Efrate
2016-09-11, 04:31 AM
Hello Giant! After reading Caveman's Cattle Driving Necromancers journal, I decided to do something similar and started taking notes. So here for someone's enjoyment, even if mine, is what I have.
Caveat: I ran Sunless Citadel, Forge of Fury, and Speaker in Dreams before I started taking notes, so I won't have much to say about them, but I will give you a bit of background where relevant.
Background: Sunless Citadel path is actually not terrible, especially considering the group I am running with is very new. I've run several of the modules before, most notable Speaker in Dreams, The Standing Stone, and Bastion of Broken souls. I enjoyed each as a DM for different reasons. You get a good mix of adventure types, cover a lot of system ground, and I think its a fine introduction for new players, most of which this group consists of.
My goals: Update these to 3.5, but keep player power at a fairly low level, in tune with the adventures. I want them threatened. To that effect the following rules are in effect.
Rules
Elite array for stats. I know horrible. It is however what the adventures were more or less designed for. I give 2 feats to each player as compensation, one of the +2/+2 which helps with their background or skill focus, and one that directly relates to their combat role. Weapon Focus/finesse, Spell Focus in their most common spell type (usually evocation), PBS for ranged characters, etc. Nothing super great, but nice.
Also house rule of rerolling 1s on HP for leveling because forget that. You keep a 2 but you can reroll a 1.
Sources made available at a very limited rate. We started in Sunless Citadel, core only, no exceptions. You race had to be from the PHB, no alternates, no sub races, nada. All your class, feats, prestiges classes, etc, had to come from PHB or DMG. No monstrous races or subraces, no ACFs, or anything at the start. Forge of Fury I added PHB2. Things got a bit messy in Speaker, mainly because I made out monk into a PF unchanied monk because she wasn't happy lagging behind a party with duskblade, ranger, and rogue, and doing nothing. Deaths and such aside we come to the present adventure. Sources allowed: Core, PHBII, plus all completes (other than psionic, mainly because magic is rough enough for most the players), miniatures handbook.
Our cast of players! Note that this campaign errs more on the side of Monty Python than Lord of the Rings.
A. A is an old friend of mine. He can be munchkinny at times, and he has been known to show up here. He always seems to win initiative, and if I didn't see or use his dice on occasion I would swear he is a cheater. He also cannot make any non-knowledge skill roll ever, so it balances out. Three spot isn't helping you much. He is an excellent roleplayer, and the only player in the group with a reasonable amount of experience. He prefers playing casters. He starts this adventured as Kruger Blitz, duskblade known for pile driving a gargolye he grappled 120 feet down into the pavement. His follower is Morgha, a Knight, who is an Anime style cheerleader for good an justice, whereas he is a more jaded hardbitten old soldier.
B. B is my oldest and best friend, and he has played a bit, but its more a social thing for him to get together with his buddies. He is a very kick in the door style of player, and keeps track of his kill count and like to play characters that brag about it. He also names his characters something juvenile and silly. He is currently a rogue named Harry Johnson. He has previously been Boom Shakalaka, and his twin KaBoom Shakalaka, socerers who only did damage spells. They both died.
M. M is my significant other, and has very limited play experience. She played 1st edition way back when (we are old xD), and has done a bit of 3.5. She is very introverted at the table and plays more quiet characters, who would rather solve problems by talking them out, being reasonable, and if all else fails, hitting them in the face (even when she isn't great at it). She does not like spells in general and likes to be more supportive, but is currently playing a Favored Soul of Obai-hai, a gnome named Shamil. Her spells are supportive, she wanted to be a buffer and decided on Favored soul with buffs over a Marshal or a Dragon Shaman. Bless, Prayer, etc. are her forte. She also likes to hit thing with her small quarterstaff. But she's bad at it.
D. D is M's son, and he's a good kid if immature at times. He competes with B. in the kill count competition, and has a bad habit of getting sidetracked very easy with random questions along the line of "So what could X do in Y situation" etc., frequently. We all try to curb it. He's honestly curious and more than a little ADHD but he's passionate and has a blast, plus its something his mother and him can do together and talk about later. His character tend to be quite dumb in game, and often he's more of a dead weight than anything. He breaks character constantly with little side comments and ooc stuff, but we all do so its not a big deal. We've talked to him about using out of game knowledge in game, but it can sometimes cripple his in game performance as he waffles a lot on what to do, or I don't know that will work. He's a work in progress but I can feel a great gamer in there, just gonna need some development. He's come a long ways, and hes fun, though he can get scapegoated because his characters are THAT dumb. He is a warmage named Tesarion.
Session 1: That Standing Stone, before the adventure, introduction, RP, and Crazy Donald.
Kruger and Harry, after the debacle of Brindenford, need to get away from things for a while. Turns out killing the Governor, even if controlled by a Mind Flayer no one knows about (see Speaker in Dreams), doesn't sit well with the populace, even after he instituted martial law and used fiends as enforcers. Following the loss of several comrades, and Harry's return to flesh after a bad run in with the Medusa, they need to get out of town for a while. Harry also has accepted a Geas to pay back the cost of the Stone to Flesh, and the cost of the Geas, with interest. He owes around Ten thousand gold to his Employer, the Brindenford thieves guild, and must pay a minimum of a thousand a month or be hunted down and assassinated. He pays Two Thousand up front and needs to go adventuring to help cover the rest.
After visiting Kruger's patron and current employer, one Lord Althon who lives a few days south of Brindenford, they hear of a friend of their patron named Lord Carroway who lives a few weeks away and has been having issues with a possible uprising and it looking for some brave folk to gather information and possibly quell this before it gains momentum. Both having good reasons to leave, Kruger packs up his motley assortment of following warrior and sets off with Harry for parts distant.
Their journey is uneventful, but about halfway there they are overtaken by Morgha, someone sent onto Kruger for training from his old unit (actually to get rid of her[his new follower]). She arrives bright eyed bushy tailed, and utterly naive. If you've ever seen the Anime Slayers, she's Emelia, only taken up a notch and without the fondess for heights. As they set camp, Kruger clearly sees why his old commander sent her to him for training. It was an excuse she would believe and got rid of her. She comes with a note "She's your problem now. Deal with it."
As they set camp she is very certain to inspect everyone's gear, chastise those whose kit is not pristine (everyone but her, and Kruger who she is kind of in Awe of), make sure the tents are laid out properly, and arranges a schedule of overlapping watches. On a very well traveled road. In very civilized lands. She also gives lectures on proper knightly duties and how they must at all times be willing to represent the absolute best of everything to all they meet. She's green enough to be an entire forest.
The above repeats nightly. After a short while they enter the lands of Lord Carroway, which are prosperous farmland and vineyards mostly, away from pretty much everything. Lord Carroway himself greets the great heroes who helped deliver Brindenford from evil, which makes Morgha absolutely ecstatic. He delares a holiday and hold a feast, with a tourney the next day to celebrate them with all panoply. Morgha again is so happy she is in tears, declaring him a fine lord to do this honor unto us, and is grateful to be of service someone who knows how to be as chivalrous as he does, etc. This goes on for a while, a massive declaration, which he very nobly listen to until she winds down before excusing himself with preparations. Kruger and his men are astonished, and not in a good way. Harry go finds a bar to get a drink. Morgha chastises him about the evils of drink for a knight, to which he replies "Good thing I'm not a Knight." then walks off. She is stunned. The soldiers are grinning. Kruger tells the men to set up camp and offers to go help keep Harry on the straight and narrow. Tells Morgha to ensure the camp is up to standards then sets off. Pulls out a flask right after he is out of sight and takes a hit. Passes it to Harry who knew he would follow.
"She's something else alright. I miss Otto, he had a flask as well always. Need a new drinking buddy."
"I miss Otto too, was me friend through a lot of trouble. We'll drink to him tonight. And Morgha is a good girl. She means well."
Harry looks at Kruger. Kruger takes another drink.
Of the 3 bars in town, one is sure to get you stabbed, one is sure to never let anything happen EVER, one is in the middle between murder dive and country club, they head there. As they approach the bar they hear VERY loud ravings "The Elves will kill us all! Just you wait! They're coming!" Enter Crazy Donald. Crazy Donald is the local drunk, among other things. He always pays with good gold so he is tolerated most places, and is very generous with his coins. Kruger approaches him and asks about the elves. And buys him a drink as he does. Donald is appreciative and rants for a while about how those elves are always sneaking around, up to no good he tells you. Them pointy ears can't be trusted, even the little pointy ones like the town Sage. Half elf is a full elf too many! He goes on for a while. Apparently the elves "North mostly, but everywhere! They hide in the trees! Ware the elves!" Harry takes it in stride and orders something strong while Kruger is talking. Crazy Donald hears him and says "I like you lad! Barkeep get him the real strong stuff." He gets a glass of something potent. He downs it, passes his fort save, and enjoys it. Donald raves for a while more, then says "Ok I'm ready! Bring me the Special brew!" and plops ten plat on the table. Barkeep disappears and comes back with goggles and a mask. Pours a shot of something smoking, which causes the barkeep to pass out. Donald downs it in a gulp, then laughs at the barkeep. Throws a bag of coins on the other side of the bar "You always were a lightweight!" Goes back, grabs a few bottles, tosses one to Kruger "You and yer friend are alright, ware those elves! Drink some good stuff later on me!" Harry stops at a butcher grabs a few steaks, Kruger also buys some supplies for the camp.
Kruger and Harry head back to see not only has camp been set up where Lord Carroway let them, but its highly ordered, they have even entrenched and build a small palisade. Morgha greets the stunned Kruger "Camp is ready for inspection Sir! Sargent McGregor is making dinner, the rest of the men other than the 4 I have set to watch are resting, something about recovering from a long journey. Kruger stammers out a well done, to which Morgha bows, salutes and proceeds to continue walking the perimeter. He find Sgt. McGregor over a cookpot very slowing cooking a stew. "She's insane Captain. You owe us for doing all that bother." gesturing to the trenches et. al.
Kruger nods. "Aye, I got somemat for you all, but if we had a few of her we'd have the safest camps ever. This is extraordinary, no idea how she managed to get you to do this. I can't even get you to post a double watch!" He pulled out a small keg of ale from his haversack "This is for you boys, and after she goes to bed, I got something strong and special." Sarge replies "To be fair Captain, she's a rather lovely lass, and we've been campaigning for a while. I know better, but some of us even knowing there's nothing there still gonna try. You ask her to help polish your sword and she'll grab oil and some cloth, then be confused when you are unarmed." Kruger laughs. "Aye." They eat, and he tells Morgha to get rest to be top shape for tomorrow. "You are representing us lass, in the joust and the melee. Need to be in top form so ye do not dishonor the company." She quickly does one last circuit of the camp, checks on the horses, then goes to bed.
Kruger gets a table. Pours a glass of what Crazy Donlad said was 'good stuff'. Drinks it. Passes his fort barely. Is quite drunk but otherwise ok. He sets a gold on the table. Alright lads, step up. First soldier takes a drink, passes out. Puts another gold on the table. Second soldier takes a drink, wobbles, but is otherwise fine. Gets two gold. Three more drink then immediately pass out. Sargent McGregor smells it and passes out. So does the next guy in line. Five gold on the table go back into Kruger's pockets. Harry laughs and helps carry them to their tent.
The next morning, Kruger has a hellacious hangover, most of his men do as well. Sarge is still passed out. Morgha arrives loud, shining and happy. And early. Very, very early. Kruger wishes her luck and gets back to sleep after sending her on to make sure she did not dishonor us with tardiness. She gallops away which does nothing for his head. Several hours later the joust and melee happened, attended by all the locals (food and cheap booze were free), and all the "knights" in the area, which are mostly landed men in the sense that they own land, a horse, an old piece of armor and a stick and are therefore Knights show up with lots of pride but very little skill. Morgha wins two of her three tilts, losing to the commander of Lord Carroways guards, then acquits her self well but not spectacularly in the melee. Kruger watches her, and after the event tells her what she did wrong, it was how she used her shield, so she proactively decided to do two solid hours of shield training.
Enter Shamil and Tesarion. They met in Brindenford just after Kruger and Harry left. Tesarion was looking for ways to improve and employ his magic and heard of a powerful mage who fought with sword and spell, and Shamil was looking for a gnome from her home village by the name of Norn who had left for adventure, and she decided if he can do it so can I. Do to amazing diplomacy rolls she eventually finds the Golden Tabard merchant company (a front for Harry's thieves guild) who inform her that the statue of the great hero of the town Norn, being put up in a square nearby, is actually the petrified remains of said gnome. Two of his companions headed northerly, if she wanted to know more she should follow.
They arrive the day of the festival looking for the great mage/Kruger, and Harry, and are disappointed to not find them competing. Free food and drink is always good, and they manage to cross paths with one of Kruger's warriors who directs them to camp. Morgha is finishing her shield work, and takes them to a now sober Kruger, who tells a tale of brave Norn, cut down in his prime, and how he was a hero. Morgha nearly bursts into tears at the tale, and declares how he was clearly an ally of all that is Good and Just in the world. Tesarion looks at her and calls her an idiot. She gets incensed and tears into him about the shabby state of his armor, then drags him off as he is astonished for a lecture and practice in armor and weapon maintenance. Shamil is concerned if he will be alright, Kruger assures her he will. Harry chimes in "He's the idiot. He deserves it. Silence is a skill that should be learned by all."
After the lecture, they meet Lord Carroway over dinner and he explains he has heard rumors of an Elven Pogrom in the northenmost reaches of his lands "Like the one over the seas in the Lenore Isles" and he seems very upset about it. He needs strong capable people to look into this, solve it if need be and work as peacekeepers. They all readily agree, Kruger tells the company to stay here to bolster the Lord's defenses if need be or if he fails, and they seem reluctant at first. Then they find that Morgha will be joining him and they all are more than happy to help "Defend the good people of these lands as a thanks for the hospitality." They agree to leave on the morrow.
Kruger gathers Harry, Shamil, and Tesarion to go get supplies for the road. He graciously offers to buy mounts for everyone, but Lord Carroway supplies those without a second thought. Kruger buys a pair of pigs to use as rations (I think he's metagaming a bit since he's played this before, but I let it slide), a few weeks worth of trail rations as well, as well as fodder for the horses. While about town, Tesarion goes into the woods to kill a deer, which he somehow manages to find around town amidst farmland and a developed area (5% chance I gave him, he hit it). Magic missles it to death, then brings it to the camp to add to McGregor's stew. The he goes out again to a butcher and pays 2 gold 'I want 2 steaks." The butcher gladly agrees. Harry goes to the same butcher and gets another pair of steaks for actual price, without throwing money at the man first.
Crazy donald was met again, this time as he was thrown out the country club-esque bar, still raving about elves. He yells at the barkeep, calling him a terrorist and a planted agent of the elves. "Betray your own kind! You're worse than the sage. He's elf enough, but yer not elf at all and helping them! Doom comes!" Tesarion says something about him being a lunatic, and he stares at the warmage for a while then points and screams "Mountain Elf! Gotta watch them they big like us but tricksey! Ware elves! You come here to infiltrate and kill us all in our sleep? You're probably working with that barman! Ware elves!" Turning to Kruger "Careful of that there mountain elf lad, he's gonna get ya!" He then goes off to one of the other bars and starts shouting. Its a constant din in the back of town. Everyone but Tesarion asks around to find the sage, see if he can shed any light on anything, and they hear that its odd that no one from the Villiage of Ossington has been seen for a few months. They don't show up often but usually some at least head to the Brindenford fair. With this new tidbit, they approach the sage, get the location of the town of Ossington, and pick up a few potions of cure light he happened to have. They mention Crazy Donald but he kind of shakes his head and ruefully smiles. "He's like that, it doesn't worry me."
They leave and after a few days journey get to a nameless two horse town, where the absence of the Ossington folk is more pronounced, seeing as how they used to come at least once a month to visit the blacksmith for something. More and more curious. They rest up and head into the woods. The journey to the ossignton area takes several more days of riding on paths too disused to be called trails let alone anything greater. Its more a lack of undergrowth mostly in a particular area. About 2 days out they notice they don't hear any animals, they ride through a dimly let forest of silence. Not even a single birdcall or random squirrel rustling breaks the silence.
Which makes the sudden very human scream, followed closely by a second. A man runs around a bend in the road and says "Help me!"
Initiative roles. The rider goes last. Tesarion dismounts, as does Harry. Kruger and Morgha ride up to protect the man. Shamil stays and observes. The rider comes around, charges the man, strikes him down with a burst of negative energy around his lance, then rides away. There was nothing they seemed to be able to do. He rode effortlessly to the man, killed him, then rode away so no one could do anything. They go around the bend to find that he has disappeared.
Rider Updated!
Ghost Paladin 9 of Pelor, formerly human. Changed weapon to +1 ghost touch lance. Feats: Mounted combat, ride by attack, spirited charge, power attack, divine might. SA: Telekinesis, corrupting touch, manifestation. Spells Divine power, Golden barding, Divine Insight. Ride +12 before divine insight.
Ghost Horsey 8HD. Feats: Flyby attack, powerful charge, greater powerful charge, SA: Manifestation, frightful moan, corrupting touch
Around the bend we they see a wagon with a dead man on it, and a dead woman a little but ahead of the wagon. A mule crops some foliage nearby. Searching the wagon and bodies turns up a small purse which Harry pockets. They hitch the mule back up to the wagon, and Kruger drives it while Morgha leads his horse.
And I'm going to call it there. A lot of info, mostly background. I'll post more later.
Caveat: I ran Sunless Citadel, Forge of Fury, and Speaker in Dreams before I started taking notes, so I won't have much to say about them, but I will give you a bit of background where relevant.
Background: Sunless Citadel path is actually not terrible, especially considering the group I am running with is very new. I've run several of the modules before, most notable Speaker in Dreams, The Standing Stone, and Bastion of Broken souls. I enjoyed each as a DM for different reasons. You get a good mix of adventure types, cover a lot of system ground, and I think its a fine introduction for new players, most of which this group consists of.
My goals: Update these to 3.5, but keep player power at a fairly low level, in tune with the adventures. I want them threatened. To that effect the following rules are in effect.
Rules
Elite array for stats. I know horrible. It is however what the adventures were more or less designed for. I give 2 feats to each player as compensation, one of the +2/+2 which helps with their background or skill focus, and one that directly relates to their combat role. Weapon Focus/finesse, Spell Focus in their most common spell type (usually evocation), PBS for ranged characters, etc. Nothing super great, but nice.
Also house rule of rerolling 1s on HP for leveling because forget that. You keep a 2 but you can reroll a 1.
Sources made available at a very limited rate. We started in Sunless Citadel, core only, no exceptions. You race had to be from the PHB, no alternates, no sub races, nada. All your class, feats, prestiges classes, etc, had to come from PHB or DMG. No monstrous races or subraces, no ACFs, or anything at the start. Forge of Fury I added PHB2. Things got a bit messy in Speaker, mainly because I made out monk into a PF unchanied monk because she wasn't happy lagging behind a party with duskblade, ranger, and rogue, and doing nothing. Deaths and such aside we come to the present adventure. Sources allowed: Core, PHBII, plus all completes (other than psionic, mainly because magic is rough enough for most the players), miniatures handbook.
Our cast of players! Note that this campaign errs more on the side of Monty Python than Lord of the Rings.
A. A is an old friend of mine. He can be munchkinny at times, and he has been known to show up here. He always seems to win initiative, and if I didn't see or use his dice on occasion I would swear he is a cheater. He also cannot make any non-knowledge skill roll ever, so it balances out. Three spot isn't helping you much. He is an excellent roleplayer, and the only player in the group with a reasonable amount of experience. He prefers playing casters. He starts this adventured as Kruger Blitz, duskblade known for pile driving a gargolye he grappled 120 feet down into the pavement. His follower is Morgha, a Knight, who is an Anime style cheerleader for good an justice, whereas he is a more jaded hardbitten old soldier.
B. B is my oldest and best friend, and he has played a bit, but its more a social thing for him to get together with his buddies. He is a very kick in the door style of player, and keeps track of his kill count and like to play characters that brag about it. He also names his characters something juvenile and silly. He is currently a rogue named Harry Johnson. He has previously been Boom Shakalaka, and his twin KaBoom Shakalaka, socerers who only did damage spells. They both died.
M. M is my significant other, and has very limited play experience. She played 1st edition way back when (we are old xD), and has done a bit of 3.5. She is very introverted at the table and plays more quiet characters, who would rather solve problems by talking them out, being reasonable, and if all else fails, hitting them in the face (even when she isn't great at it). She does not like spells in general and likes to be more supportive, but is currently playing a Favored Soul of Obai-hai, a gnome named Shamil. Her spells are supportive, she wanted to be a buffer and decided on Favored soul with buffs over a Marshal or a Dragon Shaman. Bless, Prayer, etc. are her forte. She also likes to hit thing with her small quarterstaff. But she's bad at it.
D. D is M's son, and he's a good kid if immature at times. He competes with B. in the kill count competition, and has a bad habit of getting sidetracked very easy with random questions along the line of "So what could X do in Y situation" etc., frequently. We all try to curb it. He's honestly curious and more than a little ADHD but he's passionate and has a blast, plus its something his mother and him can do together and talk about later. His character tend to be quite dumb in game, and often he's more of a dead weight than anything. He breaks character constantly with little side comments and ooc stuff, but we all do so its not a big deal. We've talked to him about using out of game knowledge in game, but it can sometimes cripple his in game performance as he waffles a lot on what to do, or I don't know that will work. He's a work in progress but I can feel a great gamer in there, just gonna need some development. He's come a long ways, and hes fun, though he can get scapegoated because his characters are THAT dumb. He is a warmage named Tesarion.
Session 1: That Standing Stone, before the adventure, introduction, RP, and Crazy Donald.
Kruger and Harry, after the debacle of Brindenford, need to get away from things for a while. Turns out killing the Governor, even if controlled by a Mind Flayer no one knows about (see Speaker in Dreams), doesn't sit well with the populace, even after he instituted martial law and used fiends as enforcers. Following the loss of several comrades, and Harry's return to flesh after a bad run in with the Medusa, they need to get out of town for a while. Harry also has accepted a Geas to pay back the cost of the Stone to Flesh, and the cost of the Geas, with interest. He owes around Ten thousand gold to his Employer, the Brindenford thieves guild, and must pay a minimum of a thousand a month or be hunted down and assassinated. He pays Two Thousand up front and needs to go adventuring to help cover the rest.
After visiting Kruger's patron and current employer, one Lord Althon who lives a few days south of Brindenford, they hear of a friend of their patron named Lord Carroway who lives a few weeks away and has been having issues with a possible uprising and it looking for some brave folk to gather information and possibly quell this before it gains momentum. Both having good reasons to leave, Kruger packs up his motley assortment of following warrior and sets off with Harry for parts distant.
Their journey is uneventful, but about halfway there they are overtaken by Morgha, someone sent onto Kruger for training from his old unit (actually to get rid of her[his new follower]). She arrives bright eyed bushy tailed, and utterly naive. If you've ever seen the Anime Slayers, she's Emelia, only taken up a notch and without the fondess for heights. As they set camp, Kruger clearly sees why his old commander sent her to him for training. It was an excuse she would believe and got rid of her. She comes with a note "She's your problem now. Deal with it."
As they set camp she is very certain to inspect everyone's gear, chastise those whose kit is not pristine (everyone but her, and Kruger who she is kind of in Awe of), make sure the tents are laid out properly, and arranges a schedule of overlapping watches. On a very well traveled road. In very civilized lands. She also gives lectures on proper knightly duties and how they must at all times be willing to represent the absolute best of everything to all they meet. She's green enough to be an entire forest.
The above repeats nightly. After a short while they enter the lands of Lord Carroway, which are prosperous farmland and vineyards mostly, away from pretty much everything. Lord Carroway himself greets the great heroes who helped deliver Brindenford from evil, which makes Morgha absolutely ecstatic. He delares a holiday and hold a feast, with a tourney the next day to celebrate them with all panoply. Morgha again is so happy she is in tears, declaring him a fine lord to do this honor unto us, and is grateful to be of service someone who knows how to be as chivalrous as he does, etc. This goes on for a while, a massive declaration, which he very nobly listen to until she winds down before excusing himself with preparations. Kruger and his men are astonished, and not in a good way. Harry go finds a bar to get a drink. Morgha chastises him about the evils of drink for a knight, to which he replies "Good thing I'm not a Knight." then walks off. She is stunned. The soldiers are grinning. Kruger tells the men to set up camp and offers to go help keep Harry on the straight and narrow. Tells Morgha to ensure the camp is up to standards then sets off. Pulls out a flask right after he is out of sight and takes a hit. Passes it to Harry who knew he would follow.
"She's something else alright. I miss Otto, he had a flask as well always. Need a new drinking buddy."
"I miss Otto too, was me friend through a lot of trouble. We'll drink to him tonight. And Morgha is a good girl. She means well."
Harry looks at Kruger. Kruger takes another drink.
Of the 3 bars in town, one is sure to get you stabbed, one is sure to never let anything happen EVER, one is in the middle between murder dive and country club, they head there. As they approach the bar they hear VERY loud ravings "The Elves will kill us all! Just you wait! They're coming!" Enter Crazy Donald. Crazy Donald is the local drunk, among other things. He always pays with good gold so he is tolerated most places, and is very generous with his coins. Kruger approaches him and asks about the elves. And buys him a drink as he does. Donald is appreciative and rants for a while about how those elves are always sneaking around, up to no good he tells you. Them pointy ears can't be trusted, even the little pointy ones like the town Sage. Half elf is a full elf too many! He goes on for a while. Apparently the elves "North mostly, but everywhere! They hide in the trees! Ware the elves!" Harry takes it in stride and orders something strong while Kruger is talking. Crazy Donald hears him and says "I like you lad! Barkeep get him the real strong stuff." He gets a glass of something potent. He downs it, passes his fort save, and enjoys it. Donald raves for a while more, then says "Ok I'm ready! Bring me the Special brew!" and plops ten plat on the table. Barkeep disappears and comes back with goggles and a mask. Pours a shot of something smoking, which causes the barkeep to pass out. Donald downs it in a gulp, then laughs at the barkeep. Throws a bag of coins on the other side of the bar "You always were a lightweight!" Goes back, grabs a few bottles, tosses one to Kruger "You and yer friend are alright, ware those elves! Drink some good stuff later on me!" Harry stops at a butcher grabs a few steaks, Kruger also buys some supplies for the camp.
Kruger and Harry head back to see not only has camp been set up where Lord Carroway let them, but its highly ordered, they have even entrenched and build a small palisade. Morgha greets the stunned Kruger "Camp is ready for inspection Sir! Sargent McGregor is making dinner, the rest of the men other than the 4 I have set to watch are resting, something about recovering from a long journey. Kruger stammers out a well done, to which Morgha bows, salutes and proceeds to continue walking the perimeter. He find Sgt. McGregor over a cookpot very slowing cooking a stew. "She's insane Captain. You owe us for doing all that bother." gesturing to the trenches et. al.
Kruger nods. "Aye, I got somemat for you all, but if we had a few of her we'd have the safest camps ever. This is extraordinary, no idea how she managed to get you to do this. I can't even get you to post a double watch!" He pulled out a small keg of ale from his haversack "This is for you boys, and after she goes to bed, I got something strong and special." Sarge replies "To be fair Captain, she's a rather lovely lass, and we've been campaigning for a while. I know better, but some of us even knowing there's nothing there still gonna try. You ask her to help polish your sword and she'll grab oil and some cloth, then be confused when you are unarmed." Kruger laughs. "Aye." They eat, and he tells Morgha to get rest to be top shape for tomorrow. "You are representing us lass, in the joust and the melee. Need to be in top form so ye do not dishonor the company." She quickly does one last circuit of the camp, checks on the horses, then goes to bed.
Kruger gets a table. Pours a glass of what Crazy Donlad said was 'good stuff'. Drinks it. Passes his fort barely. Is quite drunk but otherwise ok. He sets a gold on the table. Alright lads, step up. First soldier takes a drink, passes out. Puts another gold on the table. Second soldier takes a drink, wobbles, but is otherwise fine. Gets two gold. Three more drink then immediately pass out. Sargent McGregor smells it and passes out. So does the next guy in line. Five gold on the table go back into Kruger's pockets. Harry laughs and helps carry them to their tent.
The next morning, Kruger has a hellacious hangover, most of his men do as well. Sarge is still passed out. Morgha arrives loud, shining and happy. And early. Very, very early. Kruger wishes her luck and gets back to sleep after sending her on to make sure she did not dishonor us with tardiness. She gallops away which does nothing for his head. Several hours later the joust and melee happened, attended by all the locals (food and cheap booze were free), and all the "knights" in the area, which are mostly landed men in the sense that they own land, a horse, an old piece of armor and a stick and are therefore Knights show up with lots of pride but very little skill. Morgha wins two of her three tilts, losing to the commander of Lord Carroways guards, then acquits her self well but not spectacularly in the melee. Kruger watches her, and after the event tells her what she did wrong, it was how she used her shield, so she proactively decided to do two solid hours of shield training.
Enter Shamil and Tesarion. They met in Brindenford just after Kruger and Harry left. Tesarion was looking for ways to improve and employ his magic and heard of a powerful mage who fought with sword and spell, and Shamil was looking for a gnome from her home village by the name of Norn who had left for adventure, and she decided if he can do it so can I. Do to amazing diplomacy rolls she eventually finds the Golden Tabard merchant company (a front for Harry's thieves guild) who inform her that the statue of the great hero of the town Norn, being put up in a square nearby, is actually the petrified remains of said gnome. Two of his companions headed northerly, if she wanted to know more she should follow.
They arrive the day of the festival looking for the great mage/Kruger, and Harry, and are disappointed to not find them competing. Free food and drink is always good, and they manage to cross paths with one of Kruger's warriors who directs them to camp. Morgha is finishing her shield work, and takes them to a now sober Kruger, who tells a tale of brave Norn, cut down in his prime, and how he was a hero. Morgha nearly bursts into tears at the tale, and declares how he was clearly an ally of all that is Good and Just in the world. Tesarion looks at her and calls her an idiot. She gets incensed and tears into him about the shabby state of his armor, then drags him off as he is astonished for a lecture and practice in armor and weapon maintenance. Shamil is concerned if he will be alright, Kruger assures her he will. Harry chimes in "He's the idiot. He deserves it. Silence is a skill that should be learned by all."
After the lecture, they meet Lord Carroway over dinner and he explains he has heard rumors of an Elven Pogrom in the northenmost reaches of his lands "Like the one over the seas in the Lenore Isles" and he seems very upset about it. He needs strong capable people to look into this, solve it if need be and work as peacekeepers. They all readily agree, Kruger tells the company to stay here to bolster the Lord's defenses if need be or if he fails, and they seem reluctant at first. Then they find that Morgha will be joining him and they all are more than happy to help "Defend the good people of these lands as a thanks for the hospitality." They agree to leave on the morrow.
Kruger gathers Harry, Shamil, and Tesarion to go get supplies for the road. He graciously offers to buy mounts for everyone, but Lord Carroway supplies those without a second thought. Kruger buys a pair of pigs to use as rations (I think he's metagaming a bit since he's played this before, but I let it slide), a few weeks worth of trail rations as well, as well as fodder for the horses. While about town, Tesarion goes into the woods to kill a deer, which he somehow manages to find around town amidst farmland and a developed area (5% chance I gave him, he hit it). Magic missles it to death, then brings it to the camp to add to McGregor's stew. The he goes out again to a butcher and pays 2 gold 'I want 2 steaks." The butcher gladly agrees. Harry goes to the same butcher and gets another pair of steaks for actual price, without throwing money at the man first.
Crazy donald was met again, this time as he was thrown out the country club-esque bar, still raving about elves. He yells at the barkeep, calling him a terrorist and a planted agent of the elves. "Betray your own kind! You're worse than the sage. He's elf enough, but yer not elf at all and helping them! Doom comes!" Tesarion says something about him being a lunatic, and he stares at the warmage for a while then points and screams "Mountain Elf! Gotta watch them they big like us but tricksey! Ware elves! You come here to infiltrate and kill us all in our sleep? You're probably working with that barman! Ware elves!" Turning to Kruger "Careful of that there mountain elf lad, he's gonna get ya!" He then goes off to one of the other bars and starts shouting. Its a constant din in the back of town. Everyone but Tesarion asks around to find the sage, see if he can shed any light on anything, and they hear that its odd that no one from the Villiage of Ossington has been seen for a few months. They don't show up often but usually some at least head to the Brindenford fair. With this new tidbit, they approach the sage, get the location of the town of Ossington, and pick up a few potions of cure light he happened to have. They mention Crazy Donald but he kind of shakes his head and ruefully smiles. "He's like that, it doesn't worry me."
They leave and after a few days journey get to a nameless two horse town, where the absence of the Ossington folk is more pronounced, seeing as how they used to come at least once a month to visit the blacksmith for something. More and more curious. They rest up and head into the woods. The journey to the ossignton area takes several more days of riding on paths too disused to be called trails let alone anything greater. Its more a lack of undergrowth mostly in a particular area. About 2 days out they notice they don't hear any animals, they ride through a dimly let forest of silence. Not even a single birdcall or random squirrel rustling breaks the silence.
Which makes the sudden very human scream, followed closely by a second. A man runs around a bend in the road and says "Help me!"
Initiative roles. The rider goes last. Tesarion dismounts, as does Harry. Kruger and Morgha ride up to protect the man. Shamil stays and observes. The rider comes around, charges the man, strikes him down with a burst of negative energy around his lance, then rides away. There was nothing they seemed to be able to do. He rode effortlessly to the man, killed him, then rode away so no one could do anything. They go around the bend to find that he has disappeared.
Rider Updated!
Ghost Paladin 9 of Pelor, formerly human. Changed weapon to +1 ghost touch lance. Feats: Mounted combat, ride by attack, spirited charge, power attack, divine might. SA: Telekinesis, corrupting touch, manifestation. Spells Divine power, Golden barding, Divine Insight. Ride +12 before divine insight.
Ghost Horsey 8HD. Feats: Flyby attack, powerful charge, greater powerful charge, SA: Manifestation, frightful moan, corrupting touch
Around the bend we they see a wagon with a dead man on it, and a dead woman a little but ahead of the wagon. A mule crops some foliage nearby. Searching the wagon and bodies turns up a small purse which Harry pockets. They hitch the mule back up to the wagon, and Kruger drives it while Morgha leads his horse.
And I'm going to call it there. A lot of info, mostly background. I'll post more later.