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Kevrandrus
2016-07-01, 12:39 AM
To make a long story short...
I am normally at sea for 8 months out of the year; and managed to get an extended vacation (11 weeks!). So as any sane person suffering D&D withdrawal symptoms; I passed the word around to some friends and got a game organized!

The actual setting that I've set our campaign in was created by my friend Taylor, and it is part of a Minecraft Roleplay Server titled A'therys (http://atherys.com/forum/index.php?/canon-lore/lorelanding/). The world lore always appealed to me; and so I decided I wanted to DM a campaign in it.

A few things of note :

- The dominant sentient race is humans. There are no dwarves, elves, etc. To compensate for this; players are instead choosing backgrounds (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CwNLZ1SXdF_0XN0be5oNOpOHZy7vHakf5KVvsQaUgLI/edit) to define their origins in the world.

- The gods and their domains (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1drB-QQoChltY7nBB1HFFzqDZ3FJ6jKvG4qDLcTb8Qh0/edit?pref=2&pli=1) are entirely different from the traditional Greyhawk or Faerun settings.

- Technologically; we're playing at about late 17th century weaponry - which means gunpowder, cannons, and some very basic firearms (which all have chances to backfire).

- There are Dragons; but not in the traditional sense. A dragon in the world implies a primordial force of nature - think similar to the near-god-strength dragons from the Dragonlance War of Souls trilogy.

- None of the players have played on or were familiar with the Minecraft server setting; so they're fully getting the story from me as they play. Those who wish to remain in the dark, please feel free to ignore reading the site's lore page and refer to the noted history below.



~ Age of Struggle ~
Long ago, the gods existed as ephemeral spirits of their portfolios. In this time, the gods were all a part of the same mesh of existence, inseparable in the creation of things. The gods grew restless in this metaphysical existence, however, and their struggling opened a wide enough pocket in the mesh for a plane of existence to form. The first god to descend was Yeor, the "oldest" and most powerful of the gods, who is generally credited by mortals with the shaping of all existence and the creation of humankind. The precise ending date of the age is unknowable, and largely irrelevant, as the gods came into the world at different times across the age.


~ The Winnowing ~
Before the creation of A'therys, the gods took physical forms with which they could interact with each other and the many worlds of Creation. Yeor was most immediately followed by the other powerful gods, who would eventually rule nations of their own, before the spirits and lesser gods came. During this relatively brief time of even greater chaos, hundreds of those unknown lesser gods were elevated from spirit-hood and destroyed or assimilated. The gods themselves modified and destroyed endlessly, creating armies of disfigured creatures to do their bidding and wage endless wars in their name. This destructive period of history lasted for an again unknown amount of time, and consumed many worlds. At what seemed like the final hour of the nascent universe, about to be rocked apart by immortal beings using it as their plaything, the Dragon of Order, Llyrrh, appeared from whence the rest of the gods had come.


~ The First Calling ~
It is here that Llyrrh first calls upon the gods, telling them that they must pay for their crimes against Order and dispersing the sole lesser god who opposes her. None could comprehend her presence at the time, or had known her to exist before, but defiance was not an option most of the gods considered after a demonstration of her power.


~ The Age of Balance ~
After the First Calling, the gods who came to A'therys divided themselves across the new world. Some chose to enforce their portfolios by themselves, or amongst other gods; the most well-known of today created nations of followers to further themselves. The mortals who followed them, or arrived on their own, were assimilated into the gods’ nascent cultures. Scholars from varying nations generally agree that independent mortal-ruled nation states were all but removed by approximately 3rd Cycle-420, though some either avoided this purge or sprang up again in time. The Age of Balance continued for many millennia, as the gods generally held to the Order enforced by Llyrrh. There was but a single recorded incidence of Llyrrh’s presence in this time, around when the empire of Von the Timekeeper is said to have disappeared in 4th Cycle-850. Otherwise, this age continued without change, and undoubtedly would have if not for the advent of the Mortal Heroes.


~ The Second Calling ~
At a time scholars place around 4300 years after the First Calling, a group of mortals began plotting the destruction of Golgorai-Asthas, the Tyrant-God of Rust. Their actions against him immediately resulted in the Second Calling of Llyrrh, this time to relieve the gods of their duties and to punish the humans themselves.


~ The Age of Uncertainty ~
In the aftermath of the Second Calling, each nation took the departure of their god very differently. Some, such as Vrovona, had a line of succession already established, and barely a day was wasted before the Paragon stepped into his agreed role. Others, however, such as Ar-Selukk, were thrown into chaos that lasted for decades. Soon enough, however, the nations came to some level of stability in the absence of their gods, and today an age of relative security has fallen over A’therys.



Character Creation :

- As noted above; all players will be human and utilize Backgrounds to replace 'racial traits'

- Otherwise: D&D 3.5 rules.

- ECL 4

- Restricted to Players Handbook I and II for classes.

- Rolling for stats. 4d6, drop the lowest; 7 times (drop the lowest of the 7).

- Automatic max value for 1st level Hit Die. Guaranteed at least half your Hit-Die value on subsequent HP Rolls.



The World Map (and DM Screen)

http://i.imgur.com/ZXdccOB.jpg




Calon Gwyrheln ; a multiclass Ranger/Cleric of Dorrod Muth who's specialized in tracking and exterminating undead creatures in the name of his god. Dorrod Muth is the god of death; but in a king of the underworld sense – ruling over a kingdom of the dead as a shepherd watches his flock. Calon, by proxy, tends to perform last rites on fallen enemies and takes great care to ensure the bodies are treated respectfully as the honored dead. He hails form Roreg Logh, which is a nation built mostly underground to avoid the dense (and dangerous) jungles; and took the background feats of Tunnelvision (granting him low-light vision) and Strong of Body (giving him +1 t Fortitude Saves, and an additional +1 against energy drain and death effects)


Ahlanna Strovyk ; a Paladin of the god Vrovona. She wields a Trident and heavy shield, has one spell a day, which she's been prepping Bless Weapon for the temporary bonus, and one daily use of Smite Evil at her disposal. She's from the nation of Vrovona, and took Diciplined (resistance against Compulsions) and (Strong of Body) as her background feats. A few fun notes about Vrovona the god; he was the god of glory, noble combat, and the sun; so he's a little self-indulgent (hence why his nation and his capital city are named after himself; a manner of exonerating his own glory). It's also a fact that Vrovona the nation once was in a period of rapid expansion – as Vrovona can be considered abit like Mufasa; everything the sunlight touches he considered his kingdom.


Cynd; a rogue with very poor charisma; but a lot of ranks in his social skills. He's playing the low charisma as being ugly and having poor first impressions. As he described it; like the Phantom of the Opera and Freddy Crouger had a baby. He's playing from Atvoria; an empire that once worshipped the god of summer and questing – but since the empire's fall currently has an ancient dragon residing in its capital and 'ruling' (in all the sense that a dragon's rule entails); so he's a refugee who fled the area. He took the background feats Heroic (+1 to attack rolls), and Stealthy (+1 to Hide and Move Silently)


and lastly, our Collegiate wizard. His origin is a graduate of the Arcane College, and he's taken the background feats Historian (+1 bonus to Knowledge History and Decipher Script checks), and Linguist (he gets a free bonus language). That plus his Int score being obnoxiously high; he took Common (Alor), Common (Daggerlands), Old Alor, Old Itheri, Hauad Logh, and Music Notation for his language skills.
His wizard is unspecialized; so he has no barred schools - but he does suffer the inability to have a specialty and loses out on school spells being doubly prepared. But the kicker is his name. He goes by Wickenswhack the Magnificent. When asked his surname; he responded; "THE MAGNIFICENT" Using his starting gold; he bought himself four heavy horses, a masterwork carriage (stagecoach variety, holds 4 passengers and 3 drivers), hired for 3 silver a day (100 days downpayment) a footman, a cook, and a valet; and bought himself an entire small wardrobe of fancy attire. He has a quality of life that he is used to; and it's very likely that Wickenswhack is a hazard to himself.




Our game opens with the characters having all been travelers aboard the Steamwheeled Cartel; which on the first of each month escorts bands of travelers from city to city within the A'therys. The Cartel escorts these citizens between the 6 major cities of A'therys; with stops along the way for resupplying. On the fourth week of the journey, the traveling caravan stopped in the farming village of Waterbury, south of Aloreh's Winewood region to trade with the local farmers and to resupply. The next morning four travelers were left behind in the small community as the caravan followed the rigid timetables set by the Cartel. Fortunately, this is a common occurrence and the stranded travelers need only meet back up with the next Steamwheedled caravan in one month's time; no extra fees or charges apply aside from lodges and accommodations in the meantime.

The travelers are put up in the Hawk & Ogre Inn, the only inn of the small village, and are currently at supper in the inn's main room. The misfit band of travelers left behind seem to get along fairly well, at least under the context of a shared meal. The bartender; Danivor, notes to them that if they're waiting for the month, that a rumor had crossed his ears recently. Apparently one of the catacombs of the Arcane College had been disturbed; and they were looking for someone to investigate.

It's two days if they taking the Winewood path; or they can shortcut through a mountain pass and make it to the spire in a day and a half. Cynd and Ahlanna have no objections either way. Wickenswhack tries to get the others to pay rent for using his carriage; but fails when the points of 'we want to help your university' are made, and a sharp glare from the paladin for trying to extort gold off of them puts him in place. Calon wants to get there as quickly as possible; as disruptions in the catacombs could imply necromancy, which is desecration of the honored dead. Knowing arrival in the middle of the night is a poor choice; the party spends the evening at the inn as originally planned, and intends to leave at first light.

At the entrance to the mountain pass; they are held up by a group of well-armed soldiers, who demand to search Wickenswhack's carriage; claiming it to be a search for smuggled goods from Ithero. Calon passes his sense motive check; and tries to pass it onto Ahlanna, but fails to get the signal across. Cynd sneaks atop the carriage and readies an action to shoot his crossbow should they attempt to cause trouble. Wickenswhack is outraged that someone wants to search his carriage, and refuses to allow their search; asking instead if they'll accept 5 silver per person to let them pass. It cost the equivalent of 1 platinum in total (20 soldiers), but it was a successful bribe. As they're riding away Calon notes that they were lying and Ahlanna humorously notes it as karma to Wickenswhack for trying to extort money out of the party for using his carriage.

The first night; the party sets up watch. Wickenswhack needs a full uninterrupted eight hours of sleep in order to prepare his spells; but Calon and Alanna, as divine casters who simply pray in the morning for their spells, are clear of that issue; so it's decided in three hour watch shifts : Calon, Cynd, Ahlanna, Wickenswhack. The evening passes without incident; and the party arrive at Cyridon Spire mid-afternoon the next day. From their Knowledge (History) checks, the party knows this about Cyridon Spire.

Cyridon Spire is the current home of the Guild of Mages in Aloreh, and serves as the modern campus for the Arcane College. Built after the accidental destruction of the original campus by three renegade students, it stands as a bastion of magical learning and history. Beckoning to all who would learn the arcane arts, the spire serves as a reminder to all who see it; magic has a storied and diverse history, but it can be destructive in inexperienced hands. The complex was already under construction before the accident happened. Three young mages at the college had fallen under the sway of the Shol, desiring more than the restricted study of necromancy that was allowed. They desired power. And so, late one night, they gathered together in a secluded part of the valley in which the college had stood. They spoke the words they had studied in the forbidden tomes, and began the dark work that would funnel some of the power of Shol into their very beings. But something went wrong. The students, far too young and inexperienced to notice as the power grew, were enveloped in it. Now unconstrained, the hunger of the Void continued to expand. By the time the other mages returned, it had claimed most of the college and anyone who had been sleeping within. The Arcane Council was able to cease the expansion of the power flux, and as they did the already-wavering energy dissipated as quickly as it had come. Nothing was left of the once-proud college, consumed by the necromancy the unwitting novices had let loose. Work was redoubled on the Spire, as the new grounds now had to support the full brunt of the Mages' Guild instead of simply being an expanded university. The campus had been designed to honor some of the greatest members of the college, previously lost to all but the archives of the Guild. It was decided that a more personal touch to the history of the guild would improve standing, especially in such a pivotal time. The university consists of five towers surrounding a central spire, with each of the connected towers serving different purposes. Dormitories, alchemy labs, practice rooms; all are available to the students and masters. The central edifice is the tower for which the entire complex is named, itself named for the Archmage credited with creating the modern face of the guild. The surrounding towers were named each for great mages of the Arcane Council over the centuries, and themed to the magic which they spent their lives studying. Petravus Tower, for the mage who dedicated himself to the study of terramancy and the shaping of the earth. Fernas Tower, for the mage who dedicated himself to the study of pyromancy and the control of fire. Syrros Tower, for the academic of air and the winds. Ardinil Tower, for he who studied the power of living things. And Kaherii Tower, for he who studied the whims of the blizzard. A statue of the first Archmage, Thalorus the Wise, can also be found at the campus entrance, overlooking the college.

Once they've crossed the bridge into the main campus; Cynd attempts to approach one a group of students; he rolls terribly (3) on his Gather Information check; which leads him break out into what I can only describe as the voice of a druggie looking for a fix; asking them “Hey, I heard about the great prank you kids pulled in the catacombs”, leading only to a scoff from the lead student; and a hurried hustle from the rest. So the group winds up following Wickenswhack to Cyridon Spire; where they ask the secretary at the desk about the rumor they'd heard; and if they were looking to hire an investigation for it still. The secretary tells them to give her a moment; before starting to cast a spell. Wickenswhack identifies it as Sending; which has a 10-minute cast time (and he now is imagining the AOL dial-up internet noises), interrupts the casting to say he'll just send his raven up with the message – and bluffs her into telling the office location; and storms up the stairs leading the party behind him.

The office, in particular, is the bursar's - who is in charge of college finances. His name is Ellyza; and he's a red-faced puff of a man, bald (likely from the stress of managing finances in an institute prone to random bursts of dangerous magic), and looking over a large pile of papers. The party asks about the investigation, and he notes that the job is still available. The catacomb in particular is located in a small cavern along Pius Lake. ((A funny fact; in addition to his extravagant purchases, Wickenswhack had been about to buy himself a boat until the rest of the party talked him out of it. I kept the straightest face possible when this was happening because I knew they'd have to cross a lake)) The catacomb belonged to an elder mage named Merdicor, whose body had never been located and had been given a stone memorial – and her nine students at the time had chosen to be buried within the catacombs alongside her memorial.

Now, Calon is already ready for some undead smiting; and asks if its possible that necromancy is involved. Ellyza does not think so; as tampering with the catacombs is supposed to trigger the temple gargoyle; and it was still solid stone when their own team scouted the area. The problem is that people keep hearing noises from within the catacombs; so to settle the matter he's hiring – 200 gold for the investigation, 100 gold extra if they find anything and report it back to him. It's a pretty cheap sum of 75 gold each; but they accept the job – mainly because Ahlanna won't let evil linger and Calon wants to ensure the honored dead are given their rest.

The party rents a boat; and Wickenswhack has his hirelings carry the thing up to the lake; and row him across, before sending it back for the rest of the party. Upon entering; Calon immediately has his nemesis sense trigger; which allows him to detect his favored enemy (undead) within 60 feet. He cannot sense exactly where they are; but can get a general direction, and number; even if behind a wall or door. He senses 10 undead within the area; and immediately informs the party. To the party's left is a large chest; which Cynd immediately notices and approaches while Calon and Ahlanna move towards the first two coffins to investigate.

As Calon opens the first coffin; a skeleton stands up and attacks him with a readied action. At this disturbance; the coffin next to it bursts open, and a second skeleton prepares to attack. Wickenswhack, who has held his action in the initiative, launches off a magic missile in hopes to interrupt the attack. It makes a clean contact and hits for 7 damage, but the skeleton does follow through on its attack and lands a solid hit on Calon.

Now, skeletons have damage reduction against slashing and piercing weapons, making Ahlanna's trident nearly useless. So she instead utilizes a shield bash attack against the nearest skeleton. Meanwhile; Calon utilizes the favored weapon of his deity (a warhammer), to inflict a large amount of blunt force trauma to the other skeleton. Undead, as his favored enemy – give him +2 to hit and to damage. The nemesis feat he took gives a extra 1d6 damage against that favored enemy. All said and done; each successful hit was 1d8+1d6+4(+2 from favored enemy, +2 from strength) against the undead; with no damage reduction factored in thanks to his choice of weapon. The first two skeletons dropped easily. At the chest, Cynd managed to break open the lock on the chest (natural 20; which basically we decided meant that the catacomb's near millenia age factored in to a lot of rust and the lock basically crumbled away) and revealed a silver scepter inside. It took almost all of his willpower to remember that disturbances in the catacomb were supposed to trigger a temple gargoyle; and to not become Abu in the Cave of Wonders.

Instead; he decides that since he has 10 pints of lantern oil, he's going to try and drill a hole in one of the coffins, pour the oil down, and set it on fire. He gets to coffin #3, starts to use his thieves tools to 'drill' (think a barrel cork hole drill where you have to hand crank the implement) into the coffin lid when it bursts open and the skeleton takes a swing at him. At this disturbance; coffins 4 – 6 also burst open, leading our party rogue to a very dangerous predicament. On the other side of the wall, Skeleton 1 is (re)dead, and Ahlanna is one or two shield bashes from taking the other down. At the sound of the panicked rogue, he asks if she can handle the situation on her own – which she replies yes – and books it to the other side of the wall. Displaying the holy symbol of Dorrod Muth ((which we're playing as a polished stone carved in the shape of a sarcophagus)) towards the undead in order to turn them. He rolled an 18; which allowed him to turn up to his cleric level +6 (8HD), forcing three of them into a corner of the room cowering and one to flee towards the catacomb's exit. At the sight of a skeleton fleeing towards him, Wickenswhack swung his quarterstaff in an attack of opportunity, missed; and then took his regular turn and missed again. Ahlanna shield bases Skeleton #2 into submission and takes a five-foot step back to be ready to help Wickenswhack if the skeleton breaks from the turn undead. Instead, Skeleton #3 flees further; taking two attack of opportunities and surviving with 3hp intact as he flees from the catacomb. I joked that a natural 20 on a listen check will allow you to hear screaming and the sound of fireballs being flung at it from the other side of the lake.

With skeleton numbers 4 – 6 cowering; they are easily dispatched, even with Calon only able to stand there holding out the holy symbol. (He can't get within 10 feet of it without breaking the effect). Wickenswhack uses another magic missile (two of the three he prepared) to finish the job, and the party regroups once the dead are dispatched and Calon has taken time to pray over each of the remains, hoping that their souls have returned to Dorrod Muth. The group sees a single gargoyle standing in the hallway; and is cautious about crossing its path; and hold their breath; still on edge even after crossing it safely.

This time; Calon, Wickenswhack, and Ahlanna have stood in front of coffins 7, 8, and 9 respectively. Cynd opens #7's lid and immediately backs away; and Calon uses his readied action to smash in its face with a hammer. (He scored 17 on the damage roll!) Wickenswhack and Ahlanna both get attack of opportunities as 8 and 9 burst out of their coffins and stand up prone; but both miss their attacks. As #8 attempts to attack Wickenswhack however, it rolls a natural 1, and confirms a for a critical failure. I broke out the fumble chart and its spear flies out of its hand and deals 2 points of damage to Skeleton #7, defeating it. At this; Wickenswhack declares himself the new team tank; and this claim costs him 4hp. The batch of undead are defeated again; and only one undead remains via Calon's detection.

Map-wise; its location is at the stone sarcophagus with two red torches burning their dim lights. The party cautiously approaches through the last two turns, and arm themselves a necessary. Calon inscribes Dorrod Muth's holy symbol upon a piece of parchment; and burns it to cast Shield of Faith on Cynd; who has taken abit of damage in the fights prior, in hopes to keep his AC up and avoid damage. Ahlanna casts her sole level 1 spell, Bless Weapon, which allows her weapon to be considered +1, magical, in terms of overcoming damage reduction. Wickenswhack readies an action to cast blindness on the creature as soon as it shows itself. With the party ready; Ahlanna forces open the heavy stone lid of the sarcophagus.

There is no body inside of the sarcophagus; but a natural 20 spot check reveals a dark blur maneuvering itself from the sarcophagus to her right side; along her peripherals. Sighting the creature as it attacks; it attacks her and deals damage to her strength, sapping her ability to wield her weapons in combat. Wickenswhack's blindness spell is shrugged off with a save; and Ahlanna attacks it back with a Smite Evil; hitting hard and forcing its focus to her. Calon casts 'summon nature's ally' to give himself a wolf to attack with; and the wolf misses its first attack; phasing through the incorporeal creature.

Cynd fires his crossbow; but fails the miss chance and the crossbow (forever known as the dart flinger, for all the good it did in this dungeon)

Wickenswhack attempts to blind the shadow again; but it shrugs off the spell as it did the first time. Having watched its movements and browsed his memory; he recalls the creature (Knowledge Arcana) as a type of incorporeal undead.

Calon misses his big hit; but the wolf manages to succeed past the miss chance, delivering a solid bite into the partially real flesh.

The shadow strikes Ahlanna for another 4 strength damage; bringing her down to a 7 Strength score. ((The party did not know this; but a creature that is reduced to 0 strength by a Shadow dies and becomes a Shadow itself!)). Despite this; she attacks it again with his blessed weapon, dealing a meager amount of damage this time – but her's is the only weapon that can 100% hit the creature. Out of character, Calon's player is aware of the danger – but tries really hard not to say anything – in character, Calon breaks out his holy symbol and attempts to Turn Undead; rolling a 2; which basically allows him to turn anything with 1 Hit Die; far too weak an attempt to turn the Shadow.

Cynd manages to score a hit with his crossbow; and Wickenswhack uses his last magic missile spell; which is a [force] descriptor spell and can automatically hit incorporeal creatures. Unfortunately, he rolls two 1's for damage; and the Shadow takes a five-foot step towards him; taunting him in a chilling voice. “You call this magic? I'll show you real magic!”
It then proceeds to touch him; casting the first of the Archaic spells the party will encounter in this campaign. Archaic is a descriptor I've borrowed out of the Renegade Wizard's Spellbook; which is a fantastic read for when you want to give your villains that extra edge; or if you're just looking for some unique and different spells to use.
As the spell makes contact, Wickenswhack feels his blood chill and coagulate, as a burst of bloody icicles bursts from his body. He just barely manages to pass the fortutide save, and halves the damage; reducing an otherwise fatal blow to 5 damage. The ice spikes remain sticking out of him for 3 rounds; and can be used as a part of a grapple or unarmed attack to deal extra damage if he wants.

Calon uses his last turn attempt; but rolls a 3, which is equally bad in the attempting to turn this creature. The wolf's bite attack misses. Weakened to almost no strength, but with a determined resolve; Ahlanna's holy imbued trident strikes true again; this time rolling a solid 8 (the max it's damage die can do!) and finishing off the Shadow. Shrieking as the holy weapon impales it, the Shadow dissipates to nothing; and the party breathes a sigh of relief.

The party takes a moment to recuperate, and after healing themselves up as best they can ((Ahlanna is moving at half speed on a heavy load at this point)), investigate the chamber. Within the sarcophagus; Wickenswhack finds a fist-sized diamond, and a casting of Detect Magic reveals an overwhelming aura of magic on the item. He takes the full time of Detect Magic; but fails his spellcraft check to identify the spell. However he can determine that it is a 10th level (epic) spell that was used; and that the aura is of the Transmutation school. Calon uses his detect magic, but asks a different question – if the item's aura is good or bad. I note that he believes it to be a good aura; and leave it at that.

Now the party sees a very magical fist-sized diamond; but Ahlanna is weakened; their healing magic is expended; and they have no clue what the temple gargoyle could imply if anything is touched or taken; so after much debate; they do reluctantly decide to leave the diamond where it is. Searching the ashen remains of the Shadow; Calon performs rites by splashing some holy water over it; setting the remains alight with holy fire. In the scorched remains lies a single piece of parchment; written in what appears to be Old Itheri. Though the scorching has damaged some of the text; Wickenswhack can identify it as a spell named “Blood like Icicles”, and guesses (correctly) it to be the spell used against him by the Shadow.

The party returns from the catatomb to Ellyza; and explains what the situation was; and what they found. Cynd does not mention the silver scepter; and did not note its existence to the party. The bursar listens to the tale carefully; and specifically asks Wickenswhack to describe the spell used against him in detail. I'm paraphrasing this; but Wickenswhack boils it down to the pure aura of his own Magnificence warding away the worst of the damage; and that in his own hands he will show his companions a true reason to fear the spell; proudly displaying the partially scorched parchment, which Ellyza snatches from his hands to cautiously copy a series of notes to a notepad. It takes some convincing; but Wickenswhack offers to let the bursar keep his share of the treasure (75 gold) to allow him to keep the spell.

Ellyza asks if the party does not mind waiting a week ((which Ahlanna is more than okay with, as she cannot go anywhere until her Strength recovers; and it will only naturally do so at one point a day)); as he needs to go to the library and research something. They are offered free room and board in Ardinil tower for the week; which the group accepts. They're still 97 days away from the next Steamwheeled Cartel arriving in Waterbury anyway; so a week won't affect their plans too badly.)) Ahlanna will be resting; Calon and Cynd have decided to figure out their week of downtime while we're on break; and Wickenswhack is spending the week dedicated to learning the spell. Archaic spells require one week per spell level in order to learn; and the caster must pass a very difficult spellcraft check even then. Unfortunately, Wickenswhack did fail the check; and cannot attempt to learn it again until he gains a caster level. On the plus side; every additional week spent studying the spell does give another +1 circumstance bonus; so he should definitely get it next time.

Kevrandrus
2016-07-21, 01:16 PM
Okay; so a lot of progress to catch up on. (three sessions. here's the first!)


So the bursar comes to them and informs them that they are being hired to take the Tear of Winter, which is the gemstone they found - from the crypt and deliver it to the capital city of Aloreh, Methes Avonthes, where it will be in the protection of both the mage's guild embassy and the militia of the city. So our party decides (somewhat hilariously), to not risk waking the Gargoyle; which they know is there; and instead spend two days to cement it... Like literally they went out of their way to purchase cement and trap it in a block...

It was hilarious enough that I decided to let them pass at it xD

So with all things said and done; Calon goes in to touch the tear of winter; which is cold as f***; and deals cold damage on touch; and the Gargoyle suddenly roars and tries to break free of its cement prison. It fails. In the meantime, Cynnd steals the silver rod; which they identify as a Rod of Wonder.

They successfully delivered the Tear of Winter from Cyridon Spire to Methes Avonthes; and weren't even delayed. I had a group of heavily armored ice-magic wielders ambush them by blasting off a wheel of Wickenswhack's carriage but they quickly handled the threat; and their cleric had happened to prepare mending... So they put the busted pieces together and boom - wheel mended and on their merry way. In addition, Ahlanna cut off a piece of fabric from the tunic of one of the men, which bore a hand-embroidered symbol; as a reference in an attempt to identify them.

On arrival; they meet their contact ((I threw Carter Westwind in as a mage guild embassy NPC for fun's sake)) and place it in a locked box that can only be opened by himself, and two of their party members ((they chose the Ahlanna and Calon))
They are then given a letter from the guild to try and investigate the Volaradon family estate; as one of the Elder Council from the Fifth Cycle, Syrros Volaradon had an infamously large collection which is maintained by the current family.

At the estate; Wickenswhack himself was running a constant detect magic in the library they were presented while the two residents they met are off playing billiards in another room. Cynnd goes at first to check and see if they are still there; or plotting their demise; then sneaks off into a side-tower; past four locked doors; and rolls a natural 20 - finding both a mysterious tome of an unknown fabric; and a hidden dark secret entitled Thar She Blows. I'd been saving it for a natural 1; but couldn't pass up throwing it out on the natural 20. I passed the slip of paper; and Cynnd's player burst out laughing as he tried to read it to the party.

Yes; this was indeed a parody of the Lusty Argonian Maid
ACT I, SCENE II

Lassie Blowhard :
My captain said I should report to you, for my punishment.

Long Bill Three-Legs:
Yarr Lass, All ye have to do is surrender that booty, then this will all be over quickly.

Lassie Blowhard :
But Long Bill! It's my booty, I worked hard for it!

Long Bill Three-Legs:
Aye, ye did; and a sizable booty it is. It has been well earned for a sailor with such a fine pair of... sea-legs.

Lassie Blowhard :
Thank you sir. If I were not to surrender my booty, what would be my punishment?

Long Bill Three-Legs:
Well, ye can either take the cat o'nine-tails, or... some manual labour.

Lassie Blowhard :
Such as?

Long Bill Three-Legs:
First, you will raise the sail until down.

Lassie Blowhard :
Oh my, the sails are huge! It could take me all day!

Long Bill Three-Legs:
I don't care how long it takes; I just don't want the ship to launch prematurely.

With his spoils in tote (yes, he took both tomes), Cynnd returns towards the rest of the party. In the library itself; Wickenswhack and Calon have managed to pull three books written in Old Alor, and one written in Hauad Logh - the language of the Loghec Priesthood (which Calon can read). The book in Hauad Logh is a detailed journal from the Arcane Elder Petravus; who notes several magical experiments with stones, and life. Calon has no ranks in Knowledge History - but as a member of the Loghec Priesthood I let him roll Knowledge Religion to see what he knows - and he recalls that the priesthood is NOT a fan of Petravus and his work - as he had a habit of fusing creatures together in order to guard his tower; which seriously messed up the local ecosystem (and produced about 80% of the current predators in the area.)

The party compare notes and books; and decide to request borrowing all of them; and head towards the billiard room. They enter to find their two contacts tied up to the chess table chairs with two armored figured standing over them. Ahlanna runs a detect evil (they are), and before they can even say "give us the books, or your friends die", she's broken into a Charge attack and knocked him into the negatives with a critical hit from her Trident (plus Smite Evil). His buddy tries to turn and run, but is shot down by Cynnd's 'dart thrower' (his nickname for his crossbow, which is about as useful as one sometimes with the way he rolls), and Calon's Greatbow. The first is tied and questioned; and even threatened to be sent to Dorrod Muth. Unfortunately, the phrase "send me to your god" was taken literally by our loyal follower of the God of Death; and so he uses his domain ability to do so, and says a prayer over the now-corpse.

Kevrandrus
2016-07-21, 01:52 PM
After showing the symbol around a few times; the party discovers that the symbol they found on the armored men belonged to Arcane Elder Kaherii of the Fifth Cycle. The war of the magi in this period was a result of Kaherii's betrayal; and it is known that the remainder of the Arcane Council at the time worked together to defeat him - but the damage had been done and the remaining four went their separate ways. For now, they've dubbed the armored men the 'Cult of Kaherii', which is probably going to be a name that sticks.

At the rumor of a group of similar looking figures appearing in the mining town of Tireneas; the party has a tough decision. Wickenswhack is the only party member with ranks in Decipher Script; and so it's put upon him to take the time to research and translate what he can. On the other hand, they don't want to risk losing their lead and actually getting some information out of the cultists.

In addition; they've all leveled up. Calon took a fourth level in Ranger in order to get an animal companion (he's now Cleric 1/Ranger 4). Ahlanna is a fifth level paladin, and chose to forsake the Paladin Mount for the alternate class feature Charging Smite (as she already owns a well-trained heavy warhorse), Wickenswhack chose to hold off the level-up and spent some exp (and a lot of stored up gold) towards enchanting himself a ring of AC (+3), so he's now abit behind the rest of the party. And Cynnd is a 5th level rogue, which gives him an extra d6 to his Sneak Attack!

So after a lot of debate, they leave Wickenswhack behind to translate the books while they investigate the mining town. It's a half-day journey south to the town of Tireneas by airship; for a ticketing fee of 5 silver per traveler. Upon arrival; the party goes to the hub of all information - the local pub.

Cynnd unwisely asks if there are any hot miner girls at the pub... I make a joke about local authorities looking to arrest him for soliciting minors. Return to plot.

The local pub is called The Sparrow's Rest; and as it's mid afternoon - most of the actual mine workers are busy with their shifts. Ahlanna watches the door to the pub while Calon and Cynnd engage in a friendly 9-ball pool match to get some information (and drinks) out of a couple of locals. Winning by a small margin, the pair manage to score free beers off the tap, and find out that a caravan of people matching the description of the armored cultists came passing through about a week ago. Among the caravan seemed to be a large coffin of some sort...

That was all Calon needed to hear to be ready to hop into action. They make one last roundup at the local airship port for supplies (more rope; grappling hooks, caltrops), and in a nearby cage; Calon notices a creature from his homeland... A large winged mammal with a fox's face, and a craving for a nearby bowl of fruit. The creature is a wolrhythen, sacred to the Loghec priesthood for their ability to recall and repeat the droning chants that can be heard from the nearby temples.

Angered at such a sacred animal being sold for amusement, he confronts the stall owner and demands he release it. The stall owner simply laughs, and states that if he wishes to have the creature back so badly, that he put his god to the test and gamble his life to prove he's right. Calon agrees without hesitation; and is given a deck of cards. One of the cards in the deck holds a spell for Exploding Runes written upon it; the other 51 are safe. They will take turns drawing and reading the cards. They get about twenty cards in; when a successful sense motive check gets Calon to realize that the man is counting cards; and just quickly drew and put down his last card without attempting to read it.

Rolling a natural 20 on his bluff check; Calon asks "I didn't see that card; what was it again?", to which the man forgets and picks up his card...

Let me tell you something. Commoners with 1d4 HP do not survive exploding runes.

Calon simply puts down the remaining deck, speaks a quiet prayer, and notes to the party "I knew today was not my time time to die..."

He sets free the wolrhythen, which (yes, you guessed it) becomes his new animal companion!




With the final preparations squared away, and our Ranger/Cleric now properly finished with his level-up; the party is ready to head towards the supposed cultist bunker; an mine abandoned when the iron ran out.

While they do not immediately see any guards at the entrance; Calon decides to put his new animal companion to use, sending it to fly silently into the cavern and utilize its senses to try to find guards. The wolrhythen can imitate speech to some extent; and Calon has taught it tricks to seek, mimic (perform), come, fetch, and heel. He's forsaken attack tricks because he knows it will always be underleveled compared to a druid's; hence why he requested an animal more useful for scouting. The wolrhythen returns and makes four quick chirps; informing them of four people in its immediate scouting range. The party cautiously maneuvers towards the cavern entrance; Calon tosses out his caltrops; and they let out a loud shout in combination (including the wolrhythen).

Two guards (armored, cultists), run out to engage them; one gets caught by the caltrops; the other gets pelted with the dart-thrower; which lives up to its name and the bolts go -tink- against the full platemail of the cultist. Thankfully Calon doesn't waste time with shooting; and takes a good swing with his warhammer, smashing in the front of the cultist's platemail and taking him out.

-- will finish this in a bit --