New Forgotten Realms C&C campaign

[Lord Dynel]

About 3 weeks ago, my players embarked upon a quest of epic proportions - The Temple of Elemental Evil. In a nutshell, it did not go well. For those who know the adventure, the group uncharacteristically made a B-line for the moathouse and met an untimely end to their careers. The Christmas holiday came and we decided to take a break for a few weeks and figure out what to do.

What I decided to do was to start a new campaign, and place it in Forgotten Realms. One of my players has been wanting me to run Forgotten Realms for quite some time (he wasn't around for the 2000-2003 FR campaign that I ran).

So I decided to start them off in the kingdom of Cormyr in 1358 DR (ala Grey Box). I love that box set over all FR core sets, but I never realized how fitting that box set was for a C&C campaign (references to barbarians, cavaliers, assassins made it awesome when brushing up on the box set).

Out of my normal 5-6 players that have been in my games, only three made it to the game - the others wanting an extended break from gaming for a while. The PCs were as follows:

Marcus - human knight (I made him a rookie Purple Dragon Knight)

Han Sai - human monk

Klimli - dwarven cleric of Clanggedin

As a bit of backstory, the knight has freshly graduated into knighthood and has travelled from Suzail to Eveningstar as this is where he was assigned. On his travels through central Cormyr, Marcus het up with both Han Sai and Klimli and the three travelled together to Eveningstar. Once there Marcus was charged with a task that all new recruits are charged with - the clearing of the Haunted Halls. The captain didn't have any problems with Marcus's new friends accompanying him, so the three set off to the Halls!

I have more on their exploits I will try to post later.
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LD's C&C creations - the witch, a half-ogre, skill and 0-level rules

Troll Lord wrote:
Lord D: you understand where I"m coming from.

[Maliki]

Good start, hope things keep rolling along.
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Never throw rocks at a man with a Vorpal Sword!

[Lord Dynel]

Thanks, Maliki!

Well, as soon as the three approached the Halls, they noticed another cave-like entrance just south of the entrance proper. I was crossing my fingers that they weren't going to investigate the cave - it was lair to an owlbear. My fears were relieved when they moved towards the doors.

Once inside, they progressed to the first room - a 30' x 30' room that had a stack of metal items piled in the center of the room, a puddle of water in the NE corner and the only exit was on the west wall, and it was impassible with a metal bar door. On the far side of the metal bar door was a crossbow pointed into the room! Well, if the pile of metal objects in the center of the room (some swords, a shield, some beltbuckles) didn't confound the party, the puddle of water and crossbow didn't help. They stayed out of the center of the room, and after Klimli cautiously investigated the crossbow, the guys breathed a sigh of relief - the weapon-trap was long rotten and unusable. (EDIT: The knight did go investigate the pile of metal objects in the center of the room, after the dwarf informed him that the crossbow trap was non-functional. A magic mouth warned him that these items were once carried by those who will never leave this place. That convinced them not to touch the stuff ) Seeing the barred door to be the only way out, Han Sai bent the bars for the other two to squeeze through.

On the other side, the guys were faced with a four-way intersection. Coming from the east, they continued west into an oddly triangular-shaped room (narrow on the east side, wide on the west). On the west wall, there were fancy bronze doors flanked by two bronze statues - statues that each had an outstretched hand towards the bronze doors. The knight, ever-so-bold, strode up to the bronze doors...only to be thrown back by the electrical blast that originated from the statues when the knight stopped at the doors (and was between the statues). The cleric decided it might be a good idea to try to topple one of the statues, or perhaps turn it away from the bronze doors - until he touched the statues and received a particularly nasty jolt himself. Frustrated, the group decided to put the bronze doors on hold and returned to the four-way intersection - and went north.
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LD's C&C creations - the witch, a half-ogre, skill and 0-level rules

Troll Lord wrote:
Lord D: you understand where I"m coming from.

[Lord Dynel]

Going north, the party came to a smallish 20' x 20' room that was fairly empty, save for a few burnt out torches. They noticed a corridor heading to the SE, back toward the "metal pile room." They went down to the end of that corridor but failed to find a hidden passage. Not seeing anything worthy of further investigation, the three continued on to the next room, which was through an open archway to the west.

The next room was a 30' x 20' and completely empty. Fortunately, the knight quickly realized that the ceiling was covered in green slime. Backing out of the room, the monk suggested that if they moved softly and quietly, the slime may not notice them (his reasoning was that the slime had not, in many years, moved from the ceiling - since there wasn't any on the floor - so if they were quiet they might make it past...very sound reasoning, if you ask me). Han Sai went first, and stopped at a door in the north wall. He quietly opened the door, was greeting with the joyous smell of the privy, and quickly closed the door. The monk, now accompanied with a tiptoeing knight and cleric ventured across the slime-ceiling room to a door on the west wall.

Opening the door led them down a a 50' or so corridor that s-curved a little in the middle and ended in yet another door. Opening it, led them to this oddly shaped room:

Coming in from the south door, the knight strode in without caution and was promptly riddled with arrows coming from the arrow slits on the western walls. Nearly falling from wounds, Han Sai and Klimli quickly pulled Marcus from the room and closed the door. Marcus did notice another door in there, but never got a chance to get to it before becoming a pincushion.

The guys got a little worried at this point - they hadn't met up with anything at this point (other than a magic mouth and some slime) and weren't so concerned. But now there were in fact new settlers in the dungeon - and they knew the guys were there.

Needless to say, they backtracked all the way back to the four-way intersection. With slime and fortified archers in the north, a lightning-trapped door and statues in the west, they now headed south.
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LD's C&C creations - the witch, a half-ogre, skill and 0-level rules

Troll Lord wrote:
Lord D: you understand where I"m coming from.

[Lord Dynel]

Heading south for the four-way intersection, the party came across a 30' x 20' room. The room was a shambles, but there didn't seem to be too much out of the ordinary. They did, however, encounter a mummified goblin in the doorway to the next room heading south. This perplexed the guys, a lot - the goblin apparently died in the doorway some time ago. Not knowing what to make of it, they decided to kick it out of the way and move on.

The guys exited out of the south - where the goblin was. There was another exit out of the room, but it led NW and apparently back to the first chamber - another secret door missed. Their journey didn't last however, because like the northern (slime-ridden) room, this was a privy. This time however, a hungry spider jumped them. The spider, about the size of a small dog, leapt at the knight and managed to bit him. Marcus, growing weaker, stayed in battle but was not fairing well. Han Sai was able to close into melee as well and with a couple of well-placed chops, squashed the spider before he could do any additional harm.

The guys figured that the only way they could press on was to get past those bronze statues and through the double doors, west of the four-way. Klimli took the time to heal up Marcus and they proceeded to the bronze statue room again. Once in the room, they searched the area for any traps or secret doors. Klimli was able to find a pressure plate between the statues. Unfortunately, there seemed to be no way to open the door without activating it (there wasn't room on the other side of the plate between the doors and the plate). Han Sai decided he would attempt to jump across the plate and try to kick the doors open. With a running start, Han Sai made an impressive leap smack into the doors - and down onto the pressure plate. He did manage to avoid the worst of the trap, just getting mildly singed. Rolling back on the party-side, Han Sai did notice that the blow was powerful to open the door, so he again traversed the plate and made it safely over, as did Marcus. Klimli, unfortunately, was not deft enough to get over the plate without activating it and took a nasty jolt. Using his last healing spell of the day, he healed himself of most of the damage.

On the other side of the double doors the guys came to the conclusion that they should rest for the evening. At a T-shaped intersection, the guys came from the east (and the double doors) and had either the south or the west directions to go. At this point, they determined the first "safe" place they found they would rest. That didn't take long, however, as the first room they came to was empty. With one door to guard, they decided that was the best spot to in case of a defense, and made camp for the evening.
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LD's C&C creations - the witch, a half-ogre, skill and 0-level rules

Troll Lord wrote:
Lord D: you understand where I"m coming from.

[DangerDwarf]

Sounding pretty interesting so far LD.

[Lord Dynel]

Thank you, sir!

Well, after a brief respite, the guys got ready for additional exploration. They continued down the east hall (from the T-intersection) and after a few empty rooms, they came to the end of a hall - and a set of broken down double doors. Cautiously (probably too cautiously ) Marcus led the way into the room. What appeared to be a throne room, 30' x 50' in dimension. Though the triangular, 3-step, dais and throne atop directly across from their entry (in the middle of the east wall) immediately caught their eyes, it was the moving scenes on the large picture on the south wall that got their attention shortly thereafter. They were fascinated. The cleric thought it an illusion, something to take their attention from a hidden foe, and immediately whirled around to check for an ambush. Han Sai, not terribly impressed (he mentioned seeing something similar once in his homeland, Kara-Tur) went off to check the rest of the room. The picture, depicting scenes of men battling elves was old, determined the dwarf...very old. Back to the days of Myth Drannor old. Klimli briefly considered the possibility of removing it from the wall (being a typical greedy bastard ) but the knight convinced him otherwise.

Turning to the monk for a report on the rest of the room, they found that there were four door leading out of the room (not including the entry hall), two on the east wall (at the N side and S side) and two on the west wall directly opposite the ones on the east. The throne held no surprises (there was a mimic chest originally behind the throne, but the guys are a little too green for that terror) and been defaced over time (Han Sai noticed that it used to have gems embedded in it, now long gone). Seeing nothing else of interest (after a thorough search of the room) the fellows decided to try the northern door on the east wall...especially since this seemed to be the door that led to the kobolds that ambushed them earlier.

Going through that door led them, indeed, to the other side of the arrow slits and an awaiting group of four kobolds. Three kobolds engaged in melee while the fourth one shot at the party. It was relatively short work and the guys were victorious. After properly looting the kobolds and dragging their bodies out of the middle of the room, they took stock of their surroundings:

They came in from the west door, fought the kobolds, and stacked them up in front of the secret door (). It appeared they had two directions in which to travel, the northwest archway into a large once-great hall or north into a hall of statues. Being a little leery of the statues, the party decided on checking the great hall first.
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LD's C&C creations - the witch, a half-ogre, skill and 0-level rules

Troll Lord wrote:
Lord D: you understand where I"m coming from.

[Lord Dynel]

Guess I better get back to recording, for any who were interested.
The party went through the northwest archway and entered what appeared to be a once-great dining hall, or other large gathering room. The dwarf, Klimli, looked up, into the shadows in the ceiling and noticed bird-like creatures nesting there (stirges...hundreds of them). The dwarf and the knight decided to stay back, out of the room, and allow the monk to explore. Using the utmost caution, Han Sai wondered about the room. Han Sai didn't find too much of value, though he did know that the coat of arms, bearing a red dragon, on the wall were not that of Cormyr. After calling attention to it, Marcus was able to determine that the coat of arms was that of a "Rebel Prince" of Cormyr, Salamber, who ruled Cormyr as regent over 100 years ago. Marcus did think wisely as not to take it - as Salamber was noted as a traitor who would not relinquish the throne.

Other than finding the shield, and little else - and leery of the stirges, the three heroes decided it was time to explore the northern hall - the one lined with statues. Cautiously heading north, they came to all manner of statues - male and female human warriors, lizard men, gnolls, and elves. Two things they noticed - there was one empty pedestal and one statue was repeated. They were actually doing a thorough investigation of the empty pedestal when Marcus's player asked me about the statue - one of a man wielding a mace overhead. He studied the second one they had come to, up by the empty pedestal, then traveled back to the first one - where it animated and attacked! This thing was quick and graceful, and dealt Marcus a terrible blow out of surprise. Han Sai and Klimli ran to the knight's aid, and made it there before the creature was able to finish off the knight. As battle ensued, the creature was doing fairly well, until Han Sai was able to stun it. Marcus followed up the stun with an incredible critical hit, which felled the creature. After it died, it changed shape to a weird alien like creature the likes the three had never seen (a doppleganger).

After a complete investigation of the statues with nothing out of the ordinary (other than what had already been mentioned), the three adventurers now had another decision to make - an intersection in the dungeon. They were at the north end of the statue chamber and could take a door directly across them on the north wall, could go east, or west down corridors. Marcus decided to listen at the door across the hall and was surprised to hear voices! They were definitely non-human and though he had no clue what was being said, it did appear they were trying to speak in hushed tones - they must know the heroes were near. With tremendous force, the monk knocked down the door into a waiting den of kobolds!
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LD's C&C creations - the witch, a half-ogre, skill and 0-level rules

Troll Lord wrote:
Lord D: you understand where I"m coming from.