Reaver25
2016-04-12, 12:35 PM
Hello, everybody! I have read many campaign logs, from Kaveman to SilverShiftClaw and beyond. This has inspired me to post my own campaign logs on this forum. Hopefully it is a good read for everyone. So, first, I'll give you the list of DM House Rules that we have, the world we live in, and then introduce the characters. Then I shall have the first session posted! :smallsmile:
Most of us were new players, so our DM made some house rules to simplify everything. We are playing with 5th edition D&D Rules, including these house rules:
1. Components for spells are non-existent. This may change in the future, but for now, our DM would rather have us getting used to playing the game than focusing on gathering components. To make up for this, however, he has also ruled that the verbal and somatic components are not just a fluff in-game, but are something that needs to be shown when we are casting it. For example, for the Cleric Cantrip Sacred Flame, it requires a verbal component. So a phrase or word must be said while casting it. For the Cleric, she says "Well Done!" because she likes her creatures well done rather than rare (like a steak).
2. Gods/Goddesses are not as game changing. DM has read many logs which focused on the actions of the Gods or Goddesses and how it affected the people. He said "it's all about you guys, I don't really care about them.
3. Some minor class changes. After laying through a few sessions, our DM felt that many of the classes had too many intersections. Many of the classes can now cast and have proficiency in skills they couldn't have in earlier editions. He wanted to make the classes distinct in their roles, so he made a few changes, most notably to the Rogue class. For the Rogue (and for everybody rolling for certain skills), he has changed many of the Thief skills (i.e. picking locks, unarming traps, picking pockets) from skill rolls with a d20 to percentile rolls. So basically, if anyone besides a Rogue tries to pick a lock, they will have a much lower chance to succeed than a Rogue would.
These are our DM's rules, and all of the players (including the one vet) like them and agreed to them.
Now that our house rules have been explained, let's dive into the world of 12 Realms!
12 Realms is a vast area of land divided into (you guessed it) 12 Realms. Each of the 12 Realms are significant in some way, as some areas have strong farming industries and others have strong militaries, etc. The home realm of everyone playing is called Avenshale, a rather plain realm with not a whole lot going on. There are a few large cities, but for the most part, there are many villages. Orcs and Goblins are numerous in eastern Avenshale, and cause many issues for the civilians.
In a larger picture of the campaign, there were several ages. Age of the Elves, for instance, was when the Elves were at their peak population and military strength. Age of the Dwarves has also passed, and we are now in the Age of Man. While Elves, Dwarves, and other races are still around, they are not as populous as humans and are on the decline.
We were all given maps of our territory and of the 12 Realms, but not an individual map of each Realm. If anyone wants me to post the map at a future date, let me know and I will.
We know the setting now. Let's dive into the characters that make up our gaming party!
Althadus (played by me) is a level 1 Chaotic Neutral High Elf Rogue. Initially, I wanted to make an Arcane Trickster Rogue, turning invisible and using illusions to sneak past enemies (we'll see how that turned out). Althadus is very stubborn and will only do something he wants to do, not because someone tells him to. He grew up with his parents in a beautiful elven city, but always found himself in trouble. He never stole for personal profit, but for the simple challenge of stealing. He trained as a Wizard for a short time, but always messed up his lessons and irritated his teacher (mostly with the use of Mage Hand and shoe laces). His group of friends one day challenged him to steal the mayor's logbooks. Not being able to turn down a dare, he accepted. Just when he was getting out of the mayor's office, he was caught and imprisoned. His punishment was exile.
Althadus found a living as a courier, giving up the Roguish life. He met a beautiful girl named Caryss, who lived on a farm. He frequently traveled there to deliver packages to her father, but spent most of his time sweet talking her.
One day, while delivering a package to her father, he heard Caryss and her sister, Thora, screaming from quite a distance away. Althadus spurred his horse to a gallop and rode to her house. Just before bursting out of the woods near Caryss's house, he stopped and saw thugs slamming Caryss and Thora into shackles, and then into a cage, which was on a carriage. As they were being taken away, he noticed a still body on the ground (probably their father). A strange looking man in a cloak limped over to his body, poured liquid over it, and the man got back up! They took him, too. He has been following them for three nights, and knows that if he is to save her, he must act tonight... (Something to note for Althadus: he hasn't been a true Rogue for some time now, so he does not have a proficiency bonus yet, nor are his class features available until level 3. Also, he is a mix of melee and ranged attacks, wherever he is needed most.)
Caryss (played by my wife) is a level 2 Lawful Good Life Human Cleric. She has spent most of her life at her father's farm. He tends to be in the basement tinkering and engineering new tools for the farm while her sister Thora works the farm. When not at home, she spent time at the temple in the nearby city, Dagon.
Recently, a handsome Elf has been delivering odd packages to her father and spending his time trying to swoon Caryss. She thinks he is a pretty face, but not much else.
One day, bandits came into her home and, despite her fighting, chained up her and her sister. She has been in a covered cage pulled by horses for almost three nights now. She met another woman in the cage who is confident that they can escape tonight... (Caryss mostly attacks with Searing Flame or Guiding Bolt, healing us when needed.)
Thora is a level 1 Neutral Good Human Druid. Thora took care of the crops on her father's farm and spent much of her time in the woods nearby, speaking with animals and loving the nature.
One day, bandits came into her home and, despite her fighting, chained up her and her sister Caryss. She has been in a covered cage pulled by horses for almost three nights now. Caryss has been talking to another woman in the cage who is confident that they can escape tonight... (Thora tries to stay out of the way of everyone else. She assists when possible, but really starts to shine when she can Wild Shape
Ryuu is a level 2 Neutral Good Human. Her class was unknown to us and herself at the beginning of the campaign. All we know of Ryuu is that she was a bounty hunter who took many men down with her charm and cunning. She was caught unawares in an alley one day and slapped into a cage. From what she can hear of the boisterous, drunkard guards, she is only there because of her unique look. She has golden eyes and resembles the people over the mountain (to the north of Avenshale). She has been in the cage for at least a week now.
Three other girls get thrown into her cage as well. One of them is constantly crying and asking for her mommy. The other two, though, have defiant looks in their eyes. Caryss and Thora, they call themselves. Ryuu tells them of her plan to escape... (Ryuu is adept at melee combat and some ranged, but once her class is revealed it all changes.)
Gravic is a level 2 Lawful Good Human Paladin. He was a member of the temple for a long time and was always unquestioningly loyal to his superiors. The temple had been trying to fight corruption in the town for a long time, which including a ring of drugs, bandits, slave-traders, and more. Gravic was always ready to smite some evil, so smite he did. Gravic was returning to report to his master when he overheard a hushed conversation between his master and a shady looking man. He busted in through the door to find them haggling over the price of his master's loyalty. Overcome with grief and anger, he attempted to strike his master down. The shady looking man disappeared in an instant, and the temple guards overcame him. He was seen as a traitor, stripped of his equipment and rank, and exiled.
In his dreams, he has been told by a mysterious figure: "Slay the undead, that is your mission." Gravic believes that if he smites enough undead, he might gain his Paladin powers back. Now, Gravic is on a mission to get his Shield back from a Goblin, Ya'Dran, who bought it in the black market from a priest. Gravic was told that if he escorted some of his new "supplies," that he could get his shield back. Gravic has been travelling with brigands and bandits for the last few weeks while they collect people and put them in cages. While wanting to smite them, he knows that the only way to stop the slave trade is to kill the man in charge of it and get his shield back. He is considering doing this one night while his "comrades" are all passed out from excessive drinking... (Something to note for Gravic: He does not have any Paladin powers until he completes his mission. Basically, he is a skilled Fighter with no other significance. He fights with the ol' sword n' board.)
Marigold is a level 1 Chaotic Good Halfling Fighter. Marigold was raised by Dwarves. She excelled in weapons training and was always quick to fight. She has a fuse shorter than her, and she isn't afraid of anything.
Marigold was travelling throughout the countryside looking for adventure when she was captured and taken by bandits. She was put into a cage with four other Dwarves. At first, they laughed at her. After a few beatings, she was laughing at them. They have been in the cage for an unknown amount of time. All Marigold wants to do is get out of the cage, slay her captors, and drink some ale. (Marigold will literally fight with anything. Crossbow, axe, sword, whatever does the most damage.)
The Ranger is a 6'5" level 5 Wood Elf Ranger. He doesn't know his name, anything about his past, or why he is in a cage strapped to another man just as large as himself. He hasn't spoken a word to the other man nor to his captors, only quietly promising their destruction... (Side Note: this guy was our most experienced player and saved us many times over. He and the DM decided it would be fun to reveal portions of his backstory as the campaign went along rather than at the beginning. So our veteran player is currrently suffering from amnesia. Also, he starts out spinning his swords but later switches to his longbow.)
Those are the characters in our campaign. We only play once a month, but I've got a few sessions to post before we are caught up. Hopefully everyone enjoys the read, and let me know if you have questions/comments!
Session 1: The Escape
Althadus is hiding in the woods, looking on at the bandits that have captured his future girlfriend (or so he hopes). He can see five separate cages, each of which are covered with tarp. He doesn't know who is in which cage, except that he can hear crying and whimpering from most of them. He can clearly see that, except for one man standing near the cages, the other thugs are knocked out from a night of heavy drinking.
Althadus decides to sneak out of the woods and make his way around the sentry. With all of his focus on the cages, he fails a Perception check to see a man casting a spell nearby.
Mysterious Voice: "Colors abound!" spoken in Elvish is all he hears. He is blinded for a brief moment (Color Spray). After regaining his sight, he gets hit from a different direction by tiny forces of magic (Magic Missile). He runs into the forest and dives onto the floor for cover. He tries shooting an arrow from his shortbow in the general direction of the voice, but is not rewarded with any shout of pain.
Meanwhile, Gravic has decided that he is going to free as many of the prisoners as he can, and slay the captors. Then, he will march on Ya'Dran's fortress by himself and slay the evil there. The first tarp he flips up contains Ryuu, Thora, and Caryss.
Gravic: "Hey, I'm letting you go. Sorry for all of the trouble." He starts getting his keys out. Ryuu pushes the door open to the surprise of Gravic. She picked the lock!
Ryuu: "Thanks for the effort, let's get all of the people out of here!" They proceed to quietly get all of the women out of the various cages,
Althadus decides to get back up, and since he is no longer under enemy fire, continues to make his way to the cages. He is confused as to who attacked him, but he doesn’t have time to search for a predator; he must get to Caryss.
Hoping that he will find her quickly, he flips open the first tarp to reveal four male Dwarves and a very angry looking Halfling, who is shouting obscenities in Dwarvish. They yell at him to let them out, but Althadus is helpless as he can't pick the lock. He promises to come back for them. He moves on to another cage and flips over the tarp. He sees the tall Elf and Human chained together. The Human looks extremely angry, and the Elf looks calm.
Elf: "Get me out of here, friend." The tall Elf speaks to Althadus in Elvish. He has an air of authority about him, and he holds his chest and chin high.
Althadus: "I'll do my best, but I can't pick the locks, I don’t have my tools!" He starts to realize that a rescue mission would have been much easier with his lockpicking set.
Elf: “The human here says he can get us out if you grab his axe. It's in the cart there." Althadus is eager to help a fellow Elf, and tries searching for the axe.
Gravic: “What are you doing, Thief?” He saw Althadus rummaging through all of the gear in the cart and ran over to him with his sword drawn.
Althadus: "Wait, no! I'm trying to--" He realizes that Gravic was a guard, and that revealing his plan to rescue any prisoners was probably not a smart idea. "Uh, well, you see..." He starts to stutter as Caryss walks up.
Caryss: "Althadus? What are you doing here?" She is confused as to why the courier who delivered to her father is here.
Althadus: "I came here for you, I was trying to rescue you!" Gravic realizes that the Elf is just trying to help the prisoners, so he calms down. Just then, the whole camp comes alive at the sound of a voice.
Mysterious Voice: "WAKE UP! WAKE UP, YOU FOOLS, THEY ARE LETTING THE PRISONERS GET AWAY!!!" All of the guards start to stir and get up slowly while grabbing their weapons and their heads in a drunken stupor. They realize that some of the prisoners are being released and get angry, knowing this will affect their payday.
Gravic tosses the keys over to Althadus, and yells out for him to get to the Dwarves first. He knows they can fight well, so he hopes that they will fight their captors. Althadus instead decides to open the cell that holds the Elf and the Human. As he does so, the Human charges at Althadus, kicks him, and grabs his axe in the back of the cart. At this point, all of the bandits are on their feet and charging toward the liberators. After the Human picks up his axe, he smiles wickedly at the Elf.
Human: “I was s’posed to make sure yeh didn’t get outta her’, now I might got to kill yeh. Stupid, pointy eared elf!” He starts swinging his axe at the Elf, but can’t seem to hit him. The Elf is ducking, dodging, and waiting for his moment to strike as the axe whistles close by his head.
Althadus gets back up on his feet, drawing his shortsword and dagger. He is beginning to close in on the Human, but a hard glare from the Elf tells him to back away. He understands, and moves on to protect some of the other prisoners. The thugs are near the cells now, and most of them have swords and shields. Others are shooting crossbows from afar, but thanks to their heavy drinking, they haven’t really hit anything. Althadus closes in on one of the thugs, deflects his sword and finds an opening in the thug’s leather armor. He slashes with his sword and stab the man’s ribs with his dagger. The man drops his sword, holding his side, and falls to the floor.
Gravic is brandishing his sword and shield to the other thugs. Some of them are confused at his betrayal, but others were thinking of doing this very thing and stealing some of the prisoners for their own profit. Two of them move in on Gravic. He blocks one of their strikes with his shield, but is cut on the arm by another in return. He stabs quickly with his sword, stabbing one of them in the eye. The thug falls to the floor immediately and starts screaming.
The Elf is continuing to dodge the axe swings and finally catches a break; the Human swung his axe too far and got it lodged in the cart near him. The Elf tackles him to the ground, breaking the axe free. He starts to pummel the man and they start wrestling, both trying to get the upper hand. The Human is strong, but the Elf is nimble.
Thora and Caryss are just trying to stay out of the way at this point, but are stopped by one of the bandits who is looking at the girls like they are going to be his dinner. His teeth are rotting out of his mouth as he smiles devilishly. Caryss fires a bolt of light at him, killing him instantly (Guiding Bolt). They continue to try to hide, and as they run past another thug, he swings his sword sluggishly at them but gets an arrow to the forehead instead, fired by Althadus.
Ryuu decides that she would be doing best by helping the other people get free, and sets about trying to find the keys that Althadus lost when he was drop-kicked. She finds the keys and lets out everyone else. The Dwarves charge away, but the Halfling decides to stick around and kill a few thugs. She picks up two swords that were dropped by them, appalled by the lack of upkeep on the blood-encrusted weapons, and charges into a few of them that are fighting Gravic. Having fought the Halfling to get her into the cage, they are fearful of her.
Thug: “You! You’re the one who bit me on me leg!” He angrily points at his still fresh wound. The Halfling smiles at the memory.
Halfling: “If it makes you feel any better, you tasted like garbage!” She spits on the ground, ready to attack. The thug thrusts first, still clumsy from his drunkenness. She easily deflects his sword, then quickly retaliates. She swings one sword at him with devastating speed. He is unable to block that attack and gets a cut on his upper arm. He drops his sword and grabs his arm in pain. She thrusts her other sword into his chest while he was distracted, and he falls over in disbelief.
Gravic, still fighting one of them, feints an overhand strike but quickly spins his sword into a side. He maneuver works, slicing one of the man’s gut open. The thug stops fighting to look down at his guts spilling out, and he passes out from shock.
The Human and the Elf are still wrestling. Just when the Human thinks he has the upper hand, the Elf grabs his axe and hits him in the face with the haft. "OW!" Now he is angry. Althadus has noticed that the Elf is still wrestling the large man, but he was busy firing arrows at the last two thugs that are still standing. He fires an arrow that slams into the chest of one of them. He goes down. There is only one of them left. He looks at the angry Halfling that just began charging toward him. He just saw her cut down one of his friends, and he decides that he wants to live to fight another day. He drops his crossbow and sprints away, his fear overcoming his drunken stupor.
The Elf is able to get the upper hand after a few intense moments of struggle with the Human. He brings the axe back for a heavy swing, knowing that this will be the killing blow. The Human, seconds from death, smiles, then starts laughing wildly. The axe cuts his laughter short, decapitating him in one smooth swing.
Caryss and Thora step out from a few of the trees that are nearby, and walk back over to Ryuu, who has stayed out of the fight in order to release the other prisoners. Althadus steps near Caryss, and the Halfling walks over to them, tossing the dirty shortswords aside.
Everyone is wiping the blood off of themselves, and they all get their first good look at each other. Just then, Althadus hears "Colors abound!" again, and everyone is blinded.
Gravic: "Merith! You won't get away with this!" He is trying to get his bearings again. Althadus is the first to recover, and realizes that Merith is getting away on his horse! He tries to catch up to him, but to no avail.
"This is not the last you have heard of Raz'Al Ghoul!" Merith yells out from atop the horse, and teleports away. Althadus yells after him and swears revenge on the man who stole his horse. He notices a small pawn chess piece laying on the ground where Merith teleported. Against the heavy wishes of the others, Althadus pockets it. Everyone expects him to blow up, but he just smiles on.
Althadus runs back to the others, and they all thank each other for the help. They all introduce themselves, except for the Ranger, who is glaring at Gravic. When it comes time for Gravic to introduce himself, the Ranger cuts him off.
Elf Ranger: "I don't trust a word you say. You aren't even loyal to the people who employed you. I should tie you to a tree." And, even though Althadus and Ryuu try to stop him, the Ranger succeeds in tying Gravic to the tree with the assistance of the Halfling, who agrees in tying him up. She introduces herself as Marigold.
Gravic: "Nice to meet you, I'm ---" He tries to make nice with her, but she punches him in the face.
That was where our first session ended! Again, I have edited this session to add in detail that I have remembered as well as the general format. Thanks for reading!
EDIT: I have added a few details in here and changed the formatting of how I wrote in later sessions. I felt this works better for my style.
Most of us were new players, so our DM made some house rules to simplify everything. We are playing with 5th edition D&D Rules, including these house rules:
1. Components for spells are non-existent. This may change in the future, but for now, our DM would rather have us getting used to playing the game than focusing on gathering components. To make up for this, however, he has also ruled that the verbal and somatic components are not just a fluff in-game, but are something that needs to be shown when we are casting it. For example, for the Cleric Cantrip Sacred Flame, it requires a verbal component. So a phrase or word must be said while casting it. For the Cleric, she says "Well Done!" because she likes her creatures well done rather than rare (like a steak).
2. Gods/Goddesses are not as game changing. DM has read many logs which focused on the actions of the Gods or Goddesses and how it affected the people. He said "it's all about you guys, I don't really care about them.
3. Some minor class changes. After laying through a few sessions, our DM felt that many of the classes had too many intersections. Many of the classes can now cast and have proficiency in skills they couldn't have in earlier editions. He wanted to make the classes distinct in their roles, so he made a few changes, most notably to the Rogue class. For the Rogue (and for everybody rolling for certain skills), he has changed many of the Thief skills (i.e. picking locks, unarming traps, picking pockets) from skill rolls with a d20 to percentile rolls. So basically, if anyone besides a Rogue tries to pick a lock, they will have a much lower chance to succeed than a Rogue would.
These are our DM's rules, and all of the players (including the one vet) like them and agreed to them.
Now that our house rules have been explained, let's dive into the world of 12 Realms!
12 Realms is a vast area of land divided into (you guessed it) 12 Realms. Each of the 12 Realms are significant in some way, as some areas have strong farming industries and others have strong militaries, etc. The home realm of everyone playing is called Avenshale, a rather plain realm with not a whole lot going on. There are a few large cities, but for the most part, there are many villages. Orcs and Goblins are numerous in eastern Avenshale, and cause many issues for the civilians.
In a larger picture of the campaign, there were several ages. Age of the Elves, for instance, was when the Elves were at their peak population and military strength. Age of the Dwarves has also passed, and we are now in the Age of Man. While Elves, Dwarves, and other races are still around, they are not as populous as humans and are on the decline.
We were all given maps of our territory and of the 12 Realms, but not an individual map of each Realm. If anyone wants me to post the map at a future date, let me know and I will.
We know the setting now. Let's dive into the characters that make up our gaming party!
Althadus (played by me) is a level 1 Chaotic Neutral High Elf Rogue. Initially, I wanted to make an Arcane Trickster Rogue, turning invisible and using illusions to sneak past enemies (we'll see how that turned out). Althadus is very stubborn and will only do something he wants to do, not because someone tells him to. He grew up with his parents in a beautiful elven city, but always found himself in trouble. He never stole for personal profit, but for the simple challenge of stealing. He trained as a Wizard for a short time, but always messed up his lessons and irritated his teacher (mostly with the use of Mage Hand and shoe laces). His group of friends one day challenged him to steal the mayor's logbooks. Not being able to turn down a dare, he accepted. Just when he was getting out of the mayor's office, he was caught and imprisoned. His punishment was exile.
Althadus found a living as a courier, giving up the Roguish life. He met a beautiful girl named Caryss, who lived on a farm. He frequently traveled there to deliver packages to her father, but spent most of his time sweet talking her.
One day, while delivering a package to her father, he heard Caryss and her sister, Thora, screaming from quite a distance away. Althadus spurred his horse to a gallop and rode to her house. Just before bursting out of the woods near Caryss's house, he stopped and saw thugs slamming Caryss and Thora into shackles, and then into a cage, which was on a carriage. As they were being taken away, he noticed a still body on the ground (probably their father). A strange looking man in a cloak limped over to his body, poured liquid over it, and the man got back up! They took him, too. He has been following them for three nights, and knows that if he is to save her, he must act tonight... (Something to note for Althadus: he hasn't been a true Rogue for some time now, so he does not have a proficiency bonus yet, nor are his class features available until level 3. Also, he is a mix of melee and ranged attacks, wherever he is needed most.)
Caryss (played by my wife) is a level 2 Lawful Good Life Human Cleric. She has spent most of her life at her father's farm. He tends to be in the basement tinkering and engineering new tools for the farm while her sister Thora works the farm. When not at home, she spent time at the temple in the nearby city, Dagon.
Recently, a handsome Elf has been delivering odd packages to her father and spending his time trying to swoon Caryss. She thinks he is a pretty face, but not much else.
One day, bandits came into her home and, despite her fighting, chained up her and her sister. She has been in a covered cage pulled by horses for almost three nights now. She met another woman in the cage who is confident that they can escape tonight... (Caryss mostly attacks with Searing Flame or Guiding Bolt, healing us when needed.)
Thora is a level 1 Neutral Good Human Druid. Thora took care of the crops on her father's farm and spent much of her time in the woods nearby, speaking with animals and loving the nature.
One day, bandits came into her home and, despite her fighting, chained up her and her sister Caryss. She has been in a covered cage pulled by horses for almost three nights now. Caryss has been talking to another woman in the cage who is confident that they can escape tonight... (Thora tries to stay out of the way of everyone else. She assists when possible, but really starts to shine when she can Wild Shape
Ryuu is a level 2 Neutral Good Human. Her class was unknown to us and herself at the beginning of the campaign. All we know of Ryuu is that she was a bounty hunter who took many men down with her charm and cunning. She was caught unawares in an alley one day and slapped into a cage. From what she can hear of the boisterous, drunkard guards, she is only there because of her unique look. She has golden eyes and resembles the people over the mountain (to the north of Avenshale). She has been in the cage for at least a week now.
Three other girls get thrown into her cage as well. One of them is constantly crying and asking for her mommy. The other two, though, have defiant looks in their eyes. Caryss and Thora, they call themselves. Ryuu tells them of her plan to escape... (Ryuu is adept at melee combat and some ranged, but once her class is revealed it all changes.)
Gravic is a level 2 Lawful Good Human Paladin. He was a member of the temple for a long time and was always unquestioningly loyal to his superiors. The temple had been trying to fight corruption in the town for a long time, which including a ring of drugs, bandits, slave-traders, and more. Gravic was always ready to smite some evil, so smite he did. Gravic was returning to report to his master when he overheard a hushed conversation between his master and a shady looking man. He busted in through the door to find them haggling over the price of his master's loyalty. Overcome with grief and anger, he attempted to strike his master down. The shady looking man disappeared in an instant, and the temple guards overcame him. He was seen as a traitor, stripped of his equipment and rank, and exiled.
In his dreams, he has been told by a mysterious figure: "Slay the undead, that is your mission." Gravic believes that if he smites enough undead, he might gain his Paladin powers back. Now, Gravic is on a mission to get his Shield back from a Goblin, Ya'Dran, who bought it in the black market from a priest. Gravic was told that if he escorted some of his new "supplies," that he could get his shield back. Gravic has been travelling with brigands and bandits for the last few weeks while they collect people and put them in cages. While wanting to smite them, he knows that the only way to stop the slave trade is to kill the man in charge of it and get his shield back. He is considering doing this one night while his "comrades" are all passed out from excessive drinking... (Something to note for Gravic: He does not have any Paladin powers until he completes his mission. Basically, he is a skilled Fighter with no other significance. He fights with the ol' sword n' board.)
Marigold is a level 1 Chaotic Good Halfling Fighter. Marigold was raised by Dwarves. She excelled in weapons training and was always quick to fight. She has a fuse shorter than her, and she isn't afraid of anything.
Marigold was travelling throughout the countryside looking for adventure when she was captured and taken by bandits. She was put into a cage with four other Dwarves. At first, they laughed at her. After a few beatings, she was laughing at them. They have been in the cage for an unknown amount of time. All Marigold wants to do is get out of the cage, slay her captors, and drink some ale. (Marigold will literally fight with anything. Crossbow, axe, sword, whatever does the most damage.)
The Ranger is a 6'5" level 5 Wood Elf Ranger. He doesn't know his name, anything about his past, or why he is in a cage strapped to another man just as large as himself. He hasn't spoken a word to the other man nor to his captors, only quietly promising their destruction... (Side Note: this guy was our most experienced player and saved us many times over. He and the DM decided it would be fun to reveal portions of his backstory as the campaign went along rather than at the beginning. So our veteran player is currrently suffering from amnesia. Also, he starts out spinning his swords but later switches to his longbow.)
Those are the characters in our campaign. We only play once a month, but I've got a few sessions to post before we are caught up. Hopefully everyone enjoys the read, and let me know if you have questions/comments!
Session 1: The Escape
Althadus is hiding in the woods, looking on at the bandits that have captured his future girlfriend (or so he hopes). He can see five separate cages, each of which are covered with tarp. He doesn't know who is in which cage, except that he can hear crying and whimpering from most of them. He can clearly see that, except for one man standing near the cages, the other thugs are knocked out from a night of heavy drinking.
Althadus decides to sneak out of the woods and make his way around the sentry. With all of his focus on the cages, he fails a Perception check to see a man casting a spell nearby.
Mysterious Voice: "Colors abound!" spoken in Elvish is all he hears. He is blinded for a brief moment (Color Spray). After regaining his sight, he gets hit from a different direction by tiny forces of magic (Magic Missile). He runs into the forest and dives onto the floor for cover. He tries shooting an arrow from his shortbow in the general direction of the voice, but is not rewarded with any shout of pain.
Meanwhile, Gravic has decided that he is going to free as many of the prisoners as he can, and slay the captors. Then, he will march on Ya'Dran's fortress by himself and slay the evil there. The first tarp he flips up contains Ryuu, Thora, and Caryss.
Gravic: "Hey, I'm letting you go. Sorry for all of the trouble." He starts getting his keys out. Ryuu pushes the door open to the surprise of Gravic. She picked the lock!
Ryuu: "Thanks for the effort, let's get all of the people out of here!" They proceed to quietly get all of the women out of the various cages,
Althadus decides to get back up, and since he is no longer under enemy fire, continues to make his way to the cages. He is confused as to who attacked him, but he doesn’t have time to search for a predator; he must get to Caryss.
Hoping that he will find her quickly, he flips open the first tarp to reveal four male Dwarves and a very angry looking Halfling, who is shouting obscenities in Dwarvish. They yell at him to let them out, but Althadus is helpless as he can't pick the lock. He promises to come back for them. He moves on to another cage and flips over the tarp. He sees the tall Elf and Human chained together. The Human looks extremely angry, and the Elf looks calm.
Elf: "Get me out of here, friend." The tall Elf speaks to Althadus in Elvish. He has an air of authority about him, and he holds his chest and chin high.
Althadus: "I'll do my best, but I can't pick the locks, I don’t have my tools!" He starts to realize that a rescue mission would have been much easier with his lockpicking set.
Elf: “The human here says he can get us out if you grab his axe. It's in the cart there." Althadus is eager to help a fellow Elf, and tries searching for the axe.
Gravic: “What are you doing, Thief?” He saw Althadus rummaging through all of the gear in the cart and ran over to him with his sword drawn.
Althadus: "Wait, no! I'm trying to--" He realizes that Gravic was a guard, and that revealing his plan to rescue any prisoners was probably not a smart idea. "Uh, well, you see..." He starts to stutter as Caryss walks up.
Caryss: "Althadus? What are you doing here?" She is confused as to why the courier who delivered to her father is here.
Althadus: "I came here for you, I was trying to rescue you!" Gravic realizes that the Elf is just trying to help the prisoners, so he calms down. Just then, the whole camp comes alive at the sound of a voice.
Mysterious Voice: "WAKE UP! WAKE UP, YOU FOOLS, THEY ARE LETTING THE PRISONERS GET AWAY!!!" All of the guards start to stir and get up slowly while grabbing their weapons and their heads in a drunken stupor. They realize that some of the prisoners are being released and get angry, knowing this will affect their payday.
Gravic tosses the keys over to Althadus, and yells out for him to get to the Dwarves first. He knows they can fight well, so he hopes that they will fight their captors. Althadus instead decides to open the cell that holds the Elf and the Human. As he does so, the Human charges at Althadus, kicks him, and grabs his axe in the back of the cart. At this point, all of the bandits are on their feet and charging toward the liberators. After the Human picks up his axe, he smiles wickedly at the Elf.
Human: “I was s’posed to make sure yeh didn’t get outta her’, now I might got to kill yeh. Stupid, pointy eared elf!” He starts swinging his axe at the Elf, but can’t seem to hit him. The Elf is ducking, dodging, and waiting for his moment to strike as the axe whistles close by his head.
Althadus gets back up on his feet, drawing his shortsword and dagger. He is beginning to close in on the Human, but a hard glare from the Elf tells him to back away. He understands, and moves on to protect some of the other prisoners. The thugs are near the cells now, and most of them have swords and shields. Others are shooting crossbows from afar, but thanks to their heavy drinking, they haven’t really hit anything. Althadus closes in on one of the thugs, deflects his sword and finds an opening in the thug’s leather armor. He slashes with his sword and stab the man’s ribs with his dagger. The man drops his sword, holding his side, and falls to the floor.
Gravic is brandishing his sword and shield to the other thugs. Some of them are confused at his betrayal, but others were thinking of doing this very thing and stealing some of the prisoners for their own profit. Two of them move in on Gravic. He blocks one of their strikes with his shield, but is cut on the arm by another in return. He stabs quickly with his sword, stabbing one of them in the eye. The thug falls to the floor immediately and starts screaming.
The Elf is continuing to dodge the axe swings and finally catches a break; the Human swung his axe too far and got it lodged in the cart near him. The Elf tackles him to the ground, breaking the axe free. He starts to pummel the man and they start wrestling, both trying to get the upper hand. The Human is strong, but the Elf is nimble.
Thora and Caryss are just trying to stay out of the way at this point, but are stopped by one of the bandits who is looking at the girls like they are going to be his dinner. His teeth are rotting out of his mouth as he smiles devilishly. Caryss fires a bolt of light at him, killing him instantly (Guiding Bolt). They continue to try to hide, and as they run past another thug, he swings his sword sluggishly at them but gets an arrow to the forehead instead, fired by Althadus.
Ryuu decides that she would be doing best by helping the other people get free, and sets about trying to find the keys that Althadus lost when he was drop-kicked. She finds the keys and lets out everyone else. The Dwarves charge away, but the Halfling decides to stick around and kill a few thugs. She picks up two swords that were dropped by them, appalled by the lack of upkeep on the blood-encrusted weapons, and charges into a few of them that are fighting Gravic. Having fought the Halfling to get her into the cage, they are fearful of her.
Thug: “You! You’re the one who bit me on me leg!” He angrily points at his still fresh wound. The Halfling smiles at the memory.
Halfling: “If it makes you feel any better, you tasted like garbage!” She spits on the ground, ready to attack. The thug thrusts first, still clumsy from his drunkenness. She easily deflects his sword, then quickly retaliates. She swings one sword at him with devastating speed. He is unable to block that attack and gets a cut on his upper arm. He drops his sword and grabs his arm in pain. She thrusts her other sword into his chest while he was distracted, and he falls over in disbelief.
Gravic, still fighting one of them, feints an overhand strike but quickly spins his sword into a side. He maneuver works, slicing one of the man’s gut open. The thug stops fighting to look down at his guts spilling out, and he passes out from shock.
The Human and the Elf are still wrestling. Just when the Human thinks he has the upper hand, the Elf grabs his axe and hits him in the face with the haft. "OW!" Now he is angry. Althadus has noticed that the Elf is still wrestling the large man, but he was busy firing arrows at the last two thugs that are still standing. He fires an arrow that slams into the chest of one of them. He goes down. There is only one of them left. He looks at the angry Halfling that just began charging toward him. He just saw her cut down one of his friends, and he decides that he wants to live to fight another day. He drops his crossbow and sprints away, his fear overcoming his drunken stupor.
The Elf is able to get the upper hand after a few intense moments of struggle with the Human. He brings the axe back for a heavy swing, knowing that this will be the killing blow. The Human, seconds from death, smiles, then starts laughing wildly. The axe cuts his laughter short, decapitating him in one smooth swing.
Caryss and Thora step out from a few of the trees that are nearby, and walk back over to Ryuu, who has stayed out of the fight in order to release the other prisoners. Althadus steps near Caryss, and the Halfling walks over to them, tossing the dirty shortswords aside.
Everyone is wiping the blood off of themselves, and they all get their first good look at each other. Just then, Althadus hears "Colors abound!" again, and everyone is blinded.
Gravic: "Merith! You won't get away with this!" He is trying to get his bearings again. Althadus is the first to recover, and realizes that Merith is getting away on his horse! He tries to catch up to him, but to no avail.
"This is not the last you have heard of Raz'Al Ghoul!" Merith yells out from atop the horse, and teleports away. Althadus yells after him and swears revenge on the man who stole his horse. He notices a small pawn chess piece laying on the ground where Merith teleported. Against the heavy wishes of the others, Althadus pockets it. Everyone expects him to blow up, but he just smiles on.
Althadus runs back to the others, and they all thank each other for the help. They all introduce themselves, except for the Ranger, who is glaring at Gravic. When it comes time for Gravic to introduce himself, the Ranger cuts him off.
Elf Ranger: "I don't trust a word you say. You aren't even loyal to the people who employed you. I should tie you to a tree." And, even though Althadus and Ryuu try to stop him, the Ranger succeeds in tying Gravic to the tree with the assistance of the Halfling, who agrees in tying him up. She introduces herself as Marigold.
Gravic: "Nice to meet you, I'm ---" He tries to make nice with her, but she punches him in the face.
That was where our first session ended! Again, I have edited this session to add in detail that I have remembered as well as the general format. Thanks for reading!
EDIT: I have added a few details in here and changed the formatting of how I wrote in later sessions. I felt this works better for my style.