I'm just gonna throw this out there ... Rock Band is way fun. Seriously, way fun. Guitar Hero's a good time, don't get me wrong, but there are few things better than rocking out on a set with three of your buddies on the same song. The "single player" game seems to be there only as practice, since you just go through the songs. Which is not a bad thing.
I've completed Drums on Hard, and feel pretty confident playing any random song on Hard (though I still shudder when Run to the Hills or any Metallica song comes up). So the next level is Expert ... and damn is it hard. Really, really hard. I went through the first ten songs in solo play and thought "This isn't so bad." Yesterday I went through the next five and COMPLETELY FAILED on two of them, aced one of them, and suffered through the other two to a successful completion. I need to find something that works with my foot without breaking the kick pedal, 'cause that's what I'm terrified of, being I've already broken one. That and I need to train my left hand/wrist to work faster, hold the stick lighter, and utilize the bounce. I've got it down with my right hand but Ol' Lefty is having problems.
But the bottom line: Rock Band = teh r0kz, w00t. Or something. I can't wait to get to the Endless Setlist (all 58 songs in the core release as one setlist). Ha! Ha! Ha. Ha. Ha... ha... ha... ha... hmmm.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Age of Worms Campaign Update 1/24/2008
CHRONICLE VAULT 20080124, FROM THE LIBRARY OF RHAVUS THE FIEND-SAGE ...
Fireseek 21, 595 CY
Still bound to the Coenoby of the Free City Arena, the heroes have completed the first day of gladiator competitions in the Champion's Games - and have learned a startling truth. Their manager, Ekaym Smallcask, has informed his team of an ulterior motive in sponsoring them. His sister, Lahaka, disappeared immediately after last year's games, and the only places Ekaym has not searched is the infrastructure of the arena itself and Loris Raknian's adjoining palace.
Exhausted after their first battle, the heroes were nonetheless eager to search out the infrastructure to see what they could find. The lower level where the Coenoby was seemed to be a series of caverns, and a passage led away into the darkness. With Shanks leading the way the party descended further into the caves. They came upon a larger, rougher version of the Coenoby called the Titan's House, used occasionally by gladiators for more secretive and carnal pursuits. Kaspar found a pool at the far end of the abandoned chamber, and an odd stone plug at the far end underwater. The stone plug was clearly manufactured.
The heroes started to argue about what to do, and Shanks was determined to unplug the plug and find out what lay behind it. Duke remembered hearing stories of the Free City Arena being plagued by ghouls, and that Loris Raknian had the ghoul warrens sealed shut with a large stone plug some years ago. The idea of fighting a city filled with flesh-craving ghouls did not sit well with anyone, and they returned to the Coenoby determined to search the upper level.
Guards were light on the first night, and the party easily slipped upstairs to the main level just below the arena floor. The stoneworked passages were constructed in a circular fashion, with lifts going up to the arena itself in the four cardinal directions of the circle. A series of chambers criss-crossed the middle section, and it was this way that the heroes ventured.
The first passage they followed contained caged animals - dire boars, jaguars, and lions, presumably for showcasing on the next day (where there were no gladiator fights scheduled). It was at this point that Kong realized that this was a bad idea. If they were caught sneaking around, they would likely get thrown out of the games. Duke seconded the idea, and suggested that Shanks and Argo explore the section alone, since they were the most stealthy. The heroes agreed, and Duke loaned Argo his hat of disguise to disguise the halfling in case they were caught. Shanks drank his potion of invisibility and the rest of the party returned to the Coenoby.
Argo and Shanks made their way stealthily through the passages, coming upon the recreation room of the eight stationed guards. Past that room was another hallway, similar to the animal cages, but these were mostly empty. Except for a dirty, bedraggled man, rocking back and forth on his knees. Argo asked what was the matter, and the man could barely string a sentence together, but seemed to be muttering something about the cell across the hall. The halfling ranger asked what happened, and could only get a muttering of "goat man" and a finger pointing at the far cell, where it seemed the "goat man" was still waiting. Shanks checked it out and find it to be a wine storage chamber that smelled strongly of vinegar.
Shanks mentioned the word "worm" to the man on a whim, and it had a dramatic effect. The insane man started screaming at the top of his lungs, clawing at the bars frantically. The two halflings could hear the guards approach and knew question and answer time was over. They darted into the shadows and crept back to the Coenoby, but they had a bit more information to go off now. Something was in that wine cellar, and Shanks was determined to find out what.
The next day, Fireseek 19, was the bi-day where no gladiator combat would take place. Of course, the gladiators were once again limited to the Coenoby. Guards were posted at the entrance, so the Kings of the Road kept to themselves like everyone else. There were a total of six teams left - Kings of the Road, Auric's Warband, Iron Hill Monkeys, Pitch Blade, The Crazy Eights, and the Teeth of Kord. All teams were silent and brooding.
After the day's events were through, Shanks and Argo snuck up to the upper floor and made their way stealthily towards the cells. They found all of the cells empty now - the insane man was nowhere to be found. They moved on to search the wine cellar, with one of the halflings on guard while the other scoured the room. They didn't find anything out of the ordinary, but Shanks was convinced there was something there. The two of them returned to the Coenoby.
Fireseek 20 arrived, the third day of the Champion's Games, and matches were posted early. Kings of the Road were scheduled to fight Pitch Blade as the last match of the day. After seeing that Pitch Blade was comprised entirely of two dwarven barbarians, Kong laughed and declared they had all but won their match already. Confidence levels were high by the time they were brought up to the arena floor, to the grand cheering of the crowd.
Opposite them were Pitch Blade - two well-armed, barrel-chested dwarves carrying shields and shouting furiously. The match began with Loris Raknian's pronouncement, and immediately Pitch Blade flew at their opponents. Literally flew - they were flying at top speeds to close the vast distance of the arena floor. Everyone gathered around Duke and the dwarf cast haste, preparing everyone for the fight ahead. Kaspar ducked off to the side and shot an arrow while Kong strode forward purposefully, attacking as he did so.
The dwarves of Pitch Blade were not impressed, and the one cut bloody swaths in his barbarian opponent. The crowd cheered as the other dwarf stepped forward and started to pummel Argo with a flaming bastard sword. The Kings of the Road returned blows but it was obvious their opponents were tougher than they realized. Shanks maneuvered to position himself in a better spot, when the unthinkable happened - mighty Kong, even in the depths of his barbarian rage, dropped to the ground from his wounds. Things were not looking so well and Argo was forced to withdraw to suck down some potions.
But Shanks had an idea, an idea so crazy it had to work. He shouted to get Kaspar's attention and then used his spiked chain to attempt to disarm the dwarf that felled Kong. The first attempt the dwarf parried, but the second whip of the chain wrapped around the sword and knocked it from his raging hands. At that moment, the elf monk ran with the speed of a lightning cheetah, tucked and rolled as he passed the stunned dwarf, and leapt to his feet - holding the dwarf's fallen flaming sword! The crowd gave a rousing cheer as Kaspar held the sword aloft like a giant torch. The other dwarf in Pitch Blade disengaged from Argo and flew after the elf. Tunnel vision set in and all he could see was Kaspar. But the elf monk's blinding speed kept him ahead of his opponent as he led him on a merry chase around the arena.
The disarmed dwarf proceeded to use his shield to bash Shanks, but soon found the clever halfling had used the spiked chain to rid him of his shield as well! Kong was revived by Duke, and the Kings of the Road dispatched the unarmed raging dwarf barbarian with relative ease at that point. The second dwarf charged headfirst at Kaspar and managed to cut the elf deep, but found himself weaponless when Shanks came up and used his disarm attack again. Kong finished off the second dwarf barbarian to the roar of the crowd! "KINGS! KINGS! KINGS!" they shouted.
Argo caught the look of surprise and anger on Loris Raknian's face, and made a gesture with his dagger that could have been construed as a threat. But the Champion's Game organizer was cordial when he presented the winnings to Ekaym and the Kings of the Road were led back to the Coenoby. Ekaym visited them shortly thereafter, bringing potions a plenty and congratulations.
The gladiator teams were reduced to three after the third day - Kings of the Road, Auric's Warband, and Iron Hill Monkeys. The next day's matches were also posted when they returned, and the heroes were surprised to find that they were the ones fighting the monster, a creatured called Madtooth the Hungry. One of the guards posting the match list commented on how hard it was to keep Madtooth's cage cold, and how glad they would be once they were able to return the frost salamander to the cold northlands. The heroes took this information and started to prepare for the next day's competition accordingly, prepping fire spells and other heat attacks.
Later in the evening, Shanks and Argo decided to test their luck with the wine cellar again. They snuck upstairs and into the cellar, and Argo was placed on watch while Shanks searched the room. It would be the last time anyone saw the halfling Shanks alive.
While searching the room, Shanks finally found the secret chamber he knew was there. But his erstwhile searching triggered a nefarious magical glyph of warding that gripped at his heart. The halfling was not strong enough to resist and fell, stone dead, to the slay living spell. Argo found Shanks laying face first on the stone slab in front of a secret panel, revealing a staircase going down.
Dric "Shanks" Dair'Rill, male halfling fighter and rogue, died on Fireseek 20 to a slay living spell from a trap.
As quietly as he could, Argo dragged the dead body of his companion back down to the Coenoby where they discussed what to do. It was too late for Ekaym to return to the grounds this night, and they would not have much time in the morning to deal with situation. After much discussion (and checking of pocket books, which were not hefty) Duke suggested that they use the druidic ritual of reincarnation to return Shanks back to the world of the living. He might not come back as a halfling, but he would definitely come back. They decided that was the best idea, and waited patiently for the next day.
Ekaym arrived early on Fireseek 21, and was shocked and horrified to find Shanks dead. Duke eased his fears and told their manager to fetch a scroll from the Temple of Obad-Hai. Ekaym did as he was asked and returned with the scroll and requisite materials. In a small ceremony lasting ten minutes, Duke summoned the spirit of Shanks back to the mortal world and into a corporeal vessel. After about a half hour a human woman staggered into the group, proclaiming herself the reincarnated Shanks. The heroes were a little confused, but got over their hesitation quickly as they prepared for the match against Madtooth the Hungry.
They were brought up to the arena floor as normal, where the crowd started chanting "MADTOOTH! MADTOOTH! MADTOOTH!" A large wheeled cage was brought forth bearing the beast's name, and the handlers fled quickly as the locks were undone. What was revealed was NOT a frost salamander but a creature borne out of nightmares. A beast Argo identified as a froghemoth.
Madtooth was a tentacled beast with a maw of razor sharp teeth and a massive belly that looked like it could swallow several people whole. It leaped forward closer to its prey, mindlessly charging. Argo pulled a bead from his necklace of fireballs, hoping that the beast was vulnerable to fire. To their dismay, they found Madtooth actually grew stronger from the fire. Clearly the information they had learned the previous night had been a setup.
The new Shanks strode forward confidently and whipped the beast with her spiked chain. The froghemoth shouted in rage and the rest of the party breathed a small sigh of relief - at least the beast could be hurt. Their relief turned to horror as they watched Madtooth's tentacles wrap around Shanks, squeeze her ribcage together, and then swallow her in one mighty gulp. Madtooth let out a mighty belch as Shanks was digested and crushed by the beast's powerful stomach acids and muscles.
Dric "Shanks" Dair'Rill, female human fighter and rogue, died (again) on Fireseek 21 in the belly of the froghemoth, Madtooth the Hungry.
The rest of the party approached cautiously, with Kaspar letting loose a few arrows. Kong and Argo charged together, and the two of them cut deep into the beast. Unfortunately, the retaliatory strikes from Madtooth wounded the pair severely, with the raging barbarian taking the brunt of the pain. In the blink of his three eyes, the froghemoth sent Kong sprawling to the ground unconscious and grabbed Argo in a tentacle and swallowed him in one bite.
Duke let loose a lightning bolt spell, noting with some satisfaction that it seemed to slow the beast considerably. The dwarf wizard approached the fallen barbarian in the froghemoth's momentary slowness and stabilized his companion. He then took tentacle whips to the face as Madtooth recovered.
Inside the massive creature, however, Argo was not done for. The acidic juices ate at him and the powerful muscles crushed him, but he was a master of the daggers. With precision and grace that came from knowledge of fighting these types of beasts, the halfling ranger quickly slashed a hole in Madtooth's side, emerging like a triumphant newborn from the gaping hole. The crowd gave a rousing cheer of "ARGO! ARGO! ARGO!" at this that matched Madtooth's raging bellow.
Kaspar risked the slashing tentacles and dropped a potion of healing down Kong's throat, which managed to revive him. Duke was beaten and near unconscious, but the barbarian decided enough was enough. Under the threat of a flashing greatsword, cutting daggers, and flown arrows, the froghemoth Madtooth the Hungry finally fell to the ground with a crash! "KINGS OF THE ROAD!" came the roar of the crowd, and the entire party saw Loris Raknian's look of utter shock and frustration at this turn of events.
The Kings of the Road were congratulated, but they mourned for their fallen friend. Auric's Warband had defeated the Iron Hill Monkeys, so the final match was set. The heroes were exhausted and wounded from their draining battle with Madtooth, but questions stood before them. What lay inside the secret chamber that claimed the life of their companion? And what was in store for them on the final day of the Champion's Games?
Session Updates
All right, good session, good session. I've never actually seen a character die TWICE in one evening. Tragic, truly tragic. We'll see what Jesse brings to the table at the beginning of the next session.
Quest Cards In Progress
* What's Ilthane Up To?
* Investigate Loris Raknian and Apostolic Scrolls
* Find Out What Happened to Ekaym's Sister
XP Recap
* 9th-level Characters 6,000
* 10th-level Character 2,500
'Till next, Game On!
"Weird" Dave Olson
Dragonfyre Gaming Association
weird.dave.dfga@gmail.com
Fireseek 21, 595 CY
Still bound to the Coenoby of the Free City Arena, the heroes have completed the first day of gladiator competitions in the Champion's Games - and have learned a startling truth. Their manager, Ekaym Smallcask, has informed his team of an ulterior motive in sponsoring them. His sister, Lahaka, disappeared immediately after last year's games, and the only places Ekaym has not searched is the infrastructure of the arena itself and Loris Raknian's adjoining palace.
Exhausted after their first battle, the heroes were nonetheless eager to search out the infrastructure to see what they could find. The lower level where the Coenoby was seemed to be a series of caverns, and a passage led away into the darkness. With Shanks leading the way the party descended further into the caves. They came upon a larger, rougher version of the Coenoby called the Titan's House, used occasionally by gladiators for more secretive and carnal pursuits. Kaspar found a pool at the far end of the abandoned chamber, and an odd stone plug at the far end underwater. The stone plug was clearly manufactured.
The heroes started to argue about what to do, and Shanks was determined to unplug the plug and find out what lay behind it. Duke remembered hearing stories of the Free City Arena being plagued by ghouls, and that Loris Raknian had the ghoul warrens sealed shut with a large stone plug some years ago. The idea of fighting a city filled with flesh-craving ghouls did not sit well with anyone, and they returned to the Coenoby determined to search the upper level.
Guards were light on the first night, and the party easily slipped upstairs to the main level just below the arena floor. The stoneworked passages were constructed in a circular fashion, with lifts going up to the arena itself in the four cardinal directions of the circle. A series of chambers criss-crossed the middle section, and it was this way that the heroes ventured.
The first passage they followed contained caged animals - dire boars, jaguars, and lions, presumably for showcasing on the next day (where there were no gladiator fights scheduled). It was at this point that Kong realized that this was a bad idea. If they were caught sneaking around, they would likely get thrown out of the games. Duke seconded the idea, and suggested that Shanks and Argo explore the section alone, since they were the most stealthy. The heroes agreed, and Duke loaned Argo his hat of disguise to disguise the halfling in case they were caught. Shanks drank his potion of invisibility and the rest of the party returned to the Coenoby.
Argo and Shanks made their way stealthily through the passages, coming upon the recreation room of the eight stationed guards. Past that room was another hallway, similar to the animal cages, but these were mostly empty. Except for a dirty, bedraggled man, rocking back and forth on his knees. Argo asked what was the matter, and the man could barely string a sentence together, but seemed to be muttering something about the cell across the hall. The halfling ranger asked what happened, and could only get a muttering of "goat man" and a finger pointing at the far cell, where it seemed the "goat man" was still waiting. Shanks checked it out and find it to be a wine storage chamber that smelled strongly of vinegar.
Shanks mentioned the word "worm" to the man on a whim, and it had a dramatic effect. The insane man started screaming at the top of his lungs, clawing at the bars frantically. The two halflings could hear the guards approach and knew question and answer time was over. They darted into the shadows and crept back to the Coenoby, but they had a bit more information to go off now. Something was in that wine cellar, and Shanks was determined to find out what.
The next day, Fireseek 19, was the bi-day where no gladiator combat would take place. Of course, the gladiators were once again limited to the Coenoby. Guards were posted at the entrance, so the Kings of the Road kept to themselves like everyone else. There were a total of six teams left - Kings of the Road, Auric's Warband, Iron Hill Monkeys, Pitch Blade, The Crazy Eights, and the Teeth of Kord. All teams were silent and brooding.
After the day's events were through, Shanks and Argo snuck up to the upper floor and made their way stealthily towards the cells. They found all of the cells empty now - the insane man was nowhere to be found. They moved on to search the wine cellar, with one of the halflings on guard while the other scoured the room. They didn't find anything out of the ordinary, but Shanks was convinced there was something there. The two of them returned to the Coenoby.
Fireseek 20 arrived, the third day of the Champion's Games, and matches were posted early. Kings of the Road were scheduled to fight Pitch Blade as the last match of the day. After seeing that Pitch Blade was comprised entirely of two dwarven barbarians, Kong laughed and declared they had all but won their match already. Confidence levels were high by the time they were brought up to the arena floor, to the grand cheering of the crowd.
Opposite them were Pitch Blade - two well-armed, barrel-chested dwarves carrying shields and shouting furiously. The match began with Loris Raknian's pronouncement, and immediately Pitch Blade flew at their opponents. Literally flew - they were flying at top speeds to close the vast distance of the arena floor. Everyone gathered around Duke and the dwarf cast haste, preparing everyone for the fight ahead. Kaspar ducked off to the side and shot an arrow while Kong strode forward purposefully, attacking as he did so.
The dwarves of Pitch Blade were not impressed, and the one cut bloody swaths in his barbarian opponent. The crowd cheered as the other dwarf stepped forward and started to pummel Argo with a flaming bastard sword. The Kings of the Road returned blows but it was obvious their opponents were tougher than they realized. Shanks maneuvered to position himself in a better spot, when the unthinkable happened - mighty Kong, even in the depths of his barbarian rage, dropped to the ground from his wounds. Things were not looking so well and Argo was forced to withdraw to suck down some potions.
But Shanks had an idea, an idea so crazy it had to work. He shouted to get Kaspar's attention and then used his spiked chain to attempt to disarm the dwarf that felled Kong. The first attempt the dwarf parried, but the second whip of the chain wrapped around the sword and knocked it from his raging hands. At that moment, the elf monk ran with the speed of a lightning cheetah, tucked and rolled as he passed the stunned dwarf, and leapt to his feet - holding the dwarf's fallen flaming sword! The crowd gave a rousing cheer as Kaspar held the sword aloft like a giant torch. The other dwarf in Pitch Blade disengaged from Argo and flew after the elf. Tunnel vision set in and all he could see was Kaspar. But the elf monk's blinding speed kept him ahead of his opponent as he led him on a merry chase around the arena.
The disarmed dwarf proceeded to use his shield to bash Shanks, but soon found the clever halfling had used the spiked chain to rid him of his shield as well! Kong was revived by Duke, and the Kings of the Road dispatched the unarmed raging dwarf barbarian with relative ease at that point. The second dwarf charged headfirst at Kaspar and managed to cut the elf deep, but found himself weaponless when Shanks came up and used his disarm attack again. Kong finished off the second dwarf barbarian to the roar of the crowd! "KINGS! KINGS! KINGS!" they shouted.
Argo caught the look of surprise and anger on Loris Raknian's face, and made a gesture with his dagger that could have been construed as a threat. But the Champion's Game organizer was cordial when he presented the winnings to Ekaym and the Kings of the Road were led back to the Coenoby. Ekaym visited them shortly thereafter, bringing potions a plenty and congratulations.
The gladiator teams were reduced to three after the third day - Kings of the Road, Auric's Warband, and Iron Hill Monkeys. The next day's matches were also posted when they returned, and the heroes were surprised to find that they were the ones fighting the monster, a creatured called Madtooth the Hungry. One of the guards posting the match list commented on how hard it was to keep Madtooth's cage cold, and how glad they would be once they were able to return the frost salamander to the cold northlands. The heroes took this information and started to prepare for the next day's competition accordingly, prepping fire spells and other heat attacks.
Later in the evening, Shanks and Argo decided to test their luck with the wine cellar again. They snuck upstairs and into the cellar, and Argo was placed on watch while Shanks searched the room. It would be the last time anyone saw the halfling Shanks alive.
While searching the room, Shanks finally found the secret chamber he knew was there. But his erstwhile searching triggered a nefarious magical glyph of warding that gripped at his heart. The halfling was not strong enough to resist and fell, stone dead, to the slay living spell. Argo found Shanks laying face first on the stone slab in front of a secret panel, revealing a staircase going down.
Dric "Shanks" Dair'Rill, male halfling fighter and rogue, died on Fireseek 20 to a slay living spell from a trap.
As quietly as he could, Argo dragged the dead body of his companion back down to the Coenoby where they discussed what to do. It was too late for Ekaym to return to the grounds this night, and they would not have much time in the morning to deal with situation. After much discussion (and checking of pocket books, which were not hefty) Duke suggested that they use the druidic ritual of reincarnation to return Shanks back to the world of the living. He might not come back as a halfling, but he would definitely come back. They decided that was the best idea, and waited patiently for the next day.
Ekaym arrived early on Fireseek 21, and was shocked and horrified to find Shanks dead. Duke eased his fears and told their manager to fetch a scroll from the Temple of Obad-Hai. Ekaym did as he was asked and returned with the scroll and requisite materials. In a small ceremony lasting ten minutes, Duke summoned the spirit of Shanks back to the mortal world and into a corporeal vessel. After about a half hour a human woman staggered into the group, proclaiming herself the reincarnated Shanks. The heroes were a little confused, but got over their hesitation quickly as they prepared for the match against Madtooth the Hungry.
They were brought up to the arena floor as normal, where the crowd started chanting "MADTOOTH! MADTOOTH! MADTOOTH!" A large wheeled cage was brought forth bearing the beast's name, and the handlers fled quickly as the locks were undone. What was revealed was NOT a frost salamander but a creature borne out of nightmares. A beast Argo identified as a froghemoth.
Madtooth was a tentacled beast with a maw of razor sharp teeth and a massive belly that looked like it could swallow several people whole. It leaped forward closer to its prey, mindlessly charging. Argo pulled a bead from his necklace of fireballs, hoping that the beast was vulnerable to fire. To their dismay, they found Madtooth actually grew stronger from the fire. Clearly the information they had learned the previous night had been a setup.
The new Shanks strode forward confidently and whipped the beast with her spiked chain. The froghemoth shouted in rage and the rest of the party breathed a small sigh of relief - at least the beast could be hurt. Their relief turned to horror as they watched Madtooth's tentacles wrap around Shanks, squeeze her ribcage together, and then swallow her in one mighty gulp. Madtooth let out a mighty belch as Shanks was digested and crushed by the beast's powerful stomach acids and muscles.
Dric "Shanks" Dair'Rill, female human fighter and rogue, died (again) on Fireseek 21 in the belly of the froghemoth, Madtooth the Hungry.
The rest of the party approached cautiously, with Kaspar letting loose a few arrows. Kong and Argo charged together, and the two of them cut deep into the beast. Unfortunately, the retaliatory strikes from Madtooth wounded the pair severely, with the raging barbarian taking the brunt of the pain. In the blink of his three eyes, the froghemoth sent Kong sprawling to the ground unconscious and grabbed Argo in a tentacle and swallowed him in one bite.
Duke let loose a lightning bolt spell, noting with some satisfaction that it seemed to slow the beast considerably. The dwarf wizard approached the fallen barbarian in the froghemoth's momentary slowness and stabilized his companion. He then took tentacle whips to the face as Madtooth recovered.
Inside the massive creature, however, Argo was not done for. The acidic juices ate at him and the powerful muscles crushed him, but he was a master of the daggers. With precision and grace that came from knowledge of fighting these types of beasts, the halfling ranger quickly slashed a hole in Madtooth's side, emerging like a triumphant newborn from the gaping hole. The crowd gave a rousing cheer of "ARGO! ARGO! ARGO!" at this that matched Madtooth's raging bellow.
Kaspar risked the slashing tentacles and dropped a potion of healing down Kong's throat, which managed to revive him. Duke was beaten and near unconscious, but the barbarian decided enough was enough. Under the threat of a flashing greatsword, cutting daggers, and flown arrows, the froghemoth Madtooth the Hungry finally fell to the ground with a crash! "KINGS OF THE ROAD!" came the roar of the crowd, and the entire party saw Loris Raknian's look of utter shock and frustration at this turn of events.
The Kings of the Road were congratulated, but they mourned for their fallen friend. Auric's Warband had defeated the Iron Hill Monkeys, so the final match was set. The heroes were exhausted and wounded from their draining battle with Madtooth, but questions stood before them. What lay inside the secret chamber that claimed the life of their companion? And what was in store for them on the final day of the Champion's Games?
Session Updates
All right, good session, good session. I've never actually seen a character die TWICE in one evening. Tragic, truly tragic. We'll see what Jesse brings to the table at the beginning of the next session.
Quest Cards In Progress
* What's Ilthane Up To?
* Investigate Loris Raknian and Apostolic Scrolls
* Find Out What Happened to Ekaym's Sister
XP Recap
* 9th-level Characters 6,000
* 10th-level Character 2,500
'Till next, Game On!
"Weird" Dave Olson
Dragonfyre Gaming Association
weird.dave.dfga@gmail.com
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Age of Worms Campaign Update 1/17/2008
CHRONICLE VAULT 20080117, FROM THE LIBRARY OF RHAVUS THE FIEND-SAGE ...
Fireseek 18, 595 CY
On Fireseek 7, the heroes were invited to home of Eligos the Sage, who was contracted by the companions to research the writhing green worms and reports of unkillable zombies. The heroes arrived at Eligos' home promptly, and enjoyed a fine meal of turducken over pleasant conversation. As the meal drew to a close, Argo mentioned the mind flayer Xyrzog's sale of something called the Apostolic Scrolls to Loris Raknian. Eligos visibly paled at this, excusing himself from the table with haste and retreated to the library.
The heroes finished their meal in silence, and joined Eligos in the library shortly thereafter. By the light of the fire Eligos explained what he had learned about the green worms and tales of a coming apocalypse.
* The green worms, and zombies that carried them, were known as spawns of Kyuss - terrible undead killing machines that spread their curse by way of the worms. The humanoid spawns of Kyuss the heroes had encountered at Blackwall Keep were only the lesser versions. Stronger variants were known to exist.
* Kyuss is a lesser known god of undeath and the mastery of the undead - his cult was usually small and sometimes attached to larger organizations, such as the faithful of Hextor, Nerull, or Vecna.
* Referenced in dozens of texts going back hundreds of years, on cave walls and in obscure references, are whispers of an oncoming apocalypse of great magnitude. Called by many names (such as the End Times and the Era of Desolation), this momentous event seems linked somehow to Kyuss through the older referenced Age of Worms. Books such as Libris Mortis, the Necronomicon, and the Apostolic Scrolls all tell of this coming age of death, destruction, madness, and chaos. All of Eligos' research indicates this Age of Worms is fast approaching.
The heroes informed the sage that Loris Raknian had hired Xyrzog to assassinate them, and that the same Loris had purchased the Apostolic Scrolls beforehand. Eligos pointed out that Raknian must be part of the Kyuss cult, though whether he's the leader or simply a puppet remains to be seen. The Apostolic Scrolls were penned by Kyuss himself when he was a mortal, and detail the summoning of the Apostle of Kyuss. More commonly referred to as an ulgurstasta, this creature was a massive, bloated worm capable of swallowing people whole and spewing them out as zombies. There have been tales of some ulgurstastas vomiting forth spawns of Kyuss as well.
All of these details pointed to one terrifying fact - the cult of Kyuss was alive and well in the Free City of Greyhawk, and they had pinpointed the companions as a threat. Loris Raknian was the only firm lead they had, but it was a difficult one to follow-up on. Raknian is a powerful figure in the city, with ties back to the Directing Oligarchy and many influential guilds. Confronting him directly would only force him to cash in whatever favors he had. This would pose a problem but for one fact - Loris Raknian is in charge of the Champion's Games, a gladiatorial festival set to start in ten days. With his attention turned towards the event's organization and promotion, the heroes may have the opportunity they need to get to the bottom of the conspiracy.
Eligos smiled and said that the fates might just be smiling on them. A few days ago, he was visited by an adventuring friend, who was asking if the sage knew any competent people interested in fighting in the Champion's Games. The heroes thought about it and decided that joining the gladiator games was the easiest way to get to the bottom of things. Eligos promised he would put them in touch with his friend named Celeste in the next couple of days.
In the meantime, he advised keeping a low profile. Duke mentioned they had an appointment with the Lord-Mayor regarding the doppelgangers that have infiltrated the government, but Eligos stronger encouraged them to not present that information directly. He volunteered to handle the details, and promised that if there were any rewards he would pass them on completely.
With the evenings events drawn to a close, Eligos bid them a good night. The heroes returned to the Crooked House, almost supernaturally aware of a constant presence staring at them from the shadows. Probably just their imaginations. Probably.
The next few days the companions heeded the sage's advice. Duke penned several scrolls and created some alchemical items, while the rest of the heroes hung around the common room or ducked out for a quick stop at a shop. On Fireseek 9 a beautiful platinum-haired woman entered the Crooked House, accompanied by a short but relatively pleasant man. She quickly found the heroes and introduced herself as Celeste, Eligos' friend. She introduced the man next to her as Ekaym Smallcask, a merchant from the south who had acquired a manager's license for the Champion's Games but had no champions to enter.
Ekaym stepped up and smiled at the gathered companions, asking them point blank if they would fight for him in the gladiator arena. Ekaym also explained the general proceedings and possible winnings before they made their decision.
The Champion's Games was a massive gladiatorial event lasting five days. Twenty-four teams compete and only one wins the final round. The night before the games begin is the Champion's Dinner, where merchants and managers can meet the teams and place bets. The first day consisted of six team battles, with four teams pitted against each other in a battle royale. The six winnners of that day continued on, but the second day was one of rest - no gladiator combats. The third day featured three team-on-team matches. The fourth day consisted of two large matches, with one featuring two of the teams against each other and the other pitting a team against a monster. Usually the honor of fighting the monster went the previous year's winners. The two teams who were victorious fought each other in a knock-down, drag-out battle free-for-all on the fifth day, the winners being declared as Champions!
Kaspar pointed that this was all well and good, but what about payment? Ekaym proposed the following: he would 50% and the team would split the remaining 50%. With the help of his companions, the elf monk pointed out that this was not at all logical, and managed to get the flamboyant man to come to a 40/60 split. After Kong flexed his muscles, Ekaym and the heroes settled on equal shares split six ways.
The next point of contention was the name of the gladiator team. Ekaym suggested Ekaym's Team, which was immediately rejected, along with series of ridiculous, outlandish, or arrogant names suggested by everyone. They eventually settled on the Kings of the Road as their team name.
With arrangements made, Ekaym thanked the heroes and told them to arrive at the Free City Arena on Fireseek 17 by 5:00 pm - that was the start of the Champion's Dinner. From that point on they would be restricted to the arena grounds, so they should prepare accordingly. With a bow and a flourish, their manager left. Celeste had departed at some point during negotiations.
The next seven days passed slowly for the companions. They kept their heads down, always fearful of retributive strikes from the powerful Raknian. But thankfully none came, and eventually Fireseek 17 - the day of the Champion's Dinner - arrived.
Arriving in full battle gear, the heroes were not out of place. All sorts of gladiators were gathered around the banquet tables set in the grand Free City Arena itself, from the traditional dwarves, barbarians, archers, and wizards, to traditional monsters, such as gnolls and animals. The heroes met up with Ekaym quickly, and were introduced to a multitude of merchants and government officials, all of whom seemed to have an eye on them for betting purposes. Amongst the people mingling around were the legendary heroes Loncer Amorocco and Rugrunt Garoul, who were guests of Raknian and would be performing on the second day of the games.
During the festivities, Argo noticed Ekaym's attention always seemed intently focused on Loris Raknian, the charismatic organizer and previous Champion's Game winner also attending the event. Kaspar noted that Loris' eye seemed to drift towards their own table, but only briefly. He clearly was aware of their presence but did nothing untoward his status during the evening's events.
As the evening drew on, Shanks was approached by a beautiful elven woman in a leather bustier. She introduced herself as Vivian, and indicated that a certain organization (*wink, wink*) was interested in making a large wager on the final match, and they picked the heroes' team to win. The previous year's winners was a team called Auric's Band, and they would very likely make it to the final match as well. If the heroes would put 2,500 gp up front and win the match, this guild would give them a return of 10,000 gp. Vivian also indicated that taking this wager would be a good way to join this guild, something Shanks had attempted to do initially upon entering Greyhawk.
The halfling took the offer to his companions. Duke, Kong, and Argo decided to take the bet (Shanks was too poor and Kaspar was saving up his coins), and they ponied up the dough to make the wager. Argo also placed all of his remaining coins on their team to win the first match.
Around midnight, the moderator of the Champion's Games put on a pyrotechnics and fireworks show that dazzled all attendees. Loris Raknian announced the games had begun in a large, booming voice, and the gladiators were ushered into the arena underground. The underground consisted of two levels - the first, just below the arena itself, was a well-maintained series of chambers for managers and other important people. The level below that was cut into the caverns and consisted primarily of the Coenby (pronounced "see-no-bee"), where the gladiators were taken. This was the chamber where the teams would rest and spend the next five days. Security was tight, and the heroes learned that Raknian's palace was attached to the arena grounds on the upper level.
The night passed relatively uneventfully, and the next day the matches were posted on the wall. The Kings of the Road were set to fight at 10:00 am against three other teams. The first was Arcane Auriga, a team of four elven woman who specialized in archery. They were icy and cold to everyone, but especially seemed to hate men. The second team was Badlands Revenge, which had an angry druid and two gnolls with halberds. They were likewise silent towards everyone. The third team was Azure Riders, and the leader of this team was a flamboyant janni of a boisterous and womanizing nature. He approached the heroes with a proposition - him and his team of mounted mercenaries would focus on the women of Arcane Auriga if the heroes started with Badlands Revenge. That way they can focus on one team at a time.
The heroes were leary but accepted the proposal. The appointed time came and the gladiator teams were ushered up to the top level and positioned at each side of the arena. The stands of the Free City Arena were packed with thousands of spectators, and the announcer - enhanced though he was by magic - could barely be heard over the roar of the crowd. Each team was introduced and brought up to the blood-stained sands of the arena in turn. Loris Raknian announced the match had begun and a gong rang out. The four teams surged forward to meet in the blood-thirsty combat.
The mounted warriors of Azure Riders made ride-by attacks on Arcane Auriga but it was clear they were outmatched. The Kings of the Road, enhanced by a haste spell cast by Duke, charged fearlessly forward towards Badlands Revenge. Kaspar let arrows fly from his bow while Kong charged, his icy greatsword flashing in the morning light. Argo and Shanks followed right behind.
The druid in charge of Badlands Revenge gave a mighty shout, matched by Kong's feral raging roar. The barbarian cut his opponent deep, but the return blows from the twin gnolls and their halberds cut him deep. Argo and Kaspar teamed off against one of the gnolls just as Kong raised his greatsword and cut the druid deep. Roaring in response, he morphed into a giant crocodile and took a chunk out of Kong's hide. Duke rained magic missiles from a safe distance.
In the firm grips of his inhuman barbarian rage, Kong cleft his crocodile opponent with the mighty swing, spraying blood in a hot arc. The crowd went nuts, and they leapt to their feet when the barbarian brought his still-bloody greatsword in a spin and cut the head off the second gnoll. Argo and Kaspar finished off the other gnoll easily and the crowd started to chant "KINGS! KINGS! KINGS!" The heroes relished the rush of adrenaline for but a moment.
On the other side of the arena the Azure Riders were getting pounded on by Arcane Auriga. One of the mercenary riders galloped towards the heroes, and Kong saw an opportunity. He charged and made a mighty leap, intent on tackling the rider, but instead wound up with a face full of sand. Shanks was thereto pick up the slack, however, and the halfling gave a tiny roar, leapt onto the back of Kong, and drove himself straight into the mercenary rider's flank. The two of them tumbled head over tails on the sand, and the unmounted horse galloped away.
The Azure Riders surrendered at that moment, realizing they were outmatched, so the Kings of the Road turned their attention towards Arcane Auriga. The heroes were peppered with well-placed arrows, but when the fight was brought to melee the elven women didn't stand a chance. Kaspar, whipped up by the frenzy of the crowd, drove his fist into the jaw of one of the woman, killing her instantly. The other three surrendered immediately afterward. The Kings of the Road were proclaimed victors!
In the announcer's booth, Ekaym was presented with the trophy and coin reward from Loris Raknian while the heroes were led downstairs to the chants of "KINGS! KINGS! KINGS!" They collapsed, wounded and exhausted but ultimately victorious, in the Coenby. Other teams came and went as the day passed on, and after the final match was done the heroes were visited by Ekaym.
In a hushed tone, Ekaym congratulated the heroes on a job well done, but admitted a secondary motive in entering the games. His sister, Lahaka, was a traveling entertainer that disappeared immediately after last year's Champion's Games. All his attempts to divine her fate have met with failure, so his quest brought him to Greyhawk itself. Asking around, it seems Lahaka and Loris became lovers, and that the arena manager took her as his consort for a time. Then - nothing. She was never seen after last year's games and Ekaym belives Loris had something to do with it. But he's exhausted every avenue of research available to him, and pleaded with the heroes to search for any evidence of his sister in the arena underground. He promised to give them his share of the winnings if they would only try.
The heroes agreed, and Ekaym brought them potions of healing from the nearby temple. The first day of the Champion's Games drew to a close on Fireseek 18, but it seems the heroes' journey had only just taken a new turn.
Campaign Updates
Alright, sorry about the delay on this one. Nothing much to update here, though, so I'll just move on.
I'll post the details of Quest Cards and XP later today.
'Till next, Game On!
"Weird" Dave Olson
Dragonfyre Gaming Association
weird.dave.dfga@gmail.com
Fireseek 18, 595 CY
On Fireseek 7, the heroes were invited to home of Eligos the Sage, who was contracted by the companions to research the writhing green worms and reports of unkillable zombies. The heroes arrived at Eligos' home promptly, and enjoyed a fine meal of turducken over pleasant conversation. As the meal drew to a close, Argo mentioned the mind flayer Xyrzog's sale of something called the Apostolic Scrolls to Loris Raknian. Eligos visibly paled at this, excusing himself from the table with haste and retreated to the library.
The heroes finished their meal in silence, and joined Eligos in the library shortly thereafter. By the light of the fire Eligos explained what he had learned about the green worms and tales of a coming apocalypse.
* The green worms, and zombies that carried them, were known as spawns of Kyuss - terrible undead killing machines that spread their curse by way of the worms. The humanoid spawns of Kyuss the heroes had encountered at Blackwall Keep were only the lesser versions. Stronger variants were known to exist.
* Kyuss is a lesser known god of undeath and the mastery of the undead - his cult was usually small and sometimes attached to larger organizations, such as the faithful of Hextor, Nerull, or Vecna.
* Referenced in dozens of texts going back hundreds of years, on cave walls and in obscure references, are whispers of an oncoming apocalypse of great magnitude. Called by many names (such as the End Times and the Era of Desolation), this momentous event seems linked somehow to Kyuss through the older referenced Age of Worms. Books such as Libris Mortis, the Necronomicon, and the Apostolic Scrolls all tell of this coming age of death, destruction, madness, and chaos. All of Eligos' research indicates this Age of Worms is fast approaching.
The heroes informed the sage that Loris Raknian had hired Xyrzog to assassinate them, and that the same Loris had purchased the Apostolic Scrolls beforehand. Eligos pointed out that Raknian must be part of the Kyuss cult, though whether he's the leader or simply a puppet remains to be seen. The Apostolic Scrolls were penned by Kyuss himself when he was a mortal, and detail the summoning of the Apostle of Kyuss. More commonly referred to as an ulgurstasta, this creature was a massive, bloated worm capable of swallowing people whole and spewing them out as zombies. There have been tales of some ulgurstastas vomiting forth spawns of Kyuss as well.
All of these details pointed to one terrifying fact - the cult of Kyuss was alive and well in the Free City of Greyhawk, and they had pinpointed the companions as a threat. Loris Raknian was the only firm lead they had, but it was a difficult one to follow-up on. Raknian is a powerful figure in the city, with ties back to the Directing Oligarchy and many influential guilds. Confronting him directly would only force him to cash in whatever favors he had. This would pose a problem but for one fact - Loris Raknian is in charge of the Champion's Games, a gladiatorial festival set to start in ten days. With his attention turned towards the event's organization and promotion, the heroes may have the opportunity they need to get to the bottom of the conspiracy.
Eligos smiled and said that the fates might just be smiling on them. A few days ago, he was visited by an adventuring friend, who was asking if the sage knew any competent people interested in fighting in the Champion's Games. The heroes thought about it and decided that joining the gladiator games was the easiest way to get to the bottom of things. Eligos promised he would put them in touch with his friend named Celeste in the next couple of days.
In the meantime, he advised keeping a low profile. Duke mentioned they had an appointment with the Lord-Mayor regarding the doppelgangers that have infiltrated the government, but Eligos stronger encouraged them to not present that information directly. He volunteered to handle the details, and promised that if there were any rewards he would pass them on completely.
With the evenings events drawn to a close, Eligos bid them a good night. The heroes returned to the Crooked House, almost supernaturally aware of a constant presence staring at them from the shadows. Probably just their imaginations. Probably.
The next few days the companions heeded the sage's advice. Duke penned several scrolls and created some alchemical items, while the rest of the heroes hung around the common room or ducked out for a quick stop at a shop. On Fireseek 9 a beautiful platinum-haired woman entered the Crooked House, accompanied by a short but relatively pleasant man. She quickly found the heroes and introduced herself as Celeste, Eligos' friend. She introduced the man next to her as Ekaym Smallcask, a merchant from the south who had acquired a manager's license for the Champion's Games but had no champions to enter.
Ekaym stepped up and smiled at the gathered companions, asking them point blank if they would fight for him in the gladiator arena. Ekaym also explained the general proceedings and possible winnings before they made their decision.
The Champion's Games was a massive gladiatorial event lasting five days. Twenty-four teams compete and only one wins the final round. The night before the games begin is the Champion's Dinner, where merchants and managers can meet the teams and place bets. The first day consisted of six team battles, with four teams pitted against each other in a battle royale. The six winnners of that day continued on, but the second day was one of rest - no gladiator combats. The third day featured three team-on-team matches. The fourth day consisted of two large matches, with one featuring two of the teams against each other and the other pitting a team against a monster. Usually the honor of fighting the monster went the previous year's winners. The two teams who were victorious fought each other in a knock-down, drag-out battle free-for-all on the fifth day, the winners being declared as Champions!
Kaspar pointed that this was all well and good, but what about payment? Ekaym proposed the following: he would 50% and the team would split the remaining 50%. With the help of his companions, the elf monk pointed out that this was not at all logical, and managed to get the flamboyant man to come to a 40/60 split. After Kong flexed his muscles, Ekaym and the heroes settled on equal shares split six ways.
The next point of contention was the name of the gladiator team. Ekaym suggested Ekaym's Team, which was immediately rejected, along with series of ridiculous, outlandish, or arrogant names suggested by everyone. They eventually settled on the Kings of the Road as their team name.
With arrangements made, Ekaym thanked the heroes and told them to arrive at the Free City Arena on Fireseek 17 by 5:00 pm - that was the start of the Champion's Dinner. From that point on they would be restricted to the arena grounds, so they should prepare accordingly. With a bow and a flourish, their manager left. Celeste had departed at some point during negotiations.
The next seven days passed slowly for the companions. They kept their heads down, always fearful of retributive strikes from the powerful Raknian. But thankfully none came, and eventually Fireseek 17 - the day of the Champion's Dinner - arrived.
Arriving in full battle gear, the heroes were not out of place. All sorts of gladiators were gathered around the banquet tables set in the grand Free City Arena itself, from the traditional dwarves, barbarians, archers, and wizards, to traditional monsters, such as gnolls and animals. The heroes met up with Ekaym quickly, and were introduced to a multitude of merchants and government officials, all of whom seemed to have an eye on them for betting purposes. Amongst the people mingling around were the legendary heroes Loncer Amorocco and Rugrunt Garoul, who were guests of Raknian and would be performing on the second day of the games.
During the festivities, Argo noticed Ekaym's attention always seemed intently focused on Loris Raknian, the charismatic organizer and previous Champion's Game winner also attending the event. Kaspar noted that Loris' eye seemed to drift towards their own table, but only briefly. He clearly was aware of their presence but did nothing untoward his status during the evening's events.
As the evening drew on, Shanks was approached by a beautiful elven woman in a leather bustier. She introduced herself as Vivian, and indicated that a certain organization (*wink, wink*) was interested in making a large wager on the final match, and they picked the heroes' team to win. The previous year's winners was a team called Auric's Band, and they would very likely make it to the final match as well. If the heroes would put 2,500 gp up front and win the match, this guild would give them a return of 10,000 gp. Vivian also indicated that taking this wager would be a good way to join this guild, something Shanks had attempted to do initially upon entering Greyhawk.
The halfling took the offer to his companions. Duke, Kong, and Argo decided to take the bet (Shanks was too poor and Kaspar was saving up his coins), and they ponied up the dough to make the wager. Argo also placed all of his remaining coins on their team to win the first match.
Around midnight, the moderator of the Champion's Games put on a pyrotechnics and fireworks show that dazzled all attendees. Loris Raknian announced the games had begun in a large, booming voice, and the gladiators were ushered into the arena underground. The underground consisted of two levels - the first, just below the arena itself, was a well-maintained series of chambers for managers and other important people. The level below that was cut into the caverns and consisted primarily of the Coenby (pronounced "see-no-bee"), where the gladiators were taken. This was the chamber where the teams would rest and spend the next five days. Security was tight, and the heroes learned that Raknian's palace was attached to the arena grounds on the upper level.
The night passed relatively uneventfully, and the next day the matches were posted on the wall. The Kings of the Road were set to fight at 10:00 am against three other teams. The first was Arcane Auriga, a team of four elven woman who specialized in archery. They were icy and cold to everyone, but especially seemed to hate men. The second team was Badlands Revenge, which had an angry druid and two gnolls with halberds. They were likewise silent towards everyone. The third team was Azure Riders, and the leader of this team was a flamboyant janni of a boisterous and womanizing nature. He approached the heroes with a proposition - him and his team of mounted mercenaries would focus on the women of Arcane Auriga if the heroes started with Badlands Revenge. That way they can focus on one team at a time.
The heroes were leary but accepted the proposal. The appointed time came and the gladiator teams were ushered up to the top level and positioned at each side of the arena. The stands of the Free City Arena were packed with thousands of spectators, and the announcer - enhanced though he was by magic - could barely be heard over the roar of the crowd. Each team was introduced and brought up to the blood-stained sands of the arena in turn. Loris Raknian announced the match had begun and a gong rang out. The four teams surged forward to meet in the blood-thirsty combat.
The mounted warriors of Azure Riders made ride-by attacks on Arcane Auriga but it was clear they were outmatched. The Kings of the Road, enhanced by a haste spell cast by Duke, charged fearlessly forward towards Badlands Revenge. Kaspar let arrows fly from his bow while Kong charged, his icy greatsword flashing in the morning light. Argo and Shanks followed right behind.
The druid in charge of Badlands Revenge gave a mighty shout, matched by Kong's feral raging roar. The barbarian cut his opponent deep, but the return blows from the twin gnolls and their halberds cut him deep. Argo and Kaspar teamed off against one of the gnolls just as Kong raised his greatsword and cut the druid deep. Roaring in response, he morphed into a giant crocodile and took a chunk out of Kong's hide. Duke rained magic missiles from a safe distance.
In the firm grips of his inhuman barbarian rage, Kong cleft his crocodile opponent with the mighty swing, spraying blood in a hot arc. The crowd went nuts, and they leapt to their feet when the barbarian brought his still-bloody greatsword in a spin and cut the head off the second gnoll. Argo and Kaspar finished off the other gnoll easily and the crowd started to chant "KINGS! KINGS! KINGS!" The heroes relished the rush of adrenaline for but a moment.
On the other side of the arena the Azure Riders were getting pounded on by Arcane Auriga. One of the mercenary riders galloped towards the heroes, and Kong saw an opportunity. He charged and made a mighty leap, intent on tackling the rider, but instead wound up with a face full of sand. Shanks was thereto pick up the slack, however, and the halfling gave a tiny roar, leapt onto the back of Kong, and drove himself straight into the mercenary rider's flank. The two of them tumbled head over tails on the sand, and the unmounted horse galloped away.
The Azure Riders surrendered at that moment, realizing they were outmatched, so the Kings of the Road turned their attention towards Arcane Auriga. The heroes were peppered with well-placed arrows, but when the fight was brought to melee the elven women didn't stand a chance. Kaspar, whipped up by the frenzy of the crowd, drove his fist into the jaw of one of the woman, killing her instantly. The other three surrendered immediately afterward. The Kings of the Road were proclaimed victors!
In the announcer's booth, Ekaym was presented with the trophy and coin reward from Loris Raknian while the heroes were led downstairs to the chants of "KINGS! KINGS! KINGS!" They collapsed, wounded and exhausted but ultimately victorious, in the Coenby. Other teams came and went as the day passed on, and after the final match was done the heroes were visited by Ekaym.
In a hushed tone, Ekaym congratulated the heroes on a job well done, but admitted a secondary motive in entering the games. His sister, Lahaka, was a traveling entertainer that disappeared immediately after last year's Champion's Games. All his attempts to divine her fate have met with failure, so his quest brought him to Greyhawk itself. Asking around, it seems Lahaka and Loris became lovers, and that the arena manager took her as his consort for a time. Then - nothing. She was never seen after last year's games and Ekaym belives Loris had something to do with it. But he's exhausted every avenue of research available to him, and pleaded with the heroes to search for any evidence of his sister in the arena underground. He promised to give them his share of the winnings if they would only try.
The heroes agreed, and Ekaym brought them potions of healing from the nearby temple. The first day of the Champion's Games drew to a close on Fireseek 18, but it seems the heroes' journey had only just taken a new turn.
Campaign Updates
Alright, sorry about the delay on this one. Nothing much to update here, though, so I'll just move on.
I'll post the details of Quest Cards and XP later today.
'Till next, Game On!
"Weird" Dave Olson
Dragonfyre Gaming Association
weird.dave.dfga@gmail.com
Monday, January 21, 2008
Campaign Roundup: Deadlands Part I
Howdy, pardner. It's been a long while since we last played Deadlands, and even a longer while since we STARTED playing Deadlands. One of my goals this year was to wrap up some of these longer standing campaigns, and I think Deadlands will be the first recipient. I've got my last scenarios planned out and everything, but I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to do a look back at this very rich and entertaining campaign.
First, a very quick overview of the cast of characters. If I miss some details I do apologize, it's just a rough roundup. Just for clarification, I'm starting this roundup with The Mission - that first Deadlands scenario that was successful. There was a previous one to that, involving some coyotes with gazelle legs and a crawling hand that SOMEBODY shot, but we won't go into details about that. It was painful for all involved, mainly because the posse failed.
* Jonny Redd - Indian, killed by the Great Worm of the Glacier in front of the Overlook Hotel on December 22nd, 1877, returned to the world of the living as Harrowed. Been with the posse since the beginning.
* Rufus Prescott - Bounty hunter from Denver, been with the posse since the beginning, lost his arm to Jonny Redd in a haunted Wisconsin cabin on February 18th, 1878. Gained a mechanical arm in Salt Lake City on March 15th, 1878, from flesh-working Dr. Gash.
* Brant Rav - Mad scientist and great lover of explosions, joined the posse in Salt Lake City on July 16th, 1877, for ill-fated Haskins Expedition to the Grand Canyon. Met father (thought dead) on airship above Sacramento on April 1st, 1878, and gained possession of powerful ghost rock bomb.
* Father Charles Guiness - Irish Catholic priest from back east, holy man and faith healer. Skilled with the shotgun, been with the posse since the beginning - it was his mission into Arizona that brought the posse together.
* Corporal Nathan Greaves - Ranking Confederate soldier and Texas Ranger, Harrowed. Joins posse at various points whenever it suits his needs. Skilled gunfighter and nigh impossible to kill (being he's already dead).
* Ranger Ned Alden - Texas Ranger, been with the posse almost since the beginning. He recruited the posse to assist in the recovery of Bayou Vermillion gold on June 19th, 1877, and has shown up every once in a while to ask the posse for favors and to shoot Mexican werewolves.
* Big Momma - Large black woman, gunslinger. Joined posse early on and followed them through many escapades. Eventually met her grisly end in the City o' Ghouls on August 20th, 1877, when she wasn't quick enough to jump backwards.
* "Black" Cat Jones - Joined posse in Grand Canyon caverns, huckster by trade born under a cat's eye moon. She traveled before with the posse before being blown to smithereens by Brant Rav's dynamite blast on December 22nd, 1877, in front of the Overlook Hotel in Denver.
* Jumbiliah Rembasa - Houngan witch doctor and voodoo man from New Orleans, joined posse when they visited the Crescent City on January 20th, 1878, investigating strange murders. Scared nearly to death of fright after seeing the Harrowed Jonny Redd on February 17th, 1878, fled into Wisconsin wilderness after recovering.
* Diego Sanfilipo - Mexican gunslinger and bodyguard from an aristocratic family in Mexico City. Fled country after French invaded.
* Ghost Bear - Aged Cherokee indian shaman of the Bear totem, gathered a new posse to help rid the land of the Night Train (which was full of vampires).
* Agent Mel McGrath - Woman, member of the Agency - shadowy organization that operates under the jurisdiction of the United States of America.
* Shen Lu "Burning Lungs" - Chinese pirate, met up with posse in Shan Fan to help locate missing airship Proletariat.
* Bud Claybourne - United States military deserter from Battle of Little Bighorn, Minnesota native. Lost leg to horrible carriage accident in Sacramento.
* Hamlin Shambler (the Rambling Gambler) - Unscrupulous cardshark and skilled gambler.
* Max Perriwinkel - Reporter for Tombstone Epitaph, met with posse in New Orleans while investigating stories of random murders. Crushed to death by Hangin' Tree in the Louisiana bayou on January 23rd, 1878.
Phew! What a cast of kooky, crazy, or just plain dead characters. I think this is where I'm going to leave it for now - I'll round up the campaign events in a very near future blog. Hell, I might actually print the timeline I've been keeping in my moldy notebook. That is the only reason I have all the dates in order for events.
Let me know if I've forgotten a character who's been involved with the primary campaign. Next up - Campaign Round: Deadlands Part II - the actual campaign!
First, a very quick overview of the cast of characters. If I miss some details I do apologize, it's just a rough roundup. Just for clarification, I'm starting this roundup with The Mission - that first Deadlands scenario that was successful. There was a previous one to that, involving some coyotes with gazelle legs and a crawling hand that SOMEBODY shot, but we won't go into details about that. It was painful for all involved, mainly because the posse failed.
* Jonny Redd - Indian, killed by the Great Worm of the Glacier in front of the Overlook Hotel on December 22nd, 1877, returned to the world of the living as Harrowed. Been with the posse since the beginning.
* Rufus Prescott - Bounty hunter from Denver, been with the posse since the beginning, lost his arm to Jonny Redd in a haunted Wisconsin cabin on February 18th, 1878. Gained a mechanical arm in Salt Lake City on March 15th, 1878, from flesh-working Dr. Gash.
* Brant Rav - Mad scientist and great lover of explosions, joined the posse in Salt Lake City on July 16th, 1877, for ill-fated Haskins Expedition to the Grand Canyon. Met father (thought dead) on airship above Sacramento on April 1st, 1878, and gained possession of powerful ghost rock bomb.
* Father Charles Guiness - Irish Catholic priest from back east, holy man and faith healer. Skilled with the shotgun, been with the posse since the beginning - it was his mission into Arizona that brought the posse together.
* Corporal Nathan Greaves - Ranking Confederate soldier and Texas Ranger, Harrowed. Joins posse at various points whenever it suits his needs. Skilled gunfighter and nigh impossible to kill (being he's already dead).
* Ranger Ned Alden - Texas Ranger, been with the posse almost since the beginning. He recruited the posse to assist in the recovery of Bayou Vermillion gold on June 19th, 1877, and has shown up every once in a while to ask the posse for favors and to shoot Mexican werewolves.
* Big Momma - Large black woman, gunslinger. Joined posse early on and followed them through many escapades. Eventually met her grisly end in the City o' Ghouls on August 20th, 1877, when she wasn't quick enough to jump backwards.
* "Black" Cat Jones - Joined posse in Grand Canyon caverns, huckster by trade born under a cat's eye moon. She traveled before with the posse before being blown to smithereens by Brant Rav's dynamite blast on December 22nd, 1877, in front of the Overlook Hotel in Denver.
* Jumbiliah Rembasa - Houngan witch doctor and voodoo man from New Orleans, joined posse when they visited the Crescent City on January 20th, 1878, investigating strange murders. Scared nearly to death of fright after seeing the Harrowed Jonny Redd on February 17th, 1878, fled into Wisconsin wilderness after recovering.
* Diego Sanfilipo - Mexican gunslinger and bodyguard from an aristocratic family in Mexico City. Fled country after French invaded.
* Ghost Bear - Aged Cherokee indian shaman of the Bear totem, gathered a new posse to help rid the land of the Night Train (which was full of vampires).
* Agent Mel McGrath - Woman, member of the Agency - shadowy organization that operates under the jurisdiction of the United States of America.
* Shen Lu "Burning Lungs" - Chinese pirate, met up with posse in Shan Fan to help locate missing airship Proletariat.
* Bud Claybourne - United States military deserter from Battle of Little Bighorn, Minnesota native. Lost leg to horrible carriage accident in Sacramento.
* Hamlin Shambler (the Rambling Gambler) - Unscrupulous cardshark and skilled gambler.
* Max Perriwinkel - Reporter for Tombstone Epitaph, met with posse in New Orleans while investigating stories of random murders. Crushed to death by Hangin' Tree in the Louisiana bayou on January 23rd, 1878.
Phew! What a cast of kooky, crazy, or just plain dead characters. I think this is where I'm going to leave it for now - I'll round up the campaign events in a very near future blog. Hell, I might actually print the timeline I've been keeping in my moldy notebook. That is the only reason I have all the dates in order for events.
Let me know if I've forgotten a character who's been involved with the primary campaign. Next up - Campaign Round: Deadlands Part II - the actual campaign!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
The Death of HD-DVD
As many of you should know by now, there are two formats in the next generation of high definition movies - HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. The differences between the two are fairly minor technically speaking, but everything else about them couldn't be more polar opposite. HD-DVD is published by Toshiba while Blu-Ray is published by Sony. HD-DVD earned the support of Microsoft early on, which put two of the multimedia giants in direct competition. Sony vs. Microsoft. Xbox 360 vs. PlayStation 3. The lines couldn't be drawn any more down the center of the industry.
And that's the way it's been for the past couple of years. HD-DVD would enjoy the support of most of the studios, including a few exclusives (notably Universal) while Blu-Ray did the same. And then Warner Brothers announced a few days ago that they would support Blu-Ray EXCLUSIVELY. You can pretty much stick a fork in HD-DVD - it's done. Very likely Universal will start supporting both formats rather than HD-DVD exclusive, but that won't make a difference.
Watch this video to see what has transpired in the secret bunker that houses the think tank behind HD-DVD.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=friS4OOcdgQ
And that's the way it's been for the past couple of years. HD-DVD would enjoy the support of most of the studios, including a few exclusives (notably Universal) while Blu-Ray did the same. And then Warner Brothers announced a few days ago that they would support Blu-Ray EXCLUSIVELY. You can pretty much stick a fork in HD-DVD - it's done. Very likely Universal will start supporting both formats rather than HD-DVD exclusive, but that won't make a difference.
Watch this video to see what has transpired in the secret bunker that houses the think tank behind HD-DVD.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=friS4OOcdgQ
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Age of Worms Campaign Update: 1/10/2008
CHRONICLE VAULT 20080110, FROM THE LIBRARY OF RHAVUS THE FIEND-SAGE ...
Fireseek 7, 595 CY
The web of conspiracy surrounding the heroes seemed to be growing by the day. Upon entering the Free City of Greyhawk, the companions had been attacked by a rampaging chimera, framed for attacking a gnome innkeeper, assaulted the headquarters of a well-placed doppelganger gang, and learned that a mysterious mind flayer wanted them dead for unknown reasons. They spent the night of Fireseek 4 in the comforts of the Crooked House, considering their predicament and licking their wounds from the Sodden Hold incident, always aware of a keen eye watching their very movements.
The next day the heroes spent the morning getting their healing fix at the Temple of Pelor and selling the various items they had taken from the doppelganger lair (which included the large mirror Duke had wanted so badly for his own). With the coins from the sale they bought up potions of remove paralysis and other items in preparation for confronting the illithid. They also marched up to the Grand Citadel to speak with Lord Mayor Nerof Gasgal concerning the shapechangers that had infiltrated almost every level of Greyhawk's government. The Lord Mayor was busy but they did schedule an appointment for Fireseek 6 at 10:15 in the morning.
The note the heroes had found in the doppelganger leader's personal chambers indicated that someone needed to meet with the gang leader "below the cold forge to deal with some troublesome small minds." It was not dated, and initial thoughts were that the doppelganger was meeting the illithid at this junction at some future date. However, Kaspar pointed out that THEY were probably the "small minds" referenced in the document since the doppelgangers had no other reason to target them as they did in the Crooked House.
After some deliberation the heroes decided to start tracking the illithid starting at the secret entrance to the Greyhawk sewer system in Sodden Hold. Argo took the lead, and away the adventurers went, trudging through the twisting narrow passages filled with waist-deep muck-encrusted sewage water. They stopped a few points to get their bearings, and Duke pointed out something on the map. Beggar's gold, the fungus found on the boots of the drow that accompanied the illithid, usually grew from the runoff of smithies and forges. There was a weaponsmith shop called the Cold Forge in the Artisan's Quarter of the city - perhaps the note referenced meeting underneath the specific building? It was decided that Argo would keep leading the party through the sewers, since it seemed like he had the trail, but the information provided by the dwarf aided the searching immensely.
After two hours of trudging through the sewers they came upon a particularly deep and ancient part of the sanitation system -somewhere below the Artisan's Quarter, Argo surmised. A cavern system branched off from the main sewer tunnels, marked by a large patch of beggar's gold with numerous booted footprints in the fungus. All of them prepared for what lay ahead by drawing weapons and their inner reserve of strength to combat this great foe.
The cavern opened up after about twenty feet to a small chamber covered in numerous types of mushrooms and fungi. There were four particularly large mushrooms that had a strange, almost face-like appearance to them. Kong whispered that they might be the fungus people known as myconids, but Duke was confident that it wasn't. Kaspar shrugged his shoulders and nocked an arrow to his bow, determined to shoot one of them and see what happened. The dwarf druid wizard nodded sagely and correctly identified them as shriekers - a fungus alarm system typically used by intelligent underground dwelling creatures. Just as the elf monk was about to let loose his arrow Shanks stopped him in the nick of time. They didn't want to alert whatever lay further down to the presence of intruders by tripping off the alarm system!
But they needed to get through the chamber, so one by one they carefully stepped around the shriekers. Except for Duke, who used a potion of spider climb provided by Argo to make it over the ceiling. The halfling ranger's badger Bacon was left to guard the entrance. Keeping their torches held high they proceeded down the hall. Luckily Kong had his eyes opened, for as they turned a corner he spotted an alcove ten feet up that contained a trio of drow warriors. The drow turned their hand crossbows to the party as Kong launched his trident back. One of the sneaky dark elves dropped down to the passage and ran further down, apparently intent on alerting others. With the speed and grace of an elven monk Kaspar ran after him and easily caught up, slamming the retreating drow with a well-placed stunning fist.
The remaining two drow continued to pepper the party with hand crossbow bolts, with Kong launching his returning trident continually and Argo using his newly purchased shortbow to good effect. Duke used charges from his wand of magic missiles to strike unerringly at his foes while Shanks scaled the wall to beat them with his spiked chain. The two drow were cornered and defeated, but in the meantime Kaspar was having a difficult time with his opponent. During their melee the drow managed to shout a warning that echoed in the larger cavern. Argo and Kong joined quickly and they dispatched the remaining drow. They found themselves in a larger cavern, and just beyond the light of their torches and light spells they could see that the cavern opened into another.
And from that other cavern Duke and Kaspar heard muttering - spellcasting muttering. Seeing how they were grouped together, the elf monk took steps backwards to distance himself from whatever was being cast. The dwarf listened intently and determined the spell being cast was a confusion spell - but did not get away in time. Kong, Duke, Argo, and Shanks were caught in the area of effect of the spell just as five drow warriors and a drow priestess entered the chamber. Of the four Duke was the only one who resisted the spell.
As the drow approached the dwarf wizard launched his own area of attack spell - fireball, which scorched all of the enemies. But the rest of his party fell to the effects of the confusion spell, with Shanks attacking Argo with the spiked chain, Argo stabbing Kong wickedly with his dagger, and Kong swiping at Argo with his frosty greatsword. All three of them then started to run away from the approaching drow, occasionally stopping to babble incoherently. Kaspar managed to defeat the very wounded drow warriors, but the priestess stepped up to Duke under the effects of a divine power spell and attacked him mercilessly with her morningstar. The dwarf wizard was not built for melee combat, but failed to penetrate the priestess' magical resistance with his spells. It was a decidedly one-sided fight, but Kaspar ran up and assisted. The fight raged on, and eventually the confusion spell on their companions wore off. Kong was the first one to return from his foray into insanity (where he learned the secrets of the universe from the shrieking mushrooms, but forget what they told him). It was Argo's daggers that finally did the drow priestess in, and they breathed a sigh of relief when they discovered no other enemies attacking them.
They took a few momens to take stock of themselves and pass around healing potions, getting back into fighting condition. The cavern the drow came from held a chattel pen with some starved pigs and sleeping quarters for the warriors and priestess. The passage continued on, and this time Shanks took the lead to search for traps or other surprises. They came upon a purple sigil inscribed on the floor - the same sigil that the doppelganger leader had tattooed on his forehead. The halfling rogue felt in his tiny bones that something was not right and searched all around. He found, inscribed on the ceiling, a glyph of warding trap cleverly hidden. Everyone else backed up as Shanks went to work at disabling the magical trap, something he wasn't terribly good at. And unfortunately he triggered the trap, but his amazing reflexes kept him fully out of the acidic blast of the trap. They found no other traps and continued cautiously forward, passing over the purple sigil on the floor.
After a short way they came upon a strange site. The passage opened up into a small cavern, against which was a pair of wide, white marble double doors. The marble was streaked with unusual purple veins and the doors were flanked by two large pillars of the same material. The purple sigil was again on the pillars, which they determined to be the illithid's personal seal. Shanks went forward to search the room for traps, but was caught off-guard when a strange creature dropped from the ceiling behind one of the pillars.
It was like a land-based octopus, with two long undulating tentacles and a single bulbous eye atop its leathery, glistening, mauve skin. Another fell from behind the other pillar and scuttled towards the remaining the heroes, all of which were surprised by the sudden appearance of the grotesque creatures. Shanks and Kong were the target of their tentacle claws, as well as they strangely hypnotic unblinking eye which slowed their movements to a crawl. The heroes retaliated, with Kong's frosty greatsword cutting huge chunks of purple flesh away in a spray of oil-like blood. While he couldn't identify them specifically, Argo recognized the creatures as terrible abominations - which he had studied intensely, and knew how they fought. The two octopus-like things were defeated after an intense bit of combat.
The only course of action left to them was the double-doors, so after Shanks checked it thoroughly for traps they opened them. Inside was revealed a round chamber, in the center of which squatted a large marble statue of a brain. It was made from the same white marble as the doors and pillars, but the veins of purple seemed to pulsate with their hearbeats. There were four benches surrounding the stone brain with manacles attached to each one. A corridor exited the round room on the opposite side of the entrance.
Kong shrugged his shoulders and stepped forward, and immediately felt a strange pull at his very will emanating from the stone brain. The emenations beat upon his subconscious like waves against a beach, and very quickly they defeated his mental barriers. His mind taken over, the mighty barbarian could only think of one thing - serving Xyrzog. Xyrzog was all there was and all there ever will be, and he calmly sat down on one of the benches and placed the manacles on his wrists.
The rest of the heroes were confused by this. Argo stepped in to check it out and felt the same urging, falling under the spell of the stone brain. He took a seat on one of the benches as well. Shanks looked around and couldn't find anything obviously trapped so he stepped inside, and was also dominated by the stone brain.
This was a most distressing turn of events. Three out of the five companions were now sitting around the strange stone brain, intoning the name Xyrzog repeatedly. Duke and Kaspar were left outside. Duke studied the behavior of his friends, but couldn't pinpoint their magical coercion to a specific spell he was aware - definitely some kind of enchantment or charm, but was it as simple as a charm person or was it the more powerful dominate person? He wasn't sure, but he felt confident in his own mental preparations so he stepped inside.
And fell under the sway of the stone brain, taking up the fourth seat. Kaspar, alone, stood outside the chamber. He certainly did NOT want to go inside, but he was kind of stuck on what to do. He shot a few arrows at the stone brain, and it chipped a little bit, but he didn't have the quantity of arrows necessary to destroy it. Then an idea hit him. Eventually the mind flayer, who was presumably named Xyrzog, would come into the chamber. He would wait outside behind one of the pillars and attack the illithid once he arrived. It was the best plan he could think of considering the desperate circumstances.
And so he waited. And waited. And waited. An hour eventually passed before the illithid stepped into the chamber. It seemed genuinely shocked to find four people sitting on the benches, manacled, and apparently slavishly worshipping his very name. Its tentacles writhed in anticipation as it stepped towards Shanks.
Kaspar took this moment to act, plugging the mind flayer with an arrow. Xyrzog seemed less than concerned with this, and put off his brain-eating urges to deal with the elf monk. But Kaspar decided it was time to act, and ran inside with all his speed. His monk training helped to keep the magical domination effect at bay and he ran to Kong. He slapped the barbarian and shouted, which seemed to break the effect of the magical charm. Kong blinked a few times as he regained his senses just as Xyrzog cast a withering lightning bolt. The illithid carried a strange rod that glowed with power as he cast the spell, and both Kong and Kaspar took the brunt of the lightning attack.
Kong raised his hands to the air and gave a mighty bellow, entering into a fierce barbarian rage. The blinding anger helped shield his mind when Xyrzog tried to use a mind blast, but instead was cut by the raging barbarian's greatsword. Kaspar worked his way around the room, slapping his companions and staying out of the illithid's area of effect spells. Kong kept the mind flayer busy until he was joined by Shanks and Argo. Duke used his spells from a distance but could not seem to penetrate the mind flayer's magical resistance.
Xyrzog knew he was in trouble. It was not built for combat, especially against a spinning dagger-wielding halfling of death, a raging barbarian slashing repeatedly with a greatsword, and another halfling raining blow after blow with a twisting spiked chain. The mind flayer was finally cut down by Kong as it tried to cast a spell and get away. As Xyrzog died, the stone brain in the center of the room died as well.
The heroes congratulated Kaspar on a job well done, although begrudgingly. The elven monk had taken a terrible risk with their lives, but it did work out in the end. The five companions moved through the rest of the mind flayer's domain, finding a host of strange things. The first room they come upon was a laboratory of some kind, which included notes collected by Xyrzog on the creation of the octopins (the strange purple octopus-like creatures) as well as some sort of "brain worm" that would make its host easier to dominate. The next room was a museum of some sort, which contained a host of bizarre finds, including: a petrified pseudodragon, beholder eyestalks in jars, a magical dagger with dangling kyton chains, and a small stuffed doll that looked a lot like Shanks. The doll had more than a dozen spikes from a spiked devil shoved into it. The halfling rogue was a bit shaken by this find, but discovered that the doll didn't seem to have any effect on his own person. He took it anyway though.
The last chamber was a tall round room with a pool of green water in the center. Inside the pool swam dozens of tadpole like creatures. Argo correctly identified them as illithid tadpoles, which is how the mind flayers reproduce. Once the tadpole reaches maturity (after about ten years) it is inserted into a host creature, usually human. Over the course of several months the host is turned into an illithid as the tadpole mutates the being. By inserting the tadpole into other creatures the illithids have created terrible mutations of already horrendous monsters. These tadpoles seemed to be very young.
Shanks checked around and found a secret chamber in this room, which seemed to be Xyrzog's private sanctum. They found a chest, upon which rested an open ledger. The ledger detailed the mind flayer's sale of unusual, rare, and illegal items to buyers. The last two entries were of particular interest to the heroes. The first was the sale of the Apostolic Scrolls to an individual named Loris Raknian. The second, and far more disturbing, was the same Loris Raknian paying Xyrzog to assassinate the heroes (each described by name). Kong recognized the name Loris Raknian as the organizer for the upcoming Champion's Games. But why would he want them dead?
The question ate at everyone's mind, and they returned to the upper streets of Greyhawk City troubled and wary. They kept a low profile for the rest of the day, selling the items they had recovered from the mind flayer's sanctum and dividing up the rest of the treasure. The next day, Fireseek 6, they returned to the Grand Citadel to meet with Lord Mayor Nerof Gasgal but were disappointed to learn that he was out of town. The heroes did meet up with Hasgrov Tallbus, the Directing Oligarchy member they meet previously, and Duke negotiated a peace treaty between the Free City of Greyhawk and the lizardfolk of the Mistmarsh (with everyone's help, of course). The treaty boiled down to a lot of legalese speak for "don't attack us and we won't attack you" but the city officials did agree to allow lizardfolk in the city to trade on a limited basis. A big step forward for democracy since the previous rule was to shoot on sight any lizardfolk.
Fireseek 7 came upon them, and the heroes received a letter of invitation from Eligos. He had found some information in his searchings and wanted to discuss his findings over dinner. The companions finished up their shopping and selling and made their way to Eligos' house as the chill evening air fell upon the city.
Session Updates
Good session. Let me know if you have any concerns or issues with his new format for the campaign updates - it's easier for me, but I know it's not all just about me (just mostly). I'm trying to get in the groove of a weekly session, so unless you hear different - Age of Worms campaign, Thursdays, start around 7 pm. If you can't make it please let me know ahead of time as soon as possible.
Quest Cards Completed
* Negotiate Treaty with Lizardfolk of Mistmarsh
* Investigate Note Found in Doppelganger Lair
Quest Cards In Progress
* What's Ilthane Up To?
* Investigate Loris Raknian and Apostolic Scrolls
XP Recap
8th-level Characters 6,000
'Till next, Game On!
"Weird" Dave Olson
Dragonfyre Gaming Association
weird.dave.dfga@gmail.com
Bockfest 2008!
The fine folk at the Schell Brewery in New Ulm, MN, (about 80 miles southwest of the metro area) are throwing a fetival called Bockfest 2008 on February 2nd, 2008 (that's a Saturday). You can check out the site at the following URL: http://www.schellsbrewery.com/newsevents_info.php?id=6.
Bottom line, though - we need to go. Simple as that. Clear your schedules for Saturday, February 2nd because we are taking a pilgrimage down to New Ulm for Bockfest 2008. And on Sunday, February 3rd, is the Super Bowl. A weekend truly filled with fun, frivolity, and massive quantities of beer.
Bottom line, though - we need to go. Simple as that. Clear your schedules for Saturday, February 2nd because we are taking a pilgrimage down to New Ulm for Bockfest 2008. And on Sunday, February 3rd, is the Super Bowl. A weekend truly filled with fun, frivolity, and massive quantities of beer.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Weird Dave's Cinematic 2007 Year in Review
I'm going to start the posting of the Cinematic 2007 Year in Review with my Top 10 movies of the year and Bottom 10 movies of the year. Enjoy. I might post reviews of the top 1 and bottom 1; maybe more; maybe less.
Best of 2007
10. I Am Legend
9. Grindhouse
8. Knocked Up
7. Stardust
6. Sweeney Todd
5. Beowulf
4. Hot Fuzz
3. The Mist
2. Smokin’ Aces
1. Shoot ‘Em Up
Worst of 2007
10. The Golden Compass
9. 30 Days of Night
8. 1408
7. Number 23
6. Epic Movie
5. 28 Weeks Later
4. Shrek the 3rd
3. Wild Hogs
2. No Country for Old Men
1. Transformers
Gearing Up for New Beer
W00t for b33r! Or something like that. I actually hate leet speak or however crazy way it's spelled. It won't happen again.
The next beer to be brewed by the fine craftsmen at Dragonfyre Brewing is going to be a California Steam Beer, which is a lager brewed at ale temperatures. Lager's tend to have a crisper, lighter flavor than a traditional ale, but they are difficult for the home brewer to produce because they require fermentation in a moderated cold environment (around 45 to 50 degrees). This Steam Beer from Midwest uses ale yeast that PREFERS colder fermentation but should be fine around 60 degrees or so.
We should start the brewing of this steam beer next Friday or Saturday (1/18 or 1/19) depending on brewmaster availability.
The next beer to be brewed by the fine craftsmen at Dragonfyre Brewing is going to be a California Steam Beer, which is a lager brewed at ale temperatures. Lager's tend to have a crisper, lighter flavor than a traditional ale, but they are difficult for the home brewer to produce because they require fermentation in a moderated cold environment (around 45 to 50 degrees). This Steam Beer from Midwest uses ale yeast that PREFERS colder fermentation but should be fine around 60 degrees or so.
We should start the brewing of this steam beer next Friday or Saturday (1/18 or 1/19) depending on brewmaster availability.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Age of Worms Campaign Update: 1/3/2008
CHRONICLE VAULT 20080103, FROM THE LIBRARY OF RHAVUS THE FIEND-SAGE ...
Fireseek 4, 595 CY
The mysteries of Sodden Hold lay before the heroes as they stood in the prison chamber of the supposedly abandoned warehouse. Beyond the double doors lay what once was a loading dock for ships from the Selintan River. Much of the floor had rotted away, leaving only slimy beams crossing the treacherous waters ten feet below, which seemed to be filled with rusty swords, spears, and other debris. Argo Moleskin decided to go first across the beams, and made his way skillfully across. Shanks was not far behind him, and Argo made it about halfway through when WHOMP! something hit him. The halfling ranger was sent tumbling from the planks into the debris-laden water below, the sharp edges cutting him even further.
Nobody could identify what had happened, least of all Argo, and he swam through the waters to the opposite side of the chamber and clambered up to a semi-stable piece of floor. He looked around, cautious, when suddenly WHOMP! he was slammed again and sent back to the murky algae-infested water. Shanks approached the piece of rotted floor the ranger had been standing on cautiously. From the entrance to the chamber Duke brought up the fact that they might be facing an invisible stalker - a being from the Elemental Plane of Air composed entirely of forceful wind. With the skill and speed of a graceful elven monk Kaspar lightly stepped on the slimy boards and met up with Argo. He was hit by the slamming force as well, but he managed to keep his footing and return the blow, connecting with a semi-solid being. The success was enough to lift the spirits of the rest of the heroes. On his way to the fray, however, Kong slipped on the mildew and tumbled into the water. He sputtered and swam to a stable piece of ground and got back up, hefting the trident from the lizardfolk chieftain at where he guessed the invisible stalker was. His trident struck a glancing blow to the elemental and was immediately returned to Kong's hands thanks to the magic of the weapon.
Duke summoned up a flaming sphere and connected solidly with their invisible foe as well. Argo climbed down to the water's surface, filled a small bucket he was carrying with the algae-coated water, and threw it with true aim at where the invisible stalker should have been. The being was hit with the water and all could see that the elemental was a large creature. It disappeared after a moment and reappeared next to Kong, indicating the thing could fly as well. After a few slashes with the barbarian's greatsword the invisible stalker was defeated.
During the melee, Kaspar had danced artfully along the boards towards the exit of the room to see if it held any secret towards the defeating the invisible menace (it didn’t). But, it did contain an odd stone shaft, ten feet wide, leading down. After about thirty five feet the shaft was filled with water and a curious barrel. An iron ladder clung to the side of the shaft’s inner wall and stopped at the water level. After a few moments of head scratching, Argo decided to climb down and investigate. He found the barrel to be extremely buoyant and empty and the shaft continued down. The halfling took a deep breath and plunged into the icy waters, swimming down with the aid of his newly acquired ring of swimming. He swam down but discovered he couldn’t see a thing in the darkness of the water, but the shaft definitely expanded into a larger chamber. Argo made his way back up and related what he had found to the rest of his companions.
Duke cast a light spell on Argo’s gloves and it was decided that the heroes would investigate what was at the bottom of the shaft. Argo went first, followed by the quick strokes of Kong, the floundering of Kaspar, and the struggling of Shanks. Eventually the four of them reached the chamber at the end of the shaft, which contained a stone pillar in the middle. The pillar rose up higher than the water level, and they all broke the surface of the water to catch their breaths. A ladder led to the top of the pillar, where Kong discovered a lever. Quickly realizing its purpose the barbarian pulled the lever and watched with a certain level of satisfaction as the water (and pillar) began to descend. Up above, Duke managed to climb down and ride the floating barrel down the entire way. As the water drained away, a side passage was revealed halfway up the south wall leading to an airtight door. The ladder leading up proved stable enough, and Shanks checked the door for traps thoroughly. Assured there were no surprises, they opened it with a heave and stepped inside.
Beyond the doorway stood a hall running east to west. The hall was capped with iron double doors at each end, and four doors could be seen along the south wall with only one on the north wall. Shanks immediately set his sights on the left-side of the corridor, searching every inch for traps, while Argo checked the right side. The ranger did not find anything, but the rogue found a pit trap at the far end in front of the (false) double doors. It was neatly avoided.
The group then set upon determining which door to check first. It was determined by Kong, who went up to the first one against the south wall and kicked it down with the sheer force of his booted foot. The door buckled under the pressure, revealing living quarters for two individuals. Two individuals who happen to be in the room, and also happened to be doppelgangers. Their moment of utter shock was enough for the heroes to leap into action, cutting and slashing. One of the doppelgangers managed a clear shout of ALARM before dropping to Kong's swordblow. Two of the other doors opened, and out came two Greyhawk Nightwatchmen from each one. This caused momentary confusion but the guards were revealed to be doppelgangers in disguise. After a pitched fight the heroes were triumphant over their enemies.
Each room was given a thorough search, revealing chests of fine clothing and a small amount of jewelry. The last room on the wall seemed just like the others but was unoccupied. Shanks gave it a thorough searching and discovered the back wall was actually a clever illusion, revealing an antechamber with a plain door. Argo stepped up to the plate on this one and kicked the door, loosening it on the first attempt and knocking it down on the second. Beyond was an octagonal room with strange occupants.
Tied to individual chairs in the middle of the room were three Drakes, identical in every regard to one another. Their mouths were gagged and upon seeing the heroes they struggled to speak. This was indeed a conundrum. Were all three doppelgangers, or was one of them the real Drake the Slayer? The party decided to check by ungagging them one by one and asking specific question. The answers given were most unsatisfactory across the board, but they knew that Drake was known as not being the brightest latern in the night. After a small amount of deliberation, they decided to gag each one and beat each one into unconsciousness, hoping that doppelgangers reverted to their natural form in this state. Shanks randomly picked one and whipped him with his spiked chain through the muffled cries for mercy. That "Drake" fell into unconsciousness and stayed human.
So the halfling moved onto the second one. At the same time, Kong had grabbed the third Drake and had him locked in a bear hug. But these two decided it was time to tussle, and both freed themselves from their fake bonds and struggled against the heroes. Kaspar peppered the two doppelganger Drakes with arrows, Shanks turned his non-lethal attacks into lethal ones, Kong tried to break the neck of one of them, and Duke fired bolts of frost into the melee. The two doppelgangers were defeated, and the heroes found a secret cache under the seats that contained all of the real Drake's stuff. They took his potions and left the unconscious man in the room, since there was a door that needed investigating in the room.
Beyond it lay a maze of confusing mirrors, not unlike a circus funhouse. But the party was having none of it, so with Shanks in the lead whirling his spiked chain they decimated the mirrors as they circumnavigated the square room. A set of double doors were revealed leading south, and Kaspar found a secret door in the northwestern corner. Opening it revealed an apparent planning room with a large map of the city of Greyhawk against the wall. Duke checked out the stacks of papers and found that the doppelganger gang had infiltrated many areas of the Greyhawk political scene, including members of the influential Merchants and Traders Union and the ruling Directing Oligarchy. The heroes collected the notes and map and vowed to bring this information to the proper authorities once they were complete. This room also linked back to the hallway, completing their search of the inner Sodden Hold. Except for the double doors from the shattered mirror maze.
They went back and opened the doors (which were unlocked and not trapped), revealing a large chamber. At one end stood a strange device, with tubes and electrical discharges running along its length. It also held a seat and some sort of iron hat attached to the machine. At the other end of the chamber stood a throne upon a raised dais. And upon that throne sat Alustan the sage of Diamond Lake.
Alustan welcomed them to the "truth" of the situation, calling them fools for not having seen things as they really were. But the heroes were wary, and started to huddle up to whisper amongst themselves. Then "Alustan" threw a fireball, catching most of the heroes in the blaze, and they noticed that the man's features shifted - like that of a doppelganger. They also noticed that Kaspar fell unconscious from the blast, so after Duke cast a haste spell on everyone else (except for Shanks as he was creeping along the wall too far away) he ran over and administered a potion of cure light wounds to the fallen elf monk. Everyone else started running forward to confront the doppelganger imposter, who apparently was the leader of the doppelganger gang.
Argo pulled out a thunderstone from his pocket and hurled it with extreme accuracy, stunning the doppelganger wizard momentarily and deafening him. This had the added effect of causing him to stutter over the words to his next spell, ruining it. Kong saw the opening and charged forward ...
... and fell headfirst into a sixty foot pit trap lined with spikes at the bottom. The fall hurt the mighty barbarian more than he cared for, but with the effect of the haste spell he clambered up in no time. Meanwhile, Argo and Shanks confronted the doppelganger, who suddenly morphed into a raging orc barbarian! Kong joined his companions, and they fought tooth and nail against the doppelganger. After a pitched and difficult battle they emerged victorious, defeating the greater doppelganger gang leader and taking his stuff. On the forehead of their fallen foe was a strange symbol, magically etched there, depicting a spiraling set of tentacles. Searching the room they found a secret chamber behind the throne containing a strange magical mirror, which Duke would not leave without. They also found a note written in a strange handwriting that said "meet me under the cold forge, slave. I have a mission concerning some troubling small minds that must be dealt with."
So they lugged the huge mirror with the aid of Drake (who had regained consciousness during the fight) towards the room with the rising water. Duke devised an ingenious way to hook the mirror to the barrel and float it up to the top. Once they reached the room with the hole in the ceiling leading up to the main floor of Sodden Hold, they were shocked to find a secret door open and two drow elves standing in the doorway. Behind the two drow was a being straight of adventurers' worst nightmares - an illthid.
In the minds of the heroes they heard the voice of the mind flayer declare them as an annoyance and a pest right before it launched a withering mind blast. In their weakened state, all of the heroes were stunned by the power of the illithid, except for Argo. The mind flayer gurgled a harsh laugh and left down the secret passage, leaving the two drow to deal with the heroes. The halfling ranger kept perfectly still, feigning paralysis, as the drow approached with confidence. They were shocked to find Argo's whirling daggers and what followed was a dangerous game between the halfling and two skilled dark elves. Argo felled one of them, and then the mind flayer's paralysis wore off. The combined might of the heroes easily defeated the second drow.
This was a puzzling and disturbing turn of events. Kaspar checked out the secret passage and discovered it led into the sewer system below Greyhawk, and Duke discovered a phosphorescent substance called beggar's gold on the boots of the drow. Beggar's gold, the knowledgeable druid/wizard knew, was known to grow in the run-off from blacksmith forges. Clearly a clue as to the location of the drow outpost, and most likely the illithid's lair.
Watching their backs the entire time, the heroes managed to get the mirror and themselves up to the main floor of Sodden Hold and made quick tracks back to the Crooked House. It was early evening and the heroes needed their rest if they were going to confront an illithid in its sewer lair.
Session Updates
Good session. It seems like things are picking up, which is a good thing. Uh ... I don't really have anything to add beyond that. Sorry about this taking so long to get posted. Things have occupied my attention. Things like Tower of Doom. Mmmm ... Tower of Doom ...
Quest Cards Completed
* Investigate Strange Key from Doppelganger Body
Quest Cards In Progress
* What's Ilthane Up To?
* Negotiate Treaty with Lizardfolk of Mistmarsh
* Investigate Note Found in Doppleganger Lair
XP Recap
7th-level Characters 4,000
8th-level Characters 2,000
'Till next, Game On!
"Weird" Dave Olson
Dragonfyre Gaming Association
weird.dave.dfga@gmail.com
Fireseek 4, 595 CY
The mysteries of Sodden Hold lay before the heroes as they stood in the prison chamber of the supposedly abandoned warehouse. Beyond the double doors lay what once was a loading dock for ships from the Selintan River. Much of the floor had rotted away, leaving only slimy beams crossing the treacherous waters ten feet below, which seemed to be filled with rusty swords, spears, and other debris. Argo Moleskin decided to go first across the beams, and made his way skillfully across. Shanks was not far behind him, and Argo made it about halfway through when WHOMP! something hit him. The halfling ranger was sent tumbling from the planks into the debris-laden water below, the sharp edges cutting him even further.
Nobody could identify what had happened, least of all Argo, and he swam through the waters to the opposite side of the chamber and clambered up to a semi-stable piece of floor. He looked around, cautious, when suddenly WHOMP! he was slammed again and sent back to the murky algae-infested water. Shanks approached the piece of rotted floor the ranger had been standing on cautiously. From the entrance to the chamber Duke brought up the fact that they might be facing an invisible stalker - a being from the Elemental Plane of Air composed entirely of forceful wind. With the skill and speed of a graceful elven monk Kaspar lightly stepped on the slimy boards and met up with Argo. He was hit by the slamming force as well, but he managed to keep his footing and return the blow, connecting with a semi-solid being. The success was enough to lift the spirits of the rest of the heroes. On his way to the fray, however, Kong slipped on the mildew and tumbled into the water. He sputtered and swam to a stable piece of ground and got back up, hefting the trident from the lizardfolk chieftain at where he guessed the invisible stalker was. His trident struck a glancing blow to the elemental and was immediately returned to Kong's hands thanks to the magic of the weapon.
Duke summoned up a flaming sphere and connected solidly with their invisible foe as well. Argo climbed down to the water's surface, filled a small bucket he was carrying with the algae-coated water, and threw it with true aim at where the invisible stalker should have been. The being was hit with the water and all could see that the elemental was a large creature. It disappeared after a moment and reappeared next to Kong, indicating the thing could fly as well. After a few slashes with the barbarian's greatsword the invisible stalker was defeated.
During the melee, Kaspar had danced artfully along the boards towards the exit of the room to see if it held any secret towards the defeating the invisible menace (it didn’t). But, it did contain an odd stone shaft, ten feet wide, leading down. After about thirty five feet the shaft was filled with water and a curious barrel. An iron ladder clung to the side of the shaft’s inner wall and stopped at the water level. After a few moments of head scratching, Argo decided to climb down and investigate. He found the barrel to be extremely buoyant and empty and the shaft continued down. The halfling took a deep breath and plunged into the icy waters, swimming down with the aid of his newly acquired ring of swimming. He swam down but discovered he couldn’t see a thing in the darkness of the water, but the shaft definitely expanded into a larger chamber. Argo made his way back up and related what he had found to the rest of his companions.
Duke cast a light spell on Argo’s gloves and it was decided that the heroes would investigate what was at the bottom of the shaft. Argo went first, followed by the quick strokes of Kong, the floundering of Kaspar, and the struggling of Shanks. Eventually the four of them reached the chamber at the end of the shaft, which contained a stone pillar in the middle. The pillar rose up higher than the water level, and they all broke the surface of the water to catch their breaths. A ladder led to the top of the pillar, where Kong discovered a lever. Quickly realizing its purpose the barbarian pulled the lever and watched with a certain level of satisfaction as the water (and pillar) began to descend. Up above, Duke managed to climb down and ride the floating barrel down the entire way. As the water drained away, a side passage was revealed halfway up the south wall leading to an airtight door. The ladder leading up proved stable enough, and Shanks checked the door for traps thoroughly. Assured there were no surprises, they opened it with a heave and stepped inside.
Beyond the doorway stood a hall running east to west. The hall was capped with iron double doors at each end, and four doors could be seen along the south wall with only one on the north wall. Shanks immediately set his sights on the left-side of the corridor, searching every inch for traps, while Argo checked the right side. The ranger did not find anything, but the rogue found a pit trap at the far end in front of the (false) double doors. It was neatly avoided.
The group then set upon determining which door to check first. It was determined by Kong, who went up to the first one against the south wall and kicked it down with the sheer force of his booted foot. The door buckled under the pressure, revealing living quarters for two individuals. Two individuals who happen to be in the room, and also happened to be doppelgangers. Their moment of utter shock was enough for the heroes to leap into action, cutting and slashing. One of the doppelgangers managed a clear shout of ALARM before dropping to Kong's swordblow. Two of the other doors opened, and out came two Greyhawk Nightwatchmen from each one. This caused momentary confusion but the guards were revealed to be doppelgangers in disguise. After a pitched fight the heroes were triumphant over their enemies.
Each room was given a thorough search, revealing chests of fine clothing and a small amount of jewelry. The last room on the wall seemed just like the others but was unoccupied. Shanks gave it a thorough searching and discovered the back wall was actually a clever illusion, revealing an antechamber with a plain door. Argo stepped up to the plate on this one and kicked the door, loosening it on the first attempt and knocking it down on the second. Beyond was an octagonal room with strange occupants.
Tied to individual chairs in the middle of the room were three Drakes, identical in every regard to one another. Their mouths were gagged and upon seeing the heroes they struggled to speak. This was indeed a conundrum. Were all three doppelgangers, or was one of them the real Drake the Slayer? The party decided to check by ungagging them one by one and asking specific question. The answers given were most unsatisfactory across the board, but they knew that Drake was known as not being the brightest latern in the night. After a small amount of deliberation, they decided to gag each one and beat each one into unconsciousness, hoping that doppelgangers reverted to their natural form in this state. Shanks randomly picked one and whipped him with his spiked chain through the muffled cries for mercy. That "Drake" fell into unconsciousness and stayed human.
So the halfling moved onto the second one. At the same time, Kong had grabbed the third Drake and had him locked in a bear hug. But these two decided it was time to tussle, and both freed themselves from their fake bonds and struggled against the heroes. Kaspar peppered the two doppelganger Drakes with arrows, Shanks turned his non-lethal attacks into lethal ones, Kong tried to break the neck of one of them, and Duke fired bolts of frost into the melee. The two doppelgangers were defeated, and the heroes found a secret cache under the seats that contained all of the real Drake's stuff. They took his potions and left the unconscious man in the room, since there was a door that needed investigating in the room.
Beyond it lay a maze of confusing mirrors, not unlike a circus funhouse. But the party was having none of it, so with Shanks in the lead whirling his spiked chain they decimated the mirrors as they circumnavigated the square room. A set of double doors were revealed leading south, and Kaspar found a secret door in the northwestern corner. Opening it revealed an apparent planning room with a large map of the city of Greyhawk against the wall. Duke checked out the stacks of papers and found that the doppelganger gang had infiltrated many areas of the Greyhawk political scene, including members of the influential Merchants and Traders Union and the ruling Directing Oligarchy. The heroes collected the notes and map and vowed to bring this information to the proper authorities once they were complete. This room also linked back to the hallway, completing their search of the inner Sodden Hold. Except for the double doors from the shattered mirror maze.
They went back and opened the doors (which were unlocked and not trapped), revealing a large chamber. At one end stood a strange device, with tubes and electrical discharges running along its length. It also held a seat and some sort of iron hat attached to the machine. At the other end of the chamber stood a throne upon a raised dais. And upon that throne sat Alustan the sage of Diamond Lake.
Alustan welcomed them to the "truth" of the situation, calling them fools for not having seen things as they really were. But the heroes were wary, and started to huddle up to whisper amongst themselves. Then "Alustan" threw a fireball, catching most of the heroes in the blaze, and they noticed that the man's features shifted - like that of a doppelganger. They also noticed that Kaspar fell unconscious from the blast, so after Duke cast a haste spell on everyone else (except for Shanks as he was creeping along the wall too far away) he ran over and administered a potion of cure light wounds to the fallen elf monk. Everyone else started running forward to confront the doppelganger imposter, who apparently was the leader of the doppelganger gang.
Argo pulled out a thunderstone from his pocket and hurled it with extreme accuracy, stunning the doppelganger wizard momentarily and deafening him. This had the added effect of causing him to stutter over the words to his next spell, ruining it. Kong saw the opening and charged forward ...
... and fell headfirst into a sixty foot pit trap lined with spikes at the bottom. The fall hurt the mighty barbarian more than he cared for, but with the effect of the haste spell he clambered up in no time. Meanwhile, Argo and Shanks confronted the doppelganger, who suddenly morphed into a raging orc barbarian! Kong joined his companions, and they fought tooth and nail against the doppelganger. After a pitched and difficult battle they emerged victorious, defeating the greater doppelganger gang leader and taking his stuff. On the forehead of their fallen foe was a strange symbol, magically etched there, depicting a spiraling set of tentacles. Searching the room they found a secret chamber behind the throne containing a strange magical mirror, which Duke would not leave without. They also found a note written in a strange handwriting that said "meet me under the cold forge, slave. I have a mission concerning some troubling small minds that must be dealt with."
So they lugged the huge mirror with the aid of Drake (who had regained consciousness during the fight) towards the room with the rising water. Duke devised an ingenious way to hook the mirror to the barrel and float it up to the top. Once they reached the room with the hole in the ceiling leading up to the main floor of Sodden Hold, they were shocked to find a secret door open and two drow elves standing in the doorway. Behind the two drow was a being straight of adventurers' worst nightmares - an illthid.
In the minds of the heroes they heard the voice of the mind flayer declare them as an annoyance and a pest right before it launched a withering mind blast. In their weakened state, all of the heroes were stunned by the power of the illithid, except for Argo. The mind flayer gurgled a harsh laugh and left down the secret passage, leaving the two drow to deal with the heroes. The halfling ranger kept perfectly still, feigning paralysis, as the drow approached with confidence. They were shocked to find Argo's whirling daggers and what followed was a dangerous game between the halfling and two skilled dark elves. Argo felled one of them, and then the mind flayer's paralysis wore off. The combined might of the heroes easily defeated the second drow.
This was a puzzling and disturbing turn of events. Kaspar checked out the secret passage and discovered it led into the sewer system below Greyhawk, and Duke discovered a phosphorescent substance called beggar's gold on the boots of the drow. Beggar's gold, the knowledgeable druid/wizard knew, was known to grow in the run-off from blacksmith forges. Clearly a clue as to the location of the drow outpost, and most likely the illithid's lair.
Watching their backs the entire time, the heroes managed to get the mirror and themselves up to the main floor of Sodden Hold and made quick tracks back to the Crooked House. It was early evening and the heroes needed their rest if they were going to confront an illithid in its sewer lair.
Session Updates
Good session. It seems like things are picking up, which is a good thing. Uh ... I don't really have anything to add beyond that. Sorry about this taking so long to get posted. Things have occupied my attention. Things like Tower of Doom. Mmmm ... Tower of Doom ...
Quest Cards Completed
* Investigate Strange Key from Doppelganger Body
Quest Cards In Progress
* What's Ilthane Up To?
* Negotiate Treaty with Lizardfolk of Mistmarsh
* Investigate Note Found in Doppleganger Lair
XP Recap
7th-level Characters 4,000
8th-level Characters 2,000
'Till next, Game On!
"Weird" Dave Olson
Dragonfyre Gaming Association
weird.dave.dfga@gmail.com
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
End of a Quest
Today, a special package arrived in the mail from far away. It is a small, unassuming device in a plain FedEx shipping envelope. But it contains the culmination of a personal quest started many, many years ago. What is this quest, you may ask? To play Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom, the Capcom arcade game.
Growing up in the western suburbs of Minneapolis, MN, I never truly go into arcade games. Part of that reason was the nearest arcade was all the way over in Ridgedale (Picadilly Circus), far too long a distance for just arcades. I've always enjoyed playing arcade games, just never on the level of obsession that many of my other hobbies possess. Once AD&D came into my life that became the major obsession. And then I found the Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom arcade game. I honestly can't recall where the first machine was that I played - perhaps St. Cloud, perhaps the Denver International Airport, perhaps Crystal Cave in southern Minnesota. These are all places that had the elusive arcade game and I enjoyed playing it every time.
Over the past few years this game became a small obsession. I would look occasionally on eBay for the arcade machine, because, c'mon, how cool would it be to have a full coin-op machine in your living room? Real cool, that's how. But cost and availability always kept me from obtaining the arcade machine. That left only two options - find a ROM of the game or search out the only console port ever made.
One would think that finding a working ROM of the game wouldn't be that difficult, but whether through bad luck or just sheer ineptitude I never got any of them to work. But I was always aware of the only console port ever of the game, called the Dungeons & Dragons Collections for the Sega Saturn. Do you remember the Saturn? Not a terrible console, all things considered, but it was going up against the Sony PlayStation. The Saturn enjoyed a short active life cycle (but not nearly as short as the Sega CD or the Neo Geo), during which it garnered a loyal fanbase of primarily 2D fighting fans and Japanese RPG lovers. But in Japan, they got the Dungeons & Dragons Collection, which included both Tower of Doom and Shadow Over Mystara (which I had never even HEARD of before).
This Christmas, I did a lot of shopping online, and specifically on eBay. There are a few things I always check when I'm on eBay as force of habit. One is the Walker in the Wastes Call of Cthulhu campaign from Pagan Publishing and the other is Tower of Doom. This year, I don't know what it was, but I got a wild hair up my ass that sent my quest for Tower of Doom into overtime. I had a little extra money and was determined to get the game regardless of the cost.
Step one - get a Sega Saturn. No problem, found one for about $40 that came with two games (Virtua Fighter 2 and NHL '98, neither terribly great games). Arrived from Texas in a timely manner a few weeks before Christmas.
Step two - get the Dungeons & Dragons Collection. The game is somewhat rare, so I figured this would be the costly option. The first auction I bid on I lost to a last-second sniper - that one went for $60. I said "screw this" and went for the cheapest But It Now option I found, which was a mere $100. Add $10 for shipping from Hong Kong and I was so far into this endeavor about $150. But gosh darn it if the game wasn't on its way. Now to play the waiting game, I thought to myself.
The game arrived in short order and I was ecstatic. But something a friend of mine said caused doubt to eat at my enthusiasm. If this was a Japanese only release, will it work on my US-produced Sega Saturn? The short is: no, no it won't.
Got the game, rushed home, and discovered that the game was an NTSC-J region while the console only supported NTSC regions. I was this far into it, I wasn't backing out at this point. Doing a little research I found that there is a small item called an Action Replay cartridge that allows one to play imported games. I called every vintage video game retailer in the metro area and came up empty handed. I resigned myself to ordering it through eBay, found one for $30, and ordered with with the fastest shipping available from Michigan. This was the week before Christmas.
And then I waited. And waited. And waited. The seller I bought the replay cartridge from had very good feedback, but the most recent one indicated that the buyer had waited for more than three weeks and still hadn't received the merchandise. I contacted the seller to ask when it would ship, since PayPal indicated that my successful payment had not been claimed. No response. No response continued to be the only response I got for two weeks.
Then, last Sunday, I said "screw this" and ordered a new Action Replay cartridge from a site called Play-Asia.com. The cartridge was $30 and shipping from Hong Kong was $20. I sighed and completed the sale, contacting the original seller from eBay asking to cancel my order. Another round of waiting was in store.
But fate luckily smiled on me this time, and I got to work Monday morning to find an email waiting. The email said my order had been shipped via FedEx and the tracking number said to expect it by 1/8/08 by 10:30 am. I checked my watch - Monday was the 7th, which meant Tuesday was the 8th. Whaaa ... ? A fluke, I said to myself, unwilling to believe it. It must be a fluke. Monday passed but anticipation was growing in my belly. At the end of the day I checked the tracking again. It was in Anchorage, Alaska. Holy crap.
I let excitement get the best me and had trouble sleeping Monday night. Visions of fighters and troglodytes and manticores danced in my head. Tuesday arose, I went to work, and saw that the tracking results put my shipment in the Eden Prairie facility already. It was out for delivery. It was a slow day, so I resolved to take off early if my package arrived.
I got home at 2:30 pm (normally I work until 4 pm) and was playing Tower of Doom within moments of getting home. It was everything I remembered, except everything was in Japanese. But I knew that, so it was no surprise. I'm taking a break right now, because I realized something very important. The Dungeons & Dragons experience is but a fraction of itself when enjoyed alone. Sadly, the console only supports two players instead of the arcade's four, but still.
I relax in the knowledge that my quest has reached a successful conclusion. And only $230 sunk ($30 of which I should be getting back from that seller on eBay). A job well done, I guess.
Growing up in the western suburbs of Minneapolis, MN, I never truly go into arcade games. Part of that reason was the nearest arcade was all the way over in Ridgedale (Picadilly Circus), far too long a distance for just arcades. I've always enjoyed playing arcade games, just never on the level of obsession that many of my other hobbies possess. Once AD&D came into my life that became the major obsession. And then I found the Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom arcade game. I honestly can't recall where the first machine was that I played - perhaps St. Cloud, perhaps the Denver International Airport, perhaps Crystal Cave in southern Minnesota. These are all places that had the elusive arcade game and I enjoyed playing it every time.
Over the past few years this game became a small obsession. I would look occasionally on eBay for the arcade machine, because, c'mon, how cool would it be to have a full coin-op machine in your living room? Real cool, that's how. But cost and availability always kept me from obtaining the arcade machine. That left only two options - find a ROM of the game or search out the only console port ever made.
One would think that finding a working ROM of the game wouldn't be that difficult, but whether through bad luck or just sheer ineptitude I never got any of them to work. But I was always aware of the only console port ever of the game, called the Dungeons & Dragons Collections for the Sega Saturn. Do you remember the Saturn? Not a terrible console, all things considered, but it was going up against the Sony PlayStation. The Saturn enjoyed a short active life cycle (but not nearly as short as the Sega CD or the Neo Geo), during which it garnered a loyal fanbase of primarily 2D fighting fans and Japanese RPG lovers. But in Japan, they got the Dungeons & Dragons Collection, which included both Tower of Doom and Shadow Over Mystara (which I had never even HEARD of before).
This Christmas, I did a lot of shopping online, and specifically on eBay. There are a few things I always check when I'm on eBay as force of habit. One is the Walker in the Wastes Call of Cthulhu campaign from Pagan Publishing and the other is Tower of Doom. This year, I don't know what it was, but I got a wild hair up my ass that sent my quest for Tower of Doom into overtime. I had a little extra money and was determined to get the game regardless of the cost.
Step one - get a Sega Saturn. No problem, found one for about $40 that came with two games (Virtua Fighter 2 and NHL '98, neither terribly great games). Arrived from Texas in a timely manner a few weeks before Christmas.
Step two - get the Dungeons & Dragons Collection. The game is somewhat rare, so I figured this would be the costly option. The first auction I bid on I lost to a last-second sniper - that one went for $60. I said "screw this" and went for the cheapest But It Now option I found, which was a mere $100. Add $10 for shipping from Hong Kong and I was so far into this endeavor about $150. But gosh darn it if the game wasn't on its way. Now to play the waiting game, I thought to myself.
The game arrived in short order and I was ecstatic. But something a friend of mine said caused doubt to eat at my enthusiasm. If this was a Japanese only release, will it work on my US-produced Sega Saturn? The short is: no, no it won't.
Got the game, rushed home, and discovered that the game was an NTSC-J region while the console only supported NTSC regions. I was this far into it, I wasn't backing out at this point. Doing a little research I found that there is a small item called an Action Replay cartridge that allows one to play imported games. I called every vintage video game retailer in the metro area and came up empty handed. I resigned myself to ordering it through eBay, found one for $30, and ordered with with the fastest shipping available from Michigan. This was the week before Christmas.
And then I waited. And waited. And waited. The seller I bought the replay cartridge from had very good feedback, but the most recent one indicated that the buyer had waited for more than three weeks and still hadn't received the merchandise. I contacted the seller to ask when it would ship, since PayPal indicated that my successful payment had not been claimed. No response. No response continued to be the only response I got for two weeks.
Then, last Sunday, I said "screw this" and ordered a new Action Replay cartridge from a site called Play-Asia.com. The cartridge was $30 and shipping from Hong Kong was $20. I sighed and completed the sale, contacting the original seller from eBay asking to cancel my order. Another round of waiting was in store.
But fate luckily smiled on me this time, and I got to work Monday morning to find an email waiting. The email said my order had been shipped via FedEx and the tracking number said to expect it by 1/8/08 by 10:30 am. I checked my watch - Monday was the 7th, which meant Tuesday was the 8th. Whaaa ... ? A fluke, I said to myself, unwilling to believe it. It must be a fluke. Monday passed but anticipation was growing in my belly. At the end of the day I checked the tracking again. It was in Anchorage, Alaska. Holy crap.
I let excitement get the best me and had trouble sleeping Monday night. Visions of fighters and troglodytes and manticores danced in my head. Tuesday arose, I went to work, and saw that the tracking results put my shipment in the Eden Prairie facility already. It was out for delivery. It was a slow day, so I resolved to take off early if my package arrived.
I got home at 2:30 pm (normally I work until 4 pm) and was playing Tower of Doom within moments of getting home. It was everything I remembered, except everything was in Japanese. But I knew that, so it was no surprise. I'm taking a break right now, because I realized something very important. The Dungeons & Dragons experience is but a fraction of itself when enjoyed alone. Sadly, the console only supports two players instead of the arcade's four, but still.
I relax in the knowledge that my quest has reached a successful conclusion. And only $230 sunk ($30 of which I should be getting back from that seller on eBay). A job well done, I guess.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Star*Drive - Thoughts Backwards and Forwards
I love science fiction settings. And when I say science fiction settings, I mean far-future sci-fi - spaceships, lasers, new planets, different aliens, the whole shebang. For a very long time I've been itching to run a good sci-fi RPG but have come up short on the settings. About five years ago it hit me. Why not use the Star*Drive setting from Alternity? The Alternity rules seemed okay enough (we had been using them for the occasional game of Dark*Matter) and the setting was exactly what I wanted. The release of Firefly on DVD certainly added to my enthusiasm, and the Star*Drive setting seemed to fit the Firefly mentality very well.
Well, I dug around and dug around, finally finding the various sourcebooks for the defunct game setting (all of which were excellently written). The main core book was massive - it is still one of the setting books I own that contains the least amount of hard and fast game data. So many details, describing our universe in 500 years. It fit everything I wanted in a sci-fi setting, and the two online-only releases (Starships and The Externals) cemented my position in needing to run this setting.
I got my group together and we made characters. I decided to start the campaign with a free release used mainly at conventions where the PCs would start out as prisoners at a penal colony. I used to help each player develop a reason for being in prison. Some of them were actual criminals, some of them not. It took two sessions to complete that first adventure, but in it they got a ship and eventually headed out for the wild, untamed wilderness of the Verge.
We played one more scenario, kind of just a filler scenario to give them a taste of what was to come. And then ... nothing. I think I got cold feet, floundering in a vast setting with no idea what the heck I wanted to do. Eventually, I settled on the idea of having this Star*Drive campaign be more open ended than anything else I've ever done - I would give the players a map of the universe and they would let me know what they wanted to do. A great idea, but one that I felt required a lot of preparation on my part. I LOVE maps, and I wanted to be able to hand the players a star chart of the system they were entering. Over the years I've been slowly working on a repertoire of detailed star charts, and so far I've got about ... seven. Not a lot.
Also over the years I've decided I didn't like the way Alternity played out. There were plenty of other game options out there and I wanted something that was flexible, powerful, evocative, and easy to pick up. With some trepidation I settled on the GURPS system. So many people play GURPS that it must be kind of simple, right? I mean, they just released a new version.
And GURPS fulfilled my needs, probably too well. The system is too complicated, I fear, and too overwhelming in its options. I like simple but effective, and GURPS was effective but complicated. I'm prone to fantastic purchasing whims if the mood strikes me, and I've purchased the main corebooks for GURPs and more than a few additional titles to aid me in my Star*Drive campaign. But it all served to illustrate just how thorough and complicated the system really was.
So, I've all but abandoned the GURPS rules for any game. The setting books are well-researched, so I still pick them up from time to time when I catch one that seems appropriate, but the rules are just too much. Then, in my wanderings, I came across Savage Worlds by Pinnacle Entertainment/Great White Games. I had played a single game of SW at Con of the North a few years ago and didn't find the system to really grab me. But, willing to give anything a good look at, I downloaded the Test Drive Rules and a sample adventure to see how things were.
And was completely blown away by the rules. They were simple and elegant, and perfectly captured a quick style that lends itself to fast play. I decided right there to use SW for my upcoming pulp game (more on that in a later post) but the idea kept coming into my head to use Savage Worlds for Star*Drive. I don't like having to rely on too many details to have fun, and the information presented in the Star*Drive corebook was generic enough to fit anything.
So here I am, contemplating switching Star*Drive over to a new game system YET AGAIN. Most of my players I think are more interested in playing than in debating the merits of one rule system over another, but I want a rules set that will work for me before I jump into a new campaign setting. Luckily, only one of my players has switched their character over to GURPS, so for everyone else it is only one jump instead of two. But I'm not convinced yet.
Well, I dug around and dug around, finally finding the various sourcebooks for the defunct game setting (all of which were excellently written). The main core book was massive - it is still one of the setting books I own that contains the least amount of hard and fast game data. So many details, describing our universe in 500 years. It fit everything I wanted in a sci-fi setting, and the two online-only releases (Starships and The Externals) cemented my position in needing to run this setting.
I got my group together and we made characters. I decided to start the campaign with a free release used mainly at conventions where the PCs would start out as prisoners at a penal colony. I used to help each player develop a reason for being in prison. Some of them were actual criminals, some of them not. It took two sessions to complete that first adventure, but in it they got a ship and eventually headed out for the wild, untamed wilderness of the Verge.
We played one more scenario, kind of just a filler scenario to give them a taste of what was to come. And then ... nothing. I think I got cold feet, floundering in a vast setting with no idea what the heck I wanted to do. Eventually, I settled on the idea of having this Star*Drive campaign be more open ended than anything else I've ever done - I would give the players a map of the universe and they would let me know what they wanted to do. A great idea, but one that I felt required a lot of preparation on my part. I LOVE maps, and I wanted to be able to hand the players a star chart of the system they were entering. Over the years I've been slowly working on a repertoire of detailed star charts, and so far I've got about ... seven. Not a lot.
Also over the years I've decided I didn't like the way Alternity played out. There were plenty of other game options out there and I wanted something that was flexible, powerful, evocative, and easy to pick up. With some trepidation I settled on the GURPS system. So many people play GURPS that it must be kind of simple, right? I mean, they just released a new version.
And GURPS fulfilled my needs, probably too well. The system is too complicated, I fear, and too overwhelming in its options. I like simple but effective, and GURPS was effective but complicated. I'm prone to fantastic purchasing whims if the mood strikes me, and I've purchased the main corebooks for GURPs and more than a few additional titles to aid me in my Star*Drive campaign. But it all served to illustrate just how thorough and complicated the system really was.
So, I've all but abandoned the GURPS rules for any game. The setting books are well-researched, so I still pick them up from time to time when I catch one that seems appropriate, but the rules are just too much. Then, in my wanderings, I came across Savage Worlds by Pinnacle Entertainment/Great White Games. I had played a single game of SW at Con of the North a few years ago and didn't find the system to really grab me. But, willing to give anything a good look at, I downloaded the Test Drive Rules and a sample adventure to see how things were.
And was completely blown away by the rules. They were simple and elegant, and perfectly captured a quick style that lends itself to fast play. I decided right there to use SW for my upcoming pulp game (more on that in a later post) but the idea kept coming into my head to use Savage Worlds for Star*Drive. I don't like having to rely on too many details to have fun, and the information presented in the Star*Drive corebook was generic enough to fit anything.
So here I am, contemplating switching Star*Drive over to a new game system YET AGAIN. Most of my players I think are more interested in playing than in debating the merits of one rule system over another, but I want a rules set that will work for me before I jump into a new campaign setting. Luckily, only one of my players has switched their character over to GURPS, so for everyone else it is only one jump instead of two. But I'm not convinced yet.
Age of Worms Campaign Update: 12/27/2007
CHRONICLE VAULT 20071227, FROM THE LIBRARY OF RHAVUS THE FIEND-SAGE ...
Fireseek 4, 595 CY
With the sage Eligos working on the research regarding the green worms, spawn of Kyuss, and the apocalyptic Age of Worms, the heroes set out to find lodging in the Free City of Greyhawk at the Crooked House. The proprietier of the inn and tavern, a colorful gnome named Tarquin, gave the heroes a good price on a week's residence at the Crooked House. The band of adventurers then promptly set out into the depths of Oerth's largest and most cosmopolitan city to spend a week amidst the hustle and bustle.
Shanks checked the seedier sections of the city and asked around regarding Ilthane the black dragon or references to the Black Mother, but came up with just blank or curious stares to his queries. Duke attained a membership in Greyhawk's Guild of Wizardry as well as the worldly Arcane Order in order to further increase his knowledge of all things magical but was turned down by the snootish members of the Sages’ Guild. The Translators’ Guild was more than happy to accept his membership, as they had only a handful of members and not a one of them could read or write the closely guarded language of the druids. Their sheer delight at having met someone who would be willing to translate a set of ancient papers detailing the Order of the Storm, a druidic circle that dropped out of history centuries ago, was enough for them to offer free membership in the guild if Duke would aid in the translation. The dwarf wizard/druid promised to come back but could not spare the time to devote to the deciphering at this time.
Kong checked out the Mercenaries’ Guild and joined up, while Argo hocked his freshly caught trout in the lower market of the city, earning a bit of gold in the process. The halfling ranger also joined the Cartographers’ Guild for a chance to make some more coin and purchase maps of exotic locations. Kaspar decided he needed a new weapon and went shopping, spending the rest of the day browsing shops and searching for a good compliment to his monk skills. He found a +1 quarterstaff of undead bane that seemed to suit his purposes very well.
The entire party also asked around to find out who to talk to about negotiating a peace treaty with the lizardfolk of the Mistmarsh. They were directed to speak with Hasgrov Tallbus, a member of Greyhawk’s Directing Oligarchy (the governing body that operated along with the Lord Mayor to run the city). Hasgrov’s office was in the Grand Citadel and the companions easily found it. The wizard was a busy man but listened carefully to what they had to say. He pulled out a large file regarding the various lizardfolk tribes of the Mistmarsh, located the one for the Twisted Branch tribe, and indicated he would send an escort into the swamp to bring Hishka to Greyhawk. Hasgrov scheduled the peace treaty negotiation in five days and asked that the party return then to moderate.
The companions returned that evening to the Crooked House and enjoyed a fine meal and drinks in the common room. Tarquin was an accommodating host and listened intently to the stories and tales told over the dying firelight. The next day found the heroes setting out into the wilds of Greyhawk once again, whether it was information gathering (like Shanks was unsuccessfully), checking out the Free City Arena (Kaspar and Kong found the arena to be under last minute maintenance in preparation for the Champions’ Games in the next two weeks), selling unwanted items (Duke carried around the party treasure cache and returned with a tidy sum for all after selling unwanted things), or selling fish in the lower market (Argo kept a fresh supply of trout). A cold wind blew in from the north, bringing flakes of early winter snow to the city of Greyhawk, and the heroes spent another fine evening at the Crooked House.
The third day in the big city was spent primarily spending well-earned money on necessities, such as potions of healing from the Temple of Pelor and other expendable items. A few potions of remove disease were purchased in anticipation of dealing with more green worms as the haunting events of a week’s past was still fresh in everyone’s minds. The evening of the third day found the companions once again enjoying a meal at the common room of the Crooked House, when they were greeted by their friend and fellow adventurer Drake the Slayer. Drake had disappeared into the heart of the city upon arrival and has not been seen since. The good-natured warrior bought rounds of drinks for everyone, indicating he had hit paydirt at the Wheel of Gold Gambling House in the High Quarter. He winked and said the entertainment there was top notch – Kong especially should check out a particular “entertainer” named Candy Cane (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).
The evening was progressing well into night and Drake got up to order another round. Kaspar was the only one to catch out of the corner of his eye what happened next. While Tarquin was filling mugs with his watered-down ale, the huge warrior pulled out a dagger and plunged into the gnome’s backside! The elf monk reacted quickly, alerting everyone to what happened, but Drake darted out of the common room and ran upstairs. As the men and women in the Crooked House began to panic and scream the companions set to work. Duke ran to the aid of the fallen Tarquin and administered what first aid he knew while Argo, Kong, Shanks, and Kaspar ran after the fleeing Drake.
The screams of the frightened people awoke many of the Crooked House’s patrons and the four heroes found rushing past them difficult as they moved downstairs to see what the ruckus was about. The Crooked House was a three story building with rooms for rent on the second and third floors. The four of them quick searched the two floors in ten minutes but found no sign of Drake nor a sign of forced exit (the huge warrior was not known for his finesse and if he had wanted to escape he probably would have jumped out a window, shattering glass).
Meanwhile, downstairs, a problem was beginning to build. While Duke had managed to stop Tarquin’s bleeding, a particular vocal member of the gathering crowd starting shouting, demanding justice for the intolerable crime. A citizen was dispatched to fetch the Nightwatch but in the Foreign Quarter help was always too far out to be counted on. The merchant began to whip up the crowd, declaring Duke and the rest of the heroes as accomplices to the heinous act that must be punished. Duke had to stand on the bar to be seen and heard over the crowd and starting countering the merchants’ baseless accusations. The dwarf was not terribly skilled in crowd manipulation or debate, but he was aided by the rest of his companions when they returned from their fruitless searching upstairs. Eventually, logic won over the crowd and they started to turn on the merchant instead.
It was Duke who caught the man slide the dagger out of a hidden sheath and lock his steely gaze with the dwarf’s. Duke quickly cast a shield spell just in time to deflect the thrown dagger, after which the merchant fled the common room to the seedy streets of the Foreign Quarter. The companions chased after the fleeing suspect after Kaspar identified the thrown dagger as the one used to stab Tarquin. Duke suggested they were dealing with a doppelganger or shapechanger of some kind, and his suggestion turned to be true when the heroes engaged their opponent in the street outside the Crooked House. The doppelganger was a skilled fighter but was no match for Kong’s greatsword, Kaspar’s whirling fists, Shanks’ spiked chain, or Argo’s well timed dagger thrusts. The man fell to the ground, reverting to his natural doppelganger found as the icy hand of death clutched at his mortal shell. The whistle of the Nighwatch could be heard a few blocks away and it was decided to search the body for clues as to the thing’s identity. They found a strange key with a large head on it depicting a ship being pulled down by an octopus, as well as a few magical items that they took as compensation. The Nightwatch arrived moments afterwards, confirmed the heroes’ story, and carted away the doppelganger body. Inside the Crooked House, Tarquin had recovered enough to speak and thanked the companions profusely, offering free rent and meals for a month in appreciation.
The five heroes slept uneasily that night, the events weighing heavily on their minds. The next morning Kong and Shanks immediately set out for the Wheel of Gold Gambling House to try and ascertain the fate of Drake. After dealing with the snooty management they discovered that a man fitting Drake’s description arrived three days ago and spent some time with an “entertainer” named Candy Cane but that neither she nor the man had been seen for two days. The timeline fit with when the party reached Greyhawk City but they could not find any more leads at the Wheel of Gold.
Argo and Kaspar went and sold the equipment they recovered from the doppelganger while Duke started asking around the Crooked House regarding the strange key. He learned that the symbol was used by an old merchant company about ten years ago that held some property in the River District along the Selintan River. Most of the buildings had been torn down or remodeled, but one abandoned warehouse still stood – Sodden Hold. After waiting for Kong and Shanks to return, the party set out for Sodden Hold to find out what the doppelganger was doing with the key to its front door.
The warehouse itself was fairly nondescript, in poor shape but falling apart, with the faded symbol of the ship and octopus over the locked front door. The key fit perfectly and the companions entered into a large room filled with boxes and crates. Several doors led to other areas of the building, and a fifteen foot high catwalk ran along the far wall. Shanks and Argo quickly climbed up to the catwalk to investigate while the rest of the companions searched the main room. Throughout the warehouse they found footprints – far more than would be expected for an abandoned warehouse. Argo discovered some of the tracks leading to the blank wall at one end of the catwalk and discovered a secret door leading to a stairwell going back down to the first floor.
Duke decided to check out one of the doors in the main room and Kaspar covered him. Unfortunately, the door he picked triggered a pit trap to open beneath his and the elf’s feet! The quick monk acrobatically dodged backwards but the dwarf wizard was not so lucky. He plunged forty feet down to the spiked floor suffering a piercing wound and heavily bruised muscles at the bottom. With the aid of a rope and the elven monk he got back up but everyone was a bit more cautious after that. They searched the other rooms off the main warehouse, and after a bit of determined searching Shanks discovered a ring of swimming buried amidst old ledgers and paperwork from the merchant company ten years ago. He then decided to burn the paperwork for no apparent reason, which he did against the wishes of the rest of the party.
The secret door and the stairwell was the only unexplored option, and Kong led the way down. They found what appeared to be a storage area behind the stairwell and a door leading on. Inside the storage area were a few odd items – a bag of holding, a few signet rings with a family crest none recognized (the image of a star with a lion-like mane surrounding it), and an embroidered cloak with the same symbol. Shanks checked the door and found no traps so they continued on cautiously. The room beyond appeared to be some sort of a prison – there were five moderately-sized cells, but only three were occupied. One was occupied by what seemed to be a dead man, another by a dirty elven woman sitting quietly, and the third by two men wearing clothes reminiscent of the Nightwatch. The elven woman was unresponsive at best, but the two men told the heroes that they were members of the city guard and had been captured for some unknown reason. They never saw who was keeping them prisoner. Duke and Kong began to work on getting the bars free – the dwarf wizard used acid splash to weaken the iron bars while the barbarian used his muscles to break them. It worked and the two guards approached thankfully …
… then stabbed both of them with carefully hidden longswords. The facial features of the two “guards” began to shift familiarly revealing their true nature as doppelgangers. A tough fight broke out in the narrow confines of the jail cell but eventually the heroes were triumphant over the crafty and skilled doppelgangers. They found a few magical items on the fallen bodies and took them to sell later if nothing else. The elven woman watched what was going on with a glimmer of hope in her broken eyes. She identified herself as Ilya Starmane, and said that she had been kidnapped from her home a few weeks ago and taken to this awful place. Ilya had an idea that she was captured because her family was an influential trading partner between Greyhawk and the elven nation of Celene but her captors never identified themselves. The heroes returned her cloak and signet rings and freed her from the prison. She escaped and promised to reward the heroes for their brave actions after finding out where to contact them in the future. The man who appeared dead turned out to be just in a dazed and disturbed sleep. It was decided to free the man and seek clerical attention after Sodden Hold had been fully explored.
The companions surmised at this point that they had stumbled onto some sort of doppelganger gang on the banks of the Selintan River. But why were they be targeted specifically? The answer may lead behind the double-doors leading further into Sodden Hold beyond the prison.
Session Updates
Well, good session. Just a reminder – I’d like to start around 7pm every Thursday. If you can’t make it for one reason or another, please, please, PLEASE let me know as soon as possible. If we can reschedule ahead of time I’d prefer that but sometimes things just don’t work out.
Also, if you can think of anyway to make this campaign more enjoyable please let me know. Perhaps something you’d like to see, or a direction you’d like to take your character – just let me know and it can probably be worked in.
Quest Cards In Progress
* What's Ilthane Up To?
* NegotiateTreaty with Lizardfolk of Mistmarsh
* Investigate Strange Key from Doppelganger Body
XP Recap
7th-level Characters 3,500
8th-level Character 2,000
‘Till next, Game On!
“Weird” Dave Olson
Dragonfyre Gaming Association
weird.dave.dfga@gmail.com
Fireseek 4, 595 CY
With the sage Eligos working on the research regarding the green worms, spawn of Kyuss, and the apocalyptic Age of Worms, the heroes set out to find lodging in the Free City of Greyhawk at the Crooked House. The proprietier of the inn and tavern, a colorful gnome named Tarquin, gave the heroes a good price on a week's residence at the Crooked House. The band of adventurers then promptly set out into the depths of Oerth's largest and most cosmopolitan city to spend a week amidst the hustle and bustle.
Shanks checked the seedier sections of the city and asked around regarding Ilthane the black dragon or references to the Black Mother, but came up with just blank or curious stares to his queries. Duke attained a membership in Greyhawk's Guild of Wizardry as well as the worldly Arcane Order in order to further increase his knowledge of all things magical but was turned down by the snootish members of the Sages’ Guild. The Translators’ Guild was more than happy to accept his membership, as they had only a handful of members and not a one of them could read or write the closely guarded language of the druids. Their sheer delight at having met someone who would be willing to translate a set of ancient papers detailing the Order of the Storm, a druidic circle that dropped out of history centuries ago, was enough for them to offer free membership in the guild if Duke would aid in the translation. The dwarf wizard/druid promised to come back but could not spare the time to devote to the deciphering at this time.
Kong checked out the Mercenaries’ Guild and joined up, while Argo hocked his freshly caught trout in the lower market of the city, earning a bit of gold in the process. The halfling ranger also joined the Cartographers’ Guild for a chance to make some more coin and purchase maps of exotic locations. Kaspar decided he needed a new weapon and went shopping, spending the rest of the day browsing shops and searching for a good compliment to his monk skills. He found a +1 quarterstaff of undead bane that seemed to suit his purposes very well.
The entire party also asked around to find out who to talk to about negotiating a peace treaty with the lizardfolk of the Mistmarsh. They were directed to speak with Hasgrov Tallbus, a member of Greyhawk’s Directing Oligarchy (the governing body that operated along with the Lord Mayor to run the city). Hasgrov’s office was in the Grand Citadel and the companions easily found it. The wizard was a busy man but listened carefully to what they had to say. He pulled out a large file regarding the various lizardfolk tribes of the Mistmarsh, located the one for the Twisted Branch tribe, and indicated he would send an escort into the swamp to bring Hishka to Greyhawk. Hasgrov scheduled the peace treaty negotiation in five days and asked that the party return then to moderate.
The companions returned that evening to the Crooked House and enjoyed a fine meal and drinks in the common room. Tarquin was an accommodating host and listened intently to the stories and tales told over the dying firelight. The next day found the heroes setting out into the wilds of Greyhawk once again, whether it was information gathering (like Shanks was unsuccessfully), checking out the Free City Arena (Kaspar and Kong found the arena to be under last minute maintenance in preparation for the Champions’ Games in the next two weeks), selling unwanted items (Duke carried around the party treasure cache and returned with a tidy sum for all after selling unwanted things), or selling fish in the lower market (Argo kept a fresh supply of trout). A cold wind blew in from the north, bringing flakes of early winter snow to the city of Greyhawk, and the heroes spent another fine evening at the Crooked House.
The third day in the big city was spent primarily spending well-earned money on necessities, such as potions of healing from the Temple of Pelor and other expendable items. A few potions of remove disease were purchased in anticipation of dealing with more green worms as the haunting events of a week’s past was still fresh in everyone’s minds. The evening of the third day found the companions once again enjoying a meal at the common room of the Crooked House, when they were greeted by their friend and fellow adventurer Drake the Slayer. Drake had disappeared into the heart of the city upon arrival and has not been seen since. The good-natured warrior bought rounds of drinks for everyone, indicating he had hit paydirt at the Wheel of Gold Gambling House in the High Quarter. He winked and said the entertainment there was top notch – Kong especially should check out a particular “entertainer” named Candy Cane (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).
The evening was progressing well into night and Drake got up to order another round. Kaspar was the only one to catch out of the corner of his eye what happened next. While Tarquin was filling mugs with his watered-down ale, the huge warrior pulled out a dagger and plunged into the gnome’s backside! The elf monk reacted quickly, alerting everyone to what happened, but Drake darted out of the common room and ran upstairs. As the men and women in the Crooked House began to panic and scream the companions set to work. Duke ran to the aid of the fallen Tarquin and administered what first aid he knew while Argo, Kong, Shanks, and Kaspar ran after the fleeing Drake.
The screams of the frightened people awoke many of the Crooked House’s patrons and the four heroes found rushing past them difficult as they moved downstairs to see what the ruckus was about. The Crooked House was a three story building with rooms for rent on the second and third floors. The four of them quick searched the two floors in ten minutes but found no sign of Drake nor a sign of forced exit (the huge warrior was not known for his finesse and if he had wanted to escape he probably would have jumped out a window, shattering glass).
Meanwhile, downstairs, a problem was beginning to build. While Duke had managed to stop Tarquin’s bleeding, a particular vocal member of the gathering crowd starting shouting, demanding justice for the intolerable crime. A citizen was dispatched to fetch the Nightwatch but in the Foreign Quarter help was always too far out to be counted on. The merchant began to whip up the crowd, declaring Duke and the rest of the heroes as accomplices to the heinous act that must be punished. Duke had to stand on the bar to be seen and heard over the crowd and starting countering the merchants’ baseless accusations. The dwarf was not terribly skilled in crowd manipulation or debate, but he was aided by the rest of his companions when they returned from their fruitless searching upstairs. Eventually, logic won over the crowd and they started to turn on the merchant instead.
It was Duke who caught the man slide the dagger out of a hidden sheath and lock his steely gaze with the dwarf’s. Duke quickly cast a shield spell just in time to deflect the thrown dagger, after which the merchant fled the common room to the seedy streets of the Foreign Quarter. The companions chased after the fleeing suspect after Kaspar identified the thrown dagger as the one used to stab Tarquin. Duke suggested they were dealing with a doppelganger or shapechanger of some kind, and his suggestion turned to be true when the heroes engaged their opponent in the street outside the Crooked House. The doppelganger was a skilled fighter but was no match for Kong’s greatsword, Kaspar’s whirling fists, Shanks’ spiked chain, or Argo’s well timed dagger thrusts. The man fell to the ground, reverting to his natural doppelganger found as the icy hand of death clutched at his mortal shell. The whistle of the Nighwatch could be heard a few blocks away and it was decided to search the body for clues as to the thing’s identity. They found a strange key with a large head on it depicting a ship being pulled down by an octopus, as well as a few magical items that they took as compensation. The Nightwatch arrived moments afterwards, confirmed the heroes’ story, and carted away the doppelganger body. Inside the Crooked House, Tarquin had recovered enough to speak and thanked the companions profusely, offering free rent and meals for a month in appreciation.
The five heroes slept uneasily that night, the events weighing heavily on their minds. The next morning Kong and Shanks immediately set out for the Wheel of Gold Gambling House to try and ascertain the fate of Drake. After dealing with the snooty management they discovered that a man fitting Drake’s description arrived three days ago and spent some time with an “entertainer” named Candy Cane but that neither she nor the man had been seen for two days. The timeline fit with when the party reached Greyhawk City but they could not find any more leads at the Wheel of Gold.
Argo and Kaspar went and sold the equipment they recovered from the doppelganger while Duke started asking around the Crooked House regarding the strange key. He learned that the symbol was used by an old merchant company about ten years ago that held some property in the River District along the Selintan River. Most of the buildings had been torn down or remodeled, but one abandoned warehouse still stood – Sodden Hold. After waiting for Kong and Shanks to return, the party set out for Sodden Hold to find out what the doppelganger was doing with the key to its front door.
The warehouse itself was fairly nondescript, in poor shape but falling apart, with the faded symbol of the ship and octopus over the locked front door. The key fit perfectly and the companions entered into a large room filled with boxes and crates. Several doors led to other areas of the building, and a fifteen foot high catwalk ran along the far wall. Shanks and Argo quickly climbed up to the catwalk to investigate while the rest of the companions searched the main room. Throughout the warehouse they found footprints – far more than would be expected for an abandoned warehouse. Argo discovered some of the tracks leading to the blank wall at one end of the catwalk and discovered a secret door leading to a stairwell going back down to the first floor.
Duke decided to check out one of the doors in the main room and Kaspar covered him. Unfortunately, the door he picked triggered a pit trap to open beneath his and the elf’s feet! The quick monk acrobatically dodged backwards but the dwarf wizard was not so lucky. He plunged forty feet down to the spiked floor suffering a piercing wound and heavily bruised muscles at the bottom. With the aid of a rope and the elven monk he got back up but everyone was a bit more cautious after that. They searched the other rooms off the main warehouse, and after a bit of determined searching Shanks discovered a ring of swimming buried amidst old ledgers and paperwork from the merchant company ten years ago. He then decided to burn the paperwork for no apparent reason, which he did against the wishes of the rest of the party.
The secret door and the stairwell was the only unexplored option, and Kong led the way down. They found what appeared to be a storage area behind the stairwell and a door leading on. Inside the storage area were a few odd items – a bag of holding, a few signet rings with a family crest none recognized (the image of a star with a lion-like mane surrounding it), and an embroidered cloak with the same symbol. Shanks checked the door and found no traps so they continued on cautiously. The room beyond appeared to be some sort of a prison – there were five moderately-sized cells, but only three were occupied. One was occupied by what seemed to be a dead man, another by a dirty elven woman sitting quietly, and the third by two men wearing clothes reminiscent of the Nightwatch. The elven woman was unresponsive at best, but the two men told the heroes that they were members of the city guard and had been captured for some unknown reason. They never saw who was keeping them prisoner. Duke and Kong began to work on getting the bars free – the dwarf wizard used acid splash to weaken the iron bars while the barbarian used his muscles to break them. It worked and the two guards approached thankfully …
… then stabbed both of them with carefully hidden longswords. The facial features of the two “guards” began to shift familiarly revealing their true nature as doppelgangers. A tough fight broke out in the narrow confines of the jail cell but eventually the heroes were triumphant over the crafty and skilled doppelgangers. They found a few magical items on the fallen bodies and took them to sell later if nothing else. The elven woman watched what was going on with a glimmer of hope in her broken eyes. She identified herself as Ilya Starmane, and said that she had been kidnapped from her home a few weeks ago and taken to this awful place. Ilya had an idea that she was captured because her family was an influential trading partner between Greyhawk and the elven nation of Celene but her captors never identified themselves. The heroes returned her cloak and signet rings and freed her from the prison. She escaped and promised to reward the heroes for their brave actions after finding out where to contact them in the future. The man who appeared dead turned out to be just in a dazed and disturbed sleep. It was decided to free the man and seek clerical attention after Sodden Hold had been fully explored.
The companions surmised at this point that they had stumbled onto some sort of doppelganger gang on the banks of the Selintan River. But why were they be targeted specifically? The answer may lead behind the double-doors leading further into Sodden Hold beyond the prison.
Session Updates
Well, good session. Just a reminder – I’d like to start around 7pm every Thursday. If you can’t make it for one reason or another, please, please, PLEASE let me know as soon as possible. If we can reschedule ahead of time I’d prefer that but sometimes things just don’t work out.
Also, if you can think of anyway to make this campaign more enjoyable please let me know. Perhaps something you’d like to see, or a direction you’d like to take your character – just let me know and it can probably be worked in.
Quest Cards In Progress
* What's Ilthane Up To?
* NegotiateTreaty with Lizardfolk of Mistmarsh
* Investigate Strange Key from Doppelganger Body
XP Recap
7th-level Characters 3,500
8th-level Character 2,000
‘Till next, Game On!
“Weird” Dave Olson
Dragonfyre Gaming Association
weird.dave.dfga@gmail.com
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