From the Ashes (Updated 11/04/2008)

[ThirdWizard]

Okay so I've been putting together a 4e game for some time. You can read about the campaign setting here.

Here are the PCs:
Quinn - Human Fighter, Lawful Good
Korvun - Dragonborn Warlord, Lawful Good
Tordek - Dwarven Cleric of Avandra, Good
Alandra - Human Ranger (bows) - Unaligned
Sapphire - Human Warlock (infernal) - Unaligned [joined in Session 3]

I'll put up more detailed information on them.

Here's some basic information about the setting for those who don't want to read over the tiddlywiki. It's a basic PoL setting with the default assumptions that have been outlined for 4e D&D. The PCs are in the Denmount Coalition, a group of small towns that band together to protect themselves from the wilds surrounding them. The Coalition is in the mountains and make their way mostly by mining. The Greth Traders Guild controls most of the flow of trade and hires out PCs when things go badly. Such was the case in the first session, as the PCs had been hired out by the Guild. That's where we begin the game...

[ThirdWizard]

I decided to start the game off quick. We began with the PCs on their way to the small fort town of Rinthorp, a mining community that had not been heard from in over a week, their last ore shipment missed. The Greth Traders Guild, a consortium of traders, miners, and others involved in the area, wanted to know what was going on there, so they offered a reward of 80 gold pieces up front and 80 more on return for information on what might have happened in Rinthorp.

About four days into the journey the PCs were assaulted by none other than goblins! Nasty little buggers, too. There were four of them, two sharpshooters who stood on a hill making it more difficult to reach them, a spear wielding and javelin throwing goblin who harried them, and another one with a short sword who snuck around behind them to attack the less defended members. Quinn and Korvun split up, Quinn concentrating on the spear-wielder while Korvun went after the flanking goblin who was attacking Aladra and Tordek. The sharpshooters went unscathed until the other two were down, as the meleers protected their less front line people, so when they finally got around to the ranged attackers, one of them escaped.

Moving on, they didn't seem to worried about that escaped goblin getting friends. A foolish mistake. As they proceeded on the unkempt wagon trail, they were not ready for the second wave. A war cry echoed over the mountain behind them, getting their attention, and they saw two half-orcs leading four more goblins up the trail behind them, charging. Then in front of them two hobgoblins, one armed with a flail and the other with a bow, came out from behind some rocks along with three more goblins, one with a crossbow - the sneaky guy who got away before - and the others with spears and javelins.

This was a hard fought battle! The goblins to the rear all went immediately for Alandra, surrounding her while the half-orcs descended on the cleric. The archer repeatedly shot at Quinn, trying to fell him, while the flail wielder began to close and the other goblins threw their javelins and shot their crossbows at him. They put top priority in saving the ranger, and Quinn, in a great moment, cleaved down every one of her flankers at once and turned back to the flail-wielding hobgoblin. Korvun kept his attention on the half-orcs, one of which Tordek hit with a powerful prayer that sent him running away in fear. Alandra decided those half-orcs looked dangerous and were way too close to her so she let loose arrows at the one Korvun had engaged in battle.

Then the half-orc engaged Korvun in conversation! No one expected that, but he said he would turn on his hobgoblin masters if the price was right. Korvun, however, would have none of that, and he refused to work with a half-orc, especially one who was waylaying travelers on the roads. He might have even had something to do with the events in Rinthorp. The odds were stacked against the group of PCs, but he would not waver in his beliefs, and he responded with a heavy blow to the half-orc with his falchion. The orc turned to him in pure rage, and told him he would die for daring turn him down.

While this was going on, Quinn was not looking good. The archer was doing a number on him, and he was having trouble penetrating the flail-wielder's armor to get a good hit on him. Turning on the goblins, he took one of them down after a few well-placed slices with his halberd while the others finished off one of the half-orcs behind him, everyone pulling into a tight formation so that no one could be flanked. After one of the half-orcs went down, the returning one, who had been scared away by the magic of Tordek, attacked Korvun with a frenzy of blows, his eyes wild and his swings crazed.

At this point, they weren't sure they were going to make it out of this without someone dying, but some morale boosting words from Korvun and some well placed divine intervention from Tordek kept Quinn on his legs fighting. Thanks to a barrage of arrows from Alandra and some devistating blows from Korvun, the last half-orc fell beside his brother in arms. The rear guard could finally turn their attention back to the hobgoblins and two remaining goblins. Korvun immediately came to Quinn's aid, teamwork between the two getting them a flanking position on the flail-wielder, while Alandra dropped the javelin tossing goblin when he moved over to attack her. A concerted attack against the hobgoblin then dropped him, and they turned to the archer and sharpshooter, who couldn't stand up to the frontal assault of the four PCs. The sharpshooter tried to flee again, but couldn't escape and was dropped by a blast of holy radiance from Tordek.

Examining the dead creatures, Alandra was able to place them as Bloodrock Clan goblins, and Korvun recognized the name and said that Bloodrock were native to the area just north of here and gave a short history lesson on the clan. Overall it was nothing exceptional, but it might be indicative of movement of that clan.

After this battle, the PCs were tired, hurt, and did not want to continue onward. The battle had taken a lot of out of them, but they made camp and set watch, just up the wagon trail from where the battle had taken place, leaving the fallen where they lay.

OOC Comments:

Spoiler:

The battles went very smoothly and were a blast to play. There were lots of enemies, and it really let every PC shine - repeatedly. There were a lot of moments where the players really thought things were about to go south and could have, but they managed to figure something out. For example, when the goblin cutters surrounded the ranger, that could have been very bad for her, but the fighter's player was able to move in, do a cleave to kill two of them, use an action point, then do another cleave to finish off the other two! Okay, some good rolling helped them.

This game was a lot better than the brief one I played with the pregens from the DDXP months ago. Playing a character who you created is infinitely more fun than playing a pregenerated character. We also had the full rules, so we were able to look up a few things when we weren't sure about them. For example, is Armor Class a Defense? Yes it is! And so forth. Luckily we didn't have to look up many things and when we did, the index was a big help in that regard. I was very consciously sure not to just put ideas down because I thought they were overpowered. I went by the rules and everything worked out smoothly.

So, I started the game out with combat to get everyone's attention quick (an old DM trick). And now that everyone's attention was rapt from the adrenaline rush of imminent danger, I eased back on the throttle as they made their way to Rinthorp.

Next time: The PCs arrive at Rinthorp!

[ThirdWizard]

Rinthorp was a hovel by anyone's standards. It was surrounded by a wall about 20 feet tall, and after knocking on the gate, they were allowed in by two guards - Ward and Willabee. These two had seen better days. They were obviously not in the best condition. Willabee had a bandaged arm and Ward walked with a limp. The PCs talked with the two for a little while and learned that they had seen goblins about, fought them a few times, but for the most part the creatures didn't attack the fort directly.

Asking about the mines, the two guards got somber. The told the PCs that the morning before, at about sunrise, one of the miners, Garret, arrived from the mine, feverish and sick. His skin was flaking and he seemed out of it. They look him to the local priest of Pelor, Brother Tannis, to care for him. They seemed uncomfortable, and some of the PCs realized that they seemed to be holding something back. The party decided to split up. Quinn and Korvun would go to see the local Reeve in charge of the fort town, and Tordek and Alandra would go with Ward to see Brother Tannis and see if they could do anything to aid the sick man.

Quinn and Korvun arrived at the Reeve's manor. It wasn't much to speak of, perhaps four rooms. Inside, they met with Reeve Hill. His bodyguard, an unmoving warforged, stood with him. They quickly got a picture of the man that they were none too pleased with. He was obviously more concerned with getting the mining back on track than he was with the safety of his miners. They managed to hold their tongues, however, and quickly excused themselves from his presence.

The others walked with Ward to the home of Brother Tannis and pushed him for more information. They found that he was holding some things back. It seems that Garret was crazed when he arrived. He was babbling, writhing and trying to escape. He bit Willabee, and they could see madness in his eyes. It was all they could do to get him to Brother Tannis for treatment. But, they didn't hold much hope for improvement. When the three arrived at Brother Tannis's home, Ward went back to his post and Brother Tannis, after being persuaded, let the two PCs into his home to look at Garret. What they found was worse than they had imagined. His skin was peeling and coming off, almost leper-like, he was writing on the bed murmuring in his sleep.

Tordek got to work looking over the man and doing all he could to help him, hoping to bring him back from his state, to at least ease his pain and stop whatever nightmares he was having. It was a long process, and Quinn and Korvun arrived while he was busy at work. They had a quick talk, exchanging information, and they quickly determined that whatever was going on was much more than a goblin problem.

OOC Comment

Spoiler:

This was the first great moment of the session from a DM perspective. The players realized that something was seriously up and that they could be stepping into something not savory at all by heading up to that mine. Invoking fear in players is something that can be difficult, and I just had to savor that particular moment. I set up the goblins as the enemy then pulled that rug out from under them in one fell swoop. And it worked! As a DM you try and try this kind of thing over and over and when it sticks its golden. I got lucky in the first session of the campaign, and I think that is going to really pump up the campaign as a whole!

Quinn and Korvun left again to go try to get some more information about what was going on, being thrown by events so far. Asking around town, they found out about another person in town, a young half-elf, Sister Martha of the priesthood of Erathis. Visiting her, they found that she had been in town about a month, trying to prepare the way for her superior, Minister Hallthew. The town is hoping to expand due to its success, and Erathis is heavily involved whenever that is a possibility. They talked with her for a while before returning to the home of Tannis and checking up on Alandra and Tordek.

Unfortunately, things were not going well for Tordek. He hadn't done anything for the man and it was starting to get late at this point. They returned to Sister Martha and she found a place to put them up for the night, one of the homes of a miner who had no family so his house was empty. Early the next morning they set out for the mines, which were not far away but with the difficult mountain climb would take the better part of the day to reach. About halfway up the mountain, they spotted some figures above them, and Alandra was able to identify them as goblins. This really spooked them, there was talk of ambushes, rock dropping, and yes even pouring boiling old down upon them from their perches above.

However, they reached the mine without incident at sundown. Heading into the mine, the PCs found two main tunnels, one a newer tunnel and an older tunnel. After a quick debate, they went down the newer tunnel, which was only perhaps twenty or thirty yards long and ended in a dead end with a pile of dead bodies, maybe ten or so people, all with chunks of meat taken out of them and their skulls cracked open. Hearts sunk and stomaches churned, and they suddenly felt very much in danger. Alandra caught a glint out of the corner of her eye, and pointing it out to the others they investigated, the glint turning out to be a vein of silver. Iron Ore was the only metal they knew about coming from this mine, so they took a mental note of this and turned to explore the other areas of the mine.

Heading down the older tunnels, figures came into their light ahead who turned out to be miners ravaged by whatever disease had afflicted Garret. They appeared to be alive, huddled in a corner and unmoving. Without being able to do anything for them, the PCs continued on down the mine shafts, ready for anything. Finally, emerging into a large cavernous lit room, they found themselves face to face with what must have once been a priest of Tiamat blocking the way to a door behind him. The priest was in robes, the holy symbol of Tiamat around his neck. However his eyes were sewn shut, fresh cuts all along his face and arms. His holy symbol had been defaced, desecrated with cuts and bits carved out of it. Around the room were more huddled miners, ravaged by disease. And as they entered, it was as if he turned and looked at them, though his eyes were sewn shut. In a commanding voice he bellowed "Interlopers! You will not escape here with your lives. Rise, my minions, and slay them!" And, at his call, the miners rose limply, their skin hanging off, and turned to face the PCs. They looked dead, not breathing, not moving like people. Like zombies. In the dimness, the PCs recognized that two of the figures were not, indeed, human, but were hobgoblin.

Then battle ensued. The PCs made a line in the tunnel so that the enemy couldn't get to the ranger while the priest stepped forward to blast them with rays of necrotic energy. The zombies shambled forward, grabbing at Korvun and Tordek and biting and gnashing their exposed flesh. One zombie brutally bit down on Korvun while the priest held out both arms and the three in front felt their minds exploding with pain, making it difficult to think. The zombies continued their onslaught, but Tordek called upon his faith in Avandra to push back the vile undead. Quinn moved forward to catch others as they approached, and the group was able to hold their line against the oncoming undead. The priest once again let loose with a blast, this time of cold which made it difficult for the PCs to move forward, and as the zombies continued to hold them and bite, the line behind Quinn was closed, cutting him off form the others. He pushed forward, however, and attacked the priest directly, pressing forward while the others handled the zombies as best they could.

After several bad bites from the zombies he was facing off against, Korvun came to the aid of Tordek, and together with Alandra they began picking them off one by one. At the same time, Quinn having engaged the priest in melee was able to defeat him without the backup of his minions. By the time Quinn had killed their leader and returned, the others had dropped the last zombie. They bandaged themselves up and wondered what might have happened here. The priest had once been a follower of Tiamat, but had he done those things to his symbol himself? Was he responsible for the illness or another? Hopefully answers would lie further in the mines. Then a sinking feeling dawned on them as they looked at the zombie bites on Korvun and Tordek. Did the same fate await them? What about the town? Brother Tannis should be able to watch Garret, so they should be fine. But, wait... wasn't Willabee bitten?

OOC Comment

Spoiler:

This was the single greatest moment of the session for me, as DM. When the PCs realized that, oh crap, biting zombie illness being spread! It's classic, and no one suspected until after the fight was over and the adrenaline rush had died down. Two PCs had been bitten and could possibly turn into zombies at any time in the adventure, necessitating the others to have to put them down. They couldn't be trusted, couldn't be left alone, and they played it to the hilt to everyone's enjoyment. Korvun, especially, as he failed his first Endurance check to stave off the disease (more on that later) played up the whole zombification aspect. And, of course, what awaited them back in town? Willabee was bitten... and that was days ago. How far was he along in the disease? Was the town safe? What would be there when they got back? It was just great!

The PCs carefully went through the door. On the other side they found several summoning circles - five to be exact, one of which was occupied by some kind of shadow creature. And it spoke to them. And offered them information, ways to help the people who might be in danger, ways to stop what could have been set in motion. All he asked was to be freed from his confinement, and he would go back to his place of origin (which he never spoke in name), and they would have the knowledge they needed. Who summoned them? For what purpose? Where were the other four? He played to their desire to help the villagers, the miners, and stop whatever might happen in the future should they not be able to stop the others.

But, the PCs held fast. They didn't trust it, obviously, and they couldn't be sure it wouldn't turn on them as soon as it was freed, nor that the information would be true or only filled with half truths. He was a demon perhaps, or a devil, a shadow... they had no idea and no way of knowing what to expect from it, power-wise or information wise. He prodded saying that someone else would find him, someone who couldn't protect them self, someone who desired power for their own purposes. They still did not waver.

In the room was also a table with some ritual supplies and a book. The book was locked tight, a large leather bound tome with no obvious markings anywhere on it. The creature in the circle told them that there was a word that could be used to open the tome, and that he would be more than happy to give them the word in exchange for its freedom, but again they didn't agree to free it. Finally leaving, it said that it would await their return, smiling. Quinn mused to himself that the creature just might be right...

On the way out, the miners who they had passed and were afflicted with the sickness rose and attacked them. They fought them back and defeated them. Counting all the miners up, they determined that there were still two unaccounted for. There had been ten dead bodies, three with the priest, another four they just fought, and Garret. Of the twenty miners, that left two they had not seen. Making another mental note, they pressed onward.

It was late, the mountain path steep, and while things might be bad in Rinthorp, with goblins about and with so little light, they couldn't risk heading down to the hamlet until morning. Whatever might happen down there would have to wait. They would be no good to the people tired, injured, and with possible wounded of their own. So, they rested for the night just inside the mines, and after a quiet night, headed back down the mountain to Rinthorp. Tordek felt fine after a night's rest, but Korvun felt worse, pasty, feverish, and not well at all. The others worried about him possibly turning, but moved on anyway, keeping a close eye on him. Luckily, while they saw evidence of goblin activity, they were not attacked.

Next time: Back in Rinthorp... What will they find?

[ThirdWizard]

They arrived at Rinthorp that night, the hike taking all their daylight. Rapping at the gates had no reply, and they feared the worst. They decided to send one person over to try and open the gates from the other side, a very risky maneuver for the lone climber if zombies had infested the town. Quinn volunteered being the best climber and made it over quickly and easily. At the top he listened and heard the sounds of fighting going on in town, so he quickly let the others in and they rushed to the aid of whomever was left in town.

They found Ward fighting back a pack of zombies, a few fallen near him, but he was injured. Engaging the zombies with him, Tordek healed him of his wounds and the others fought down the zombies. It was difficult, for more reasons than the physical toll, but that the zombies' faces were those of people they had talked to earlier, but they won. Ward told them that things had gone bad. Willabee had gone crazy and attacked the other villagers after the PCs left. And it had spread from there. Now he wasn't sure who was left. Sister Martha had gathered up what children they could save and they were in the house he was protecting. Reeve Hill had locked himself in his manor and wasn't letting anyone in. Brother Tannis was not to be found.

After quick deliberation, the PCs decided that they needed to keep everyone as safe as possible in a central location, at least until morning. They didn't want to move the children through the streets, but they couldn't leave them alone with Willabee, who had been bitten repeatedly, or Korvun, who could also turn into a zombie. Splitting the party under the best of circumstances is a bad idea, and these were not best of circumstances. So, they kept the kids together as best they could and surrounded them to protect them from any zombie attacks. The psychological trauma of their dead mothers trying to eat their brains would have to come later.

OOC

Spoiler:

In order to minimize the impact of kids possibly being eaten by zombies, the players insisted on using tokens to represent the children instead of actual miniatures.

Off they went, and lucky for them that they had taken positions around the kids, because as they moved down the street, zombies came at them from every direction - four of them. Quinn, Korvun, Tordek, and Ward each engaged a different zombie to keep them away while Alandra helped them by shooting zombies down. Felling each one individually, they got by with minimal casualties. No one who wasn't exposed to the illness was bitten, and they moved on to the manor. Reeve Hill had it locked up tight, but a few well placed words (and a few threats) got the PCs inside. There Tordek treated Ward for the night, hoping to cure him as best he could. The others barred windows, moved furniture in front of doors, and survived the night.

In the morning, the zombies were gone. Ward looked better, as did Korvun. Neither of them had turned, thankfully, and they decided that their first order of business was to find and kill the zombies then get everyone out of town and back to Grethtown where they had come from. Searching around town, they found zombies in homes, hiding from the light, none of them fighting back during the day. They killed them all. Brother Tannis was nowhere to be found, neither alive nor zombie. Finally, when that horrible work was done, they packed up the children in the wagon and headed for civilization. They worried about goblin attacks, but perhaps the creatures were scared away by the sight of Ward and the warforged along with the group, six strong fighters heading over the wagon trail.

The trip was almost a week and by the time they reached town, they had manged to cure both Ward and Korvun of the affliction so that they didn't have to worry about the zombie illness spreading through that town. They were paid, with extra for the dangerous work, and now they plan on finding out the secrets of the book they found as well as trying to uncover the mystery behind the strange priest and the creature in the circle. They also need to be very wary of the return to the mines and what dangers might lie in wait for anyone who tries to reopen them.

That wrapped up the first session.

[ThirdWizard]

Session 2 - Coming Winter

Introduction

After saving the people of Rinthorp, our heroes were well received in Grethtown, and they were immediately hired to help rebuild the broken fort village. They spent the next couple of weeks helping travelers go back and forth between Grethtown and Rinthorp, talking to soldiers about its future defense, and making inroads with various people in Grethtown. They discovered that, somehow, the creature in the summoning circle had disappeared, but they still had the book they found within the mines as a clue to its identity.

Other than that work, they did a few odd jobs here and there as well as practiced their crafts. Korvun studied in the great Temple to Bahamut in Grethtown, the center for his priesthood in the territories of Reskia. Tordek spread the word of Avandra in Grethtown. Even in the city he was able to find fellow worshippers, and with their help constructed a small shrine on the outskirts of town.

After just over a fortnight, they were able to find their first lead in discovering the origin of the creature in the mine. They heard of an eladrin scholar, Caelynnasidhe, who had studied various creatures and rites involving otherplanar beings and might be able to find out something about the mysterious shadow being in the mines that was now missing. Investigation turned up that a local influential member of the Greth Traders Guild could help them, an elf named Aeryana Sehee. Meeting with her, they discovered the way to the eladrin’s tower: up the North Road, then Westward following a creek, and finally North when they reached a rock formation that looks like the claws of a dragon.

This would take them into the Kelbrook Forest, a dangerous place for non-fey. Many stories abound about the forest, from travelers losing their souls to being replaced by fey creatures who play mortal. If this eladrin lived in Kelbrook, she probably had some connection to the Feywild, and that meant danger.

And so, the adventurers set out into the unknown...

[Caldarion]

Awesome!!! I felt goose-bumps reading about the disease taking hold of people they had talked to earlier. Good stuff!! I'm following this story! =)

[ThirdWizard]

Before they got into the forest, the PCs were attacked by roving bandits. Bandits are all over the areas outside the Coalition, so it wasn't a surprise when a bunch of guys, roughly eight men with clubs and rough leather armor, jumped out from the trees around the small dirt road. Then ahead of them from up the trail strolled a halfling with a cup of wine in one hand and a dagger in the other, two big body guards beside him.

"Lay down your gold, and you shall not be struck dead. I am the Bandit King, and you are in my territory." He called out to them. The halfling was smug and his voice full of superiority to the travelers. It was obvious he was used to dealing with riffraff.

And, at this point, Alandra really wanted to shoot him. We rolled for initiative, the ranger went first, and wham wham went two arrows at the poor Bandit King. He was brought down to single digit hit points and cried out in pain, yelling "That's not how its supposed to happen! That's not how its supposed to happen! Kill them all!" as he huddled back, holding his wounded leg and arm.

The bandits jumped into action, assaulting the PCs. What followed was a difficult fight. The bandits went down quickly, but they outnumbered the PCs and the two bodyguards were trouble. Alandra had to work to keep away from the melee while Tordek had one on him almost immediately. Korvun and Quinn fought off the body guards. There were some close calls, Tordek's healing was brought to the test, and Korvun went unconcous multiple times, but our heroes pulled through.

When the dust had settled, the halfling "Bandit King" was nowhere to be found. They tracked him as best they could. Nobody seemed to like the idea of the guy surviving. The blood trail was easy enough to follow, however it looked like he eventually bandaged himself up, and they lost him. Deciding that they didn't have enough rations or time to go full blown search, they continued up the North road, toward the Kelbrook Forest.

They reached the creek without further incident, stepping off the trail and into the unknown to follow Aeryana's directions. It wasn't too difficult following the creek. While they couldn't keep close to it all the time due to the underbrush, Alandra proved to be quite skilled, and they didn't lose the creek.

They traveled like this for several days, and they had barely been in the forest before they were attacked one night by a group of wolves. These were no ordinary wolves, however, they were led by a fey wolf, which Korvun identified as a creature of the Feywild who could travel between the two worlds at dawn and at dusk, talking to and hunting with normal gray wolves, and living for the hunt. It attacked them just as the sun began to set, luckily before they had bedded down for the night.

Three gray wolves and the fey wolf surrounded the campsite, each coming from a different direction, leaving the party nowhere to move toward as a safer location. Korvun ran to intercept the big fey wolf before it could reach the others, while Quinn used his long halberd to try and keep the others at bay with the help of Alandra and Tordek.

It wasn't long before the mobile wolves proved to be difficult to contain, however, and they broke off into groups of two, surrounding their prey and dropping them to the ground to maul them. The PCs decided to focus on the fey creature, and eventually killed the beast. The grays, however, were not deterred, howling for blood. Whatever blood lust the fey wolf had was obviously given to the natural wolves now.

The two wolves who were still paired together surrounded Quinn and repeatedly tripped him to maul his face, forcing the others to abandon the fey wolf's paired wolf and come to the man's aid. A few prayers from Tordek and he was up again, and they managed to drop one of them, then its pair. With all its companions dead, the last remaining wolf howled, and ran. Although Alandra tried to drop it, she couldn't kill the creature before it slipped between the trees and disappeared into the forest from where it came.

Tired, the PCs bedded down to sleep. They would have to move further into the forest the next day, hopefully finding the next sign on their journey before another incident like tonight occurred.

[Son_of_Thunder]

I like it a lot. I'm looking forward to some more. I love reading about individuals home brews.

[ThirdWizard]

It was only another day of travel before they found the the rock formation shaped like a dragon's claw. It stood out in stark contrast to the surrounding area, the dim light of evening giving it a sinister air. Laying out their heavy blankets, they saw the first few snowflakes of the winter coming down as Alandra began the first watch. By morning the entire area was covered in white powdery snow, the cold of winter setting in around them.

Going was rough through the dense forest, even with a skilled ranger guiding them through the underbrush. While they knew they needed to proceed North, the clouds and canopy above made it difficult to use the sun as a guide. The first day on the trail they made good time, by by the second, they were off course enough that they decided to backtrack and try to get back on the path again. After two more days of travel, they were lost, the thick forest around them giving them an unnerving sensation of being in a labyrinth.

About midday, they happened upon a small moss covered stone shrine to Avandra, goddess of travelers, frontier, and adventurers. Her shrines litter the world, set by her followers everywhere as guideposts and safe spots for resting - even a bandit will not attack someone resting near a shrine to Avandra, breaking that taboo would surely mean losing her favor forever. But, finding the shrine was a stroke of luck in their favor, perhaps divine by accounts of Tordek, who worshiped the goddess.

They rested there that night, Tordek praying over the shrine for them to find their way. The next morning, refreshed, they set out again, this time easily discerning the path they needed to take and making good time, even compared to their first day coming from the creek. And, after a day's journey northward, they spotted the top of a white tower reaching over the trees, reaching Caelynnasidhe's home as the sun began to set.

OOC:

Spoiler:

This was a skill challenge. The PCs had to get 6 successes before 3 failures. It was mostly Nature checks to keep going through the forest, but I added two things. First was the ability to, once, backtrack to drop one failure and one success, essentially putting them back a couple of days. The second was the chance to happen upon the shrine and thus be able to use a Religion check to gain a substantial bonus on the next day's Nature check. They put both of these to use and they finally succeeded.

Had they failed, they would have run across another encounter, a traveling group of fey going through the woods. That encounter would prove very dangerous because it wouldn't have looked dangerous to them initially. I'm running the fey under some rules I borrowed (read: stole) from The Dresden Files. 1) Fey cannot lie (don't take this to mean you should believe everything they say!) and 2) Any favor done by a fey toward a moral must be repaid and vice versa. Any food the PCs had eaten, any supplies they had gained, any information gleaned would have meant the fey basically owned the PC for all intents and purposes. The PCs know this, the trick is remembering it when it is very tempting to take what they can get.

Anyway, they succeeded (barely!) and didn't have to deal with the dangerous fey encounter.

It was a structure that would stand out in any city they had ever been to, and amidst the forest under the red sun, it was amazing. It's white marble frame rose three stories from the ground, a second tower on the second, much smaller, perhaps onlly eight feet across, rose another four stories. It's front door was made of some black metal that stood in stark contrast with the rest of the building, and no windows were visible anywhere.

Approaching the door, the PCs used the large knocker affixed to the door, made of the same metal. It was extravagant, merely a loop hanging from the door. There were no carvings, no insets pictured. The white marble of the tower looked like a solid piece of stone. The only things on the door being the knocker and a doorknob with a small keyhole. After the second knock, the door opened, a tall woman, obviously eladrin, her eyes silver and her hair a light blue, her skin fair, smiling at them in welcome.

"Guests..." she said, "Please come in. It has been some time." Stepping back to allow them entrance, she added, "I have food, drink, please make yourselves at home while I prepare something for you." The entrance chamber was well furnished, couches, pillows, and other finery looked inviting, although there was no fireplace to warm themselves by. "I will return shortly."

The PCs made themselves at home as she had suggested, wondering why a hermit such as herself would have such an area for guests. Perhaps this would not be so difficult after all.

Of course, nothing is ever so simple for adventurers.

[Caldarion]

This is great stuff. I'm finding myself disappointed when there is nothing new to read, so I was happy to see this update. Good job guys!!

[arcanaman]

from what I skimmed you refer to the party as a hole what about there indiviual actions?

[ThirdWizard]

Originally Posted by arcanaman

from what I skimmed you refer to the party as a hole what about there indiviual actions?

Chalk that up mostly to the group being mostly new to each other. Thus, we're mostly in the learning to work together and help each other out stage and glossing over what the individuals are doing. I expect that to change as time goes on and everyone meshes together. There's also the fact that its a brand new campaign setting, so when they start exploring and getting used to things, I imagine it will change as well.

I also find it difficult to do dialog. I suppose I could paraphrase what was said in game, but somehow it seems wrong of me to do so. I know it would read better, so I'll ask my group for their thoughts on the matter at the next game (next weekend) and see if they care.

[ThirdWizard]

Caelynnasidhe was true to her word and offered them her hospitality. They ate dinner, mostly in silence. It wasn't until they were through with their meal that they asked the eladrin for aid. She did not recognize the book, its leather bound cover completely absent any marks, designs, or words that might shed some identity on its purpose. However, the creature in the summoning circle did sound familiar, though she would have to do some research. The information would not come freely, though, and she told them that she would require a favor from them. They would need to go somewhere and complete a task for her.

The PCs were very annoyed when she would not tell them where to go or what task she needed done. She did admit that she could see their point, but she would not comment on the particulars behind her reasoning. There was something, though, a Warder Gael, an eladrin who guarded the lands further to the West, deeper into the fey territories where mortals were forbidden from entering entirely. A route to the Feywild, a deepening of the forest which existed in both places simultaneously and travelers could move between both lands with only the power of their feet underneath them.

She said that he could help them. However, his purpose would be to stop them from entering the fey's domain. And he would consider them interlopers, trespassers to be dealt with by the ancient laws of the eladrin - put to death. The adventurers would need to capture him alive, and only then would he be honor bound to help those who subdued and caught him, one favor which they could force upon him through the rules that the creatures of the Feywild, even eladrin who are connected to that place more than the World of mortals, had to follow.

Again the PCs were perturbed. This was not what they had signed up for. But, the creature was gone to who knows where and they wanted to know what was in the book they had found in those dark mines. They agreed to her terms, noting at any point they could turn away and take the tome with them. Thus, in the morning, they set out into the forest once again, headed West into the deeper, darker, and more constricting areas of Kelbrook Forest. Going was difficult, but it wasn't much more than two days' journey before they found Warder Gael. Or more precisely before they were ambushed by him.

He was tall, silver haired, with dark gray eyes and wearing light blue loose fitting clothing. He was also shooting arrows at them from a tree branch, and three gray wolves surrounded and attacked in the ambush along with him when they crossed paths. And he was not looking to talk. So they responded in kind. Alandra fired off shots at him while the others engaged the wolves. Their previous encounter with the animals had given them a healthy respect for the predators, and the group didn't pull any punches.

Alandra and Gael traded multiple arrow shots before he was hit and knocked from the tree onto the ground, somersaulting as he fell, and landing on his hands and knees. He immediately pulled out two long swords which frosted over as he engaged Quinn in melee combat. Korvun and Tordek finished off one of the wolves, and Alandra another. Alandra then turned to Gael while Korvun and Tordek moved to the final wolf, Quinn barely holding up against the Warder's onslaught. He almost went down, but manged to pull himself back through nothing but his own willpower, and when the final wolf was down, he and Alandra had incapacitated the eladrin.

Tying up their target, they rested, bandaging their wounds and wondering just what they were getting themselves into. They had just assaulted some kind of guardian of the forest, and now they were going to do what? Force him to take them somewhere? They didn't even know why they were doing it, what they would do when they got there, or really what to ask the guy when he woke up. This deal was looking worse and worse as time went on, but now they felt in too deep to stop. They had him, after all, and they might as well see where this job took them.

It was his chuckling that alerted him that he had awoken...

[NorwegianBadger]

I'm now a subscriber! I really like this Story Hour, especially the OOC content, it makes the story alive. Keep up the good work.

[ThirdWizard]

Korvun and Tordek confronted the smiling eladrin warrior. He didn't look afraid, but fey expressions could be difficult to read - he could easily have been bluffing them. His mouth may have upturned in a smile, but it had none of the happiness behind it. His eyes were as cold as the snow around them.

"You don't know what you're dealing with." He said.

The depressing part was that he was right, and they knew it. But, really, that was part of what they did every day, so they pressed him. They had captured him, and by the laws of his people, he was indebted to them for his life, owing them one favor. His swords were quite tempting, the air that touched them freezing over due to some enchantment. They could ask for that... but then they wouldn't be able to run this perfectly fine wild goose chase.

Grumbling, they told him their plight, that Caelynnasidhe sent them after him and that he was to take them somewhere. Dawning realization came to his face, a darker look, but he didn't let up his twisted smile. As he was bound to do, he led them through the forest, deeper within its boundaries. It was difficult travel, but they arrived at their apparent destination in little more than a few hours. Korvun took the eladrin at his word and released him, though they were sure he would turn on them again later. They would try to be quick about their business and get back to the tower quickly, before he could get any aid and hunt them down.

Into the cave they went, Tordek carrying a sunrod for them to see in the dark cave. It was cold - colder than the winter air around them outside, and the further they went in, the colder it became. Holes perforated the walls all around them, up the ceiling, marking perhaps several thousand small tunnels around the main tunnel.

They had gone perhaps 300 yards deep into the descending cave when they heard clicking noises behind them. Turning they saw two scorpions, as big as a man and a light tint of blue chitin covering their bodies, emerging from the small holes in the walls. The clicking came from the other side right after, and three more scorpions emerged bearing down upon the adventurers from the other side.

Quinn and Korvun engaged two of the scorpions, trying to keep them away from the others, but it was to no avail, there were simply too many of them. Tordek faced off against one of them himself, trusting his dwarven resilience to protect him from the worst of their poison, while Alandra tried to get away but failed, being grabbed by one of their giant pinchers, its cold grip keeping her from retreating to fire her bow against the attackers.

Korvun was having a hard time of his own, being grabbed and poisoned almost immediately, the poison coursing through his veins cold, keeping him from moving from his spot. He swung repeatedly on the creature, but it would not let up. Quinn with his longer reach fared somewhat better, but was soon also grabbed by a giant claw, a second scorpion jumping on him, repeatedly raking him and stinging.

Quinn, however, managed to overcome the poison long enough to move into a position where he could use his reach to attack multiple scorpions, and after dropping one of the monsters attacking him, moved to help Alandra rid herself of the scorpion menacing her. She had put away her bow, useless as such short range against her attacker, in favor of a longsword which she swung with far less proficiency.

The scorpion eventually went down, along with the second one on Quinn. Tordek was having some trouble with his scorpion, but not as much as Korvun, slowly succumbing to the venom being injected into him repeatedly as the creature held him in place. Turning their attention to the single monster, Quinn, Alandra, and Korvun were able to drop it when Tordek finally finished off the one which had been on him through the battle. Korvun falling to his knees, the others administered aid to both he and Alandra who were still under the effects of the poison. Eventually, overcoming it, they rested for a good five minutes before continuing on in the cave.

OOC:

Spoiler:

This was a really hard fight for them. Quinn and Korvun both almost fell and because of the scorpions' claw grab and immobilization poison, along with being surrounded, they couldn't focus fire on any one scorpion. Quinn's reach proved to be very helpful.

For the scorpions, I used Stormclaw Scorpions substituting cold for lightning damage. The cold theme worked quite well with the immobilization fitting thematically. Also, Reactive Sting is nasty!

[ThirdWizard]

Originally Posted by Caldarion

Awesome!!! I felt goose-bumps reading about the disease taking hold of people they had talked to earlier. Good stuff!! I'm following this story! =)

Originally Posted by Son_of_Thunder

I like it a lot. I'm looking forward to some more. I love reading about individuals home brews.

Originally Posted by NorwegianBadger

I'm now a subscriber! I really like this Story Hour, especially the OOC content, it makes the story alive. Keep up the good work.

Thanks! I'm glad you guys like it.

[ThirdWizard]

Pressing onward, the group was getting nervous with all the holes in the walls. There appeared to be dozens of them every few feet, enough for several armies of those scorpions to jump out at them. And, they still weren't sure why they were here. Was the whole thing a setup? Maybe Caelynnasidhe and Gael were in it together. They decided not to think about it to much, they didn't need the distraction, choosing to focus on the task at hand.

That's when they noticed the ice crystals forming on the walls. It was a slow transformation, but as they proceeded down the tunnel, the crystals grew larger and larger until the entire wall and ceiling were several feet of ice, the air freezing around them, far more than winter's temperature outside.

This was definitely unnatural. Icicles drooped from the ceiling, closer to stalactites than frozen dripping water. Occasionally, they connected to the floor, like large cave formations. In the walls, they thought they could sometimes make out humanoid shapes. The frozen floor was chipped, chiseled, and broken in most places so that walking wasn't difficult as long as they didn't break out into a run.

Then they saw a light ahead, and several figures crouched in wait. The recognized the goblin immediately. He was stepping toward them, pointing a crossbow and yelling in, what was to them, gibberish. In front of him were three drakes about the size of the goblin, two of them with wings, a third more muscled without. There was something odd, though. Tordek noticed this fact, but couldn't put his finger on it. Something was just not quite right.

The adventurers jumped into battle quickly and efficiently. Quinn and Korvun took up position in the front, guarding Alandra and Tordek behind them. Alandra took shot at the goblin and injured him, but then the winged drakes, spiretop drakes according to Korvun, flew in quickly, hitting Quinn and flying away again, leaving him unable to retaliate.

The bigger drake, a guard drake, charged forward at Korvun, biting and gnashing, his teeth catching the dragonborn unready and clamping down on his armor. The bite didn't pierce to his hide, but it hurt nonetheless, and it was harder to move his leg. He retaliated, striking at the beast. It tried to dodge, but too late, and his falchion hit the guard drake in a glancing blow, not enough to cut into it, but enough to make sure it felt it.

The goblin let out a bolt, directed at Korvun as well, trying to drop him quickly, and sank into one of his legs in a shallow wound. The dragonborn almost dropped to one knee, but pushed through the pain and kept his guard on the drake in front of him. Quinn didn't like where that was going and engaged the guard drake in front of Korvun, striking at it with his halberd. He struck it with the flat of the blade as it tried to use Korvun as cover unsuccessfully, but the beast was not deterred.

Alandra let loose another volley, this time at one of the spiretop drakes. They could jump in and out of melee quickly, so it was up to the ranged combatants to get them. The goblin would have to come next. One of them was heavily injured, and it called out some kind of throaty cry to the other, who stared down Alandra. It flew in, striking Quinn, then kept going, landing beside the archer. The other one attacked the man-at-arms as well before landing just behind the guardian drake. Quinn swore under his breath, trying to decide where he was needed most.

Tordek knew that Korvun couldn't hold out for long against the guard drake. He made a quick prayer to his goddess and holy light enveloped Korvun, easing his pain and putting the fight back in him. Almost at the same time, the dwarf opened his palm and shot out a ray of light at the spiretop drake menacing Alandra. It burned the creature, who yelped out, but otherwise stayed on the archer.

Again the guard drake attached Korvun, thrashing against his armor even harder than the last time, his teeth biting down on his arm. There was blood everywhere, and he could barely stand. The goblin fired another shot at him, and Korvun fell to the ground. The drake almost laughed.

Quinn decided that the guard drake needed to be stopped. It was injured from before, and he moved at it, striking the creature in the flank with his halberd, this time breaking the skin and leaving a deep gash in the monster's hide. It growled with rage. Meanwhile, the drake behind him with the others was attacking Alandra, but it had miscalculated (if drakes calculate) and the combined firepower of the cleric and ranger dropped it. Tordek said another prayer, and Korvun stood again, though still heavily injured.

Alandra turned her attention back on the goblin. It had been grazed by her first shot, but the second two hit hard, dropping the creature to the ground. At the same time, Korvun, who wasn't going to back off even if he was injured, and Quinn surrounded the guard drake and impaled it, ending its life. The spiretop drake was quickly dropped after that before it could escape into the tunnels around them.

The party almost immediately fell to the icey ground. With the adrenaline rush gone, the fatigue and injury caught up with them. It was several minutes before they could even consider moving on, and even then they gave it a few more. They weren't sure if they could last another battle like that. Whatever lay ahead in the cave was hopefully small, golden, and easily stackable. Yeah... right.

OOC:

Spoiler:

This encounter was actually much longer. The guard drake was harsh! The spiretop drakes always made sure to do end their "spring attack" like attacks where one of them was close to the guard drake, so he was always doing 1d10+9 damage. That's a lot of damage! Korvun just could not keep up. He dropped about three times that battle and had to be healed by Tordek twice and himself once. Of course, the other creatures in the encouter weren't nearly as powerful in stand up fights and they went down fairly quickly afterward.
Overall, though, a very harsh combat. They were low on healing surges at this point. I think Korvun had one remaining. They seriously considered turning back, but decided it was best to press onward.

[ThirdWizard]

They kept moving, tired but focused on the task at hand. They hoped that there weren't many more dangers ahead, they didn't know how much fight they had left in them. As they kept going, the air got colder and colder, the freezing air forming ice flakes on Tordek's beard. Soon they would have to turn back if only because they would freeze to death otherwise.

Rounding a corner, however, they were met with a light in the distance, and in the center of the room ahead rested a large blue globe upon a pillar about three feet off the ground. Beside it was a goblin, mean looking with a rune carved staff and scowling at them, commanding two guard drakes. The PCs moved forward to fight, Alandra readying her bow, Quinn and Korvun moving forward, and Tordek staying close enough to heal.

Out from the shadows around them jumped two more goblins! These were holding crossbows with picks at their sides. They fired on the group, hitting Tordek and Korvun with their bolts before pulling out picks and readying for melee. The goblin the the back looked to be some kind of spellcaster, waving around his staff, and Alandra decided to fire two arrow shots at him. Both hit their mark - one in his gut and the other in his chest. Without fanfare, he fell to the ground before his fight even started.

The guard drakes were not so kind, charging forward to Quinn and hitting him hard, staggering him. They knew the goblins were coming in soon, probably to flank with the drakes, so Korvun did the best he could to interpose himself, while Tordek moved to a safer position and Alandra stayed back to keep firing on the goblins.

Quinn retaliated against the drakes, trying to move away as best he could. The goblins did indeed move to flank, and Korvun layed into one as best he could. Alandra dropped two more arrows at the goblins, injuring one gravely while the guard drakes continued to pound on Quinn, almost dropping him. Tordek was able to save Quinn from a grizzly end while blasting one of the drakes with a beam of light.

The sounds of the battle echoed against the ice walls, the adventurers holding their own, but having trouble. Focus firing on the guard drakes, they were able to drop one, then the other, but not before Quinn went down, half unconscious and unable to fight or even walk. Without the guard drakes, the goblins were not nearly as dangerous, and they were quickly finished off. Shortly after, Quinn was back on his feet, injured but pulling himself by his own bootstraps.

A tunnel continued onward - deeper, darker.

But in front of them was something magical. The orb sitting on the pedistal was cold, they could feel it just by going near it. It was like a sphere of blue ice that froze the world around it. Korvun was the first to take action, touching it with his fingertip. It was cold, but not dangerous to touch. They contemplated their situation. Korvun, trained a bit in the arcane arts, reached forward to the item with his senses, trying to learn something. He detected Cold magic and a Illusionary magic.

They couldn't move forward and expect to live. Perhaps all they needed was this magic item. They decided: they couldn't move on, so they would take this and hope that is what the eladrin wanted.

Removing the sphere, they noticed a slight change in perception. The Illusion magic perhaps? Looking at their slain opponents, they realized if not why then at least what had transpired. There was a veil, an illusion cast over the "goblins" who were not goblins at all, but gnomes. They had just slaughtered a group of gnomes... but why? What was going on here? Was that Caelynnasidhe's plan?

Then they heard dripping noises. Questions would have to wait. As they stood there, the ice under their feet started to get more slippery, and they could feel the dripping of water on them like the drizzling of a light rain. They quickly realized the implications thereof. Korvun tried to put the orb back onto the pedestal, to return it to where it belonged, but it didn't help. They would have to make a run for it.

OOC:

Spoiler:

This was sort of an easter egg for my older players. Back in my previous Planescape campaign, they had traveled to the Plane of Fire in order to put down a group bent on taking over much of Sigil's Factions subvertly. The place was protected by a red orb that kept the fire at bay and the people inside alive.
Well, of course, they decided to pull the orb out and take it as their own. As soon as they did, fire started erupting through the entire place, an inferno. They tried to put it back and fix the problem, but it didn't work. Much to their dismay and loud complaining. They fled, the temperature rising and flames enveloping everything. Many opponents they would have fought were actually laying around charred. Heh.
So this was sort of an omoge to that. Except cold instead of fire.

The adventurers ran like there was no tomorrow. The ones ahead tried to slow down, pulling their friends along. Korvun actually lifted up Tordek and carried him, which Tordek almost refused to do, but accepted so long as they never, ever spoke of it again. Pushing through, they sloshed, skidded, and slipped their way upward, barely, as the place came melting around them, flowing downward into the deeper portions of the cave they had not explored.

Finally, they made it beyond the ice, swimming now in the frigid water and pulling themselves up out of it onto dry land. Breathing deeply, they lay there, cold and tired. However, they got up and walked - knowing that they dare not stop to rest lest the cold take them. Slogging through the snow carrying the freezing orb, they finally arrived back at the tower of Caelynnasidhe practically on the verge of death.

OOC:

Spoiler:

The escape was a skill challenge. Every PC had to use some skill to try and make their way out of the cavern. I gave them two choices, they could go for an easy check of 10 or a more difficult check of 15. The harder check allowed them to help out another PC, adding +2 to their check if they are at the same success level as the other PC (in other words, aren't ahead of or behind them). So the more hardy members could help the less so ones by taking on a harder DC.

The primary skills were Acrobatics, Athletics, and Endurance. Only one PC wasn't trained in any of these, Tordek. He was having such a hard time, Korvun's player decided enough of that, lifted him up, and started carrying him. On the fly, I said it would be difficult, and he would have to make two hard DCs to gain 1 success for both of them, otherwise neither of them make any distance. He accepted it, and rolled really freakin' well.

Instead of saying 4 successes before 2 failures, I went with 4 successes before 6 minutes (1 check per minute) in order to escape. Success would mean escaping, and Failure would mean that they were rescued by gnomes before being drowned. They would get a bit of information from the gnomes, but they would be slowed down so that Warder Gael would have time to find them again and they would have to have another combat, which at this point would be bad for them! Luckily for them, they all escaped on the last minute!

It was a lot of fun, and proved to be a great way to top off the end of the cave trek!

Caelynnasidhe fed them warm food (from where, they weren't sure since they had not seen a fire or even chimney anywhere in or outside of the tower), and gave them blankets. She was very glad to receive the orb, and told them that the gnomes had once been her allies, forced to live under that veil so they could not be freed. And she was under oath not to speak of their plight. It was unfortunate what happened, but she hoped they would not push any further. So they didn't, and they left her the book they had found in the mines when they left for town to return in one month after she had time to research it.

The travel back to town was uneventful, thankfully, and they went back to their lives while they waited to return to her tower and learn the secrets of that strange shadow creature.

[ThirdWizard]

Session 3 - Rescue Gone Wrong

Now, waiting for the month to be out, the PCs went back to their individual tasks about the city and countryside. Korvun went back to the temple to Bahamut in Grethtown, helping however he could with odd jobs and continued his studies there. Tordek continued preaching the word of Avandra to anyone who would listen, focusing on the outskirts of the city. His small stone shrine attracted a few patrons of the goddess, and he enjoyed his work. Alandra worked as a guide, at the same time getting to know the local terrain better. Quinn worked with Rinthorp in order to strengthen their defenses, helping to organize their defense force.

Two weeks passed fairly uneventfully for them, each doing their own things, waiting for the month to pass so that they could return to the forest where Caelynnasidhe lived and learn what she could find about the book they had left with her and the monster they had seen trapped in the circle.

It was during this time that an old man named Christopher Kallis came into Grethtown, a man Quinn respected and worked for. Their town of Hent had fallen on rough times recently, the local mines had dried up and times were difficult on the people. Now Kallis was using all his inroads with the Greth Traders Guild and the nobility he had met in his travels to try and keep the small town alive as best he could. In fact, Quinn had ideas about how he could help, replacing its mining industry with military aid for the Denmount Coalition - all under the banners of Hent and Pelor.

To do this, he would need to proove the mettle of the group to those that mattered, which meant important jobs with high visibility to those in charge. And Kallis could help with that. In fact, he had something ready for them. Their group would need to meet with a local minor lord, Sir Owen Mallory, of Grethtown. Quinn assembled the group.

The guards outside the mansion let them in, giving the individuals hard looks as they entered, one guard escorting them through a long corridor to a greeting area, lavishly decorated with silks, silver and marble statuary, and colorful rugs and furniture. Awaiting them were three individuals: the elderly Christopher Kallis, a tall proud man who must have been Sir Mallory, and a girl who couldn't have been more than a teenager in commoner's clothing.

"Welcome!" Mallory said as they entered. "Kallis here speaks well of your group."

"Thank you. We heard you had a job, but that it was difficult and were having trouble finding people to help you."

"Yes..." The lord frowned. "My daughter has been taken by bandits, a group known as the Heathens. They feel shunned by gods and man alike. They're located in the Denmount Forest, attacking anyone who enters their "territory." He spat out this last word like a curse. "I wish someone to go and negotiate my daughter's release. Who knows what these beasts are capable of." He nodded to one of his assistants, who produced several jingling bags. "Five hundred gold for her. Any remaining you may keep as well as five hundred more for you upon success." He raised his chin, looking over each of them in turn.

None of the group was familiar with this band of bandits, bandit groups in the surrounding areas were as common as anthills, after all. Each group carved out a portion of the surrounding lands for themselves and fought against each other almost as much as they attacked passing merchants and other travelers. This group, as he described them, seemed less likely to take hostiges, however...

"Where in the forest was she taken?" Quinn asked.

"She was returning from King's Cross on King's Road on a mission from the temple of Bahamut almost a week ago. She was almost home when the group was attacked." A touch of anger strayed onto his face, but he suppressed it behind a veneer of nobility as expected. "Only a couple of people made it back to tell the tale... She was a mere ten miles from town."

The party's heart sank. A week? Odds of her being alive went down again.

Korvun nodded. A fellow follower of Bahamut. They would have to at least try.

Quinn spoke up again. "We'll leave in the morning."

The tall man breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you. He looked to his subordinate, who gave them the bags of gold. Then he looked at the young woman who sat with them and had remained quiet up until then. "She wishes to accompany you." He turned and left without another word, the group being escorted out once again.

Once outside, they stopped to talk to Kallis.

Quinn spoke up. "This doesn't look good... these guys don't sound like they take a lot of prisoners. And a week? It won't take us long to get there, but..."

"As long as there is some hope... and either way he needs closure."

"He won't be happy if she's dead."

"No." Kallis responded flatly. Implied was that it would be more difficult to get onto his good side ever again if she were dead. "But if there is any chance..."

Quinn sighed. "That's that, I guess."

Kallis nodded.

[ThirdWizard]

OOC:

Spoiler:

At this point in the game, we added a new party member, bringing the total PCs to 5, the 4e standard. She plays a human infernal pact warlock. The intro was done quickly and we didn't spend to much time on it. This was her first session ever of a P&P RPG, so I didn't want to put her on the spot starting out, so you'll notice its mostly glossed over here.

Setting out immediately, the PCs hit the road headed West through the Denmount Forest, accompanied by the newcomer who was in the meeting with them. A friend of the kidnapped girl, she was determined to rescue Sandra. Their information said that they didn't have far to go, less than a day's journey, in fact. They progressed unhindered until mid-afternoon when they arrived in what was probably the general area of the Heathen's territory. Plunging head first into the forest, they pushed onward into the woods. It wasn't as dark or dense as Kelbrook, so they had an easier time moving than their previous trip into wooded terrain.

It wasn't long before they found arrows pointed their way.

The Heathens were indeed in charge of this part of the forest, and they didn't take nicely to intruders, though the PCs' apparent battle readiness at least gave them pause. The Heathens kept their eyes on the PCs, but opened up with negotiations, albeit harsh ones.

"Leave, and we will spare your lives."

This, of course, never works on adventurers. They've just heard it too much. Do suchandsuch, and you may live. And, you can be sure that they have never in their lives done whatever was demanded of them unless it was so inconsequential as to make them thinking that slaughtering you right then and there just isn't worth their time. Why bandits and ruffians and all those like them even try this tactic is beyond the understanding of any adventurer. So, they kind of just shook their head and offered their own retort.

Bandits, on the other hand, as opposed to adventurers, don't like fights with armed opponents. In fact, they don't like fair fights at all. That's why they ambush people, after all. They hide in the forest, jump out at you, and hope you drop your gold while you're running away. Threats, generally speaking, work on them. Their leaders use threats to keep them under control. They stay away from civilization partly because the threat of authority figures killing them on sight. So, mostly, they would rather run away than fight.

So, when the small girl with them, who they probably wouldn't have thought much of a threat at first, started speaking and her voice literally sounded like it was being channeled through Hell's loudspeakers before emerging from her lips, to say they were a bit put off by this is an understatement. "Take us to your encampment and we won't kill you." That was Sapphire. The warlock.

And so, they did.

OOC:

Spoiler:

Okay so there was a whole skill challenge in there, but dang if the Infernal Pact Warlock using Beguiling Tongue to savage an Intimidate check wasn't hilarious to see in play.

In order to make sure everybody got some action in the challenge, and not just the people with B/D/I, I added Insight to determine what skills would be more effective, and I allowed Perception to be used to gauge the same thing when someone tried that check. So, since Diplomacy was the most difficult, they could use Perception to notice that it was a hard roll.

Failure would have meant a hard battle, but they successfully avoided it. Good for them! They would have had an even harder time ahead if it wasn't for some good skilling here.

Of course, the other check that had just as much influence on how the narrative played out as the warlock making bandits pee their pants was the jingling of bag fulls of money. One auto-success please! Bandits like money almost as much as they like not dying with their pants soiled. You can look it up!

Arriving at the bandit encampment, they were escorted through ranks of Heathens, probably about twenty total in the camp plus their escort when they arrived, but many more tents. Probably about half their numbers were present, the other half patrolling their territory and waiting to ambush travelers.

The Heathen's leader met them outside the largest tent, a giant of a man, darkly tanned, with long black hair, somewhere in the age range of thirty to fifty. He was covered in scars from head to toe, and he carried a great axe at his side, leaning upon it as he stared them down. Despite the bravado surrounding him, Tordek noticed that he looked nervous somehow.

"I am Ferrus. You come willingly into the midst of my men. Why are you here, and what kind of beasts are you that you think you will escape?" His voice was strong, and meant mostly for the benefit of his men by the PCs' reckoning.

"We bring a random for a girl you took hostage," Quinn replied.

"Girl?" The big man laughed. "You'll have to be more specific. But, if you expect her alive, you have come here for nothing." He sneered at the group, his men in the surrounding campsite pulling out their weapons.

Quinn jingled his bag of gold, "She was taken about a week ago, a teenage girl who was traveling with a guard headed toward Grethtown." None of them missed the mounting anticipation from the surrounding bandits. "And she had best not be harmed."

"Perhaps I remember her, and perhaps I don't. But, you are not in a position to be making demands and offerings to me, in the middle of my own lands, surrounded by my men!" Then he paused a second, thinking.

Tordek was catching on on what was wrong with this situation. The bandit leader, Ferrus, seemed to be stalling. He looked around, but he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Maybe she was still alive somewhere here.

Quinn continued negotiations. "True. You could probably kill us. I don't doubt that we would be overwhelmed by your forces should you attack. But, how many men would you lose in the process? How many can you afford to lose for one girl? I offer you random, and you offer only shallow threats? These are the Heathens I've heard of?"

Ferrus stepped in closer. "You will not be undercutting me, boy. The girl might not be worth my men's lives, but my authority is." Then louder, he said for the benefit of his men, "This runt thinks he can scare us? Those who aren't even afraid of the gods themselves?" He smiled as he stepped away again. "I think you should show us your manners, boy."

This would have proven to be a good opportunity to work with Ferrus, secure whatever deal could be made, and get away. However, the negotiation was suddenly interrupted by high pitched sounds coming from the surrounding forest. A yip yip yip that couldn't be mistaken: the excited cries of kobolds attacking. Sling bullets, crossbow bolts, and flasks of alchemical fire flew from the trees at the bandits. A crowd of at least three dozen kobolds then came rushing from all sides, javelins, pikes, and swords at the ready.

And from above came a great roar as green beast flew overhead, its mouth spouting out a blast of poison air as it flew by some men on the outskirts of the camp, the men choking and falling to their knees. "Klykraxil..." Ferrus muttered. "He's betrayed us." The green dragon, as tall as a horse, but much wider and more heavily muscled flew by a few more men, biting their heads off, before settling down beside Ferrus and the PCs.

"Ferrus!" The dragon roared out the word. "The truce is done. Your offerings are no longer required." It reared its head back, making a choking sound, perhaps what passed for a laugh in dragon circles. It then looked at the PCs. "New guards? You shouldn't have. What tasty mortals they are. And they make such nice sounds when they move." It looked back to Ferrus. "You're done here."

With the last words, a reeking clinging vapor came pouring out of its mouth onto the people gathered around, weakening their legs and arms, and making it more difficult to see. Its attack was an onslaught of claws and fangs, and Ferrus managed to put the PCs between him and the attacking dragon.

The PCs tried to move apart as best they could, but oncoming kobolds meant that they couldn't move too far apart, lest one of the small creatures take advantage of them. They were in a catch-22 doing as best they could to avoid both attacks. The guards who had escorted them tried to hold off the kobolds while they fought the dragon, but they were being overwhelmed quickly.

Quinn and Korvun tried to get close to it, but it would hover and fly above them to try and land beside the weaker opponents and attack them, so they were caught in a game of cat and mouse with the large laughing beast. Alandra fired several arrows into it, and Sapphire's blasts seemed to annoy it, but every blow the dragon landed on them was like a landslide to their pebble-shooters. Tordek managed to keep their wounds closed while Korvun kept them standing regardless of injury, but that could only last so long.

It was then that Alandra noticed a robed figure emerging from a tent on the far side of the camp, pulling a girl in chains behind him. They made their way to leave the camp, the kobolds letting them through as he dragged her kicking and screaming behind him. They were too far away to try and stop... and they had their hands full. They might not survive to see sunset at this rate, much less save Sandra.

Finally, Korvun caught the monstrous Klykraxil between himself and Quinn, and together they were able to keep it from escaping. A few more strokes, and it was finding the whole battle much less fun. Everyone was on their last legs, but they were just starting to give him a run at a fight. Klykraxil then let loose a blast of poisonous gas again, this time catching many of the PCs, but not before Alandra and Sapphire hit him again with another flurry of hits against his chest.

The dragon, bleeding now, and starting to feel winded, pulled back, flying up into the air, but took another barrage of arrows, and Tordek hit him with a blast of light as Sapphire pelted him with fire. He could probably kill them, or at least most of them, but he was too smart for that. His time would come. "Fools! You have made a grave enemy this day coming here. You needn't have come to this runt's aid, but you have sealed your own fate. We will meet again." And with that he flew off. The battle around them, however, went on.

The PCs didn't want to stick around. The kobolds were overwhelming the bandits, who had mostly broken and were trying to flee. So, they did the only reasonable thing: they ran for it as well. Somehow, they made it out of the campsite and found the trail left by the escaping capturer and captive. Apparenlty he had met up with a group - of humans or the like it appeared - and headed North. They didn't waste time, they immediately legged it after.

OOC:

Spoiler:

Wow! This encounter was great. Level 2 PCs vs. a Level 5 dragon. Of course, I didn't want to use him to the death, he's a dragon after all, and even if he can take down a bunch of guys, he's not going to sacrifice himself to do so. He fought them until a little under bloodied before taking off. The battle was still harsh, and the PCs used up most (all?) of their dailies in the battle just to keep up.

Of course, afterward they found they had to keep moving if they wanted to save the girl. That meant that from here on out, the PCs didn't take an extended rest until she was safe. Which meant the adventure got really deadly since their major resources were used up at this point. And, there are still some hard ones to come!

I liked the old switch, and it worked out well in game. The players thought they were doing a skill challenge, maybe fight some bandits, and here comes a dragon flying onto the scene. Heh, scary.

They continued on through the night, following the tracks as best they could. The large number of people they were following, coupled with the fact that they were dragging the girl who was obviously not wanting to come along, meant that it was easy not to lose the trail. However, they were tired. They had taken a beating from the dragon, and if they kept going who knows what they would find ahead.

"We'll die." Alandra calmly told the others as they pushed onward.

"We have to save her. We have to do everything we can." Korvun wasn't so much worried about his own safety as what was going to happen if they didn't find her immediately. "They're probably going to sacrifice her to a dark god or something."

"Always with the dark gods," Quinn said.

"If we keep going, they'll just kill us."

"Perhaps," was Korvun's witty retort.

"We have to save her..." Tordek didn't sound completely resolute, but he wasn't going to leave her to the kidnappers.

"I agree we need to keep going," said Quinn.

"We'll die," repeated Alandra.

OOC:

Spoiler:

Paraphrased! But, yes, it wasn't a happy decision. And, when they almost all died later, Alandra's character was totally getting the "I told you so's" ready.

They headed through the woods into the morning, and a little after sun up, they found an old temple in the woods, with the trail leading right to it. The architecture was old, and it was covered in vines, but it was in surprisingly good shape. There were reliefs carved into the walls, perhaps some kind of history, fable, or other story about whatever faith had made this its home. There was only one way in that they could find after circling it, large double doors of sturdy wood, probably newly put in by the looks of it.

Preparing themselves for battle, they approached the front doors...