The Beardians and their goblin allies were still engaged in open battle with Dokt'mahn Haeten and his orc army. A number of orcs had already fallen to goblin traps and Chauncey's magic, but the corpses of these fallen were being collected into a pile by a couple of orc necromancers. Meanwhile, on the other side of the wind-swept fields, Dokt'mahn Haeten was attacking Chauncey and dealing serious damage, even as he was being surrounded by goblins and Beardians. He swiped at the wizard again -- she managed to dodge -- before shooting up into the sky, a barrage of goblin weaponry raining into the spot he'd just been. He flew across the field and alighted upon a cliff overlooking the group.
At the same time, Andy and his warriors advanced hurridly on the necromancers' corpse pile and were greeted by three barbarian bodyguards. Though the druid was stalled, the other Beardians' attention had also been drawn to his target, and arrows came flying at the necromancers. The missiles flew past or bounced off their decorated armor as the necromancers started their work: the first cast a fine powder across the corpses and the second placed a dark gem into each of their skulls. As each gem was set, the skeleton of the corpse broke free of its charred flesh and stood tall, battleaxe in bony hand. The small undead army began its march towards the foe.
And then the other shoe dropped. On the cliff overlooking the whole battlefield, Dokt'mahn Haeten stretched out his hands and a gale of icy death hailed out. Something like three quarters of the Beardian-goblin army were caught in the blast -- most of the goblins were immediately frozen to death as was one unfortunate wizard. Chauncey the anonymous elf popsicle teetered over and smashed against the ground, icy bits of her breaking off as her lifeless face looked on in frozen horror. The ogre mage cackled and again rose into the sky.
Below, Eddi shrugged off the death of his comrade to focus on surviving himself. He slid down the cliff he'd been standing on overlooking the necromancers' activities and raised his holy symbol, the sign of Kord gleaming in the sunlight. That gleam turned into a white light that scorched the bones of the skeleton army, yet they continued to advance. In retaliation, one of the necromancers pointed at Eddi and the cleric felt his body go numb -- the now familiar feeling of a paralyzation spell.
Meanwhile, Andy and his goblins had taken heavy damage from Haeten's attack, and they retreated from the nearby barbarians. Now the barbarians' closest target was Eddi and they advanced quickly. Grunting, Kerrac, who'd been backing up the cleric, jumped down from the above cliff and launched his sword at the orcs. But by now one had already taken careful aim at the helpless Eddi and its axe came streaking down-- and then the cleric lay in pool of his blood, a gaping wound in his neck.
Now Andy and the remaining goblins were gathering upon the cliff overlooking this scene, the ogre mage all but forgotten as they tried to rescue their healer unit. As Kerrac struck down the orc who'd attacked Eddi, Andy joined him below -- the druid rushed to the cleric and reached out with a curing spell. Skin suddenly regrew over the neck wound and the bleeding stopped -- Eddi returned to his feet with a sigh of relief and his holy symbol in hand. He raised it again, and this time the light passed over his allies, whose wounds closed similarly. Crisis averted, he, Andy, and Kerrac now turned to the six skeletons surrounding them.
Above them, a group of surviving goblins squealed in terror as Dokt'mahn Haeten's greatsword cut through their ranks. Their leader, another hobgoblin like Kerrac, barked out commands at them -- to attack the skeletons below while he held off the ogre mage. As the hobgoblin valiently deflected Haeten's attacks, two of the goblins gave a battlecry and launched two flasks of acid at the undead nearing the cornered Eddi and Andy. The flasks broke against the bared bones, smoldering green liquid splashing over the group of them ...
And that was it. The last strength of the bones, already disintegrated partly by the holy light of Eddi's symbol, gave out under the acid and the skeletons fell apart at the Beardians' feet. Andy wiped the sweat from his brow.
The remaining threats were taken down swiftly. As the drama by the southern cliffside had unfolded, K'Phalvius and his entourage of archers had been sitting out of reach on the northern cliffs, methodically sniping away at orc stragglers and the necromancers, who finally fell to the missiles. All that were left were a couple barbarians and skeletons who had not fallen to the acid, but quickly did to the Beardians' next attacks.
Dokt'mahn Haeten made a last ditch effort to save the situation. He stood above Eddi and cooed magical words at the cleric, speaking out a charm spell, but the cleric's hosility was too great and he resisted the mind trick. Now outnumbered and his defeat probable, the ogre mage chose to retreat. Like a rocket, he jetted into the sky, cursing and yelling out threats of vengeance until he became no more than a dot on the eastern horizon.
Of the once proud goblin tribe that had attempted to ransack Byron Valley, not enough were left to ransack an outhouse. There seemed little cause for celebration as the Beardians gathered around the black and blue corpse of their wizardly companion and Kerrac surveyed his decimated troops. Many had fallen in this war -- but not as many as might have if the orcs had won, and now, finally, Byron Valley was safe again.
Showing posts with label chronicle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chronicle. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Session 9: The Battle at Byron Valley, part one
That night the Beardians slept snug in their beds, while visions of golden sugar plum fairies danced in their heads. If one listened hard, you might have thought you heard the jingle-jingling of sleigh bells in the night ... sleigh bells, or gold coins clinking together.
In the morning, Chauncey and an extremely hung-over Andy entered the main hall of Rammerdung's abode to discover a present for each of them beneath the Goldsmas tree. St. Nickleas had, it seemed, sensed the prescence of their good souls and left the gifts. Over the grumbling of their three neutral-aligned companions, the two unwrapped the boxes -- Chauncey put around her neck a necklace of adaptation, which would allow her to breathe in any environment, even underwater; while Andy held aloft a shiny new flametongue, a long sword with the ability to shoot fireballs.
The excitement of Goldsmas morning behind them, the Beardians turned to the matter of their mission. Rammerdung volunteered to show them the way to the surface (their outpost was nestled underground in the midst of the Maurick Mountains, a few miles from Byron Valley), but still refused to assist in the fight against the orcs. Still, the Beardians took the offer, certain that the tunnel back to the mine would lead into an orcish trap.
They reached the surface world, bid a holly jolly farewell to Rammerdung, and headed east down the mountains. Not enthused by the idea of returning to Kerrac and the villagers with their mission unaccomplished, Eddi suggested they bypass Byron Valley and return straight to the entrance of the mine to launch a second raid. The rest agreed. The plan was to maneuver south past the valley, crossing the road they had taken to get there in the first place, and travel west to find the mine again.
They'd spent four hours climbing down through the steep hills of the mountains by the time they reached the road. As it came into sight, a scream pierced the peacefulness of the forest, alerting the Beardians to the scene on the road below: two gnomes and a frightened horse cowered before three evil-looking orcs. At their feet lay the unmoving body of what was probably the gnomes' bodyguard. Eddi cursed as the memory returned to him: the gnomes were undoubtedly Bill Beard's family, for whom the Beardians were meant to the clear the road of dangers. They rushed down to save the gnomes, but were too late to stop one from falling to an orc's axe.
The Beardians fell into formation, rocking the bewildered orcs like a hurricane. Eddi barrelled down the hill, screaming at the top of his lungs, providing a distraction for the second gnome to flee the scene and hide in the cover of the forest. As the orcs moved against the cleric, Lucky popped out of thin air and struck at one, attacking its weak point for massive damage. The orcs stood no chance. As the rest of the Beardians mopped up, Eddi found the bodyguard and the injured gnome to be alive and used his divine magic to stabilize their wounds. Then he called out to the second gnome, introducing the Beardians as hirlings of their namesake.
At the sound of the name, the gnome, a boy of perhaps twenty years, came hesitantly forward. He'd obviously been mortified by the attack, but managed to introduce himself as Bob Beard, son of Bill Beard, and the other gnome as Brenda, his mother. The light of panic in his eyes, he gibbered out a request to be taken to his father. Eddi growled impatiently: here was yet another irrational obstacle to overcome just to deliver a barber to Burlingham. He snapped that the boy could go to the town himself, and die there!
Bob looked like he was going to cry. Andy put a hand on Eddi's shoulder and the cleric sighed in acknowledgement. They lifted the unconscious gnome and the bodyguard onto Bob's horsecart and lead them into the valley.
Once in town, there were many embarressed looks and much shuffling of feet as Kerrac approached with Bill in tow. The barber hurried his family off to the safety of the church while Kerrac spoke. He was scornful at first, pointing out their failure in the mission, but admitted that the results had not been completely disappointing. The Beardians had not only killed off a good portion of the orc's army, they had provided a long enough distraction for the goblins to set traps through the valley. The goblins' guerilla tactics had shortened the enemy's troops even more. Now, the orcs were marching on the town in a full-on attack, but Kerrac believed that, with the Beardians' help, the goblins could win even in open battle. Impatient to get the war over with, the Beardians agreed.
Kerrac explained the plan: each Beardian would be assigned two support troops from the ranks of hobgoblin fighters and goblin rangers, rogues, and warriors. K'Phalvius was backed by a couple of goblin archers, Andy by warriors, and so on. The two armies would meet in the fields east of the valley, where the orcs would be approaching the village. These fields were surrounded by hills and cliffs and goblin traps were scattered throughout the area. Kerrac was confident the battle would be won, and so the Beardians led their troops to the fields and into the fight.
In the middle of the hilly expanse of grass and brush, a barn stood tall against the sky. Beyond it, the Beardians could see the orcs gathering, and among them a familiar blue shape. Dokt'mahn Haeten, the ogre mage, glanced across at the awaiting army and grinned. His feet hung limply as they left the ground and he flew weightlessly into the air. He called out a warcry in orcish, then, in mid-air, vanished, certainly to attack when the Beardians were weakest. Below, the orcs bellowed a challenge that shook the cliffs in its volume. They charged across the field.
Hell broke loose. Not all of hell, but a good amount -- enough to make the scene dramatic. Many orcs actually fell to the goblins' well-placed traps and others to the archers' hail of arrows. Meanwhile, the Beardian army scrabbled to find the high ground in the fields. Eddi caught sight of an orc squad heading for the cover of the barn; he smiled grimly at his cleverness as he lit an arrow with flaming oil and fired at the hay in the building -- the fire spread quickly and the orcs scurried out. Chauncey, meanwhile, sent her support troops to hold the ground ahead to keep the enemy from reaching her. She waited patiently for the opportunity, then summoned an enormous fireball, burning four orc troops to ash.
With a mocking laugh, Dokt'mahn Haeten appeared in the air above her and lashed out with his eight-foot-long greatsword. The wizard's panicked cry alerted the other Beardians, and their troops moved swiftly on Haeten, but the mage's armor and aerobatics deflected most of their blows.
On a cliff overlooking the battleground, K'Phalvius watched with curiousity and horror as the orcs performed a strange maneuver: certain squads were gathering the dead and even charred bodies of their fellows and dumping them into a pile. As they performed the act of descecration, a singular orc dressed in what K'Phalvius now recognized as necromancer's robes approached the corpses. A chill ran down his spine as he realized what was about to happen.
Had Kerrac underestimated the strength of the orc army? Dokt'mahn Haeten was a wrecking ball on the battlefield, and that was bad enough -- now one or more necromancers had appeared to bolster the army's numbers. How could the Beardians win against a foe whose troops could be constantly replenished?
In the morning, Chauncey and an extremely hung-over Andy entered the main hall of Rammerdung's abode to discover a present for each of them beneath the Goldsmas tree. St. Nickleas had, it seemed, sensed the prescence of their good souls and left the gifts. Over the grumbling of their three neutral-aligned companions, the two unwrapped the boxes -- Chauncey put around her neck a necklace of adaptation, which would allow her to breathe in any environment, even underwater; while Andy held aloft a shiny new flametongue, a long sword with the ability to shoot fireballs.
The excitement of Goldsmas morning behind them, the Beardians turned to the matter of their mission. Rammerdung volunteered to show them the way to the surface (their outpost was nestled underground in the midst of the Maurick Mountains, a few miles from Byron Valley), but still refused to assist in the fight against the orcs. Still, the Beardians took the offer, certain that the tunnel back to the mine would lead into an orcish trap.
They reached the surface world, bid a holly jolly farewell to Rammerdung, and headed east down the mountains. Not enthused by the idea of returning to Kerrac and the villagers with their mission unaccomplished, Eddi suggested they bypass Byron Valley and return straight to the entrance of the mine to launch a second raid. The rest agreed. The plan was to maneuver south past the valley, crossing the road they had taken to get there in the first place, and travel west to find the mine again.
They'd spent four hours climbing down through the steep hills of the mountains by the time they reached the road. As it came into sight, a scream pierced the peacefulness of the forest, alerting the Beardians to the scene on the road below: two gnomes and a frightened horse cowered before three evil-looking orcs. At their feet lay the unmoving body of what was probably the gnomes' bodyguard. Eddi cursed as the memory returned to him: the gnomes were undoubtedly Bill Beard's family, for whom the Beardians were meant to the clear the road of dangers. They rushed down to save the gnomes, but were too late to stop one from falling to an orc's axe.
The Beardians fell into formation, rocking the bewildered orcs like a hurricane. Eddi barrelled down the hill, screaming at the top of his lungs, providing a distraction for the second gnome to flee the scene and hide in the cover of the forest. As the orcs moved against the cleric, Lucky popped out of thin air and struck at one, attacking its weak point for massive damage. The orcs stood no chance. As the rest of the Beardians mopped up, Eddi found the bodyguard and the injured gnome to be alive and used his divine magic to stabilize their wounds. Then he called out to the second gnome, introducing the Beardians as hirlings of their namesake.
At the sound of the name, the gnome, a boy of perhaps twenty years, came hesitantly forward. He'd obviously been mortified by the attack, but managed to introduce himself as Bob Beard, son of Bill Beard, and the other gnome as Brenda, his mother. The light of panic in his eyes, he gibbered out a request to be taken to his father. Eddi growled impatiently: here was yet another irrational obstacle to overcome just to deliver a barber to Burlingham. He snapped that the boy could go to the town himself, and die there!
Bob looked like he was going to cry. Andy put a hand on Eddi's shoulder and the cleric sighed in acknowledgement. They lifted the unconscious gnome and the bodyguard onto Bob's horsecart and lead them into the valley.
Once in town, there were many embarressed looks and much shuffling of feet as Kerrac approached with Bill in tow. The barber hurried his family off to the safety of the church while Kerrac spoke. He was scornful at first, pointing out their failure in the mission, but admitted that the results had not been completely disappointing. The Beardians had not only killed off a good portion of the orc's army, they had provided a long enough distraction for the goblins to set traps through the valley. The goblins' guerilla tactics had shortened the enemy's troops even more. Now, the orcs were marching on the town in a full-on attack, but Kerrac believed that, with the Beardians' help, the goblins could win even in open battle. Impatient to get the war over with, the Beardians agreed.
Kerrac explained the plan: each Beardian would be assigned two support troops from the ranks of hobgoblin fighters and goblin rangers, rogues, and warriors. K'Phalvius was backed by a couple of goblin archers, Andy by warriors, and so on. The two armies would meet in the fields east of the valley, where the orcs would be approaching the village. These fields were surrounded by hills and cliffs and goblin traps were scattered throughout the area. Kerrac was confident the battle would be won, and so the Beardians led their troops to the fields and into the fight.
In the middle of the hilly expanse of grass and brush, a barn stood tall against the sky. Beyond it, the Beardians could see the orcs gathering, and among them a familiar blue shape. Dokt'mahn Haeten, the ogre mage, glanced across at the awaiting army and grinned. His feet hung limply as they left the ground and he flew weightlessly into the air. He called out a warcry in orcish, then, in mid-air, vanished, certainly to attack when the Beardians were weakest. Below, the orcs bellowed a challenge that shook the cliffs in its volume. They charged across the field.
Hell broke loose. Not all of hell, but a good amount -- enough to make the scene dramatic. Many orcs actually fell to the goblins' well-placed traps and others to the archers' hail of arrows. Meanwhile, the Beardian army scrabbled to find the high ground in the fields. Eddi caught sight of an orc squad heading for the cover of the barn; he smiled grimly at his cleverness as he lit an arrow with flaming oil and fired at the hay in the building -- the fire spread quickly and the orcs scurried out. Chauncey, meanwhile, sent her support troops to hold the ground ahead to keep the enemy from reaching her. She waited patiently for the opportunity, then summoned an enormous fireball, burning four orc troops to ash.
With a mocking laugh, Dokt'mahn Haeten appeared in the air above her and lashed out with his eight-foot-long greatsword. The wizard's panicked cry alerted the other Beardians, and their troops moved swiftly on Haeten, but the mage's armor and aerobatics deflected most of their blows.
On a cliff overlooking the battleground, K'Phalvius watched with curiousity and horror as the orcs performed a strange maneuver: certain squads were gathering the dead and even charred bodies of their fellows and dumping them into a pile. As they performed the act of descecration, a singular orc dressed in what K'Phalvius now recognized as necromancer's robes approached the corpses. A chill ran down his spine as he realized what was about to happen.
Had Kerrac underestimated the strength of the orc army? Dokt'mahn Haeten was a wrecking ball on the battlefield, and that was bad enough -- now one or more necromancers had appeared to bolster the army's numbers. How could the Beardians win against a foe whose troops could be constantly replenished?
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Session 8: Rammerdung
So, after running through Nigel's campaign, we have returned to the adventures of the Beardians, minus the aforementioned Nigel, unfortunately. You shall be missed, sir!
The updated player list is now:
Sango.....The DM
Adam.....K'Phalvius Hardun the half-elf ranger.
Andy.....Andy the anonymous human druid.
Brian.....Eddi the human cleric.
Chauncey.....Chauncey the anonymous elf wizard.
Sarah.....Elya "Lucky" Nearhit the halfling rogue.
During the session detailed in this post, Auren was handled by the DM, not Nigel.
Another major change was the switch from the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 rulebooks to the Pathfinder rules. I elected to make the change to Pathfinder because it is actually an improved version of 3.5 and I had not heard flattering things about D&D 4E. This means there have been various changes to characters and their abilities and spells, some major, some minor. Also, since this is not exactly a D&D blog anymore, I've changed the name to The Beardian Blog.
Now, without further ado...
========
The ogre mage's evil laugh echoed through the furnace he'd disappeared into. As it faded, the Beardians gathered to assess the situation. Feeling quickly returned to Andy's limbs and he stumbled out of the receding paralysis; meanwhile, Eddi let out a burst of healing energy, relieving his comrades of their wounds.
The furnace was too small for most of the party to chase the ogre through (who, incidentally, had acquired the dreadful name of Dokt'mahn Haeten over the break), but Chauncey sent her feline familiar to scope it out. A chimney lead up to the bright afternoon sky, but the perceptive cat also found a small vent connecting to the oven of the bakery that Andy had found a couple hours earlier. After a moment, the cat reported back to its master -- it had seen Dokt'mahn Haeten ordering a mass of orcs to raid the room that the Beardians were in!
Eddi suggested expedient retreat and the vote was unanimous. They turned back the way they'd come, to the secret passage near the great stone door. As they neared it, a chill ran down the spines of all but the bravest -- echoing through the passage was an unearthly moaning, emanated by many voices. The orcish zombies staggering down the secret passage looked familiar to the Beardians and they realized they were the animated corpses of the orcs they had already killed. As Auren stepped forward, Eddi pulled him back and shook his head: their best chance was for the cleric to use his ability to channel divine energy to destroy the undead creatures. The zombies shambled around the corner and Eddi tensely waited until the closest was but a hair's breadth away before raising his holy symbol. A bright light shone forth with a white intensity, and as it passed over the zombies they crumbled to ash.
But the Beardians were not out of the fire yet. Andy, bringing up the rear farther back down the tunnel, suddenly notched his bow and cried to his fellows the existence of orcs -- lots of orcs, in fact. TOO MANY orcs. The druid counted fifteen and more coming before sprinting back to rejoin the rest of the party. Meanwhile, at the head of the group, more zombies had appeared along with their master, another orc cleric. Eddi used another holy energy burst, but did not roll as well this time -- the zombies continued to shamble forward, crying for brains. Auren stepped forward to smack down, but his fists seemed barely effective. His efforts were not helped by the orc cleric's attacks -- the monk had to duck and dodge as the orc summoned a magical spear to attack.
Lucky ducked into the space leading to the stone door. The movement caught Eddi's eye, and in the same moment he turned to check it the orc cleric cast a paralyzation spell on him. Frozen staring at the stone door, Eddi was the only Beardian to notice a mat covered in dust and earth lying at its base. It was a dainty little thing, actually, crafted from ancient straw that still held the maroon and azure pattern running along its border. Delicately knitted into the middle of the mat were the words, "Seek, friend, and enter."
The mat drew Andy's attention too. Desperate for a way out of the situation, he approached the door and ran his fingers across its frame and the intimidating lock, searching for the answer to the riddle. His eagle companion, taken in by its master's excitement, hopped down from his shoulder to grapple with the mat and managed to reveal a key hidden beneath it! Fast as a snake, Chauncey snatched the key from the triumphant raptor and thrust it into the lock. It turned easily and the door slowly swung open.
Andy, Chauncey, and Lucky dashed through the door, finding themselves in a long, narrow passage leading into distant darkness. Andy gave a flick of his hand and a magic flame appeared in his palm -- he called for the others to follow as he ran down the now illuminated corridor. The orcs had finally caught up to the group outside and K'Phalvius took some heavy damage as he scrabbled away. Eddi managed to struggle out of the paralysis spell and launched himself forward to hold them off as the half-elf made his escape. Finally, he and Auren were the last outside the door. Auren yelled out his concern for keeping the orcs from staying the door and Eddi replied that he had a plan.
Now, it must be understood at this point that Auren and Eddi had been at each others' throats since first meeting. This is something that, reviewing my previous posts, I seem to have neglected to emphasize. Auren's disciplined, static personality clashed drastically with Eddi's free and chaotic nature and neither had the goodwill to work out their differences. Discussion became a gridlock of arguments and each would frequently subvert the other's intentions, both in and out of battle. So it was not out of character, what Eddi did next.
The cleric grabbed Auren by the robes and hauled the astonished monk above his head. Bunching his muscles, he flung Auren at the orcs crowded into the passage, then skedaddled through the door. As he swung the door closed, K'Phalvius gaping at him, the last sound they two could hear was Auren screaming out vengeance above the warcries of the orcs -- then the door was closed and everything was a muffled cacophony.
Eddi's eyes rolled frantically as he announced the next problem: "Who has the key?!" Chauncey, far down the passage with the other two Beardians, gave a gasp of realization and sprinted back to the door. She tossed the key to the cleric who scrabbled to lock the door ... click! The Beardians held their breath for a tense moment ... and started slightly when the thumping and banging of the orcs against the other side began. Finally, they all gave out a sigh of relief. The great stone door was going to hold and they were safe for now.
Except, where was Auren? Lucky, Andy, and Chauncey had not seen Eddi's betrayal on the other side of the door. Eddi and K'Phalvius exchanged looks -- the undisciplined half-elf not been the monk's greatest ally, and he could not argue the effectiveness of Eddi's attempt to slow the orcs. Eddi turned back to his (good-aligned) comrades. Auren had stayed behind to hold them off, he said. Besides, he MIGHT still be alive...
The party took a moment to mourn their lost fellow, then turned to exploring the passage. They'd walked through pitch blackness for about a hundred feet before they encountered their first staircase, leading upwards. They continued to travel, taking a moment now and then to renew torches and light spells, for a whole four hours, moving upwards slowly but surely.
Finally, exhausted and demoralized, they spotted a faint light in the distance. Lucky crept forward, recognizing the lighted outline of another sturdy door. From within she could hear much deep-throated laughter -- guffawing, even -- but could not understand the language being spoken. She motioned Chauncey over, for the wizard had mastery of many languages, and she confirmed the voices to be speaking Dwarven. At that, Andy banged on the door and cried out, "Help! Orcs!" which prompted a lot of shouting and clanging of metal from within. The door swung open revealing four well-armored dwarves, and at least eight different axes between them, who demanded the location of the announced orcs. (The dwarves, I mean. That is, the dwarves demanded; not the axes.) Eddi stepped forth to explain the situation and hearing this the dwarves relaxed noticeably. "They will never get past the door; I helped build it meself!" claimed the lead dwarf, who shortly (ha) introduced himself as Rammerdung. This prompted some sniggering from the Beardians, which he either ignored or was oblivious to. "Rammerdung, meet K'Phalvius Hardun," said Eddi.
Rammerdung offered the dwarven abode for the Beardians to rest, much to their relief. He explained the place was an outpost of the nearby dwarven city of Quantran and that the post was a pretty sweet gig since they were rarely bothered by superiors from the city and infrequently saw any action. He seemed, perhaps, too comfortable with the position, for when the Beardians asked his assistance in defeating the orc army he became intent on worming his way out. "Well, we'd have to report back to Quantran, for acting without orders could mean our jobs..." It was obvious that the dwarves had no intention of abandoning their cushy abode, especially not to fight a powerful ogre mage.
Lucky, in the meantime, had been investigating a strangely placed fir tree sitting in a corner of the room. It was decorated with bits of precious metals, mostly gold. There was a lot of gold, particularly in the form of small globes hanging from the tree's branches. The greedy rogue had snatched one away when her hosts weren't looking, only to find that the gold was simply painted on. She caught the attention of Rammerdung, who was desperate to change the subject. "Admiring our Goldsmas tree, hey?"
He explained that this night was the eve of the famously celebrated dwarven holiday of Goldsmas, when good little dwarf boys and gir-- well, mostly just boys -- put up a Goldsmas tree with the expectation of the dwarf spirit St. Nickleas placing presents beneath it. The other holiday tradition was to get shit-faced. At this, Andy's eyes lit up and he asked what there was to drink.
The dwarves exchanged looks and chortles. "Sergoih's Shame! But no non-dwarf can handle this beastie!" One of them slammed a flagon of a thick, red liquid before the druid. Some of it spilled on the table and it ate clean through the wood. Andy looked ecstatic. "If I down this, does my picture get put on the wall of fame?" Rammerdung replied that he would deliver the portrait to the largest tavern in Quantran himself. But, he warned, "it is made from the lava-blood of the thoqqua, a fire elemental. It's also prone to spontaneous combustion. You will probably die. Or explode. Or both." He made sure to repeat this several times until Andy raised his cup and downed the whole thing in one go. His chair skidded and he fell comatose to the ground.
Eddi sighed and cast a healing spell to protect the unconscious man while the dwarves proceeded in further guffawing. With this, the Beardians turned in for the night, the sounds of Goldsmas carols ringing in their ears through the evening.
(Goldsmas carols are a lot like Christmas carols, but the subject is drastically different. Take, for example, the Goldsmas song, "Jingold Bells," which goes something like, "Gold gold gold, Gold gold gold, Gold gold gold gold gold // Gold gold gold gold gold gold gold, Gold gold gold gold gold gold, Hey!")
The updated player list is now:
Sango.....The DM
Adam.....K'Phalvius Hardun the half-elf ranger.
Andy.....Andy the anonymous human druid.
Brian.....Eddi the human cleric.
Chauncey.....Chauncey the anonymous elf wizard.
Sarah.....Elya "Lucky" Nearhit the halfling rogue.
During the session detailed in this post, Auren was handled by the DM, not Nigel.
Another major change was the switch from the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 rulebooks to the Pathfinder rules. I elected to make the change to Pathfinder because it is actually an improved version of 3.5 and I had not heard flattering things about D&D 4E. This means there have been various changes to characters and their abilities and spells, some major, some minor. Also, since this is not exactly a D&D blog anymore, I've changed the name to The Beardian Blog.
Now, without further ado...
========
The ogre mage's evil laugh echoed through the furnace he'd disappeared into. As it faded, the Beardians gathered to assess the situation. Feeling quickly returned to Andy's limbs and he stumbled out of the receding paralysis; meanwhile, Eddi let out a burst of healing energy, relieving his comrades of their wounds.
The furnace was too small for most of the party to chase the ogre through (who, incidentally, had acquired the dreadful name of Dokt'mahn Haeten over the break), but Chauncey sent her feline familiar to scope it out. A chimney lead up to the bright afternoon sky, but the perceptive cat also found a small vent connecting to the oven of the bakery that Andy had found a couple hours earlier. After a moment, the cat reported back to its master -- it had seen Dokt'mahn Haeten ordering a mass of orcs to raid the room that the Beardians were in!
Eddi suggested expedient retreat and the vote was unanimous. They turned back the way they'd come, to the secret passage near the great stone door. As they neared it, a chill ran down the spines of all but the bravest -- echoing through the passage was an unearthly moaning, emanated by many voices. The orcish zombies staggering down the secret passage looked familiar to the Beardians and they realized they were the animated corpses of the orcs they had already killed. As Auren stepped forward, Eddi pulled him back and shook his head: their best chance was for the cleric to use his ability to channel divine energy to destroy the undead creatures. The zombies shambled around the corner and Eddi tensely waited until the closest was but a hair's breadth away before raising his holy symbol. A bright light shone forth with a white intensity, and as it passed over the zombies they crumbled to ash.
But the Beardians were not out of the fire yet. Andy, bringing up the rear farther back down the tunnel, suddenly notched his bow and cried to his fellows the existence of orcs -- lots of orcs, in fact. TOO MANY orcs. The druid counted fifteen and more coming before sprinting back to rejoin the rest of the party. Meanwhile, at the head of the group, more zombies had appeared along with their master, another orc cleric. Eddi used another holy energy burst, but did not roll as well this time -- the zombies continued to shamble forward, crying for brains. Auren stepped forward to smack down, but his fists seemed barely effective. His efforts were not helped by the orc cleric's attacks -- the monk had to duck and dodge as the orc summoned a magical spear to attack.
Lucky ducked into the space leading to the stone door. The movement caught Eddi's eye, and in the same moment he turned to check it the orc cleric cast a paralyzation spell on him. Frozen staring at the stone door, Eddi was the only Beardian to notice a mat covered in dust and earth lying at its base. It was a dainty little thing, actually, crafted from ancient straw that still held the maroon and azure pattern running along its border. Delicately knitted into the middle of the mat were the words, "Seek, friend, and enter."
The mat drew Andy's attention too. Desperate for a way out of the situation, he approached the door and ran his fingers across its frame and the intimidating lock, searching for the answer to the riddle. His eagle companion, taken in by its master's excitement, hopped down from his shoulder to grapple with the mat and managed to reveal a key hidden beneath it! Fast as a snake, Chauncey snatched the key from the triumphant raptor and thrust it into the lock. It turned easily and the door slowly swung open.
Andy, Chauncey, and Lucky dashed through the door, finding themselves in a long, narrow passage leading into distant darkness. Andy gave a flick of his hand and a magic flame appeared in his palm -- he called for the others to follow as he ran down the now illuminated corridor. The orcs had finally caught up to the group outside and K'Phalvius took some heavy damage as he scrabbled away. Eddi managed to struggle out of the paralysis spell and launched himself forward to hold them off as the half-elf made his escape. Finally, he and Auren were the last outside the door. Auren yelled out his concern for keeping the orcs from staying the door and Eddi replied that he had a plan.
Now, it must be understood at this point that Auren and Eddi had been at each others' throats since first meeting. This is something that, reviewing my previous posts, I seem to have neglected to emphasize. Auren's disciplined, static personality clashed drastically with Eddi's free and chaotic nature and neither had the goodwill to work out their differences. Discussion became a gridlock of arguments and each would frequently subvert the other's intentions, both in and out of battle. So it was not out of character, what Eddi did next.
The cleric grabbed Auren by the robes and hauled the astonished monk above his head. Bunching his muscles, he flung Auren at the orcs crowded into the passage, then skedaddled through the door. As he swung the door closed, K'Phalvius gaping at him, the last sound they two could hear was Auren screaming out vengeance above the warcries of the orcs -- then the door was closed and everything was a muffled cacophony.
Eddi's eyes rolled frantically as he announced the next problem: "Who has the key?!" Chauncey, far down the passage with the other two Beardians, gave a gasp of realization and sprinted back to the door. She tossed the key to the cleric who scrabbled to lock the door ... click! The Beardians held their breath for a tense moment ... and started slightly when the thumping and banging of the orcs against the other side began. Finally, they all gave out a sigh of relief. The great stone door was going to hold and they were safe for now.
Except, where was Auren? Lucky, Andy, and Chauncey had not seen Eddi's betrayal on the other side of the door. Eddi and K'Phalvius exchanged looks -- the undisciplined half-elf not been the monk's greatest ally, and he could not argue the effectiveness of Eddi's attempt to slow the orcs. Eddi turned back to his (good-aligned) comrades. Auren had stayed behind to hold them off, he said. Besides, he MIGHT still be alive...
The party took a moment to mourn their lost fellow, then turned to exploring the passage. They'd walked through pitch blackness for about a hundred feet before they encountered their first staircase, leading upwards. They continued to travel, taking a moment now and then to renew torches and light spells, for a whole four hours, moving upwards slowly but surely.
Finally, exhausted and demoralized, they spotted a faint light in the distance. Lucky crept forward, recognizing the lighted outline of another sturdy door. From within she could hear much deep-throated laughter -- guffawing, even -- but could not understand the language being spoken. She motioned Chauncey over, for the wizard had mastery of many languages, and she confirmed the voices to be speaking Dwarven. At that, Andy banged on the door and cried out, "Help! Orcs!" which prompted a lot of shouting and clanging of metal from within. The door swung open revealing four well-armored dwarves, and at least eight different axes between them, who demanded the location of the announced orcs. (The dwarves, I mean. That is, the dwarves demanded; not the axes.) Eddi stepped forth to explain the situation and hearing this the dwarves relaxed noticeably. "They will never get past the door; I helped build it meself!" claimed the lead dwarf, who shortly (ha) introduced himself as Rammerdung. This prompted some sniggering from the Beardians, which he either ignored or was oblivious to. "Rammerdung, meet K'Phalvius Hardun," said Eddi.
Rammerdung offered the dwarven abode for the Beardians to rest, much to their relief. He explained the place was an outpost of the nearby dwarven city of Quantran and that the post was a pretty sweet gig since they were rarely bothered by superiors from the city and infrequently saw any action. He seemed, perhaps, too comfortable with the position, for when the Beardians asked his assistance in defeating the orc army he became intent on worming his way out. "Well, we'd have to report back to Quantran, for acting without orders could mean our jobs..." It was obvious that the dwarves had no intention of abandoning their cushy abode, especially not to fight a powerful ogre mage.
Lucky, in the meantime, had been investigating a strangely placed fir tree sitting in a corner of the room. It was decorated with bits of precious metals, mostly gold. There was a lot of gold, particularly in the form of small globes hanging from the tree's branches. The greedy rogue had snatched one away when her hosts weren't looking, only to find that the gold was simply painted on. She caught the attention of Rammerdung, who was desperate to change the subject. "Admiring our Goldsmas tree, hey?"
He explained that this night was the eve of the famously celebrated dwarven holiday of Goldsmas, when good little dwarf boys and gir-- well, mostly just boys -- put up a Goldsmas tree with the expectation of the dwarf spirit St. Nickleas placing presents beneath it. The other holiday tradition was to get shit-faced. At this, Andy's eyes lit up and he asked what there was to drink.
The dwarves exchanged looks and chortles. "Sergoih's Shame! But no non-dwarf can handle this beastie!" One of them slammed a flagon of a thick, red liquid before the druid. Some of it spilled on the table and it ate clean through the wood. Andy looked ecstatic. "If I down this, does my picture get put on the wall of fame?" Rammerdung replied that he would deliver the portrait to the largest tavern in Quantran himself. But, he warned, "it is made from the lava-blood of the thoqqua, a fire elemental. It's also prone to spontaneous combustion. You will probably die. Or explode. Or both." He made sure to repeat this several times until Andy raised his cup and downed the whole thing in one go. His chair skidded and he fell comatose to the ground.
Eddi sighed and cast a healing spell to protect the unconscious man while the dwarves proceeded in further guffawing. With this, the Beardians turned in for the night, the sounds of Goldsmas carols ringing in their ears through the evening.
(Goldsmas carols are a lot like Christmas carols, but the subject is drastically different. Take, for example, the Goldsmas song, "Jingold Bells," which goes something like, "Gold gold gold, Gold gold gold, Gold gold gold gold gold // Gold gold gold gold gold gold gold, Gold gold gold gold gold gold, Hey!")
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Lucky Week Slevin
At the sound of the orc attacking Lucky, Auren dashed into the room, bowling over Eddi as the cleric tried to hold him back, insisting that the Beardians should stick to their plan. The monk ignored him and found his way through the back of the room to flank the offending orc. With their cover blown, the Beardians piled into the room, picking out the third of the orcs Lucky had spotted standing on a ledge. The flanked orc tried one last time, and failed, to land a blow on Lucky before sliding down one of the mining chutes to the ground. But, Auren was right on his tail and lashed out with his feet of fury, taking the orc's head in the process. The last orc, surrounded but undaunted, was still easily disposed of.
Some of the Beardians eyed this orc's gear -- the party was not above robbing corpses. A pair of longbows was dispersed between Andy the anonymous druid and Eddi, who handed-me-down his shortbow to Lucky. Eddi also traded in his breezy, summery, and very in-fashion chain shirt for one of the orcs' breastplates, one with intricately detailed abs, perhaps with the hope of future closet encounters.
The room was a dead end. As the party gathered to turn back, a small solitary platform caught the eye of K'Phalivus. He asked Lucky to investigate it, assuming that, as a rogue, she would have a high Search score. Lucky, enforcing stereotypes, discovered a secret door, only by running her fingers across the wall and finding the hidden door-frame. She cautiously opened it, discovering a passage large enough for the party to travel through single file. The passage ran a long way through darkness and after many tense minutes of expecting various horrors to snatch her away, Lucky reached its end, which opened up into a small corridor. To her left was a sturdy stone door, so resolute in its dooriness that the rogue doubted even her lock-picking skills could open it. To her right, the corridor opened into a room, and in that room was, surprise, a pair of orcs. Emboldened by the rest of the Beardians coming up behind her, the halfling launched a javelin at the first enemy and proceeded to scurry in the opposite direction fast as her little legs could take her. The rest of the party took over and as the first orc quickly gave up the ghost, the second dashed off into the darkness ahead even faster than Lucky had.
The Beardians strained into the room, another work area of the mine, and were instantly dazzled by what they saw. There, right there, where they could so easily just reach out and grab a handful and stuff it in their bags, was a big old pile of gold. Impressively, the first word to be emitted from a party member was, Trap. Lucky again became the most important member of the party, but, strangely, didn't find any hint of threatening devices. The Beardians exchanged glances, then dug in.
Buried beneath the coins was a wand, a scroll, and a potion. Eddi and Chauncey the anonymous wizard, the group's chief magic-users, managed to decipher the scroll and the markings on the wand: the scroll contained a divine spell, Faerie Fire, and the wand could cast the spell Levitate and had 31 charges left! The potion remained a mystery, until Eddi shrugged, decreed, "Bottom's up!" and gulped everything in the vial. He promptly vanished and the potion was discovered to be an invisibility potion, all thanks to the scientific method. God bless science!
Meanwhile, Lucky was, once again, scouting ahead. The cowardly orc had fled down another narrow mineshaft and, strangely, there was light emanating from the end of it. She peeked into the room at the end and saw a scene not unlike that which Charles Dickens must have envisioned when Scrooge met the enormous Ghost of Christmas Present in his living room ... only replace living room with dwarven forge and the Ghost of Christmas Present with an ogre mage staring right into Lucky's eyes. The ogre chuckled as the halfling skirted away and bellowed at his orcish lackeys to follow her.
Back in the mineshaft, Lucky ducked behind Auren, who leaped Bruce Lee-style at the nearest orc. As the monk played meatshield, the Beardians scrambled about behind him, tossing whatever they could at the monsters, who appeared to nonetheless keep coming. Finally the orcs fell and the party collectively breathed a sigh of relief -- too soon, as another orc, this one in garnished robes (garnished for an orc, at least) stepped into the mineshaft and, chanting weirdly, placed a gemstone in each of his allies' corpses. The corpses stood up.
Auren had been waiting for this. He had been waiting a long time. As his fists thudded into undead flesh he reflected on his life up to this point and decided, that yes, his singular earthly calling was to beat up zombies. Nonetheless, the creatures were quickly overpowering him and the rest of the Beardians urged him to back up into the open room where they were waiting. The zombies shambled after and found themselves surrounded and, very soon, utterly destroyed. As a zombie head groaned its last request for braaaaiiins, the invisible Eddi crept silently down the mineshaft until he could see the forge. The orc necromancer was not to be seen, but this was not unexpected -- he was probably ducking behind one of the room's many hiding places. What was strange was the disappearance of the giant ogre mage! The ogre was large, yes, and not just that -- he was... blue! Blue is a rather easy color to spot. Still, Eddi characteristically threw caution to the wind, and barreled as fast as he could into the room. In the instant he left the mineshaft, something blinked into existence to his left -- a blue form levered a sword twice the size of the cleric where he'd been a split-second before. Then, as quickly as the ogre mage had appeared, he was gone. Eddi cursed his blessing -- the invisibility spell that now protected him was also in the mage's use.
The others, having seen the little magic show, advanced technically. Technically, because none of them really wanted to be in the same room as a giant invisible mage: the group as a whole was technically advancing, while each member sought to be the farthest from the end of the passage. The advance, therefore, was by means of a slowly elongating huddle. (To quote Terry Pratchett.) Finally, Andy got up the nerves to charge into the room, where he found the necromancer chanting weirdly again. The druid's limbs began to stiffen and he realized the orc had cast a paralyzation spell on him. As he yearned for the safety of the mineshaft, he watched the ogre mage appear again and cast a devastating ice attack down the mineshaft, doing major damage to the trapped occupants. Perhaps paralyzation wasn't so bad.
As the necromancer had launched his assault, Eddi had finally un-vanished behind him. The cleric levered his greatsword and then, before the orc could react, reached out with a hand buzzing electrically with dark energy. The Inflict Wounds spell was so powerful that the orc's body instinctively decided that exploding apart would be less painful. It wasn't, but by that time it was too late. Flesh scattered across the room.
The death of his final guard seemed to dishearten the ogre mage. He sneered at the Beardians and stepped away. The party watched as the mage's feet, then legs, then torso and head transformed into ogre-shaped vapor. The ogre-cloud flew through the room and entered a large furnace -- the centerpiece of the forge. He disappeared from sight.
The Beardians had, in vague terms, won the battle. But their mission to assassinate the ogre mage was yet uncompleted and the many intense battles of the last two hours had exhausted them. With Andy a living statue, Lucky badly frostbitten by the ice spell, both magic-users short on spells, and general orcish axe-induced injuries all around, the party wondered morbidly if they would survive the trip back to the surface...
Some of the Beardians eyed this orc's gear -- the party was not above robbing corpses. A pair of longbows was dispersed between Andy the anonymous druid and Eddi, who handed-me-down his shortbow to Lucky. Eddi also traded in his breezy, summery, and very in-fashion chain shirt for one of the orcs' breastplates, one with intricately detailed abs, perhaps with the hope of future closet encounters.
The room was a dead end. As the party gathered to turn back, a small solitary platform caught the eye of K'Phalivus. He asked Lucky to investigate it, assuming that, as a rogue, she would have a high Search score. Lucky, enforcing stereotypes, discovered a secret door, only by running her fingers across the wall and finding the hidden door-frame. She cautiously opened it, discovering a passage large enough for the party to travel through single file. The passage ran a long way through darkness and after many tense minutes of expecting various horrors to snatch her away, Lucky reached its end, which opened up into a small corridor. To her left was a sturdy stone door, so resolute in its dooriness that the rogue doubted even her lock-picking skills could open it. To her right, the corridor opened into a room, and in that room was, surprise, a pair of orcs. Emboldened by the rest of the Beardians coming up behind her, the halfling launched a javelin at the first enemy and proceeded to scurry in the opposite direction fast as her little legs could take her. The rest of the party took over and as the first orc quickly gave up the ghost, the second dashed off into the darkness ahead even faster than Lucky had.
The Beardians strained into the room, another work area of the mine, and were instantly dazzled by what they saw. There, right there, where they could so easily just reach out and grab a handful and stuff it in their bags, was a big old pile of gold. Impressively, the first word to be emitted from a party member was, Trap. Lucky again became the most important member of the party, but, strangely, didn't find any hint of threatening devices. The Beardians exchanged glances, then dug in.
Buried beneath the coins was a wand, a scroll, and a potion. Eddi and Chauncey the anonymous wizard, the group's chief magic-users, managed to decipher the scroll and the markings on the wand: the scroll contained a divine spell, Faerie Fire, and the wand could cast the spell Levitate and had 31 charges left! The potion remained a mystery, until Eddi shrugged, decreed, "Bottom's up!" and gulped everything in the vial. He promptly vanished and the potion was discovered to be an invisibility potion, all thanks to the scientific method. God bless science!
Meanwhile, Lucky was, once again, scouting ahead. The cowardly orc had fled down another narrow mineshaft and, strangely, there was light emanating from the end of it. She peeked into the room at the end and saw a scene not unlike that which Charles Dickens must have envisioned when Scrooge met the enormous Ghost of Christmas Present in his living room ... only replace living room with dwarven forge and the Ghost of Christmas Present with an ogre mage staring right into Lucky's eyes. The ogre chuckled as the halfling skirted away and bellowed at his orcish lackeys to follow her.
Back in the mineshaft, Lucky ducked behind Auren, who leaped Bruce Lee-style at the nearest orc. As the monk played meatshield, the Beardians scrambled about behind him, tossing whatever they could at the monsters, who appeared to nonetheless keep coming. Finally the orcs fell and the party collectively breathed a sigh of relief -- too soon, as another orc, this one in garnished robes (garnished for an orc, at least) stepped into the mineshaft and, chanting weirdly, placed a gemstone in each of his allies' corpses. The corpses stood up.
Auren had been waiting for this. He had been waiting a long time. As his fists thudded into undead flesh he reflected on his life up to this point and decided, that yes, his singular earthly calling was to beat up zombies. Nonetheless, the creatures were quickly overpowering him and the rest of the Beardians urged him to back up into the open room where they were waiting. The zombies shambled after and found themselves surrounded and, very soon, utterly destroyed. As a zombie head groaned its last request for braaaaiiins, the invisible Eddi crept silently down the mineshaft until he could see the forge. The orc necromancer was not to be seen, but this was not unexpected -- he was probably ducking behind one of the room's many hiding places. What was strange was the disappearance of the giant ogre mage! The ogre was large, yes, and not just that -- he was... blue! Blue is a rather easy color to spot. Still, Eddi characteristically threw caution to the wind, and barreled as fast as he could into the room. In the instant he left the mineshaft, something blinked into existence to his left -- a blue form levered a sword twice the size of the cleric where he'd been a split-second before. Then, as quickly as the ogre mage had appeared, he was gone. Eddi cursed his blessing -- the invisibility spell that now protected him was also in the mage's use.
The others, having seen the little magic show, advanced technically. Technically, because none of them really wanted to be in the same room as a giant invisible mage: the group as a whole was technically advancing, while each member sought to be the farthest from the end of the passage. The advance, therefore, was by means of a slowly elongating huddle. (To quote Terry Pratchett.) Finally, Andy got up the nerves to charge into the room, where he found the necromancer chanting weirdly again. The druid's limbs began to stiffen and he realized the orc had cast a paralyzation spell on him. As he yearned for the safety of the mineshaft, he watched the ogre mage appear again and cast a devastating ice attack down the mineshaft, doing major damage to the trapped occupants. Perhaps paralyzation wasn't so bad.
As the necromancer had launched his assault, Eddi had finally un-vanished behind him. The cleric levered his greatsword and then, before the orc could react, reached out with a hand buzzing electrically with dark energy. The Inflict Wounds spell was so powerful that the orc's body instinctively decided that exploding apart would be less painful. It wasn't, but by that time it was too late. Flesh scattered across the room.
The death of his final guard seemed to dishearten the ogre mage. He sneered at the Beardians and stepped away. The party watched as the mage's feet, then legs, then torso and head transformed into ogre-shaped vapor. The ogre-cloud flew through the room and entered a large furnace -- the centerpiece of the forge. He disappeared from sight.
The Beardians had, in vague terms, won the battle. But their mission to assassinate the ogre mage was yet uncompleted and the many intense battles of the last two hours had exhausted them. With Andy a living statue, Lucky badly frostbitten by the ice spell, both magic-users short on spells, and general orcish axe-induced injuries all around, the party wondered morbidly if they would survive the trip back to the surface...
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Week VI: The Undiscovered Country
With the orc guards behind them and a sea of corpses, or at least a shallow lake, at their feet, the party recollected themselves. It occurred to the narrator that it would be so much easier if the party had a group name to refer to them by, like The Orc-Slayers, The Happenstancers, or the Bill Beardians. Yeah, actually, from now on the narrator will refer to a party member as a Beardian, for clarity's sake.
So, the Beardians were standing around healing each other, right? Then they got bored and began to actually explore the dungeon, which, in the Beardian frame of mind, was apparently best performed by rushing headlong into pitch black darkness. Luckily, orcs didn't seem to be the best trap-setters and much ground was covered in a short time. The decrepit ruins of the dwarven mine were, in fact, ruined, with cave-ins and chunks of fire-damaged debris scattered about, suggesting some sort of disaster that must have occurred some time ago. The passages leading east to -- according to Elder Wilhelm's map -- the cafeteria and brewery were discovered. Lucky, exploring the old dorms to the south, found a spare dagger hidden in a dwarven bunk-bed (the bed being somewhat novel, since the second bunk was beneath the ground-level one -- classic dwarven thinking). Andy the anonymous druid explored the former bakery, finding a large cave-in cutting off a part of the chamber. From the other side he could make out voices, but they were too muffled to make out traces of words or language. He also discovered a large oven with a hole leading out from the back, large enough for a small creature to squeeze through. He began to send his anonymous eagle in to explore -- the bird could only make out darkness from as far as it went.
Some of the Beardians were strangely drawn to a closet down a western passage: Eddi went in first, then as K'Phalvius followed the only sound heard was Eddi saying something about seven minutes in heaven before the cleric locked the closet door from the inside.
Meanwhile, Chauncey the anonymous wizard, who'd appeared inexplicably for no apparent reason and had been immediately accepted as a Beardian, cautiously felt her way through the darkness of the western passage, past the closet holding the cleric and ranger, from which strange sounds were emanating. She stopped as she reached an opening of the passage, unable to see any further. K'Phalvius' wolf, also yet unnamed, held no such qualms and barreled right past her. As the wolf reached the opening, he managed to get a good view of the passage and telepathically transmitted the information to K'Phalvius': the canine stood in the middle of an intersection, with the passage continuing westward, and a second passage leading north and south. Oh, and there was an orc ambush waiting for some unfortunate quadruped to turn the corner so they could stab him full of holes. They did.
The wolf's vision suddenly went blank in K'Phalvius' mind. The death of his animal companion must have only worsened whatever horrifying situation he and Eddi were in in that closet and he came crashing out the door. Alerted to the threat, the Beardians quickly took formation: they all scrambled into the tiny corridor, stepping over each other and wrestling to see who could get the first hit on the orcs. Auren won and, surrounded by three orcs with no way of retreating in the cramped conditions, was promptly beaten into a bloody pulp. Seeing this, the Beardians realized just how stupid they were being and backed off: Eddi and Lucky hid in the closet (with no time for hanky-panky) and K'Phalvius and Chauncey retreated out of the orcs' reach, with Andy valiantly guarding them.
As the battle raged down the corridor, Lucky readied her blade to sneak attack any orc who passed the closet. Beside her, Eddi considered the thought of breaking through a five-foot-thick wall to flank the orcs. Deciding to attempt the incredible act, he prepared his daily feat of strength, a divine favor bestowed upon him by Kord the god of strength himself. The burly cleric bundled his hefty muscles and threw himself like a cannonball against the brick wall, bouncing off to the floor and severely dislocating his shoulder. Lucky laughed.
The heroes of the battle turned out to be K'Phalvius and the mysterious wizardly newcomer. The ranger's arrows flew true to their mark, that mark between an orc's two ears. Chauncey decidedly impressed everyone by shooting out numerous magic missiles to antagonize the orcs, then barbecuing them with a huge lightening bolt spell. The single surviving orc flew into a blood rage and hurled himself down the corridor ... right into the waiting dagger of Lucky.
With the battle won, Eddi reluctantly used his best healing spell on Auren. The Beardians began to whine that they needed to sleep for the day, even though they'd only been exploring and fighting for about a half an hour and it was still bright morning outside the dungeon. At this point, they all experienced a sudden miracle as God spoke unto them thus: "SUCK IT UP." And so, they pressed on down the western passage, more cautiously now.
The passages were lined with rails, apparently for the use of mine carts, and many ways were blocked off by cave-ins. The party shortly found a large cavern which appeared to be one of the vital work areas of the mine. Lucky agreed to scout it out and carefully sneaked through the darkness. After a few minutes of sneakiness, she reported back: the cavern was filled with mining equipment and stairs and ledges. Chutes lead down from these ledges to the decrepit mine carts and rails below. There were at least three orcs with the higher ground.
Finally realizing that rushing headlong into a battle isn't always the best plan, the Beardians worked out a simple strategy and put it into action. Chauncey cast a magic light to distract the enemies while Lucky sneaked back into the cave to sneak-attack the closest orc. The halfing skirted beneath the ledge holding the unknowing monster and crawled carefully up a chute behind him. Just as she began to bring her blade down on his back, a second orc appeared from the darkness and, springing into action against Lucky, shouted a warning. The cavalry was too late -- as one movement, Lucky danced about the second orc's thrust and found her mark on her target, who collapsed, KO'd, to the ground.
Then the game ended and everyone went home. To be continued.
So, the Beardians were standing around healing each other, right? Then they got bored and began to actually explore the dungeon, which, in the Beardian frame of mind, was apparently best performed by rushing headlong into pitch black darkness. Luckily, orcs didn't seem to be the best trap-setters and much ground was covered in a short time. The decrepit ruins of the dwarven mine were, in fact, ruined, with cave-ins and chunks of fire-damaged debris scattered about, suggesting some sort of disaster that must have occurred some time ago. The passages leading east to -- according to Elder Wilhelm's map -- the cafeteria and brewery were discovered. Lucky, exploring the old dorms to the south, found a spare dagger hidden in a dwarven bunk-bed (the bed being somewhat novel, since the second bunk was beneath the ground-level one -- classic dwarven thinking). Andy the anonymous druid explored the former bakery, finding a large cave-in cutting off a part of the chamber. From the other side he could make out voices, but they were too muffled to make out traces of words or language. He also discovered a large oven with a hole leading out from the back, large enough for a small creature to squeeze through. He began to send his anonymous eagle in to explore -- the bird could only make out darkness from as far as it went.
Some of the Beardians were strangely drawn to a closet down a western passage: Eddi went in first, then as K'Phalvius followed the only sound heard was Eddi saying something about seven minutes in heaven before the cleric locked the closet door from the inside.
Meanwhile, Chauncey the anonymous wizard, who'd appeared inexplicably for no apparent reason and had been immediately accepted as a Beardian, cautiously felt her way through the darkness of the western passage, past the closet holding the cleric and ranger, from which strange sounds were emanating. She stopped as she reached an opening of the passage, unable to see any further. K'Phalvius' wolf, also yet unnamed, held no such qualms and barreled right past her. As the wolf reached the opening, he managed to get a good view of the passage and telepathically transmitted the information to K'Phalvius': the canine stood in the middle of an intersection, with the passage continuing westward, and a second passage leading north and south. Oh, and there was an orc ambush waiting for some unfortunate quadruped to turn the corner so they could stab him full of holes. They did.
The wolf's vision suddenly went blank in K'Phalvius' mind. The death of his animal companion must have only worsened whatever horrifying situation he and Eddi were in in that closet and he came crashing out the door. Alerted to the threat, the Beardians quickly took formation: they all scrambled into the tiny corridor, stepping over each other and wrestling to see who could get the first hit on the orcs. Auren won and, surrounded by three orcs with no way of retreating in the cramped conditions, was promptly beaten into a bloody pulp. Seeing this, the Beardians realized just how stupid they were being and backed off: Eddi and Lucky hid in the closet (with no time for hanky-panky) and K'Phalvius and Chauncey retreated out of the orcs' reach, with Andy valiantly guarding them.
As the battle raged down the corridor, Lucky readied her blade to sneak attack any orc who passed the closet. Beside her, Eddi considered the thought of breaking through a five-foot-thick wall to flank the orcs. Deciding to attempt the incredible act, he prepared his daily feat of strength, a divine favor bestowed upon him by Kord the god of strength himself. The burly cleric bundled his hefty muscles and threw himself like a cannonball against the brick wall, bouncing off to the floor and severely dislocating his shoulder. Lucky laughed.
The heroes of the battle turned out to be K'Phalvius and the mysterious wizardly newcomer. The ranger's arrows flew true to their mark, that mark between an orc's two ears. Chauncey decidedly impressed everyone by shooting out numerous magic missiles to antagonize the orcs, then barbecuing them with a huge lightening bolt spell. The single surviving orc flew into a blood rage and hurled himself down the corridor ... right into the waiting dagger of Lucky.
With the battle won, Eddi reluctantly used his best healing spell on Auren. The Beardians began to whine that they needed to sleep for the day, even though they'd only been exploring and fighting for about a half an hour and it was still bright morning outside the dungeon. At this point, they all experienced a sudden miracle as God spoke unto them thus: "SUCK IT UP." And so, they pressed on down the western passage, more cautiously now.
The passages were lined with rails, apparently for the use of mine carts, and many ways were blocked off by cave-ins. The party shortly found a large cavern which appeared to be one of the vital work areas of the mine. Lucky agreed to scout it out and carefully sneaked through the darkness. After a few minutes of sneakiness, she reported back: the cavern was filled with mining equipment and stairs and ledges. Chutes lead down from these ledges to the decrepit mine carts and rails below. There were at least three orcs with the higher ground.
Finally realizing that rushing headlong into a battle isn't always the best plan, the Beardians worked out a simple strategy and put it into action. Chauncey cast a magic light to distract the enemies while Lucky sneaked back into the cave to sneak-attack the closest orc. The halfing skirted beneath the ledge holding the unknowing monster and crawled carefully up a chute behind him. Just as she began to bring her blade down on his back, a second orc appeared from the darkness and, springing into action against Lucky, shouted a warning. The cavalry was too late -- as one movement, Lucky danced about the second orc's thrust and found her mark on her target, who collapsed, KO'd, to the ground.
Then the game ended and everyone went home. To be continued.
Cinco de D&D Week-yo
Having defeated the orcs in the apparently deserted town of Byron Valley, the party was approached by the goblins who assisted in the fight. They took you to see their leader, a hobgoblin called Kerrec, who explained the situation. The goblin tribe had been cast out of the Maurick Mountains after a devastating war with the local dwarves. They were forced east to search for a new home in the Mossdeep woods and planned a simple raid on Byron Valley -- unfortunately, an orc party just happened to launch a raid on the village simultaneously and a war broke out between the two groups with the humans of the village stuck in the midst.
Here, Kerrec offered you a proposal. The village is a warzone and your party has little chance of reaching the road on the other side of town without heavy casualty. The goblins are badly losing the fight, so Kerrec offered to abandon the village and spare the humans if your party helped defeat the orcs. He allowed you safe passage to the village church, where the humans had established their last defense. There you encountered the village leaders, Elder Wilhelm and Sheriff Ramshackle. Since the villagers are patrons of St. Cuthbert, Auren, a monk under the deity, was welcomed and immediately found trustworthy by Wilhelm. Ramshackle is suspicious of all outsiders, a custom among the isolationist villagers of the valley, and did not approve of the goblin bargain, but Wilhelm, as the voice of the village, agreed to it.
Kerrec's plan is thus: Your party will infiltrate the orcs' lair, an abandoned dwarven mine east of the village, and attempt to assassinate their leader, an ogre mage. This unusually intelligent ogre had been spotting and disabling the goblins' traps, which is their specialty in war, and sending orc shock troops to decimate the goblins in combat. Without him, the majority of the orcs would fall to the goblins' guerrilla tactics. Eddi piped up, asking what spells the mage may use and Kerrec, drawing on field experience, replied that the ogre could fly and cast frost spells.
Bill Beard unhappily agreed to stay in the church and take care of Eddi's owlbear chickcubs (who had awoken and angrily tore into the orcflesh Eddi offered them) as well as watch K'Phalvius' asses.
(At some point around here it was revealed that Eddi is a eunuch, but I digress.)
Equipped with a map of the mines that Wilhelm quickly drew up, the party reached the entrance to the orc base without incident and cautiously advanced down a long tunnel until reaching a set of stairs and statue of a dwarf that indicated this was the place. You then cautiously advanced down the stairs, until Eddi slipped and fell down the steps, emitting a echoing clatter of equipment. At the bottom, he found himself at the base of a great stone door. Opening the door revealed two orc guards who the party managed to eliminate quickly enough. Hidden in the shadows, however, was a third orc, who ran from the room hollering for help. The party rushed to follow him out into a dark hallway. Visibility was low and it took a moment to find the offending orc in the darkness. By the time he'd been slain it was too late: his call had alerted the troops and the party was surrounded by five orc barbarians. These hulking warriors bellowed war-cries and rushed the party in a rage, nearly killing K'Phalvius' wolf companion. The party fought valiantly in the cramped and dark quarters: K'Phalvius' arrows flew keenly through the melee; Lucky bounced along, ducking from danger and hurling a javelin at any estranged enemies; Eddi's sword, alighted by a spell, cast a red glow across the hall as it was stained with orcish blood; Andy the anonymous druid and Eagle the anonymous eagle became as one anonymous killing machine of scimitars, talons, and feathers; and Auren deftly balanced a torch in his hand as he rained kicks and punches upon his foes... but never once succeeded in performing a Stunning Fist.
Soon, where the barbarians had been there were only corpses and the party, wearied by the brawl but encouraged by victory, were ready to move on.
Here, Kerrec offered you a proposal. The village is a warzone and your party has little chance of reaching the road on the other side of town without heavy casualty. The goblins are badly losing the fight, so Kerrec offered to abandon the village and spare the humans if your party helped defeat the orcs. He allowed you safe passage to the village church, where the humans had established their last defense. There you encountered the village leaders, Elder Wilhelm and Sheriff Ramshackle. Since the villagers are patrons of St. Cuthbert, Auren, a monk under the deity, was welcomed and immediately found trustworthy by Wilhelm. Ramshackle is suspicious of all outsiders, a custom among the isolationist villagers of the valley, and did not approve of the goblin bargain, but Wilhelm, as the voice of the village, agreed to it.
Kerrec's plan is thus: Your party will infiltrate the orcs' lair, an abandoned dwarven mine east of the village, and attempt to assassinate their leader, an ogre mage. This unusually intelligent ogre had been spotting and disabling the goblins' traps, which is their specialty in war, and sending orc shock troops to decimate the goblins in combat. Without him, the majority of the orcs would fall to the goblins' guerrilla tactics. Eddi piped up, asking what spells the mage may use and Kerrec, drawing on field experience, replied that the ogre could fly and cast frost spells.
Bill Beard unhappily agreed to stay in the church and take care of Eddi's owlbear chickcubs (who had awoken and angrily tore into the orcflesh Eddi offered them) as well as watch K'Phalvius' asses.
(At some point around here it was revealed that Eddi is a eunuch, but I digress.)
Equipped with a map of the mines that Wilhelm quickly drew up, the party reached the entrance to the orc base without incident and cautiously advanced down a long tunnel until reaching a set of stairs and statue of a dwarf that indicated this was the place. You then cautiously advanced down the stairs, until Eddi slipped and fell down the steps, emitting a echoing clatter of equipment. At the bottom, he found himself at the base of a great stone door. Opening the door revealed two orc guards who the party managed to eliminate quickly enough. Hidden in the shadows, however, was a third orc, who ran from the room hollering for help. The party rushed to follow him out into a dark hallway. Visibility was low and it took a moment to find the offending orc in the darkness. By the time he'd been slain it was too late: his call had alerted the troops and the party was surrounded by five orc barbarians. These hulking warriors bellowed war-cries and rushed the party in a rage, nearly killing K'Phalvius' wolf companion. The party fought valiantly in the cramped and dark quarters: K'Phalvius' arrows flew keenly through the melee; Lucky bounced along, ducking from danger and hurling a javelin at any estranged enemies; Eddi's sword, alighted by a spell, cast a red glow across the hall as it was stained with orcish blood; Andy the anonymous druid and Eagle the anonymous eagle became as one anonymous killing machine of scimitars, talons, and feathers; and Auren deftly balanced a torch in his hand as he rained kicks and punches upon his foes... but never once succeeded in performing a Stunning Fist.
Soon, where the barbarians had been there were only corpses and the party, wearied by the brawl but encouraged by victory, were ready to move on.
Week IV
After nearly getting slaughtered by those owlbears, everyone managed to recover fairly quickly thanks to a sudden unexplainable increase in health and strength. Eddi the cleric healed the bulk of the party's wounds with his remaining daily spells and everyone managed to regain full health with a good night's sleep. To the relief of all, they weren't ambushed at night by more owlbears. In the morning, Andy the anonymous druid mentioned the prospect of an owlbear cave where there might be owlbear loot left unguarded. K'Phalvius' superb tracking skills lead them straight to the lair, where they found four recently deceased owlbear chickcubs, either starved or frozen to death without their parents to care for them. However! Huddling beneath their dead siblings for warmth were two living chickcubs. Knowing that owlbears fetch a hefty price as guard animals, the party opted to capture them. Eddi managed to talk Auren the monk into using his unarmed attacks to knock one unconscious. The cleric himself attempted to knock out the second, and not without taking a beak to the face a couple of times. As Eddi tied up the chickcubs and fashioned a sled to drag them along with, Andy or K'Phalvius, I forget which, searched the cave for other valuables. Amongst the remains of chickcub feasts he found the corpse of a traveling wizard, a fact garnered from the man's travel log. Upon this corpse was a spell scroll for casting the arcane spell mage armor. The diary explained that the wizard made a living by traveling from a southern town to the northern city of Burlingham (Bill Beard and the party's ultimate destination) and selling his spell scrolls there. He left a wife in his hometown and upon hearing this Auren decided that he would take any reasonable opportunity to inform the wife of her husband's death.
Finally, the party was ready to move on. They continued their journey north to Burlingham. After an hour's walk slash owlbear-dragging, they arrived at the path leading to the small village of Byron Valley, a hamlet nestled in the hills beneath the shadow of the Maurick Mountains. Eddi recalled the goblin map he procured earlier that marked a mysterious location west of the village. It was about 8:30am when they entered the village, a quaint place with a natural aesthetic to its sparsely dispersed buildings, obviously built from the local woodland. It was a pleasant village. A quiet village.
TOO quiet. The place appeared to be a ghost town with no sign of human life, but as they listened carefully they could hear gruff voices coming from behind a nearby structure. Auren ran forward to investigate while Andy attempted to sneak around the other side. As Auren came to a halt at the corner of the building he came face to face with an orc who had been carelessly turning the corner! The orc was so taken aback that he couldn't quite react except to yelp to his hidden comrades. The two parties rushed at each other and one of the orcs managed to wound Auren WHEN SUDDENLY the windows of the tavern across the street swung open and a group of goblin archers opened fire! Pathetically, their aim was so bad that they couldn't hit anything and no one could tell if they were shooting at the orcs or our heroes, but the distinction was made when a hobgoblin burst out of the tavern and levered his sword at one of the aghast orcs. With the help of the goblins' surprise attack, the orc party was made short work of. As the hobgoblin gutted the last of them, he turned to our heroes and belted out a single word in Common: "Hold!"
And then everybody had to go home 'cause it was just about midnight in the real world.
Finally, the party was ready to move on. They continued their journey north to Burlingham. After an hour's walk slash owlbear-dragging, they arrived at the path leading to the small village of Byron Valley, a hamlet nestled in the hills beneath the shadow of the Maurick Mountains. Eddi recalled the goblin map he procured earlier that marked a mysterious location west of the village. It was about 8:30am when they entered the village, a quaint place with a natural aesthetic to its sparsely dispersed buildings, obviously built from the local woodland. It was a pleasant village. A quiet village.
TOO quiet. The place appeared to be a ghost town with no sign of human life, but as they listened carefully they could hear gruff voices coming from behind a nearby structure. Auren ran forward to investigate while Andy attempted to sneak around the other side. As Auren came to a halt at the corner of the building he came face to face with an orc who had been carelessly turning the corner! The orc was so taken aback that he couldn't quite react except to yelp to his hidden comrades. The two parties rushed at each other and one of the orcs managed to wound Auren WHEN SUDDENLY the windows of the tavern across the street swung open and a group of goblin archers opened fire! Pathetically, their aim was so bad that they couldn't hit anything and no one could tell if they were shooting at the orcs or our heroes, but the distinction was made when a hobgoblin burst out of the tavern and levered his sword at one of the aghast orcs. With the help of the goblins' surprise attack, the orc party was made short work of. As the hobgoblin gutted the last of them, he turned to our heroes and belted out a single word in Common: "Hold!"
And then everybody had to go home 'cause it was just about midnight in the real world.
Week the Third
Long story short, the DM thought it'd be funny to throw some owlbears at the fledgling party. He was right.
Andy went down quick to a grotesquely powerful owlbear-hug. Auren and Brian, the party's other meatshields, followed after a brutal struggle. Lucky ran about trying to stay out of the monsters' way and keep her allies from dying while K'Phalvius finally managed to kill the ferocious beasts by firing from afar. They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and apparently in the case of D&D, what brings you close enough to Death's door that you can smell the bone-white metal of the door knocker will make you gain two levels. The adventurers came away exhausted, and maybe missing some vital organs, but ultimately pleased.
Andy went down quick to a grotesquely powerful owlbear-hug. Auren and Brian, the party's other meatshields, followed after a brutal struggle. Lucky ran about trying to stay out of the monsters' way and keep her allies from dying while K'Phalvius finally managed to kill the ferocious beasts by firing from afar. They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and apparently in the case of D&D, what brings you close enough to Death's door that you can smell the bone-white metal of the door knocker will make you gain two levels. The adventurers came away exhausted, and maybe missing some vital organs, but ultimately pleased.
Week Two: In Which Events Occur
Auren and K'Phalvius decided to follow the goblin that had run away from the battle in the first session. Lucky and Andy stayed on the road with Bill Beard to await their return. After some squabbling, Auren and K'Phalvius agreed to track the goblin to the goblin camp rather than kill him outright. They'd hoped to kill him just before his screamed warnings would reach the ears of the camp, but upon coming into visual range of the camp, it was too late. Their prey alerted the rest of the goblins seconds before K'Phalvius' arrow split his face.
The camp was located in a rocky clearing at the foothills of the Maurick Mountains and a small rock face hosting a couple of goblin archers prevented our heroes from seeing the rest of the camp. As they fought the goblins, little did they know that beyond the cliff a prisoner struggled with his bonds in a goblin tent. 'Twas the cleric, Eddi, captured offstage by the monsters. He uttered a prayer to Kord, god of strength and managed to snap his bonds and, with the goblins distracted, grab his sword. Prepared to administer vengeance, he burst out of the tent to find that Auren and K'Phalvius had already made short work of most of the monsters. Still, he wasn't about to let his vengeance go unadministered, and sliced the single remaining goblin in half.
Eddi was kind of a loner, but warily decided to join the others mostly to keep the game going. He revealed a crude map he had discovered in the goblin camp and K'Phalvius recognized it as a depiction of the village in Byron Valley (a stop along the road to Burlingham) with a strange marking drawn on the west of the village. Everybody agreed that it must be the goblin's treasure hoard -- Eddi insisted on checking it out while Auren refused, citing Bill Beard's safety as a priority. Bill piped up and expressed his interest in investigating the marking.
Anyway, since Byron Valley was on the way to the final destination of Burlingham, they decided to leave the issue unresolved until reaching the valley. On the road they were attacked by some kobolds, who Nigel described as "Doritos." The monsters never stood a chance and so the adventure continues...
The camp was located in a rocky clearing at the foothills of the Maurick Mountains and a small rock face hosting a couple of goblin archers prevented our heroes from seeing the rest of the camp. As they fought the goblins, little did they know that beyond the cliff a prisoner struggled with his bonds in a goblin tent. 'Twas the cleric, Eddi, captured offstage by the monsters. He uttered a prayer to Kord, god of strength and managed to snap his bonds and, with the goblins distracted, grab his sword. Prepared to administer vengeance, he burst out of the tent to find that Auren and K'Phalvius had already made short work of most of the monsters. Still, he wasn't about to let his vengeance go unadministered, and sliced the single remaining goblin in half.
Eddi was kind of a loner, but warily decided to join the others mostly to keep the game going. He revealed a crude map he had discovered in the goblin camp and K'Phalvius recognized it as a depiction of the village in Byron Valley (a stop along the road to Burlingham) with a strange marking drawn on the west of the village. Everybody agreed that it must be the goblin's treasure hoard -- Eddi insisted on checking it out while Auren refused, citing Bill Beard's safety as a priority. Bill piped up and expressed his interest in investigating the marking.
Anyway, since Byron Valley was on the way to the final destination of Burlingham, they decided to leave the issue unresolved until reaching the valley. On the road they were attacked by some kobolds, who Nigel described as "Doritos." The monsters never stood a chance and so the adventure continues...
Beginnings and Explanations
This is a blog recording the weekly sessions of a game of Dungeons and Dragons. Rather awkwardly, the concept of the blog was not brought up and implemented until well into six weeks of play. Therefore, these first few posts will be documenting events long-since past.
THE PLAYERS:
Adam.....K'Phalvius Hardun the half-elf ranger.
Andy.....Andy the anonymous human druid.
Brian.....Eddi the human cleric.
Chauncey.....Chauncey the anonymous elf wizard.
Nigel.....Auren the human monk.
Sarah.....Elya "Lucky" Nearhit the halfling rogue.
Brian did not join the game until the second week, and Chauncey the sixth.
WEEK ONE: The First D&D Week
Just outside the town of Tarindown, a group of adventurers headed north. These adventurers -- Auren, a monk, K'Phalvius Hardun, a ranger, Lucky, a rogue, and a nameless druid named Andy -- had come into the employ of Bill Beard, Tarindown's greatest barber. (Also, two donkeys. Technically, a donkey and a mule, belonging to K'Phalvius. They were soon to be the ass-end of many upcoming gibes.) Bill, a jolly gnome who, again, was really snazzy when it came to haircuts, required protection on the long voyage to the northern city of Burlingham, where he planned to expand his business. The contract signed read as such: our heroes were required to (1) protect Mr. Beard and (2) clear the road of potential dangers for a later caravan that would include his relatives, barbering equipment, and larger belongings. In return, each guard would be rewarded a handsome sum of 500 gold pieces.
The road to Burlingham was about three days' travel through the temperate Mossdeep Forest and the lower hills of the Maurick Mountains. The party had not long journeyed before running afoul of a band of bloodthirsty goblins waiting to ambush any unwary travelers. Andy's faithful eagle, also nameless, spotted out the enemies and Lucky's keen halfling ears picked up a bit of their conversation, making out mention of a goblin camp a short way to the west. The goblins made for a fair first encounter for the bunch of 1st-level warriors: Auren jumped into the fray fists-first; Andy the anonymous druid practiced his swordplay on the diminutive opponents; K'Phalvius, favoring the bow, shot arrow after arrow, figuring that eventually he'd hit something; and Lucky, not really knowing what to do, just kind of hung around. Inevitably, the goblins went down because really the Creator had designed them to be natural punching bags. BUT SUDDENLY, just as the final goblin was slayed a new goblin emerged from the woods from the west. Seeing his allies' blood upon the swords (and limbs) of our heroes, the little guy understandably took off like a rocket, crashing through the brush westwards, presumably to the aforementioned camp.
With a battle well-fought and the new players (most of whom had never played before) beginning to settle into their nerdy roles the very first weekly game session ended.
THE PLAYERS:
Adam.....K'Phalvius Hardun the half-elf ranger.
Andy.....Andy the anonymous human druid.
Brian.....Eddi the human cleric.
Chauncey.....Chauncey the anonymous elf wizard.
Nigel.....Auren the human monk.
Sarah.....Elya "Lucky" Nearhit the halfling rogue.
Brian did not join the game until the second week, and Chauncey the sixth.
WEEK ONE: The First D&D Week
Just outside the town of Tarindown, a group of adventurers headed north. These adventurers -- Auren, a monk, K'Phalvius Hardun, a ranger, Lucky, a rogue, and a nameless druid named Andy -- had come into the employ of Bill Beard, Tarindown's greatest barber. (Also, two donkeys. Technically, a donkey and a mule, belonging to K'Phalvius. They were soon to be the ass-end of many upcoming gibes.) Bill, a jolly gnome who, again, was really snazzy when it came to haircuts, required protection on the long voyage to the northern city of Burlingham, where he planned to expand his business. The contract signed read as such: our heroes were required to (1) protect Mr. Beard and (2) clear the road of potential dangers for a later caravan that would include his relatives, barbering equipment, and larger belongings. In return, each guard would be rewarded a handsome sum of 500 gold pieces.
The road to Burlingham was about three days' travel through the temperate Mossdeep Forest and the lower hills of the Maurick Mountains. The party had not long journeyed before running afoul of a band of bloodthirsty goblins waiting to ambush any unwary travelers. Andy's faithful eagle, also nameless, spotted out the enemies and Lucky's keen halfling ears picked up a bit of their conversation, making out mention of a goblin camp a short way to the west. The goblins made for a fair first encounter for the bunch of 1st-level warriors: Auren jumped into the fray fists-first; Andy the anonymous druid practiced his swordplay on the diminutive opponents; K'Phalvius, favoring the bow, shot arrow after arrow, figuring that eventually he'd hit something; and Lucky, not really knowing what to do, just kind of hung around. Inevitably, the goblins went down because really the Creator had designed them to be natural punching bags. BUT SUDDENLY, just as the final goblin was slayed a new goblin emerged from the woods from the west. Seeing his allies' blood upon the swords (and limbs) of our heroes, the little guy understandably took off like a rocket, crashing through the brush westwards, presumably to the aforementioned camp.
With a battle well-fought and the new players (most of whom had never played before) beginning to settle into their nerdy roles the very first weekly game session ended.
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