the city Boy awake when his watch came along.

The next morning we walk a few more hours before encountering a cabin in the woods. Killian is again appointed door knocker.

An unkempt man in unwashed clothing opens the door, practically throwing it open having seen us approaching.

Harold; Yes, yes! I am so happy someone took the message seriously. Quickly, come inside.
We all comply, albeit cautiously. At this point we all still agree he's probably lost a nut or two upstairs.
Harold: The Oracle has foreseen such devastation, evil vile destruction,. This wizard must be stopped.

He digs an armful of unlabeled potions out of a dresser and shoves them into Jarvin’s hands.

Jarvin: I get why you are giving me these, but what are they?
Harold: oh, erm, uh, yes. The red one will bind your wounds. The blue ones help you...see things you otherwise wouldn't. The orange one with the swirling red...throw those. The other one, drink it should you call in battle.
Jarvin: Okay! *wealth of options in his hands*
Vorkax:What’s in it for us?
Harold: The Oracle has agreed to a very rare and special reward for your good deeds. A vision, should you succeed.
Visna: we've heard plenty about this Oracle of yours. Bring us to them so that we may speak.
Harold: The Oracle has prophesied much of the evil should the wizard succeed. You must stop him. There is no time.
Visna: How to we I know this Oracle is real? Have them “divine” something up for us.
Harold: Wait, you don’t believe in the oracle? That is not how it works. There is evil afoot, and there is no time for this.
Visna: Just take us to see your oracle so we can meet them.
Harold: Alright, you can meet the oracle. Just be on your best behavior.


Harold directs us outside to a small shack with a door, locked from the outside.

Harold: Behold, the ORACLE!


He opens the door, from which a goat strolls out onto his lawn to bleat at us.

Jarvin: You’re kidding.
Killian: Yeah, your oracle is a goat, man.
Vorkax: Waste of time…
Visna: Prove to us that this is the oracle of which you speak.
Oracle: BAAH!

Visna looks down to see the goat staring blankly at her, then SUDDENLY the area around her takes a step back and her mind is filled with a choir of voices. “I AM THE ORACLE”.


Visna: Wait, guys… I think this might actually be the oracle.
Jarvin: Yeah, I’m leaving before I catch it too. *Flees with a shirt over his mouth/nose*
Visna: It ‘spoke’ inside of my head.
Vorkax: Yeah, I think Jarvin might be right. *Takes a step back*
Visna: Alright, even if there is no wizard, the least we can do is look into it. Worst case-scenario, we waste a few hours and gain some magical potions.
Harold: Oh there is a wizard. Be warned, and be careful. For he is prophesied to have great power! The true worst case scenario is that you fail your mission. For then we are ALL DOOMED!
Visna: Right. You’re not helping. We will report our findings.

After deciding that the magical potions, when they’re divided as loot are reward enough should this all prove to be crazy-talk, we continue on.

We spend a few hours walking and eventually come upon a tower which pokes out of the treetops. A couple of small buildings, likely sheds, sit at it’s base. We approach it and stand outside of the south-facing doorway inside.

Speck: Oh, I know of this place. We do not come here because of the creature.

As if it heard us, a loud roar is heard a bit further into the woods. Visna climbs a tree and draws her magical bow. I stealth beneath the tree. Vorkax stands his ground, as Killian decides he’s going to confront the creature.


Killian: Come out coward and face me. *Disguised as Harold* Your evil ways have been revealed and I am here to put a stop to them.

A road sounds from nearby, closer than before, and killian reacts by conjuring an illusion of a goat between it and himself. A large head begins to round the corner of the shed south of us. And an owl-headed bear creature roars once more before charging Killian.

Killian’s player: Oh no, it looks hungry..

Killian then runs into the tower’s door and, to our surprise, closes the door behind him; leaving us outside with the owlbear.

DM: “Roll initiative.”

As the owlbear charges toward the door, I ready myself by using the first warlock ability since I talked with The Grey King. Still hidden, I cast Blade Ward in anticipation of pain. Vorkax takes out a piece of paper and casts Shield of faith, further increasing my defense, then smites the beast for a chunk. Visna shoots an acid-imbued arrow into its flank from above.

Hearing our attack, Killian opens a door enough to shoot a magical missile through. Max Damage to the face. He slams the door and the owlbear furiously charges after him, slamming into it as Killian runs for the stairs.
Jarvin has an idea.

Jarvin: Hold your blows for a moment. Let’s see how the new guy handles it.
Vorkax:...Alright. *Skeptical*
Visna: I shall, but if it turns on us I’m unleashing a hail of arrows.
Jarvin: Fair.


We all Ready Action: Attack if it targets anyone ‘other’ than Killian.

I land a heavy attack of opportunity on it as it passes to the door, choosing non-lethal damage. Now aware of the fact that there are now more than just the wizard and dragonborn, the Owlbear is forced to engage us as well. It turns to Vorkax. We all open fire, killing it before it can take a swipe.



Killian emerges from around the corner, the corpse in the doorway lying between us and him.

Killian: You have saved my life. For that I am eternally grateful. I will repay you for this someday.
Vorkax: You can repay me now. *Unimpressed*

We ended the session here and are resuming sunday 11/29/2015.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


At the end of this we were like "Wow, we got lucky.."
the monster we encounter at the end is CR3. We have Three level 2's and One level 1 wizard.
It just played out that Killian was bait enough for us to not take damage.

The Shadowdove
2015-11-29, 05:48 AM
Added Session 3 (from friday.)

We're doing another session to finish the quest tonight.

P.S.: I know that my formatting is kinda crummy. I'm still trying to figure out how to indent in a manner that 'doesn't look different depending on 'zoom' preference.


If you enjoyed reading, leave a post!

Kane0
2015-11-29, 08:55 PM
Enjoying it so far!

The Shadowdove
2015-12-03, 05:24 PM
Enjoying it so far!

Great to hear!

I'll be posting the next session sometime today. Just trying to get away from finals week.

The Shadowdove
2015-12-03, 05:50 PM
Session 4: 11/29/2015

Evil "Wizards" and Bandits

Note: This was a pretty long session, so I'll break it down into multiple spoilers.


So we began our next session where we left off. It’s safe to say that, due to an obviously noisy arrival, we’re not resting at the moment. We assumed that, if there is a wizard in this tower, they know we’re here already and don’t deserve extra time to set traps for us. Visna spends the next few minutes removing the claws from the dead owlbear while we investigate the first room.

Upon entering the tower the only obviously important things we notice a large rug, taking up most of the center of the room, and the stairs on the right side leading upward. Killian informs us of his accidental discovery of a depression when he briefly stepped across the rug earlier; prompting us to investigate it more thoroughly.

I(Jarvin) open up my trusty folding-10-foot pole (one of my best investments) and begin cautiously “poking” around. The area beneath the rug is indeed lower than the rest of the floor, which we assume is a pit trap of some sort, and are rewarded with an answer when Jarvin begins rolling the carpet up from one side.

Beneath the carpet is a 30 or so foot door which opens downward. Upon opening it, we find that it is about a 25-30-foot drop and the entire level below it is full of knee-high mud. Upon closing the door, a magically enhanced voice fills the room. The speaker if obviously irritated, and voices as much.

High pitched voice:Curse you foul bandits, you’ve discovered my trap! Well, no matter. I’ll have you taken care of in short notice!
Vorkax: Sound like that friend of yours? *to Killian*
Killian: I wouldn’t know. I’ve never met the man, and have only heard of their prowess.
Jarvin: That’s helpful.


Unimpressed look from Killian, who begins looking through his spells.


Visna finished removing the claws from the owlbear, wiping her blade clean before
sheathing it.

Visna: I’ll scout ahead up the stairs. Don’t follow too close behind, but be ready.


We voice our approval of her plan and follow after her as she disappears up the next flight.

The next floor appears to be a small armory room. There's a display case on the western wall, a suit of armor on the northern, a rack of swords on the southern, and a small chest in the southwestern corner.


Visna returns to tell us it's safe. We all ascend the steps together, still cautious.

vorkax: I want the armor.
Jarvin: All yours. I don't need anything like that slowing me down these days.


Everyone is nice enough to not point out his advanced age for once.

This unguarded loot has our trap sensors going off. So we decide to come back for it, leaving everything untouched.

Visna scouts the next floor. her stealth keeping her practically invisible as she peeks in to see a small man about the size of a gnome with his hands running above the surface of a large crystal as tall as her. The crystal is glowing as it spins, hovering above a strange cabinet with a leather-wrapped sword hilt sticking out of it. The entire left side of the room is stacked almost to the ceiling with piles of books.

Again, she returns to us and reports. Vorkax and I decide to play to our strengths, lacking much for subterfuge in our jingly chainmail.


After we run up the stairs, Vorkax attempts to grab the little mage. I pull up short just in time to see the dragonborn lunge forward through an incorporeal image. Yeah, the DM wouldn't give us the advantage in such an obvious situation.


The mage appears on top of a stack of books near the ceiling.

Mage: Haha! Fools, tremble as you witness my power! *casts a spell at Vorkax*
Vorkaxs player: What am I rolling?
DM: Wisdom
Vorkaxs Player: Alright.*rolls*...4


Vorkaxs eyes dull as a strange shadowy crown with an antenna wraps around his head.Yeah, he's a puppet.

Killian: Wait fellow scholar, we are not bandits. We are simply here to discuss a matter which was asked of us by someone who fears you are endangering this land. *Attempts to persuade as he casts an image of a goat at the top of the stairs*



The mage seems to be slightly distracted by killian's proposal but continues his threatening casting motions. This grants him disadvantage on his next spell, which he misses.

Mage: I will not fall for your tricks! Death approaches, foolish bandits!


I barely manage to block as Vorkax attempts to stab me with his trident. It obliterates half of my shield as he rips it out.

Jarvin:Whoa Vorkax, it’s that wizard who we should be swinging at!
Visna:Release him now! *She says to the mage, holding her attack incase he complies*

Jarvin: I can get it. Just let me get out of this. *drops his shield and disengages from Vorkax, stepping away*


Vorkax succeeds his will save after failing to throw an axe at me. The strange mind-control antenna dissipates into thin air and his eyes regain focus*

Vorkax: Unge...What the heck was that?
Jarvin: That guy was playing tricks with your mind. Let’s get him.
Killian: No, no don’t kill him. *makes the goat beg the wizard to stop attacking. Another failed persuade*
Jarvin: I hear ya…*shrugs and looks back to the mage as he dodges another arrow from Visna*
Mage: How dare you defy me!!*casts an icy blast at Vorkax who takes it full on, grimacing from behind his shield as he gives the mage a murderous look*
Jarvin: I got him, you’ll know what to do! *Charges the stack of books the mage is standing on.

The mage rolls a 2 on his acrobatics check to tumble down the books safely, whereas I roll a 19 to knock them over. He takes some damage as he falls down the giant stack, landing more toward the center of the room on his face. At the same time I get buried on the other side of the stack*


Wordlessly Vorkax stomps over as the mage is struggling to clamber to his knees, raising his trident above head.

Killian: Nooo!! Stop, we can talk about it!!!
Vorkax: Shouldn’t have messed with my mind *Plunges the trident so hard into the wizard's chest that it strikes hard against the floor beneath him*

Killian just drops his hands to his side and sits on the stairs in disbelief. Suddenly believing that he’s joined a group of adventurers who actually turned out to be murder-happy looters.

Jarvin starts unburying himself from the books. One catches his eye as it falls to the floor and opens. As if an invisible hand is writing in it the word, “Hello?” appears. He scoops it up alongside a couple others nonchalantly as he does so, putting them into his bag as he approaches Vorkax.

Jarvin: No sense leaving them all here to waste away *drops them into his bag as he puts a foot onto the dead mage’s chest* There ya go. Pull it free now.



Vorkax rips his trident free and wipes it upon the body.


Without the threat of the crazy wizard, we begin searching the room and his corpse. The mage isn’t carrying much aside from a +1 dagger, our first of it’s kind(Visna’s bow aside). Visna and Vorkax find that the wizard doesn’t seem to have a spellbook. We deduce that it’s actually a sorceror. Meaning that either the oracle is wrong, or this guy hid his book somewhere.

Visna ritual casts unseen servant and sets it to the task of organizing the books. The orb, when Visna touches it, shoots her back 15 feet and does some burning damage. She finds that her unseen servant, however, can push it around. Her history check reveals that it’s an oversized arcane focus that, if the mage kept abusing it’s ability, would have basically turned it into a nuke. Ya, we don’t know what to do with it. There’s a book about it in the cabinet that claims the only way to get rid of it is by blowing it up.

In the meantime, the leather-wrapped hilt in the cabinet that was below the orb is that of a shortsword. The short sword grants advantage on death saving throws and an additional Level 1 spell slot once per month. More excitement!

We go back downstairs while we think on it to check out the other room. Visna approaches the chest as Vorkax walks to the armor set. It’s human made,so it’d need alterations for his dragonborn body, but it’s full plate and well worth it! He reaches out to touch it before Visna reaches the chest, which she had stopped short of due to seeing the nearby sword move.

The armor turns to look at him, then gives him a heavy metal backhand that rattles his teeth a little. Vorkax, afraid to damage the thing, picks it up and body slams it with a 23 athletics check. Visna and I are suddenly being attacked by three floating swords with insane AC, and Killian is still moping around on the stairs until he hears the clamor.

Vorkax is rolling nothing lower than 21 on his grapple checks. The DM takes this opportunity to play the “It’s John CENA!” song whenever he succeeds his grapple, as he is flopping this helpless suit of armor everywhere (GM Note: Look, it needed to happen). Visna is taking disadvantage on attacks until now against the swords,and they’re cutting through the temp health granted by her abjuration focus as I attempt to get them off of her. I tell her to go for it, as she disengages, and begin casting blade ward on myself as I take the swords on for her to attack them at distance.

The swords are cutting into me too now. Thankfully Killian starts landing firebolts from the stairs with surprising accuracy now. A mixture of melting from firebolts and magical arrows eventually pick them off, and I’m feelings kind of bruisey. Vorkax’s armor is being seriously dented up now. Killian kill-steals it with a max damage firebolt right after Vorkax german suplexes it.

Further investigating leads us to find that the display cabinet is full of weapons labeled as ”failed experiments”, with only one surviving. A dagger, woo. If only we had a rogue or two. We’re hesitant to pick it up until Vorkax disentangles himself from armor pieces and strides over to lift it from the display.

Vorkax: Cowards.*suddenly his throat is dry and he’s incredibly thirsty. He also senses an aura upstairs.* I uh, I’m going to go upstairs and start looking through the books.

We all just shrug it off and continue poking around. Vorkax, however, finds a bottle of wine in the cabinet and can’t resist chugging it. He rolls a 2 Con save and it toasted. Further con save is a 3 and he is throwing up like a highschool girl at prom.

The chest has a sizeable chunk of coin with some sellable knick knacks. Probably equaling around 60 gold each if broken down. That settled, and satisfied with our booty, Killian and I head downstairs to bar the door in preparation for a long rest. Visna joins the recovering Vorkax who explains his predicament. She identifies the dagger as a “Dagger of drunkenness” which grants 30 foot telepathy with willing creatures as well as the ability to locate the nearest source of alcohol.

Short rest finished, Visna finds about 50 books worth taking home. We build up the remaining walls of books around the orb, which is nestled into the corner upstairs and hidden by a seamless barricade of worthless texts. The wizard is decapitated, because we figure it’s traditional, with the head wrapped in his clothing then unceremoniously stuffed into Vorkax’s bag.The rest of the body is tossed into the mud-filled basement.

The next day is a trip to Harold’s to speak with him and the prophet. We roll no encounters. Straight shot with one long-rest and Killian is giving us the silent treatment. We all silently prefer it that way. When we arrive at Harold’s home, he throws the door open at our approach; looking as sleep deprived and unbathed as before.

Harold:Oh thank goodness you’ve returned! Tell us, what did you discover about the wizard?!



Standing behind us Vorkax lifts the head from his bag and holds it above the others.

Vorkax: Look at it, we got that bastard!
Harold:Oh!*seems somewhat pale*oh…. umm, yes. You did, I can see.
Visna: Take us to speak with the oracle, we have important matters to discuss.
Harold: of course, as before the oracle has prepared the miracle of divination in your absence.
Jarvin: yeah, just take us to it. *mumbles under his breath in addition* still can't believe we are talking to a dang goat.

Harold leads us to the Oracle's shed again, and we are careful not to step in any particularly soiled spots as we find a seat in the cramped space. Killian refuses to enter at first, but returns shortly after to join us.


The Oracle wastes no time in recreating a telepathic link with Visna. We all look on with a mixed sense of wonder and absurdity.

Visna: it's fine, just try to hear it.


After a bit of awkward shifting with our eyes closed we all are able to hear the strange collection of voices that belong to the goat inside of our head.

Oracle: I see you have returned, and a crisis has been avoided. We are all in your debt.
Visna: It is safe to assume you know what we found in that tower?
Oracle: yes. It is.
Visna: We need to know how to destroy it so that no one can use it. Have you a means?
Oracle: I am sorry to say that unfortunately I possess no such method of disposing of the orb. However, I do understand that there are two ways to do so. One is to charge it with so much magical energy that it releases it all, being torn asunder in the process.
Vorkax: So explode it, like we are trying to avoid from happening?
Oracle: exactly.
Vorkax: no.
Visna: what is the other way?
Oracle: to send it to another dimension, and do the same there so that it does not cause any harm on our plane of existence.
Vorkax: So basically theses one way...but option two changes the location ?
Oracle: Exactly!
Vorkax: Well that's just great.
Visna: do you have the power to do such a thing, or perhaps connections?
Oracle: unfortunately, as I've mentioned, no.
Visna: can we store it here?

We feel Harold disconnected from the conversation momentarily, but he doesn't seem to notice.

Oracle: unfortunately Harold is not much of a fighter. I do not believe it safe here. As sadly, in body, I am but a goat.
Killian: about that, the truly sad thing is that you are stuck in a goat's body with such ability. You're even lesser lived than a human. How did it come to be?
Oracle: I have always been a goat, and have often felt the same way. Yet, over time I've come to accept it as the hand the powers beyond have granted me.
Jarvin: you're lucky you didn't end up on a dinner plate before you had a chance to convince them you're worth more than a hot meal.


The Oracle is silent for a moment then laughs in good spirit.

Visna: Well I suppose we are to find a way to deal with that orb then. But first, let's talk about the divination.
Oracle: yes, of course, I can offer one divination for you as a group. My powers are limited, and it takes a while to gather enough to do so, but I have prepared for you for a while now.
The question is, which question has the answer that means most to you?
Jarvin: Vorkax, Visna I have something you might want to hear. Unless *looks to goat* you've already pulled the lever and that would throw a wrench into it?
Oracle: you may do as you wish.


Jarvin goes outside of the shed with them, leaving Killian inside: whom understands he's the new guy in the group.

Jarvin:The truth is, I haven't been all that honest with you two.
Visna:go on
Vorkax: yah.
Jarvin: I…..one sec* notices the goat’s unblinking stare from inside the shed and excuses himself to shut them inside* that's just creepy. Anyway, I'm actually a former knight in search of the true heir to the throne rightfully belonging to our late king. There are forces who move for the throne that would destroy all that's been built these last 600 years in favor of their petty ambitions.
Visna: That is quite a secret.
Vorkax: As long as you were still a soldier it’s the same to me.
Jarvin: I'm asking that we use the vision to locate this heir. I've had it confirmed that they exist. I just do not know their appearance or location. I'm sure you'd be rewarded a lot more for restoring the kingdom's future than hunting goblins and bandits. Also, there's the good nature of the task. Its what's right, and won't weigh on your conscience to have a noble cause.
Visna: I am in. It is a noble cause, as you say, and would not be against my own interests.
Vorkax: Can't argue with that. As long as what you say about the reward being worth it as well.
Jarvin: of course. Also, I don't like unfinished business. So, if we've the time after the vision, I've no qualms with finishing those jobs we say we'd do.


We all agree that we’ll ask the oracle to give us information on the heir and return to the shed.

Oracle: Have you decided that which you would like to see?
Visna: Yes, we have. Jarvin is going to give you our question.
Oracle: Very well. I must first know two things. First, what is it that you wish to see. Second, Whether you’d like to see into the near or distant future.
Jarvin: The information is more useful to us in the near future, as long as we’ve enough time to react upon it.
Oracle: Near it is. The vision will take us to the answer, I can only hope that it is as you wish it to be.
Jarvin: We’d like to know where the heir to this man *Shows the oracle his painting of the late king*.

Without a word, the oracles eyes close and we are all whisked into a blackness from which we cannot even see ourselves. Amidst the blackness a light begins to flicker, gradually brightening until it fills a small room; revealing a young girl sitting at a desk. From behind her, we see that she is drawing on a bit of old parchment. She has vibrant straight-red hair, as did the king, and is about 10 years old.
A hand is placed upon her shoulder. Dried, old, withered even. And we see up to the mouth of an old woman with grey-ashen skin. She is wearing a tattered black dress with red lining. We also then notice that the young girl’s clothing appears to have been patched a few times, implying poor living conditions.
“Hi Mommy.”, says the young girl before the image fades to nothing. The old woman just smiles with thin, dry, grey lips.

Oracle: Oh.. I am sorry, I could not hold onto the image longer *sways and is caught by a ready Harold.
Jarvin: *On the edge of his seat, calms himself and sits back* That is fine. I’ll let you know that we are going to find a way to take care of your orb and be on to our own agendas. Is there anything else you can offer us?
Oracle: Return some day in the future, after I’ve gained my strength back, and I’ll grant you another image. It will be a while. I feel particularly drained from today’s efforts.
Jarvin: Very well. That aside, do you have any boards?
Harold: I have some left over from making this building. You can have them.
Jarvin: Thank you.



We return to the mage’s tower with the boards after a day of travel. Visna has her unseen servant hover the orb into the basement, where it is covered in mud to obscure it’s light at the bottom of the drop. We also notice the mage’s body is gone from the pit as the telltale ripples of some creature beneath the surface offer an explanation. Nothing we do lures the creature out, not even tossing an owlbear corpse in. It’s shrugged off as an aid in protecting the orb.

The next day we leave the tower, taking a few more books with us as we go and begin cutting across to, what we hope is, north of Hextia’s. We’ve a date with some bandits. The first two days go by fine. On the third we find a cave in the woods with the decayed corpse of a woman hanging before it. From what we can tell, it’s a suicide.There’s various hunting/survival gear inside that’s corroded, as well as a similarly composed male body. The male is missing it’s legs, so we assume he was death was a result to being the victim of an unfortunate accident; and that his spouse killed herself in grief. That aside, nothing interesting is found. We lay her body by his and cover them before leaving.



It’s getting darker as we walk and the only voices are those of speck and Visna as they converse.

Speck: So, uh, where you from?
Visna: *Looks to make sure the others are not nearby before speaking in sylvan* I am from a monastery a few weeks from here.
Speck: Oh, you should take me sometime.
Visna: I do not think I can do that. It is very heavily guarded with powerful magic that prevents intruders. Visitors are rarely welcome.
Speck: Wow, sounds secretive. I still want to go sometime.Hey *looks about* want to see where I live?
Visna: Is it nearby?
Speck: Yes, it’s not super close but it’s not really far away. Maybe...One..two..three..four..not that far. We’ll make it before it’s too dark.
Visna: I don’t see why not. Do you have a lot of family?
Speck: Oh yeah, I have a lot. *starts counting on his four-clawed paw* one, two, three, four...there’s a LOT of us!

They continue their conversation as we walk. Visna explains where we’re headed and that it’s safer than most places around here. Vorkax and Killian don’t mind, but Jarvin is already peeved.

Despite Jarvins grumbling and obvious dislike for the creatures, we meet Speck’s family. About a dozen faerie dragon buzz about the entrance to an unseen home, which appears to be a hallowed out tree stump. Visna gives them coins to do various unimportant tasks as a form of entertainment. Their pranks don't have a chance to put Jarvin in a bad mood, as he knows draconic and rolled a 21 intimidate after threatening to eat them. Vorkax is slightly less against the idea of the small dragons, and tries to buy himself a companion like Visna. None of them are all that interested, but thank him anyway after Visna pays them for making him chuckle.

We leave the next morning, much to Jarvin’s obvious relief. It takes us another day of walking toget where we want to be, but we start seeing evidence of bandits and go on to high alert. Visna’s scouting leads us to a thicker copse of trees overlooking an encampment. The four large tents form a sideways“L” along the north , with a fire in the middle of camp and a pen where the horses are tied up south of the fire.


It is midday and in the center of camp are 7-8 bandits. Two of whom are in a violent brawl while the others watch.

Visna: Speck, mind scouting for us while they’re occupied? Invisibly of course.
Speck: Sure, what am I looking for?
Visna: Valuables. You are good at that. Anything worth keeping. I’m going to set the tents with less valuables aflame.


Speck flies off after going invisible. There’s no trace of him except for the occasional tent-flap opening, as he fearlessly goes about his search.

Bandit: Yeah Get him!
Other Bandit: In the name of the Matron!

The other bandits shout similar encouragement. They make several references to “The Matron”, who we have never heard of. After a handful of minutes there’s a clear victor. He’s patted on the back and the other is drug off to a tent for, what we assume is, medical care.

Speck: I didn’t see anything really nice in any of the tents except the one in the middle on the right-side. There’s a box.
Visna: Thank you speck *Gives him a gold coin*
Jarvin: What’s the plan?
Visna: We wait until nightfall.
Vorkax: Sounds good. Hit them while they are sleeping.

The sun goes down as we wait in the trees. Killian and Visna climb a couple of trees so that they may fire upon bandits when the time comes.
once we are all in place killian casts an illusion in the form of a large bag of gold at the treeline. Visna then uses the drunkenness dagger to telepathically contact a sleeping bandit.

Visna: You have pleased the matron greatly. Outside in the forest awaits your reward
Bandit: What, who's there?*sits up and exits the back of the tent*
Visna: Come to the trees, there is a reward for your devotion*persuade works*


The bandit sees the bag of loot and approaches it greedily. Vorkax and Jarvin appear from behind the trees, knocking him senseless before he even realizes what hit him. He's brought further back into the woods and suspended from a tree with a gag in his mouth.

Visna then sends her unseen servant into the camp. It untied the horses earlier, to prevent the bandits from escaping once an alarm is raised. Now it's making its way to a tent with her flint and steel in hand.

A cry of alarm goes up as the two bandits inside wake to their tent being on fire. We find it pretty hilarious, as the unseen servant continues lighting the tent on fire in different locations.


Now that the entire group of 7 bandits are all trying to help put it out, Killian uses their close proximity to cast sleep centered on the tent. Going clockwise around the tent he knocks out the two at the north side of the tent.

Only the bandit nearest to the two asleep notices. Visna uses her surprise round to one shot an unsuspecting bandit on the west side of the tent with her bow. Vorkax and I rush to the tent to the left of the bandits unseen.


Round one starts and Killian immediately puts the two bandits on the east side of the tent to sleep. Vorkax and I jump out to kill another as he begins after the treeline.

This leaves us with the captain. He's at the south end of the tent, wielding a scimitar and punching dagger like he was born with them in hand.
He is ridiculously evasive and hard to hit. The two casters come down from the trees and circle to the camp, firing arrows and firebolts all the way.

Vorkax and I can barely land a hit on him. Vorkax uses his protection fighting style to impose disadvantage on any attacks made at me, so the captain is simply focusing him. It's not looking too hot, seeing as he has three attacks per turn.


I keep attacking, hitting once every three turns, and Killian starts landing firebolts finally.

Visna circles to the center of camp then to the tent, steering clear of the captain as she starts finishing off the sleeping bandits with a coup de grat.

Killian max damages a firebolt into the captain's side before Vorkax finishes him off with a trident to the throat.


Visna finishes off the remaining two bandits as Vorkax starts lining laying the bodies out in a row in the center of camp. I go retrieve the one we strung up. He's brought to the center fire for questioning as the corpses and tents are searched. He's a twitchy fellow. Looking about and walking uncoordinated like a junky.


Jarvin rolls a 19 intimidate against a 5 insight.

Jarvin: Don't bother resisting. We are going to kill you most likely. It's the sliding you apart for answers that you should be thinking about.

The bandit whimpers, his entire body going tense in fear for a moment as he looks to the group and his slain comrades.

Jarvin: Hey Vorkax, guys. Come get a piece or this.


His fear is interrupted by a racking cough.


We notice that the prisoner is a sickly pale, as were the ones we killed. He's also rather gaunt and wheezing.

His coughing sends a phlegmy mucous discharge flying Jarvins way. I roll a 3.

Jarvin: Gah! You dirty bastard!*wipes his face* Tell us, who is this matron mother of yours?
Bandit: The MATRON found us in our weakness and grants us strength. She nurtures us with her power so that we may live a life without fear!

Vorkax: speak up, you'll be joining your friends soon.


The sudden reminder of his impending death seems to finish snapping whatever sanity was left of the bandit. He starts yelling, rocking back and forth, while becoming utterly useless.

Bandit: The MATRON SEES US ALL. SHE SHELTERS US WITH HER POWERS AND GIVES US NEW LIFE! *starts laughing maniacally*
New life...NEW LIFE.. NEW LIFE!!!

Visna and I just exchange irritated and confused looks. She then just shakes her head and nods her head to the dragonborn. Vorkax slits the bandit's throat, wiping it on the body before laying the blade in the fire to be cleansed of any sickness.

We just leave him there and go to see what was in the chest. Inside is a locket, some coins, and the amulet belonging to Hextia. Also inside is a club. The club isn't not magical in a weapon sort of sense but has healing abilities that refresh each dawn. SCORE!

We finish the session off by giving Hextia her amulet, collecting our reward, and returning to Haven.

Our next session will be a couple of Saturdays from now due to Holidays.


It was a very fun session. We had MANY lucky rolls until the last fight, then it got kinda choppy. The DM told us afterward he had considered it a possible TPK, until we starting putting our strategy into play.

The Shadowdove
2015-12-03, 06:00 PM
Mini Session

"That got DARK real fast"


12/1/2015

Visna and I managed to catch the dm for a short 25 minute session to go over some unfinished business. We’ve all had about four days of rest and downtime activity. Spells/abilities were learned. Items were commissioned. Jarvin invested his entire savings into upgraded the blacksmith's shop a bit, so new tools are on the way and the smith is very thankful. Vorkax is back to gambling, and waiting for the upgrade to have his plate armor repaired and resized. Killian is about town, studying his spellbook mostly.


Visna and I approach Killian late-morning on the 5th day.

Visna: Killian, we were hoping to catch you. Have you decided your plans for the future?
Killian: Yes, I believe we have a lack of common interest and shall be pursuing the wizard through some other means.
Visna: Sorry to hear that. Hey, how about one last trip together?
Killian: What might you be referring to?
Jarvin: We are going to talk to Hextia about getting some potions. We remember you were talking to her about getting a discount last time you two talked.
Visna: It is also safer to travel as a group. Especially considering Hextia’s hut isn’t exactly a popular destination.
Killian: Oh yes, I would like to come along. Perhaps I’ll get to put my “alter self” spell to us afterall. *Lecherous grin* When do we leave?
Jarvin: Today, unless you need the night to prepare.
Killian: No, let’s go. I’m ready.
Visna: We will be waiting outside of the gates.

We travel for about a day, following the untraversed forest eastward. When we set up camp that night, Killian surprises us by agreeing to take a watch; albeit while grumbling. Visna takes first watch like she usually does. Taking the time to have her unseen servant set up camp while she places ward spells about before scouting. Visna wakes me up for my watch after about three hours.

Jarvin: That time already?
Visna: Yes, it is.
Jarvin: I’ll scout the perimeter for a bit.
Visna: Alright.


After a moment Visna walks into the camp.

Visna’s Player: I stand over Killian, draw my bow, and put an arrow into his eye-socket. *Rolls max damage before rolling auto-crit damage*

DM: What? He’s dead. THAT got dark fast!


Jarvin walks back into camp shortly after. Visna is going through Killian’s possessions. He moves as if to put a hand on her shoulder, but stops short; putting it instead into his pack as he takes out a folding shovel.

Jarvin: You sure this was the right thing?
Visna: Too late to ask that now.
Jarvin: I suppose you are right. We couldn’t have him walking around unsupervised while he knew our mission. I’ll get to digging. Keep whatever you want. I don’t want any of it.


The bury his body there. Visna takes most of his possessions, +1 dagger and spellbook included, leaving the basic equipment and his fake-signet ring. With two high survival rolls, the grave is hidden beneath old dirt and vegetation.

Note: Killian’s player has left the party alongside his character. The game turned out not being for him,and he has other commitments that make it difficult to join sessions. He also has health issues that made it frustrating for him to play as it proved too difficult to concentrate. Our DM was originally going to keep his character around as an NPC but we kind of didn’t give him the chance.



Oh this quick session was well spent. The DM's reaction was great, and he had all sorts of suspicions when we asked him to play with us for 20-30 minutes Monday.



Visna's player has been mentioned as being a hoarder/greedy. Well, she's also power hungry.

She has learned Killians spells from his spellbook. Is hunting spells in the form of scrolls to learn as well.

She also fenced Killian's +1 dagger to start a line of credit, which bought us a house. The house turned out to be a classy inn that went out of business, but also has a secret underground facility. It's also located in the middle-class housing.

She's thinking of all sorts of ways to somehow manipulate the populace of haven into coming to her for permanent spells such as arcane lock/ever-burning torch style spells.

She plans on starting a business out of our base by convincing the town they'll need here wares to fend off thieves/bandits, as well as to help with everyday tasks.

Kane0
2015-12-03, 09:37 PM
Brutal.

Reminds me of my own group :smallamused: