First time poster, long-time lurker. Just started up my first C&C game in about six months last week, and I figured I'd post it here. Hope you all enjoy!
This past Sunday I made my return to that comfortable seat behind the GM's screen to kick off my group's first C&C campaign and quite some time. We are playing in the Forgotten Realms circa The Year of the Sword, 1365 DR. The Realms has always been my favorite setting, this time around I am taking a different approach to it. I am avoiding all the extraneous "canon" material, and using what I have, what I know, and my players to shape the future of the Realms.
Our group begins play in the city of Silverymoon, in the savage northlands. Below is a list of our party, more information will follow on each character (I'm at work and don't have access to everything that I would like to have for this post).
Nym, Neutral Elven Male Fighter. Played by our group newbie. Typical fighter-type. Longsword, shield, and armor.
Neutral Human Female Assassin. This player will only be around for another month or so, as he leaves for military service in the not too distant future. She likes to sneak around and use her shortbow to pick of her marks..... Typical assassin.
Lawful Good Elven Male Paladin of Helm. Played by a long standing member of the group. He is not your typical paladin. He will mix it up in melee when necessary, but he prefers to stand back and use his longbow, and help out those in need.
Hector, Chaotic Good Gnome Male Wizard. Gotta love the gnome. Not too sure where this character is going. From early events, he is not scared to run if things look to get to hot for his liking. Not to mention Hector is deadly effective with the sleep spell.
Neutral/Good-ish Human Male Rogue/Psionicist. Very interesting character. He is a low level spy/scout for Silverymoon. I get the feeling that he will be the silent leader/motivator of the group.
The members of the group are familiar with each other as they all frequent the same local watering hole.
To this date there is a lot of uneasiness in and around Silverymoon. The humaniods that lair in the Spine of the World Mountains are becoming more prevelant in "civilized" lands, and talks of war are on the tips of the citizens tongues. From the information our group has..... The goblinoids have long been able to keep the orcs in check, thanks in part to the leadership of the highly organized hobgoblins. However, all of that has seem to change. Badly beaten band of goblinoids are being chased out of their homes in the mountains and seem intent on finding greener pastures in the lands east of Silverymoon. As the goblinoids flee, they leave a path of destruction in their wake, raiding and burning small, defenseless communities. In the wake of the destruction many villagers are taking refugee in the few cities in the northlands, or turning to banditry.
To make matters worse, it appears that the orcs are following, though they seem to longer care about their goblinoid foes. Scouts have reported that many different orc tribes have been seen cooperating, even ones that were warring with each other no more than a year ago. Even more alarming, the orcs are armed with quality weapons and armor, not your typical orc crafted stuff. This stuff looks like something a military blacksmith in a big city would forge.
After discussing things over their lunch, the party decides to head out east along the trade road and figure out what is going on. There is some arguing about why they should be doing this, mainly from the assassin. She sees no point in coming along, because she doesn't see the profit in it. The paladin is ready to go immediately, as he has heard a small band from his church went missing along the trade road two tendays ago. The argument over profit and when to leave gets a little heated. Finally the decision is made to leave in the morning. If you want to come along, be there, if not stay in Silverymoon. The next morning, everyone shows up, including the reluctant assassin.
Now our band of intrepid adventurers head out. The first day of travel is pretty slow. The set up camp and take watches. Late in the night, Nym hears noices off in the distance and begins waking up the paladin. At that time the psionicist's ESP goes off, and awakens, alerting the group to a threat. No sooner than everyone wakes up a hobgoblin riding a Worg barges into camp. Our worg rider is being accompanied by 2 more hobgoblins and 4 goblins that are catching up. Hector is able to react quickly, throwing a sleep spell on the stragglers, and dropping all but the worg, the rider, and one hobgoblin. The fight ends rather quickly. The hobgoblin that resisted the sleep spell runs after seeing the worg and it's rider slain by the efforts of the paladin and fighter. Although the fight was one, the fighter and paladin had their injuries to show for it, thanks to the worg.
That morning they opt to take it slow, moving at gingerly pace they decide to take regualr breaks so that everyone is well rested and healed just incase they get attacked again. Their slow pace only accounts for roughly 30 miles of travel over the next three days. No attacks during this time, only some wild animals, which are easily chased off.
After this downtime, the group runs across evidence of a battle. Following the trail of blood left behind, they find the body of an acolyte of Helm in a ravine. Following a bit further, they find the crushed body of a paladin of Helm, along with his master-crafted bastard sword. The paladin is happy to have a nice weapon upgrade, but is pissed beyond belief about seeing his comrades killed, he is ready to lay down some divine retribution on whoever did this. Examining the battle scene it looks like an orge or two accompanied by a few orcs are responsible. The group follows the trail of the ogre(s), which are easiest to follow. That evening they come across a burned out farmhouse on a hiltop. CRASH!!! A thrown boulder narrowly misses the group. It appears an ogre got the drop on them. Not much of a combat here. Hector once again gets the initiative and his sleep spell puts a quick end to the ogre.
The group pokes around the ruined house and looks out to the horizon, where the elves in the party see three large bonfires in the distance (go go super elf sight in C&C). The fires are at least 100-150 yards apart. They also find the mutilated body of a cleric of Helm, the paladin figures there are few more bodies to account for. There is also evidence that another ogre was camping up here. The group heads down the hill towards the far left bonfire, keeping their eyes peeled for the second ogre.
The rogue and assassin scout ahead, while the group trails about 100 feet behind. About 30 feet from the camp they split up. The assassin heads around to the back of camp where she saw a large rocky outcropping, while the rogue continues to asses the situation. While "sneaking" around the rogue's cover is blown by an orc lookout. The orc gets the drop on the rogue. Critical hit..... (I am using a citical hit table for C&C as there are no hard and fast rules for crits and fumbles). The rogue takes minimal damage but is knocked unconscious for 10 rounds. Hearing the battle cry of the orc, the trailing party members pick up the pace, while the assassin continues to make her way to the rear of camp.
The paladin, fighter, and wizard hit the camp to see the rogue being dragged by the lookout to 3 orcs and a large robed figure. No surprise here, Hector gets the initiative, casts sleep and down goes all the orcs, except for the robed figure. The robed figure lets out a war cry in orchish and grabs his spear.
Back to the assassin, she sneaks up to the rocky cliff at the rear of the camp and spots two orcs looking off to the south. A war cry is heard, and one of the orcs head to camp. The assassin begins to study his mark, and seconds later lets loose an arrow..... Missing. The orc looks around confused but keeps to his post. The assassin's hide roll was absurd, she might as well be invisible at this point. A few seconds later, another arrow, another miss, another insane hide check. The orc is getting a little anxious, but remains at his post. Third time is a charm, arrow number three finds it's mark and drops the poor orc dead in his tracks. The assassin approaches to find that this guy is carrying some pretty nice stuff, a shortsword, shortbow, and a spyglass. The assassin pockets the spyglass, and takes some arrows. The assassin sees first hand that the rumors were true the orcs are outfitted well, there arms and armor looks to be fresh off the forge of a skilled smithy, but no maker's marks on the items.
Back to the camp!
The hooded figure grabs his spear and mutters some words that nobody understands, as his speach ends a sound of thunder cracks. The group takes minimal damage from the blast of sound, but the fighter and paladin are stunned (failed save on a Sound Burst spell). The wizard runs into the woods on his turn, he is gonna try and circle around and stay out of sight (he's out of his trusty sleep spell). The fighter and paladin come out of the stunned state. The robed figure casts another spell (Hold Person) and the paladin is stopped cold in his tracks. The fighter engages and scores a crit (rolling on the table, he cuts out the figures eye)! The robed figure reals in pain, dropping his hood to reveal the face of a one-eyed, now no eyed orc (cleric of Gruumsh). Not long after the orc from the lookout post comes to into the fray. A small melee erupts with the fighter and two orcs (a lot of misses and hits for minimal damage). The rogue awakens and catches one orc unaware, dropping him. The cleric is the only one left, who is subdued in short order.
The party rejoins at the camp and discusses leaving the orc cleric alive for questioning. They od this, because he was carrying some crumpled parchment with dwarven writing on it and a grapefruit sized quartz ball (later revealed to be some kind of magic item, no identify yet). They are able to make out three names/places on the parchment; Tharndun, Agnar the Mad, and the Weave Forge. In the end the group decides to kill the last orc, much to the dismay of the rogue and fighter. They discuss their next plan of action, but decide to pull back past the ruined home where they fought the ogre and rest up. They come to the consensus that they will investigate the sites of the other bonfires in the morning.
The session ended as the group returned to a small copse of trees and setup camp for the night.
Next time, we'll see where they go from there.
Adventures in the Savage North
Sometimes, retreat is an option...
When we last left our intrepid adventurers they had just finished crossing blades with a group of orcs several days outside of Silverymoon. The group had retreated back to an outpost a couple of miles outside of the battle.
The group settles down to a cold camp, fearing that they might be discovered, a rotation of watches is set up. First shift change, Ataris (the rogue/psionicist) and Drega (the assassin) spot two orchish scouts approaching. Without waking their comrades they split off into the shadows, hoping to take the scouts down. Thanks to some poor hide rolls for Ataris and Drega, they are spotted. Ataris quickly realizes that the second ogre has accompanied the pair of orcs, and the ogre is quick to engage him. Drega tangles with the orc on her side of camp, while the other orc rushes into the sleeping companions. Ataris is able to put the ogre in a comatose state, thanks to his psionic powers, while Drega is having issues with the orc bearing down on her. The noise made by the orc awakens the remainder of the group, and they are quick to dispatch him. The combat closes not long after, as the orc on Drega is brought down after a small chase ensues.
That morning, the group heads out to the ruined house where they had encountered the first ogre. Using the spyglass found the night before, they scan the countryside. They find that the orcs have consolidated their numbers to the central camp, and have entered some kind of cave near the camp. Not knowing how many could be there the group opts to scout out a flanking camp that had been abandoned.
Arriving to that camp they find a partially ruined cabin, with three human bodies pilled in it. One appeared to be a cleric of Helm, the other two were young boys that Saveron (the paladin) identified as the cleric's apprentices. Searching around the remnants of camp, they find a few loose coins, a scroll (a welcome surprise for Hector), and a strange note written a archaic language that nobody understood. Further examination of the area around the house turned up an unmarked grave. After some debated, the group dug up the grave to find a strange body within. A heavily tattooed, bald, human male with dusky gray/black skin. As the group croweded around the body, cutting off the light to it, they noticed the corpses grew draker in color. They were a bit confounded by this find, as none of them knew what it could be.
More debate followed, what to do with the body, what to do about the orcs, etc. In the end, they decided to pull back to Silverymoon, and report their findings. They did not want to rush the caves and possibly be overwhelmed by an unknown number of orcs. After a few days of travel, the group returns home to Silverymoon.
Saveron, Nym, and Hector go to the House Invincible (the temple of Helm) to report their findings and return the fallen cleric and his two apprentices. Drega heads out into town to do some shopping (gathering supplies for poisons). Ataris goes to report to his superiors. Ataris is a member of a small group of spies and scouts that are in the employee of the city. Ataris meets with his superior and mentor, Xandis, who listens to the information and soon after passes it on to the town military. Xandis also tells Ataris that he has heard some rumors of people behaving in strange ways (staying up for days on end, killing each other, and other assorted strangeness) in a small farming community a few days north of the city. The group ends up spending a tenday in town, resupplying, resting, and letting Hector summon his familiar (he got lucky on the random table and got a faerie dragon) and learn a new spell.
At the end of the tenday, Ataris brings up the trouble to the north, Saveron wants to head east to Sundabar to check in with the temple of Helm there. After lettting the group in on the details he has on the farming community the group heads north.
A couple of days later, the group comes to the sleepy village. The place looks abandoned, houses have broken windows and busted doors, and many of the fields looked to be out of use. Ataris and Drega scout ahead and find a home that looks to be occupied. Entering they find a man that appears to have not slept in days. The villager had a bizarre look in his eyes, and attacked the group without provocation. The villager was quickly dispatched of after he was pushed into the fire by Nym. A further search of the cabin reveals that the man was hacking up villagers, body parts were pushed into many of the rooms. Out in the street, Drega spots some kind of skeletal dog with a bird-like head blinking in and out of sight. She immediately runs into the house closing the door, leaving Ataris out on the porch. At this point, the group is very uneasy and a bit scared. The rest of the group comes out to see what Drega was babbling about and the beast materializes attacking Ataris. It does minimal damage to the psion but succeeds in severing his ability to call on the powers of his mind. Saveron rushes to his companion's aid, driving the beast off. Just as the beast vanishes the sound of a bell can be heard in the distance, not long after the sound of stampeding hooves are heard. Part of the group locks themselves into the house, while the rest climb to the rooftop to see a pack of cows rushing towards the house. They are able to pick the bovine threat apart with their bows, before they crash into the building. Examining the bodies they find that the cows have had their brains and many other organs removed.
At this point Saveron rallies the group forward, there is evil to vanquish. Over to the next house they go, only to find a survivor. The guy is pretty happy to see them, as he has been walled up in his home for nearly a month. The party hears his version of the story. A month ago a stranger walked into town, he is described as some kind of noble, he was dressed really well, at least by the standards of the villager. This stranger made clear that he needed to speak to the villager elder about his "special" daughters. At a town meeting, the stranger made clear to the town that the elder's daughters had special powers and he could teach the girls to harness those powers for the benefit of the village. The village elder wanted this man nowhere near his daughters and declined. That is when things got bad. Not long after people began acting strangely. Many stopped eating and sleeping, and everynow and again they would set out into the village hand kill each other. The bodies of the fallen were taken back to the elder's house, who had died not long after the meeting with the stranger.
The group decides to rest in the barricaded house and head to the village elder's home in the morning to put a stop to whatever is causing the craziness in the village. That morning the head to the home and a greated by a little girl swinging on the porch (she is identified as one of the elder's daughters). There is a some dialogue with the girl, who seems to be wise beyond her years. Drega gets a bit impatient with her, and the girl asks Drega if she would like to play with her pet. Drega, trying to be sly, says "sure". She calls her pet, and out of the house comes a burly-humainod shape that appears to made of brain matter and other assorted organs. The girl giggles as this monstrosity engages the group. During the combat, Nym charges the girl and strikes her down. The group finds that as the girl bleeds out, the blood begins taking on a humanoid shape and starts to attack Nym. The combat ensues, and the group is badly battered, but they vanquish the "organ golem" as they call it and move to the mass of attacking blood. Ataris spots the second girl and the "stranger" walking out the door of the house and alerts the group. Seeing that more threats are approaching and are in very bad shape, the group disengages and heads for the barricaded house. Not longe after getting to the home the notice that the man and the girl have followed and are standing outside on the road.
The stranger wants Ataris as a replacement for his fallen "apprentice" and will give the group one mintue to decide before he comes in and takes him. During this dialogue, Drega sneaks up to the second floor and hides and begins taking aim on the man below. Time is ticking and Drega takes her shot. Good old death attack, good old failed saving throws. The arrow strikes the man and he falls to the ground dead. The girl falls unconscious immediately after.
There was a big sigh of relief from the group, there was a brief bit of out of character discussion. The guys seemed genuinely creeped out by everything that had happened, and absolutely relieved that the guy failed his saving throw. They were thinking that this was the end for them. I felt pretty damn good hearing this discussion, it was the first time and several years that I think I have had the players scared not only of character death, but by an adventure as a whole.
The group takes a couple of days in the village burying the dead, etc. They find that the only two people alive are the girl (who is still unconscious) and the man who had barricaded himself in his house. The find a couple of magic items on the stranger. After resting up, the group took the survivors back to Silverymoon. After giving the story of what happened to Xandis and the clerics of Helm, Xandis is convinced that the man they killed was not the only one responsible for what happened there. He feels that there is something or someone much darker, and much more powerful that aided in events that took place in the village. Both Xandis and the clerics alert the party to be vigilant, if Xandis is right, they might have an enemy looking to settle the score. The clerics are able to bring the girl back into consciousness and set the man up with work in town.
We leave the party at this time in Silverymoon, two days before the Midsummer festival.
The group settles down to a cold camp, fearing that they might be discovered, a rotation of watches is set up. First shift change, Ataris (the rogue/psionicist) and Drega (the assassin) spot two orchish scouts approaching. Without waking their comrades they split off into the shadows, hoping to take the scouts down. Thanks to some poor hide rolls for Ataris and Drega, they are spotted. Ataris quickly realizes that the second ogre has accompanied the pair of orcs, and the ogre is quick to engage him. Drega tangles with the orc on her side of camp, while the other orc rushes into the sleeping companions. Ataris is able to put the ogre in a comatose state, thanks to his psionic powers, while Drega is having issues with the orc bearing down on her. The noise made by the orc awakens the remainder of the group, and they are quick to dispatch him. The combat closes not long after, as the orc on Drega is brought down after a small chase ensues.
That morning, the group heads out to the ruined house where they had encountered the first ogre. Using the spyglass found the night before, they scan the countryside. They find that the orcs have consolidated their numbers to the central camp, and have entered some kind of cave near the camp. Not knowing how many could be there the group opts to scout out a flanking camp that had been abandoned.
Arriving to that camp they find a partially ruined cabin, with three human bodies pilled in it. One appeared to be a cleric of Helm, the other two were young boys that Saveron (the paladin) identified as the cleric's apprentices. Searching around the remnants of camp, they find a few loose coins, a scroll (a welcome surprise for Hector), and a strange note written a archaic language that nobody understood. Further examination of the area around the house turned up an unmarked grave. After some debated, the group dug up the grave to find a strange body within. A heavily tattooed, bald, human male with dusky gray/black skin. As the group croweded around the body, cutting off the light to it, they noticed the corpses grew draker in color. They were a bit confounded by this find, as none of them knew what it could be.
More debate followed, what to do with the body, what to do about the orcs, etc. In the end, they decided to pull back to Silverymoon, and report their findings. They did not want to rush the caves and possibly be overwhelmed by an unknown number of orcs. After a few days of travel, the group returns home to Silverymoon.
Saveron, Nym, and Hector go to the House Invincible (the temple of Helm) to report their findings and return the fallen cleric and his two apprentices. Drega heads out into town to do some shopping (gathering supplies for poisons). Ataris goes to report to his superiors. Ataris is a member of a small group of spies and scouts that are in the employee of the city. Ataris meets with his superior and mentor, Xandis, who listens to the information and soon after passes it on to the town military. Xandis also tells Ataris that he has heard some rumors of people behaving in strange ways (staying up for days on end, killing each other, and other assorted strangeness) in a small farming community a few days north of the city. The group ends up spending a tenday in town, resupplying, resting, and letting Hector summon his familiar (he got lucky on the random table and got a faerie dragon) and learn a new spell.
At the end of the tenday, Ataris brings up the trouble to the north, Saveron wants to head east to Sundabar to check in with the temple of Helm there. After lettting the group in on the details he has on the farming community the group heads north.
A couple of days later, the group comes to the sleepy village. The place looks abandoned, houses have broken windows and busted doors, and many of the fields looked to be out of use. Ataris and Drega scout ahead and find a home that looks to be occupied. Entering they find a man that appears to have not slept in days. The villager had a bizarre look in his eyes, and attacked the group without provocation. The villager was quickly dispatched of after he was pushed into the fire by Nym. A further search of the cabin reveals that the man was hacking up villagers, body parts were pushed into many of the rooms. Out in the street, Drega spots some kind of skeletal dog with a bird-like head blinking in and out of sight. She immediately runs into the house closing the door, leaving Ataris out on the porch. At this point, the group is very uneasy and a bit scared. The rest of the group comes out to see what Drega was babbling about and the beast materializes attacking Ataris. It does minimal damage to the psion but succeeds in severing his ability to call on the powers of his mind. Saveron rushes to his companion's aid, driving the beast off. Just as the beast vanishes the sound of a bell can be heard in the distance, not long after the sound of stampeding hooves are heard. Part of the group locks themselves into the house, while the rest climb to the rooftop to see a pack of cows rushing towards the house. They are able to pick the bovine threat apart with their bows, before they crash into the building. Examining the bodies they find that the cows have had their brains and many other organs removed.
At this point Saveron rallies the group forward, there is evil to vanquish. Over to the next house they go, only to find a survivor. The guy is pretty happy to see them, as he has been walled up in his home for nearly a month. The party hears his version of the story. A month ago a stranger walked into town, he is described as some kind of noble, he was dressed really well, at least by the standards of the villager. This stranger made clear that he needed to speak to the villager elder about his "special" daughters. At a town meeting, the stranger made clear to the town that the elder's daughters had special powers and he could teach the girls to harness those powers for the benefit of the village. The village elder wanted this man nowhere near his daughters and declined. That is when things got bad. Not long after people began acting strangely. Many stopped eating and sleeping, and everynow and again they would set out into the village hand kill each other. The bodies of the fallen were taken back to the elder's house, who had died not long after the meeting with the stranger.
The group decides to rest in the barricaded house and head to the village elder's home in the morning to put a stop to whatever is causing the craziness in the village. That morning the head to the home and a greated by a little girl swinging on the porch (she is identified as one of the elder's daughters). There is a some dialogue with the girl, who seems to be wise beyond her years. Drega gets a bit impatient with her, and the girl asks Drega if she would like to play with her pet. Drega, trying to be sly, says "sure". She calls her pet, and out of the house comes a burly-humainod shape that appears to made of brain matter and other assorted organs. The girl giggles as this monstrosity engages the group. During the combat, Nym charges the girl and strikes her down. The group finds that as the girl bleeds out, the blood begins taking on a humanoid shape and starts to attack Nym. The combat ensues, and the group is badly battered, but they vanquish the "organ golem" as they call it and move to the mass of attacking blood. Ataris spots the second girl and the "stranger" walking out the door of the house and alerts the group. Seeing that more threats are approaching and are in very bad shape, the group disengages and heads for the barricaded house. Not longe after getting to the home the notice that the man and the girl have followed and are standing outside on the road.
The stranger wants Ataris as a replacement for his fallen "apprentice" and will give the group one mintue to decide before he comes in and takes him. During this dialogue, Drega sneaks up to the second floor and hides and begins taking aim on the man below. Time is ticking and Drega takes her shot. Good old death attack, good old failed saving throws. The arrow strikes the man and he falls to the ground dead. The girl falls unconscious immediately after.
There was a big sigh of relief from the group, there was a brief bit of out of character discussion. The guys seemed genuinely creeped out by everything that had happened, and absolutely relieved that the guy failed his saving throw. They were thinking that this was the end for them. I felt pretty damn good hearing this discussion, it was the first time and several years that I think I have had the players scared not only of character death, but by an adventure as a whole.
The group takes a couple of days in the village burying the dead, etc. They find that the only two people alive are the girl (who is still unconscious) and the man who had barricaded himself in his house. The find a couple of magic items on the stranger. After resting up, the group took the survivors back to Silverymoon. After giving the story of what happened to Xandis and the clerics of Helm, Xandis is convinced that the man they killed was not the only one responsible for what happened there. He feels that there is something or someone much darker, and much more powerful that aided in events that took place in the village. Both Xandis and the clerics alert the party to be vigilant, if Xandis is right, they might have an enemy looking to settle the score. The clerics are able to bring the girl back into consciousness and set the man up with work in town.
We leave the party at this time in Silverymoon, two days before the Midsummer festival.
-
DangerDwarf
- Maukling
- Posts: 5284
- Joined: Sat May 27, 2006 7:00 am
- Location: East Texas
Quote:
There was a big sigh of relief from the group, there was a brief bit of out of character discussion. The guys seemed genuinely creeped out by everything that had happened, and absolutely relieved that the guy failed his saving throw. They were thinking that this was the end for them. I felt pretty damn good hearing this discussion, it was the first time and several years that I think I have had the players scared not only of character death, but by an adventure as a whole.
Top notch DMing, anytime you can get a reaction like that from the players, well done. Looking forward to reading more.
_________________
Never throw rocks at a man with a Vorpal Sword!
Thanks for the great feedback!
I have a feeling that this week's session will be a bit quieter than the previous two. Most of the group wants to see what is going to happen during the Midsummer festival.
After that, the general goal of the party seems to be shifting back to the orcs from night one, pending nothing comes up during the festival (based on group talk at the end of the game). They want to figure out who/what is supplying the orcs with weapons and what they were doing out in the hills. The group believes that the were looking for something due to the spyglass, the multiple camps, and the strange dwarven letter.
Looks like this will be the night where the group plays detective. Then again, they have a way of surprising me.
I have a feeling that this week's session will be a bit quieter than the previous two. Most of the group wants to see what is going to happen during the Midsummer festival.
After that, the general goal of the party seems to be shifting back to the orcs from night one, pending nothing comes up during the festival (based on group talk at the end of the game). They want to figure out who/what is supplying the orcs with weapons and what they were doing out in the hills. The group believes that the were looking for something due to the spyglass, the multiple camps, and the strange dwarven letter.
Looks like this will be the night where the group plays detective. Then again, they have a way of surprising me.
Session 3: Up in smoke.....
Things started off slow this week. The group was in town for the Midsummer festival, but the need to get back into the wilds to follow the numerous leads they had accumulated was weighing on their minds. The party sat in the Silver Glade Inn (their watering hole of choice), and discussed all of the available options. Option 1: How are the orcs getting their weapons? Option 2: Who/what is Tharndun? Option 3: Who is Agnar the Mad? Option 4: What is the Weave Forge?
Nobody had any answers. The group decided that they would pay closer attention to wagons they meet on the roads, hoping one might be the mystery arms dealer. The other three options were drawing blanks. After a short debate, the group decides to stay in town for a few days, take in the festival, and try to find out some information. Below, is what each character did over the "days off" in Silverymoon.
Ataris (Rogue/Psionicist) - Met with Xandis in hopes of getting answers to the group's questions. Xandis was somewhat familiar with Tharndun. He had heard that it was somekind of abandoned mine or stronghold that was built by dwarves a couple hundred years ago. Ataris walks the streets during the festival, perusing shops and food vendors.
Saveron (Paladin) - Checks in with his church hoping to find answers. He finds that Agnar was a dwarven wizard that was banished from his home several hundred years ago. Saveron has also been praying hoping to find answers about his mysterious nemesis known to him as Egbol (this is from his background). I have him roll a percentile die for this week of prayer, and the old 1% pops up. Saveron is treated with a vision of a moss/fungus-filled cavern room, lit by a glowing golden egg. Saveron also participates in the archery contest during the festival, losing out in the first round.
Drega (Assassin) - Spends her time shopping and lounging about the local pubs. She is fairly quiet and stays out of trouble.
Nym (Fighter) - Decides all this adventuring has his hormones in a bind, and he needs the company of a member of the fairer sex. After drinking up his courage, he is able to find a willing lady. He wakes up the next morning to an empty bed and a lighter coin purse. She helped herself to some of his coin. Nym takes place in the archery contest with Saveron and advances to round four of seven. Nym also takes part in an arm wrestling competition, losing out in round one. He attributes this from a lack of sleep and too much drink the previous night.
Hector (Wizard) - Spends most of his time locked in his room. He makes a few token appearances so nobody starts asking questions. Hector pocketed a magic item from the slain psionicist from the strange town last week, only to find that it is a portable hole. Hector pulls the contents of the hole finding 1,250gp in miscellaneous objects, which he discreetly pawns off during his forays into town. He finds a stone statue of an elven woman, which he finds to be a real woman under the affects of somekind of petrification spell. He finds a wand (wand of magic missiles), and a locked tome. There was also a suit of chainmail, which he gives to Saveron claiming it was won in a game of chance.
The day after the festival Saveron, Hector, and Ataris head to the mages academy hoping to pay for answers to their questions. Drega and Nym look for the woman who took some of Nym's coin, they do not find her. After some negotiation, the three party members at the academy forks over 500gp for the mages to research their records for any information about Tharndun, Agnar the Mad, and the Weave Forge. They are told it will take a few days to compile the information. A few days later, the group (minus Hector) head to the academy hoping to get answers.
They find that Agnar the Mad was a dwarven wizard that was driven from his home, because he was summoning and cooperating with beings from other worlds. When Agnar left, he took with him a small number of his loyal apprentices and settled along the southern mountain range, east of Silverymoon (not far from where the party had encountered the orcs). They also learn that Agnar was responsible for the construction of Tharndun. Concerning the Weave Forge, not much is learned. It is rumored to be a device of ancient Netheril that was based somewhere along the western borders of what is now know as Anarouch. The forge is said to allow a person skilled in the art to craft items of magical significance with great ease.
Learning this, the group decides to set out to the east, in hopes of finding Tharndun. For some reason they believe that that Weave Forge is located in Tharndun, even though the dates do not match and the locations are apparently several days apart.
The roadway travel is pretty boring, except for one occurance.....
The second night out, the group runs across two wagons parked off the side of the road. There are 11 guys setting around campfires. Our intrepid adventurers stroll into camp, hoping to share the fire and maybe some food and news. The group identifies themselves as merchants heading to Sundabar to trade for ore. The two groups share stories, but something just doesn't sit right with Saveron and Drega. Saveron notices that the guards are dressed and armed like men that would serve on a ship. Saveron decides to use his Detect Evil ability, he finds that the "leader" of the group, a wagon driver, and one of the guards register as evil. He keeps his cool, and watches the men closely as they have done nothing to provoke an attack. Drega sits back and cases the "leader" (Drega's player had really hot dice), Drega figures the man to be some kind of caster and she also picks up that he is hiding something. Drega gets up and "excuses" herself. She heads out of camp to use the facilities, wherever they might be.
Drega heads out into the shadows, conceals herself, and doubles back around camp. She is able to avoid the camp's two lookouts and hops into the rear wagon. The wagon is full of crates, she maneuvers over to a crate and silently pops the lid to find it full of arrows. She closes the crate and pulls out two torches. She sits the torches in between two crates and lights them. Drega turns and pops out of the wagon (more great rolls), and is able to avoid the attention of anybody around the wagons. Moments later, the lookouts run to camp, as some of our party members notice the wagon catching ablaze. Chaos ensuses, people are trying to put out the fire and unbind the horses. During the chaos, an arrow flies through camp striking the merchant leader through the neck, killing him instantly (Drega used the diversion to hide outside of camp and use her Death Attack ability). At that point, most of the people go still wondering where the arrow came from. Saveron asks if anyone is missing, not realizing Drega had left. One of the wagon drivers point out that Drega is missing (this was the caravan driver that detected evil), and accuses our adventures of being bandits and orders the guards to attack. Half of the guards attack, while the other half question the orders, afterall there is a paladin of Helm there. The other wagon driver bolts to the first wagon to unbind the horses as that wagon has caught on fire as well. The wagon driver that issued the attacked order casts a spell, disappearing from sight.
Four of the eight guards rush into combat, the others trying to pull the horses to safety while yelling at the combatants, trying to get them to stop and help. Things got pretty chaotic here. Hector and Ataris took a few nasty hits, Ataris had to run as he was very close to falling from his wounds. Nym was able to defeat the man who attacked Hector, only to be engaged by the guard who had badly beaten Ataris. Hector turns and casts sleep over at the four men working with the horses, dropping all four of them. Hector runs to a horse and mounts it hoping to make a tactical retreat, as he had just seen Saveron knocked unconscious by one of the guards and Nym and taken a nasty wound from another attack. The horse throws Hector to the ground and runs off. Nym is busy trying to fight off his attacker only to be joined by the guard who had dropped Saveron. Fearing defeat, Ataris pulls out the crystal orb, found from the orcs (it was identified as a Gem of Brightness) and lets loose a cone of brilliant blast of light. Nym is able to avert his eyes, while his attackes are blinded. Nym retreats to Saveron and is able to bring him to consciousness. The two blinded attackers are brought to death by arrows from Nym and from somewhere out in the shadows. Saveron immediately looks for survivors as the fire now rages out of control. He finds that three of the four guards that were tending to the horses have died, having caught on fire. The fourth was far enough way to not catch on fire, but he had received a few burns, not only that, but when one of the horses ran it trampled his leg, he had a nasty compound fracture on his lower leg. The wagon driver that was tending to the horses on the front wagon appeared to have been killed by an arrow. The second wagon driver was missing.
Drega runs back into camp to be met by a group inquisition being led by Saveron and cloesly followed by Hector of all people. Drega explains what she had found in the wagon, and tries to convince the group that she was justified in starting the fire and the ensuing combat. Saveron decides to question the surviving guard once he becomes conscious. The guards testimony will be used to determing Drega's fate.
At this point, I was expecting Drega to split, but she stuck out the night and another day while the group waited for the man to wake up. By this time they had traveled to the old burned out cabin that the orcs had been camping near. On the third morning the man wakes up. After a lengthy discussion, the man tells them what he knows. He and the other members of the "caravan" were from Luskan. Several months ago they were approached by a member of the Arcane Brotherhood and were offered a job to take weapons and armor east into the wilds and deliver them to orcs. The group's captive reveals that he had made two previous trips to different locations, and that he knew of a few other groups from Luskan doing the same thing for the Brotherhood. He explains that the pay was really good, and that if the Brotherhood offers you a job, you take it, or bad things might happen. This knowledge clears Drega.
Another surprise here, I thought after hearing this information they would head back to Silverymoon and report in..... Nope. They decided to head out in search on Tharndun, they are now thinking that Agnar the Mad is somehow a member of the Arcane Brotherhood and is somehow aligned with the orcs (I have no clue how they came to this conclusion). The leave the man in the cabin with a tenday of rations and some extra waterskins. They aren't scared of him leaving since his leg in very bad shape, they were unable to reset it, but Saveron has thrown enough magical healing on it that the wound has healed up around the bone, not a pretty sight I imagine.
The group sets out from there, searching the hills and mountainside for the fabled Tharndun. After two days of tromping through the wilds, they find a pathway cut into the mountain that ends at an archway leading into the mountain. Reaching the archway, they find the name "Tharndun" etched in dwarven script along the arch.....
Nobody had any answers. The group decided that they would pay closer attention to wagons they meet on the roads, hoping one might be the mystery arms dealer. The other three options were drawing blanks. After a short debate, the group decides to stay in town for a few days, take in the festival, and try to find out some information. Below, is what each character did over the "days off" in Silverymoon.
Ataris (Rogue/Psionicist) - Met with Xandis in hopes of getting answers to the group's questions. Xandis was somewhat familiar with Tharndun. He had heard that it was somekind of abandoned mine or stronghold that was built by dwarves a couple hundred years ago. Ataris walks the streets during the festival, perusing shops and food vendors.
Saveron (Paladin) - Checks in with his church hoping to find answers. He finds that Agnar was a dwarven wizard that was banished from his home several hundred years ago. Saveron has also been praying hoping to find answers about his mysterious nemesis known to him as Egbol (this is from his background). I have him roll a percentile die for this week of prayer, and the old 1% pops up. Saveron is treated with a vision of a moss/fungus-filled cavern room, lit by a glowing golden egg. Saveron also participates in the archery contest during the festival, losing out in the first round.
Drega (Assassin) - Spends her time shopping and lounging about the local pubs. She is fairly quiet and stays out of trouble.
Nym (Fighter) - Decides all this adventuring has his hormones in a bind, and he needs the company of a member of the fairer sex. After drinking up his courage, he is able to find a willing lady. He wakes up the next morning to an empty bed and a lighter coin purse. She helped herself to some of his coin. Nym takes place in the archery contest with Saveron and advances to round four of seven. Nym also takes part in an arm wrestling competition, losing out in round one. He attributes this from a lack of sleep and too much drink the previous night.
Hector (Wizard) - Spends most of his time locked in his room. He makes a few token appearances so nobody starts asking questions. Hector pocketed a magic item from the slain psionicist from the strange town last week, only to find that it is a portable hole. Hector pulls the contents of the hole finding 1,250gp in miscellaneous objects, which he discreetly pawns off during his forays into town. He finds a stone statue of an elven woman, which he finds to be a real woman under the affects of somekind of petrification spell. He finds a wand (wand of magic missiles), and a locked tome. There was also a suit of chainmail, which he gives to Saveron claiming it was won in a game of chance.
The day after the festival Saveron, Hector, and Ataris head to the mages academy hoping to pay for answers to their questions. Drega and Nym look for the woman who took some of Nym's coin, they do not find her. After some negotiation, the three party members at the academy forks over 500gp for the mages to research their records for any information about Tharndun, Agnar the Mad, and the Weave Forge. They are told it will take a few days to compile the information. A few days later, the group (minus Hector) head to the academy hoping to get answers.
They find that Agnar the Mad was a dwarven wizard that was driven from his home, because he was summoning and cooperating with beings from other worlds. When Agnar left, he took with him a small number of his loyal apprentices and settled along the southern mountain range, east of Silverymoon (not far from where the party had encountered the orcs). They also learn that Agnar was responsible for the construction of Tharndun. Concerning the Weave Forge, not much is learned. It is rumored to be a device of ancient Netheril that was based somewhere along the western borders of what is now know as Anarouch. The forge is said to allow a person skilled in the art to craft items of magical significance with great ease.
Learning this, the group decides to set out to the east, in hopes of finding Tharndun. For some reason they believe that that Weave Forge is located in Tharndun, even though the dates do not match and the locations are apparently several days apart.
The roadway travel is pretty boring, except for one occurance.....
The second night out, the group runs across two wagons parked off the side of the road. There are 11 guys setting around campfires. Our intrepid adventurers stroll into camp, hoping to share the fire and maybe some food and news. The group identifies themselves as merchants heading to Sundabar to trade for ore. The two groups share stories, but something just doesn't sit right with Saveron and Drega. Saveron notices that the guards are dressed and armed like men that would serve on a ship. Saveron decides to use his Detect Evil ability, he finds that the "leader" of the group, a wagon driver, and one of the guards register as evil. He keeps his cool, and watches the men closely as they have done nothing to provoke an attack. Drega sits back and cases the "leader" (Drega's player had really hot dice), Drega figures the man to be some kind of caster and she also picks up that he is hiding something. Drega gets up and "excuses" herself. She heads out of camp to use the facilities, wherever they might be.
Drega heads out into the shadows, conceals herself, and doubles back around camp. She is able to avoid the camp's two lookouts and hops into the rear wagon. The wagon is full of crates, she maneuvers over to a crate and silently pops the lid to find it full of arrows. She closes the crate and pulls out two torches. She sits the torches in between two crates and lights them. Drega turns and pops out of the wagon (more great rolls), and is able to avoid the attention of anybody around the wagons. Moments later, the lookouts run to camp, as some of our party members notice the wagon catching ablaze. Chaos ensuses, people are trying to put out the fire and unbind the horses. During the chaos, an arrow flies through camp striking the merchant leader through the neck, killing him instantly (Drega used the diversion to hide outside of camp and use her Death Attack ability). At that point, most of the people go still wondering where the arrow came from. Saveron asks if anyone is missing, not realizing Drega had left. One of the wagon drivers point out that Drega is missing (this was the caravan driver that detected evil), and accuses our adventures of being bandits and orders the guards to attack. Half of the guards attack, while the other half question the orders, afterall there is a paladin of Helm there. The other wagon driver bolts to the first wagon to unbind the horses as that wagon has caught on fire as well. The wagon driver that issued the attacked order casts a spell, disappearing from sight.
Four of the eight guards rush into combat, the others trying to pull the horses to safety while yelling at the combatants, trying to get them to stop and help. Things got pretty chaotic here. Hector and Ataris took a few nasty hits, Ataris had to run as he was very close to falling from his wounds. Nym was able to defeat the man who attacked Hector, only to be engaged by the guard who had badly beaten Ataris. Hector turns and casts sleep over at the four men working with the horses, dropping all four of them. Hector runs to a horse and mounts it hoping to make a tactical retreat, as he had just seen Saveron knocked unconscious by one of the guards and Nym and taken a nasty wound from another attack. The horse throws Hector to the ground and runs off. Nym is busy trying to fight off his attacker only to be joined by the guard who had dropped Saveron. Fearing defeat, Ataris pulls out the crystal orb, found from the orcs (it was identified as a Gem of Brightness) and lets loose a cone of brilliant blast of light. Nym is able to avert his eyes, while his attackes are blinded. Nym retreats to Saveron and is able to bring him to consciousness. The two blinded attackers are brought to death by arrows from Nym and from somewhere out in the shadows. Saveron immediately looks for survivors as the fire now rages out of control. He finds that three of the four guards that were tending to the horses have died, having caught on fire. The fourth was far enough way to not catch on fire, but he had received a few burns, not only that, but when one of the horses ran it trampled his leg, he had a nasty compound fracture on his lower leg. The wagon driver that was tending to the horses on the front wagon appeared to have been killed by an arrow. The second wagon driver was missing.
Drega runs back into camp to be met by a group inquisition being led by Saveron and cloesly followed by Hector of all people. Drega explains what she had found in the wagon, and tries to convince the group that she was justified in starting the fire and the ensuing combat. Saveron decides to question the surviving guard once he becomes conscious. The guards testimony will be used to determing Drega's fate.
At this point, I was expecting Drega to split, but she stuck out the night and another day while the group waited for the man to wake up. By this time they had traveled to the old burned out cabin that the orcs had been camping near. On the third morning the man wakes up. After a lengthy discussion, the man tells them what he knows. He and the other members of the "caravan" were from Luskan. Several months ago they were approached by a member of the Arcane Brotherhood and were offered a job to take weapons and armor east into the wilds and deliver them to orcs. The group's captive reveals that he had made two previous trips to different locations, and that he knew of a few other groups from Luskan doing the same thing for the Brotherhood. He explains that the pay was really good, and that if the Brotherhood offers you a job, you take it, or bad things might happen. This knowledge clears Drega.
Another surprise here, I thought after hearing this information they would head back to Silverymoon and report in..... Nope. They decided to head out in search on Tharndun, they are now thinking that Agnar the Mad is somehow a member of the Arcane Brotherhood and is somehow aligned with the orcs (I have no clue how they came to this conclusion). The leave the man in the cabin with a tenday of rations and some extra waterskins. They aren't scared of him leaving since his leg in very bad shape, they were unable to reset it, but Saveron has thrown enough magical healing on it that the wound has healed up around the bone, not a pretty sight I imagine.
The group sets out from there, searching the hills and mountainside for the fabled Tharndun. After two days of tromping through the wilds, they find a pathway cut into the mountain that ends at an archway leading into the mountain. Reaching the archway, they find the name "Tharndun" etched in dwarven script along the arch.....
A little side note that I forgot to add in..... When the group was in Silverymoon and receiving the information from the mages academy. Hector slipped off to a locksmith of low moral standing to have the locked tome opened. Hector waits in the front of the shop while the locksmith goes to his workroom to pick the lock. Hector paid the guy 100gp to open the book and not ask any questions or say anything to anybody.
While in the storefront, Hector hears a quick balst of flames and runs into the workroom to find the locksmith burned to a crisp and the book sitting intact on the bench. Not knowing what to do and not wanting to have any attention drawn to him, he grabs the book and bolts out the back door.
By the time he meets up with the group, they are ready to head out and search for Tharndun.
Not too sure how this little situation will pan out, but it seems like the perfect opportunity to have a little fun waiting for Hector when/if he returns to Silverymoon.
While in the storefront, Hector hears a quick balst of flames and runs into the workroom to find the locksmith burned to a crisp and the book sitting intact on the bench. Not knowing what to do and not wanting to have any attention drawn to him, he grabs the book and bolts out the back door.
By the time he meets up with the group, they are ready to head out and search for Tharndun.
Not too sure how this little situation will pan out, but it seems like the perfect opportunity to have a little fun waiting for Hector when/if he returns to Silverymoon.
-
Omote
- Battle Stag
- Posts: 11560
- Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 7:00 am
- Location: The fairest view in the park, Ohio.
- Contact:
Cool write up Brad_J. Indeed, some great stuff in there... (that I may even use if you don't mind )
-O
_________________
> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society
-O
_________________
> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society
@-Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society-@
VAE VICTUS!
>> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <<
VAE VICTUS!
>> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <<
Brad J, great write ups! It makes me miss the old days when my Paladin crusaded in the Savage North!
_________________
"And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!" - Mark Twain
Forgive all spelling errors.
Knight Errant & Humble C&C Society Contributor
C&C Society
_________________
"And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!" - Mark Twain
Forgive all spelling errors.
Knight Errant & Humble C&C Society Contributor
C&C Society
"And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!" - Mark Twain
Forgive all spelling errors.
Knight Errant & Humble C&C Society Contributor
C&C Society
Forgive all spelling errors.
Knight Errant & Humble C&C Society Contributor
C&C Society
Thank goodness for longer game sessions!
Earlier in the week the group decided that we would extend our play times on Sunday until I move into my new place at the end of the May. We started our extended play times yesterday. Back to the old days of the 8+ hour session (well nearly 8 hours, probably more like 6 or 7 theses days).
Our first long session did not go so well.....
I am going to save a lot of space by condensing what occurred through the first half of the session.
The party descends into Tharndun and maneuvers through the winding maze of narrow corridors, traps, and rooms that appear to have been left incomplete in their construction. The first real encounter was some type of demonic gnoll-like creature that was summoned in by a trap. The party makes short order of it, and incur a few minor wounds. The group is making prett good progress and finally comes to a dead end. The trained eyes of Nym spot a concealed door in the room the group was searching. After determining that the door was not trapped, Saveron opens the door. In my opinon, this is where things went south.
The open door reveals a rather spacious room with two glass portcullises, and a rust monster. Initiatives are rolled, and our armor eating friend goes first, for once I had hot dice. Old rusty is killed, but Saveron lost his bastard sword and Nym lost his armor. At this point there was some debate about leaving, but the decided to stay and press on. Saveron was given a short sword and Nym was left without armor. The rational was that, they would eventually find some armor somewhere for Nym.
All of the banter from the group attracted attention, and soon they hear the sound of hooves slamming against stone. CRASH!!! Breaking through one of the glass portcullises is an armored Minotaur wielding a greatsword. **The minotaur was adjusted from the one in the book, I dropped his BtH, and HP**
This combat was a mess, somehow Saveron (which makes sense), Ataris, and Hector end up in the front ranks. Swingy dice rolls, missed place crits and fumbles, misplaced use of magical items lead to Ataris, Saveron, and Nym being incapacitated and bleeding out. Hector is out cold as well (he was lucky enough to hit 0 on the nose). Drega makes for the doors hoping to elude the beast, who was not looking so good himself. Drega is able to keep the beast at bay, and the minotaur eventually bleeds out (he was taking periodic damage from a critical hit). Drega returns to find that three of her companions have succumed to their wounds and have since died. A few minor mishaps occur with Drega going through Hector's gear and fiddling with some of the magic items he had been hiding. She manages to destroy the portable hole through misuse, losing the bodies of her companions that she placed inside. Eventually, Drega makes her way out of Tharndun with the unconscious Hector, who was not stuffed in the now defunct portable hole.
At this point we take a break and discuss what to do next. Drega's player is all about going back to Silverymoon to recruit some willing folks to go back to Tharndun, the rest of the group is a bit indifferent. After some discussion, everyone decides to re-roll and start up something new. They felt like losing over half the party, then bringing in new characters would be bad for the story.
I felt a little crappy here, the game was going great, then this. I've had my fair share of near or full party deaths, but this one struck a chord with me.
I had written a few little adventures during some spare time that had nothing to do with the Forgotten Realms a week ago. I decided that I'll give those adventures a shot, and see where the game goes from there.
We are going to be playing in Aihdre. I picked up all of the books a while back and really like the setting. The game starts out in the Rhuneland/Red March region and along the banks of the upper Udunilay River.
Our characters start out near dirt poor. All are residents of the quiet little village Clearwater, a tiny farming community. The party's first task is to head up to the township of Rendisar located a day and a half north of Clearwater on the banks of the Udunilay river to procure a new plow for the famers and local mission of Ore-Tsar in Clearwater.
Overall, the night had a rough start but everything ended well. The group seems like they are taking to Aihdre and really like the area they are in. Hopefully, this group goes the distance.
I'll post more later this week under a new thread, with a more detailed account of our new adventures!
Our first long session did not go so well.....
I am going to save a lot of space by condensing what occurred through the first half of the session.
The party descends into Tharndun and maneuvers through the winding maze of narrow corridors, traps, and rooms that appear to have been left incomplete in their construction. The first real encounter was some type of demonic gnoll-like creature that was summoned in by a trap. The party makes short order of it, and incur a few minor wounds. The group is making prett good progress and finally comes to a dead end. The trained eyes of Nym spot a concealed door in the room the group was searching. After determining that the door was not trapped, Saveron opens the door. In my opinon, this is where things went south.
The open door reveals a rather spacious room with two glass portcullises, and a rust monster. Initiatives are rolled, and our armor eating friend goes first, for once I had hot dice. Old rusty is killed, but Saveron lost his bastard sword and Nym lost his armor. At this point there was some debate about leaving, but the decided to stay and press on. Saveron was given a short sword and Nym was left without armor. The rational was that, they would eventually find some armor somewhere for Nym.
All of the banter from the group attracted attention, and soon they hear the sound of hooves slamming against stone. CRASH!!! Breaking through one of the glass portcullises is an armored Minotaur wielding a greatsword. **The minotaur was adjusted from the one in the book, I dropped his BtH, and HP**
This combat was a mess, somehow Saveron (which makes sense), Ataris, and Hector end up in the front ranks. Swingy dice rolls, missed place crits and fumbles, misplaced use of magical items lead to Ataris, Saveron, and Nym being incapacitated and bleeding out. Hector is out cold as well (he was lucky enough to hit 0 on the nose). Drega makes for the doors hoping to elude the beast, who was not looking so good himself. Drega is able to keep the beast at bay, and the minotaur eventually bleeds out (he was taking periodic damage from a critical hit). Drega returns to find that three of her companions have succumed to their wounds and have since died. A few minor mishaps occur with Drega going through Hector's gear and fiddling with some of the magic items he had been hiding. She manages to destroy the portable hole through misuse, losing the bodies of her companions that she placed inside. Eventually, Drega makes her way out of Tharndun with the unconscious Hector, who was not stuffed in the now defunct portable hole.
At this point we take a break and discuss what to do next. Drega's player is all about going back to Silverymoon to recruit some willing folks to go back to Tharndun, the rest of the group is a bit indifferent. After some discussion, everyone decides to re-roll and start up something new. They felt like losing over half the party, then bringing in new characters would be bad for the story.
I felt a little crappy here, the game was going great, then this. I've had my fair share of near or full party deaths, but this one struck a chord with me.
I had written a few little adventures during some spare time that had nothing to do with the Forgotten Realms a week ago. I decided that I'll give those adventures a shot, and see where the game goes from there.
We are going to be playing in Aihdre. I picked up all of the books a while back and really like the setting. The game starts out in the Rhuneland/Red March region and along the banks of the upper Udunilay River.
Our characters start out near dirt poor. All are residents of the quiet little village Clearwater, a tiny farming community. The party's first task is to head up to the township of Rendisar located a day and a half north of Clearwater on the banks of the Udunilay river to procure a new plow for the famers and local mission of Ore-Tsar in Clearwater.
Overall, the night had a rough start but everything ended well. The group seems like they are taking to Aihdre and really like the area they are in. Hopefully, this group goes the distance.
I'll post more later this week under a new thread, with a more detailed account of our new adventures!