A Party of One:
Eredave, the Elven Ranger (complete with cloak and boots)... Well, that's a bit misleading... in more ways than one... He's also a bit of a Rogue (although he won't admit it; but the
Balance check gives it away)! He also has clothes, and armor, and styff, too...
The Cloak and Boots are just "of Elvenkind", is all... Eredave is a
Master Trap-finder... but can't do much with them, once they're found. His high
Search skill makes him the bane of Secret & Concealed Doors (which hate him, viciously!)
Never having been satisfied with being "unarmed", Eredave took a page from Nature's book. He found it intensely unfair that a Troll could claw him, then when he hit it, in return, it also got in another Attack of Oppotunity, as well! Even Zombies got an unarmed Slam attack! "Not fair!", he cried. "Yeah, but the Troll is armed with claws, and the Zombie has Slam." sez the GM. "So can I take the Slam Feat?" asks Eredave. "No, you're not a monster!" sez the GM. "Okay, then I'm going to the smithy and forging myself a set of claws... unless you'll let the bladesmith make them for me..." quoth Eredave, the Inimitably Irrepressable. Hence, Eredave the Two-Weapon fighting Ranger, with claws that slip over the backs of his hands, and cuff about the wrists. Like spiked gauntlets, they cannot be disarmed, and are always "prepared". With
Uncanny Dodge (and later, when it Improves, and with Improved Initiative to boost his high Dexterity), Eredave is basically never surprised. Even so, he took
Improved Unarmed Strike at third level, so even "unarmed" he is still dangerous...
All of this was recently made worse... but that's getting ahead of ourselves... Whoa, there, boy! Whoa!
Anyway, at level one, Eredave met a "Half-Human". The other half was Orc, but this one was okay... This was way back in his youth (which was about 100 years longer than yours), so Eredave's forgotten the name, but he still remembers "the big guy". This becomes important due to later events... So at level one, Eredave sets out to deliver a package to a town two-weeks away... Good thing these folks had a Ranger among'em, as they were all set to set out without a tent, food, water, or beasts of burden... The Half-Human couldn't even ride! After that very minor quest was eventually resolved, Eredave wandered off, and eventually came to a town preparing for siege.
There, he was asked for ideas on improving the town's defences, and those who had ideas (Adventurers!) were gathered together to go and see what had become of a missing strike force... During this time, Eredave was given his horse by the Captain of the city's guard (perhaps in embarassment for some of his underlings mistaking the Ranger for an Assassin, due to his claws)! This is important because Arrohir was soon trained as a Warhorse, and later became his Animal Companion.
Secon level was seen before a base of operations was ever even found. Eredave became a true Ranger, and Arrohir his faithful steed. Finding no signs of the strike force, they wandered away, and became embroilled in a long and complicated war against Evadere, the Witch. By the time that this quest had been resolved (with the aid of the Caitian Magicsbane, Rrrowlgh), Eredave had reached sixth level, and gained Exotic Weapon Proficiency in his "secret weapon", that chain with a padlock on each end, which he'd been carrying since first level...
"Okay, so the Manriki-gusari can be a chain with weights on both ends, or a piece of rope, right?" queries Eredave. "Right. Anything that's flexible, and weighted on both ends." replied the GM. "So if I'm captured, and chained to the wall, and I can free one hand, I can use the manacles as Manriki-gusari, right?" queries the Roguish Ranger. "Uhm... yup." replies the GM, visions of
Escape Artist and
Lockpicking, aided by a
Vest of Escape, followed by a Two-Weapon fighter with
Improved Unarmed Strike quickly causing him to resolve not to take Eredave prisoner... or, at least, not to manacle him!)
Then, the strangeness began... This has left two outstanding impressions upon Eredave: Never join with anyone, along the road, for "safety in numbers"; and Half-Orcs really ARE as bad as you've heard... until proven otherwise... That would be a "totally to be avoided, if not slain outright", if it weren't for "the big guy". You'll see why, below...
First, he joins with a party, along a road, for "safety in numbers", and during the night, that mysterious fog comes up, and when they awake, the party is in another place! Nearby is an open scrollcase, with two maps... One turns out to be a map of the local area, the other a map of a town not too many days' travel distant. The stars are strange, and (in the course of travel) several odd phenomenon occur - daggers upon the sun & moon, and in the stars...
Perplexed, the "Pesky Elf", as he soon comes to be known by a thankless party, does everything within his power to wring answers from the stingy universe. Using an NPC with Knowledge (Religion), he soon learns that one of the local goddesses (the tri-partite one represented by the daggers) is opposed to another, for past wrongs. The local farmer Eredave questions tells them that her temple is one way, the other goddess' the way they're heading. The party votes to continue the way they were headed. Coming to the crossroads, the party votes to go to the second goddess' temple, and see what they know.
There, a Half-Orc (HO, hereinafter) is added to the group. Immediately, with the attitude, although Eredave tries to greet him friendly - twice. Anyway... while there, the party learns that this HO "suffers" from the same "curse" that they do... seeing the stars strangely, and seeing "signs in the sun, moon, and stars..." Learning that there were "others suffered this curse", Eredave asks what seems to him the obvious question "What happened to these others?" All but one died... "And where is he?" In the town the party was headed to. "And his name?" Bjorn.
So off they go to see this guy. Along the way, the mist moves in, and drops off two more PCs. The HO is bad, but one of the other PCs is being intentionally played as something that sounds like "an icehole"...
Now when the party arrives at town, the player of Eredave is moving, thus having his phone disconnected, and it will be out for as long as it takes to get the new one in (which turned out to be about a month). Hence, the player mentions this to the group, and when the PCs come to the gate, and are charged a copper piece/person or animal to enter, Eredave objects, and goes off to sit and wait. The "icehole" then cuts a piece of rope off, and using it as a sling bullet, wangs it at "the pesky elf's" head, screaming at him to come back, and "Have you forgotten why we came here?" (Apparently forgetting who it was that discovered that imformation!) Eredave readies a kick, in case he loses Initiative, but wins, so he pulls a Feint & Hide, and rides off... Figuring he is out of earshot, the HO begins his long-running campaign of back-biting against the Elf, which would eventually lead to the closing of the campaign, as it slowly died off...
Anyway, in the next month realtime, the party goes inside, finds the stables, stables the steeds, finds the inn, orders food, finds out where Bjorn lives, goes there, and begins questioning him.
Eredave enters town, finds the stables, stable Arrohir, and goes to the General Store for provisions (supposedly why the party was originally headed here). The PCs are leaving Bjorn's, headed towards the bookshop run by the local mage, and sees him. The HO saunters over and offers a "smart" remark. Another new PC has also joined the party, a Barbarian.
At the bookstore, the Mage is met, and he reveals that the PCs are trapped inside a bubble of some sort, roughly bounded by the map, and "cursed" to see the sky differently. In order to fix this, they need several artifacts... What and where are soon detailed, and Eredave has a lot of questions for the loquacious Mage. He offers it freely, in return for the promise that, if the PCs get out of here, they will take him with them. All agree.
Now, the PCs (HO in particular) get angsty with "the pesky Elf" for asking a lot of questions... Nevermind that the questions turn up a lot of information (such as that one artifact is guarded by the star-headed, tentacled, Elder Beings)! Then, after the HO objects to him "taking too long asking questions", he says "Okay, then, I'm heading to the store.", and leaves. Whereupon, the HO, again thinking him beyond earshot, backbites a little more. Meanwhile, the rest of the party (besides Eredave and the Barbarian, who followed him) stay with the Halfling spellcaster while he asks about copying spells from the Mage's spellbook (which sounds like a question, to me, so maybe they weren't through, after all!)
So Eredave goes to the store and gets supplies for himself, then sends the Barbarian back, and goes off to search the town. No secret doors, but he learns some interesting things about the local Witch being here, before the town... Later, in a visit to the Temple, he meets the head priest and gains some valuable info that was never conveyed to the rest of the party, due to fallout... There are three "lines of power" intersecting within the town. Both the Witch's and Mage's residences lie along the crossings of two of these paths... An inn where some adventurers are known to hang out occupies the third.
Finishing up with the priest, Eredave exits the temple, and sees a sight he never thought to see, again... A Plane-touched Paladin who had been hijacked by a Dryad (after his player disappeared)! They meet up, then go to the common folks' market to try to sell Eredave's healing herbs. No one's buying, so he tries the Midwife. She isn't interested, either, but recommends the Witch. So they're off to see the Wizard, again.
The Witch, it seems, likes scrying, and is probably responsible for the gate guards who ask folks to state their business upon entering the town... She knows all about Eredave's business, at any rate, and immediately begins by insulting him, telling him that she "does not tolerate fools lightly", that she will only answer ONE question, refusing to promise not to harm/ensorcell he and the Paladin in return for his healing herbs (which she is unable to gather) UNLESS they both promise to take her with them, when/if they escape, in return for such "mighty oaths" (not to harm/enspell her guests!)...
This pronounced by a Half-Human, Quarter-Succubus, Quarter-Celestial, sitting cloaked in
Darkness. Eredave (Favoured Enemy: Outsiders (Evil)), Bane of Evadere, The Witch, having noted the presence of her invisible Raven familiar (Imp/Quasit, I forget which), naturally refuses. She has, by then, admitted to being "trapped" here, where the lines of power prevent her detection, and that she has waited years for this group of PCs (since the days when Bjorn was young), to come and free her. Eredave tells her that she should treat the next group better, that she can wait another century, and leaves. The Paladin(!) swears, tells her not to be too hard on him, and is told that he is banned from her hut, for life.
Finally finished at the Mage's bookshop, the party comes along as the two are leaving the Witch's hut, and are told that the two will meet them in the bath house (which, in this campaign, is the best place to go for information). The other PCs all swear to take the Witch with them, when/if they get out, then go to the bath house, too. All but two of them snub the Ranger and Paladin.
Afterwards, the two and the NPC with Knowledge (Religion) go off to get some food, and the rest return to the inn (where they had left the "icehole" PC, who got into a fight, and got himself arrested, they dropped the game). The NPC soon returns to the party, saying that they're at Bjorn's, where the party spends the night.
When the rest of the party returns, the NPC tries to strengthen party unity. The HO works against it, placing the blame on Eredave for "wandering off", saying "I don't want to have to worry about what other [party members] are doing." Other stuff gets said... Eventually, Eredave says that, since an objective for the morrow has been set, the spellcasters might want to get together and talk about spells, then adds: "...but then, inter-party co-operation hasn't been the byword, with this group, has it?" (or somesuch). A large row ensues, with one of the "spellcasters" saying that he'll memorize a
Magic Missile, just for Eredave... During the row, one of the PCs (the Halfling Rogue) invites Eredave to leave... Eredave responds, explaining why he's done what he's done, pointing out where this PC has stated things wrongly, and then says that he "...can be as silent as a stone, if that will make things better."
At that point, the GM pushes things along a couple of days travel, after gaining a level, so Eredave gets spellcasting and Arrohir finally becomes his Animal Companion, after casting his first spell,
Speak With Animals, to see if he's willing. He is, of course.
So off they go, to camp at the outskirts of a forest, wherein lies the ruined keep, which is presumed to be haunted. Inside is Artifact 1. Eredave checks for tracks, and discovers Bugbears live nearby... Having been silent up until now, he then suggests that the PCs go ask the local farmers about happenings in the area. The party agrees, and they do, learning about strange lights, mysterious disappearances, etc. Eredave asks for descriptions of the "disappeared", so that they'll recognize them, if they see them.
After that, the Halfling Rogue scouts the ruined keep, seeing only one guard, asleep. Eredave shoots it with an arrow, doing more than enough damage to take it negative, but the GM still has it awake, and yell "Help!" before dying...
This summons the Bugbear Priest, with his Zombies, Bugbears, and the flying Goblin Sorceress with the Ring of
Improved Invisibility, who
fireballs the NPC. Battle ensues, during which the PCs cannot see the Goblin, and only one PC (Eredave) is able to strike her (I wanted to use the
Major Circlet of Blasting, but the GM made my roll for me, with bowfire, instead - at least it was a hit!)
After the battle, the Paladin (played by my best friend, since the Dryad-napping) says something in responce to my saying that we should burn the bodies, lest the evil Bugbear Cleric turn them into Zombies, along the lines of "You may have a sharp tongue, my friend, but your wit is sharper!" This starts an unfortunate chain of events...
The "icehole" PC, back in the city, awoke in the gaol as... another person! He is now a Paladin, too! So far, he has been resistant to the
Shell of Eredave-Animosity, but now
he joins in with a handy rejoinder, and the HO, of course, is next... Now at this point, Eredave is thinking, "I'm about to go down, underground, with
these people? Why!?!" His player then starts thinking about when this campaign stopped being fun, and realizes: IT NEVER WAS! So, he tells the PCs that he's is going to check on the horses, then the GM that he's quitting... He takes his horse, and rides out...
It's many months back to civilization, but he's a Ranger, so no problem... Meanwhile, the PCs continue the quest, get Artifact 1, and with "the pesky Elf" gone, the best line of the whole campaign was: "What are we going after, next? It's been so long, I've forgotten!" (It seems no one else took notes!) The campaign moves slowly on, having lost three players before mine, and more follow. The PCs gain Artifact 2, due to the newest PC (who knew the GM's Campaign World, and thus a "secret" of the goddess in question), before the game ground to a halt...
Eventually, Eredave makes it back. One day, along the road, for no other reason than another GM saying so, he joins with another party along the road, for "safety in numbers", and that night, when they make camp, an entity (one of the Feathered Flock) appears, telling them that they may not live up to their potential, here, but
she can take them to a place where they can... Are they willing?
Everyone but him says "Yes", more or less. He stops to ask questions... She doesn't answer them, and they - again - pop up, elsewhere... Stunned! And being charged by a One-eyed, Boar-headed giant!
Eredave recovers, first, and shoots for the eye... Using Bastion Press' Called Shot rules, he has no chance to blind the Giant (and there's no nearby cliff to lead it over), so he wastes two arrows, to little effect, followed by a pair of Tanglefoot Bags. One hits, but it EXACTLY makes the STR roll, and so is only slowed. The PCs begin recovering, amidst two groups fighting, and the Boarclops is intercepted by some men, then finished off by us...
Afterwards, Eredave sees a Troll in the windows of a nearby building, and the being that brought them here on another rooftop, watching and smiling. As they're looking over the boarclops and meeting the few surviving NPCs, the Troll Shaman attacks with a Wand of
Fireballs, and then his Lizardmen. The HO kills the Troll off with a lance, yelling something like "Somebody finish this thing off, I can't make fire!" Eredave (who had been using Alchemist's Fire and Sneak Attacks with Acid) has to move in and loot the body, then burn it... In the process, he gets the Wand (whose command word he overheard - and, yes, he has
Use Magic Item), a pair of bracers, and a bow.
He tries the bracers on, and finds that they resize to fit him... Magical! He tries to take them off, and it works... Not cursed! The bow is at least Masterwork...
Despite being in combat, and having no way to know what Eredave has found, the HO (CE alignment) tries to "secretly" cast
Detect Magic upon them, not telling the rest of the party... Eredave's player points out that
Detect Magic has a Verbal Component, and makes the appropriate
Listen and
Spellcraft checks...
To make a long story shorter, Eredave tells the PCs what he found, including about the bracers, and everyone makes a play for them. On the way to the NPCs' master, the HO asks "Can I see that bow you found?" Eredave replies "You mean the one that you detected was magic, that you weren't going to tell us about?", but trying to foster trust (and a fair division of treasure), lets him see it... Later, at the local Lord's castle, when he asks to get it back, the HO replies: "Sure! Come to my room, later! I'll show you this trick we do with apples!", and walks out of the room, with the bow...
Now by this point, there was a Party Treasure Division Policy, which the HO claimed was "too complicated", but agreed to. (Well, okay, it was more complicated than "The Half-Orc gets whatever he wants, and we split whatever's left.", but... c'm'on!) The HO's actions were in clear violation of the PTDP, so the Roguish Ranger used his amazing ONE Rank of Sleight of Hand to "pickpocket" the bow right off of him, without his noticing...
The PCs examine the bow, then it's inserted into one of Eredave's
Quivers of Ehlonna. The PCs ask some questions, two more of them wander off (the Halfling Rogue and Saracen Paladin), the rest stay to learn. An NPC Expert comes in to answer questions, and... the HO comes back, in a rage, accusing Eredave of being a thief. He starts a fight, misses, and Eredave moves to put a table between them. The HO attacks, again, loses Initiative, and gets Tanglefooted, but breaks it. The NPC yells for them to "Stop!", and Eredave does. Meanwhile, the two players are exchanging E-mails, wherein Eredave's player mentions that he is tired of inter-party bickering, after that last fiasco, and doesn't want to fight his own party... The HO's player says he'll drop the PC, if it's a problem (Imagine that! A CE HO, a problem, in a party with a LG Paladin and an Elf! Who'da thunk it?)
So, imagine the surprise when, after Eredave had stopped, the HO responds with a Grapple attempt! At that point, Eredave rolled under the table (AKA: Cover), hid, and literally disappeared... From the campaign, as well as the room! We (I, at least,) never did find out what happened to that Wand of
Fireballs! It's okay, though... No one else overheard the Command Word, anyway!
Hence, Eredave's Two Rules of Adventuring:
1) Never, ever, under ANY circumstances, join uo with an unknown group along the road for "safety in numbers"! You're better off, alone!
2) Half-Orcs aren't to be trusted until they prove themselves otherwise... Half-Humans are okay, though (I think!)
So how was the
Improved Unarmed Strike and proficiency with claws made "worse", you might still be wondering? (IF you can remember back that far, after all this brain-numbing adventuring drivel!) Because, everyone that that being took to that other elsewhere received a "Gift" from her, once they learned to use it... Eredave's was to become his "Totem Animal", even though he didn't understand what a "Totem" was... His Totem Animal? Why, a Cat, of course!
