Age of Worms Campaign Update: 11/8/2007

CHRONICLE VAULT 20071108, FROM THE LIBRARY OF RHAVUS THE FIEND-SAGE ...

Sunsebb 21, 595 CY
I have been given the gift of foresight, so it is within my power to see the road that lies ahead of us all. And on that road I see death, destruction, fire, doom, madness, and chaos. I see the coming age, and already it is heralded in the dark places where light shines not. The Age of Worms is upon us.

In the Cairn Hills, a tenday's ride east of the Free City of Greyhawk, stands a mysterious tower. Hidden amongst the rolling hillside it has stood for many years, unblemished and undisturbed like so many things from the past. Local legends told in taverns and bars in the halfling city of Elmshire and the mining town of Diamond Lake point to the tower as the last refuge of a powerful wizard, whose vengeful spirit still haunts the site. Several months ago, a band of stalwart adventurers heeded the call of this mysterious place and put to rest the things that dwelt within. The adventurers decided to keep the tower as their home, but over the past months only one remains from that original group. The dwarf wizard and neophyte druid known only as Duke dwells within alongside his new companion, a halfling ranger named Argo Moleskin of Elmshire.

But rumors are hard to kill, and tales of the mysterious tower's capture have not spread far. In the Free City of Greyawk, another band of would-be adventurers gathered to plunder its depths and face its denizens. This group included Kong of the North, a mighty barbarian; Shanks Dair'Rill, a skilled halfling warrior and rogue; and Kaspar Nailo, an elven monk who disclosed no personal information. The three of them set out from Greyhawk to the tower of the wizard, arriving late in the afternoon of Sunsebb 17. They were more than a little shocked to find the tower not only not inhabited by the vengeful spirit of a long-dead wizard, but instead to be the home of a dwarf spellcaster, a halfling ranger, and an ornery badger named Bacon. There was much scratching of heads as they pondered the next move, and Duke was kind enough to offer the weary band rest and a warm meal for the night at least.

As the day drew to a close and the shadows lengthened across the tomb-riddled Cairn Hills, Shanks and Kaspar heard the sound of galloping hooves and the war cries of orcs. The five of them quickly headed for the entrance to the tower (which lay through a series of caves), arriving in time to surprise a bearded old man on a horse being chased by a pack of eight orc bandits. With a mighty bellow, the barbarian Kong raised his sword high and charged, cleaving one of the orc raiders fully in half with the power of his swing. Shanks and Argo took to the shadows of the evening while the orcs advanced, growling half-threats in halting Common. Using the darkness to his advantage, Shanks managed to take out a few of the orcs using his fearsome spiked chain to deadly effectiveness. Argo utilized his natural knack and threw a pair of daggers at one of the bandits, felling him before the orc could advance on the old man. Kaspar used the power of his palms to send one of the orcs crashing to the ground, and the last orc fell shrieking, his eyesocket pierced by the perfectly thrown dagger of Argo. Few injuries were sustained, and the group quickly came to questioning their unexpected guest.

He introduced himself as Alustan, a sage from the nearby city of Diamond Lake. He was traveling north from Hardby and claimed to have been chased by the orc bandits for nearly a day. Clearly exhausted, Duke once again graciously offered a room to the old man, though only with the promise of knowledge sharing. Around the dying light of the fire, Alustan related that strange things had been happening around the Cairn Hills lately. Strange green worms had been seen in odd places, most notably in the body of nearly unkillable zombies. The old sage produced a jar with one of the dead specimens inside, telling his hosts that he was riding west to Blackwall Keep to speak with Marzana, a friend of his, regarding more reports of green worms. Blackwall Keep was built and maintained by a garrison of Greyhawk soldiers as a defense point against incursions from the Mistmarsh (there was a smiliar fort, Marsh Keep, at the southern end of the swamp). Marzana, Alustan explained, was a warmage and a good friend of his and the reports he received matched what he had been hearing and seen over the past few weeks.

But clearly the roads were not safe to travel alone. Alustan asked that the ragtag band of adventurers accompany him to Blackwall Keep as his bodyguards. He could offer little in the way of money (of which Duke and Argo wouldn't accept anyway) but promised a bit of excitement if nothing else. With little else to occupy their time now, the newly arrived companions elected to join along as well, and so the next morning the six of them (Alustan and the band of five adventurers) set out on horseback and wagonback to the west and south. The first day's journey was relatively uneventful, and all got a good feeling from Alustan as he shared stories from his hometown of Diamond Lake. They stayed the night at Shank's Rest (so named from the farmer who moved out long ago) and started bright and early the next morning. Around late afternoon all noticed the buzzing of flies and the smell of fire and blood - the signs of a battle.

Leaving their horses and caravan at the road, the group crept upon the scene of a siege. Their destination, Blackwall Keep, stood proud and defiant on a small hill, surrounding by around twenty lizardfolk. As the heroes watched, half of the lizardfolk mounted an assault against the small keep, climbing upon each other's backs and battering at the door with heavy wooden logs. The lizardfolk force seemed to have been led by a particularly large and nasty specimen, and they could see what appears to be a druid aiding the lizardfolk. It did not seem like the defenders of Blackwall Keep could hold out much longer.

Alustan informed the heroes that he would be useless in this situation, but he did have an emergency scroll of teleport available for just such an occasion. He would teleport to Diamond Lake and summon reinforcements while the heroes did what they could to break the siege. The sage spoke the words of the spell and vanished. Afterwards, things fell into motion quickly. Duke summoned the power of the ground to entangle the lizardfolk assaulting the keep's door while Kaspar moved back to a distance and used his bow to pepper the nearby group with arrows. Kong gave a bellow and charged, cutting down lizardfolk left and right with mighty swings of his greatsword. The whirling blades of Argo cut many a lizardfolk into chopped pieces while Shanks used his spiked chain to great effectiveness. The battle waned on with many injuries sustained (most notably by Shanks and Kaspar) and Kong finally dropped the lizardfolk leader. What remained of the lizardfolk force broke and ran, including the druid who had foiled Shanks' attacks. Little did the lizardfolk druid know what lay in store for him as he ran. Perhaps a momentary thought caused him to pause; perhaps he tripped on a rock and stumbled. Whatever it was, it was enough for Kong. In the depths of his inhuman barbarian rage, Kong launched his greatsword into the air missile-style and his aim was true. The massive blade pierced armor, flesh, and armor again, impaling the druid from a distance of twenty feet.

The lizardfolk force scattered, the heroes were greeted by the remaining members of the Blackwall Keep garrison. The guards pleaded with the heroes to rescue their kidnapped companions, which included their warmage Marzana. Realizing the importance of the situation and that lizardfolk eat humans, the band of heroes vowed to go after the marauding lizard people and rescue the kidnapped people. After quaffing the keep's supply of healing potions the band of five heroes set their eyes south - into the Mistmarsh.

Session Updates
This first session started off a little later than normal only because three people had to make characters. Travis should be joining us next week, but between now and then I'll work with him to get his character setup and introduced. We should be starting the session around 7pm next Thursday, and after that is the midnight screening of Beowulf. Ooh, can't wait.

I'm going to try and send this campaign update out on Fridays after the session (while everything is still fresh in my mind). Just a few things to recap that are a little different from other campaigns I've done:

* If you die and are raised, you will lose a level - no matter what spell is used to bring you back. Normal rules would apply for that (so you would start out halfway between the two levels). If you decide instead to create a new character you would still start out a level lower than your existing character, and your starting XP would be the minimum.

* Death and dying - we're using the normal -10 rules. I find that, while it is a gross oversimplification of the situation, simply going to -10 is much easier to understand for everyone involved (including myself).

XP Recap
5th-level Characters: 2,800
6th-level Characters: 2,100
7th-level Characters: 1,400