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Eaglesford Campaign: "Strange Lights"
- Thread starter Nail
- Start date
Nail
First Post
The Player Characters:
Garret: Halfling Paladin with riding dog
Role, abstracted, in his own words:
Riva Stormhand: Dwarven Fighter/Barbarian
Role, abstracted, in his own words:
Thaile: Human Cleric/Rogue of Darmon(God of Rogues and Travel)
Role: The cleric and party treasurer.
Tieran Lochslan: Human Wizard(Necromancer)
Role, abstracted, in his own words:
Rowan: Human Druid
Role, in her own words:
Garret: Halfling Paladin with riding dog
Role, abstracted, in his own words:
- "Garret, as a Holy Warrior of Morwyn, mounted on Bavic, his faithful dog."
- "a skirmisher with the maneuverability he needs to move around the battlefield"
- "charge in, deliver a staggering blow, then ride out of harm's reach."
- "the 'mage-killer'.... with the goal of defeating an enemy group by killing their evil leader.
- "According to Morwyn's teachings, ...his role is to support the greater good"
Riva Stormhand: Dwarven Fighter/Barbarian
Role, abstracted, in his own words:
- "enjoys combat for the sake of combat, especially with orcs, giants, and drow"
- "is very loyal to his friends"
- "a front-line fighter...[the paladin] doesn't get to have all the fun..!"
Thaile: Human Cleric/Rogue of Darmon(God of Rogues and Travel)
Role: The cleric and party treasurer.
- "I search the bodies for treasure!"
- "Are you gonna keep that?"
- "Of course Riva didn't find anything...I search it instead!
- DM note: I'm thinking of giving her the official title of "Party Looter of Those Things which Need Looting". If there's a gem to be pried out of some jeweled altar, this is your woman.
Tieran Lochslan: Human Wizard(Necromancer)
Role, abstracted, in his own words:
- "Casting spells to ...protect the living, not to bring unrest to the dead."
- "I can cause living monsters to run in fear, and I can pummel the undead at a distance."
- "I'm also handy with a crossbow...like I said, I'm not very physically strong..."
Rowan: Human Druid
Role, in her own words:
- a little bit of healing, a little bit of magic, and little woodland creatures!
- DM note: she's the woman who comes running when someone cries "Medic!"
Last edited:
Nail
First Post
Session #1 (RL Feb 9th, 2003)
In Brief:
The characters met at the Eaglesford Inn, to discuss what sort of "adventure!" they might undertake. They've been talking about this all winter...."Just think: we'll go adventuring! What a cool idea! Unique, even!" ....and yet even now they are undecided. Each shared some of the local news and rumors they had heard as of late. (DMs note: each player started with a hand-out of a few local rumors and stories. Some of them might even be true!)
At the table was the battle-eager dwarf, Riva Stormhand, a dwarven berserker, fingering the edge of his axe blade; Garret Flatbottom, holy warrior of Morwyn, ready to do his god's will; and Thaile, traveller of Darmon's paths, excited to explore the local ruins for their fabled treasures.
After a short time, they noticed that a poorly dressed half-elf, going by the name "Laiden", was also in the Inn, talking up the innkeeper. (Laiden had previously approached Riva, asking if he "wanted to get rich". He was a stranger to town, and said he hailed from the nearby village of Three Oaks - about two days journey to the east.) The human cleric Thaile approached the scruffy and ragged half-elf, and asked about the opportunities Laiden had offered Riva. After a long discussion, which included, of all things, Thaile's opinions of the doctrines of her god Darmon, Laiden ended the conversation with a simple: "I'm not sure you're ready yet. Perhaps later, after you become more seasoned, we can talk again."
Confused (and slightly insulted) Thaile returned to her companions. The three of them agreed to go to the old Palen Smitson farm, near which people had said they had seen "strange lights". (They also left a message for their two missing companions to catch up to the party ASAP.)
The party geared up and set out. On the hedge-shrouded road, several miles from town, they entered the region of abandoned farms. There were less people in Eaglesford than there used to be...and that trend showed in the number and age of the abandoned farmsteads the party trudged past.
About noon, where the road narrowed and the tall hedges were even wider and more unrully, Garret thought he saw some movement in the bushes up ahead. The party paused, and nervously discussed their options for a time. Suddenly the hedge row immediately to their right erupted outward, and a stinking, humaniod corpse rushed at them, clawing and biting at Garret and his faithful riding hound.
There was a frantic skirmish, with warhammers and rapiers drawn and dwarvish curses loosed....but within a few moments, the thing lay in a crumbled pile at their feet. Thaile examined the body. It was a ghoul, one of the "hungry dead", and it's long decaying body was that of an orcish warrior. Some of it's armor still remained on it's body. Some of its trinkets too, which Thaile thoughtfully put in her pocket.
More cautious now, out heroes proceeded toward the abandoned Smitson farm. On the way, Thaile and Garret discussed.....well, not the types of walking un-dead, as you might suppose......but rather, when, exactly, the orcs had last raided this area. Garret claimed it was almost 20 years ago; Thaile was sure of a number closer to 15. Ahhh, the uncertainties of history!
Session #1...to be continued!
In Brief:
The characters met at the Eaglesford Inn, to discuss what sort of "adventure!" they might undertake. They've been talking about this all winter...."Just think: we'll go adventuring! What a cool idea! Unique, even!" ....and yet even now they are undecided. Each shared some of the local news and rumors they had heard as of late. (DMs note: each player started with a hand-out of a few local rumors and stories. Some of them might even be true!)
At the table was the battle-eager dwarf, Riva Stormhand, a dwarven berserker, fingering the edge of his axe blade; Garret Flatbottom, holy warrior of Morwyn, ready to do his god's will; and Thaile, traveller of Darmon's paths, excited to explore the local ruins for their fabled treasures.
After a short time, they noticed that a poorly dressed half-elf, going by the name "Laiden", was also in the Inn, talking up the innkeeper. (Laiden had previously approached Riva, asking if he "wanted to get rich". He was a stranger to town, and said he hailed from the nearby village of Three Oaks - about two days journey to the east.) The human cleric Thaile approached the scruffy and ragged half-elf, and asked about the opportunities Laiden had offered Riva. After a long discussion, which included, of all things, Thaile's opinions of the doctrines of her god Darmon, Laiden ended the conversation with a simple: "I'm not sure you're ready yet. Perhaps later, after you become more seasoned, we can talk again."
Confused (and slightly insulted) Thaile returned to her companions. The three of them agreed to go to the old Palen Smitson farm, near which people had said they had seen "strange lights". (They also left a message for their two missing companions to catch up to the party ASAP.)
The party geared up and set out. On the hedge-shrouded road, several miles from town, they entered the region of abandoned farms. There were less people in Eaglesford than there used to be...and that trend showed in the number and age of the abandoned farmsteads the party trudged past.
About noon, where the road narrowed and the tall hedges were even wider and more unrully, Garret thought he saw some movement in the bushes up ahead. The party paused, and nervously discussed their options for a time. Suddenly the hedge row immediately to their right erupted outward, and a stinking, humaniod corpse rushed at them, clawing and biting at Garret and his faithful riding hound.
There was a frantic skirmish, with warhammers and rapiers drawn and dwarvish curses loosed....but within a few moments, the thing lay in a crumbled pile at their feet. Thaile examined the body. It was a ghoul, one of the "hungry dead", and it's long decaying body was that of an orcish warrior. Some of it's armor still remained on it's body. Some of its trinkets too, which Thaile thoughtfully put in her pocket.
More cautious now, out heroes proceeded toward the abandoned Smitson farm. On the way, Thaile and Garret discussed.....well, not the types of walking un-dead, as you might suppose......but rather, when, exactly, the orcs had last raided this area. Garret claimed it was almost 20 years ago; Thaile was sure of a number closer to 15. Ahhh, the uncertainties of history!
Session #1...to be continued!
Last edited:
Nail
First Post
Continued: Session #1
The small party of adventurers continued along the narrow lane. Up ahead, they again saw "something", lieing at the corner of an intersection. Cautiously, they moved forward.
The "something" turned out to be the skeleton of some humaniod, probably an orc. It was still, and did not animate and attack. Nonetheless, Riva used his axe to "make sure".
A few feet away, on the other side of a hedge row, was the remains of a few more restless dead. An orcish zombie, complete with funerary robes, lay to one side; two orcish skeltons lay in mud a few steps beyond. It was clear, even with the party's paltry tracking skills, that a battle had occured here....although who the other party was, and where they had gone, the heroes could not be sure. (DM's note: No one has the tracking feat! Aaarggg! )
Continuing on the over-grown lane, the party came across a combat in progress:
The character's charged into the fray. Once in battle, the characters could see that the undead were attacking a small humaniod creature, lizard-like in appearance, with a short scalely tail at it's back and pointed ears at the top of it's head. It wore leather armor, emblazened with the symbol of a hand, palm outward, wreathed in flames. Beside this strange creature lay another, unmoving.
The party quickly dispatched the undead, and just as quickly, the strange lizard-man fled. Garret, mounted on his wardog, gave chase, calling after "Wait! We're here to help you! Just a moment, we...whoa!...hey where did that come from....good thing I ...ahhhhh!"
Garret found himself at the bottom of a shallow pit. He had avoided one in his charge after the lizard-man, only to fall into another. Fortunately for him, it's maker had not seen fit to line it with sharpened stakes........
The rest of the party rushed to help...... and they found that someone had been thoughtful enough to sharpen the ends of the log trap Riva fell victim to.
So much for consistancy.......
End session #1
The small party of adventurers continued along the narrow lane. Up ahead, they again saw "something", lieing at the corner of an intersection. Cautiously, they moved forward.
The "something" turned out to be the skeleton of some humaniod, probably an orc. It was still, and did not animate and attack. Nonetheless, Riva used his axe to "make sure".
A few feet away, on the other side of a hedge row, was the remains of a few more restless dead. An orcish zombie, complete with funerary robes, lay to one side; two orcish skeltons lay in mud a few steps beyond. It was clear, even with the party's paltry tracking skills, that a battle had occured here....although who the other party was, and where they had gone, the heroes could not be sure. (DM's note: No one has the tracking feat! Aaarggg!
)Continuing on the over-grown lane, the party came across a combat in progress:
Three humanoid corpses stand at the end of the lane, clawing and biting at something in the hedge rows. You hear one of the walking dead groan as it slams its arm into something hidden in the bushes. Whatever the zombie's opponent is, it jabs back with a short spear. Even from this distance you can tell the battle goes well for the undead.
The character's charged into the fray. Once in battle, the characters could see that the undead were attacking a small humaniod creature, lizard-like in appearance, with a short scalely tail at it's back and pointed ears at the top of it's head. It wore leather armor, emblazened with the symbol of a hand, palm outward, wreathed in flames. Beside this strange creature lay another, unmoving.
The party quickly dispatched the undead, and just as quickly, the strange lizard-man fled. Garret, mounted on his wardog, gave chase, calling after "Wait! We're here to help you! Just a moment, we...whoa!...hey where did that come from....good thing I ...ahhhhh!"
Garret found himself at the bottom of a shallow pit. He had avoided one in his charge after the lizard-man, only to fall into another. Fortunately for him, it's maker had not seen fit to line it with sharpened stakes........
The rest of the party rushed to help...... and they found that someone had been thoughtful enough to sharpen the ends of the log trap Riva fell victim to.
So much for consistancy.......
End session #1
Last edited:
Nail
First Post
.....A vistor?.........
By Darmon's boot-laces........will wonders never cease?
Welcome!
I hope I'm able to entertain you. That, and keep a record of our game, of course! Handy thing, this message board. Now if only I could get the players to post......oh, wait, I haven't told them about this yet....perhaps there's a "cause" there......
This is a soon-to-be-unveiled surprise. I wonder if they'll discover it before I tell them. Adventurers should always explore the less-traveled by-ways.
By Darmon's boot-laces........will wonders never cease?
Welcome!
I hope I'm able to entertain you. That, and keep a record of our game, of course! Handy thing, this message board. Now if only I could get the players to post......oh, wait, I haven't told them about this yet....perhaps there's a "cause" there......
This is a soon-to-be-unveiled surprise. I wonder if they'll discover it before I tell them. Adventurers should always explore the less-traveled by-ways.
Last edited:
Nail
First Post
Adventure Log from Session #2: (RL Mar 9th, 2003)
The proud holy warrior of Morwyn, a brave halfling in his god's service, the paladin of the goddess of light and mercy, climbed up out of the dirt-sided pit. After a moment or two of urging, his trusty wardog, Bavic, was out as well. Fortunately for the paladin's ego, the rest of the party only caught up with him after he was able to scrape the sod out of his visor.
Once together again, Garret found the party more numerous than before. The wizard Tieran Lochslan, and the druid Rhoen had finally caught up with them. At last, the full group of friends could "adventure!" together.
The group saw before themselves the old farm of Palen Smitson, abandoned to the elements these last 8 (or was it 7?) years. Palen himself had died in town a year or two after he was forced by old age to leave his homestead. He had built this farm out of the trees felled on his land, stout hewn timbers, plastered and white-washed. Even now the barn, the house, and some outbuildings were in good shape.
The party explored the barn first. The barn doors were ajar, and Garret pointed out how they had apparently been forced open recently. Nails ripped from their sockets and newly splintered beams gave mute testimony to the strength of the attackers.
The ground floor of the barn was mostly empty. No tools lined the walls, no crates or barrles lay stacked to one side. While the rest of the party poked through the remains of rotted hay and old manure on the floor, Riva and Thaile climbed the stairs to the loft. And no sooner had they stepped up to the huge piles of hay above....than the hay attacked!
From the piles of hay came bony claws, tearing at Riva's armor and flesh. Riva had his axe and shield readied though, so he began to give as well as he got. He trusted his armor to be sturdy enough to protect him. Thaile recovered from the initial shock, then held out her holy symbol. For the first time in her adventuring career, she called on the power of her god, Darmon the Wayfarer.
"Back, you skeletal wretches! Behold the power of Darmon!"
The bony hands (and the skeletons connected to them) retreated to the back of the loft...and Riva was furious! His opponents were out of reach! The dwarvish warrior burrowed through the hay after them, tower shield dragging along behind....
...but the mounds of hay held other skeletons, that had not felt the cleric's power. They lashed out at both Riva and Thaile as they went past. It was difficult to see the skeletons, hiding in the hay, and nearly impossible to turn them while they were hidden. Rowan, with her trusty quaterstaff, and Terian, with his magic, joined the fray. Garret stayed below, as there was no room for the paladin and his wardog in the loft, and he could see the fight was going well for his compaions. A few blows from the druid and the dwarf, a well-placed Necromatic bolt, and an easy "turning" by Thaile of the finally-reveiled undead, and it was all over.
All over except for the looting, Thaile was quick to point out.
- DM's note: Two new players! We now have 5, a number I'm very happy with. Keeps combats quick and role-playing memorable (and equitable!).
The proud holy warrior of Morwyn, a brave halfling in his god's service, the paladin of the goddess of light and mercy, climbed up out of the dirt-sided pit. After a moment or two of urging, his trusty wardog, Bavic, was out as well. Fortunately for the paladin's ego, the rest of the party only caught up with him after he was able to scrape the sod out of his visor.
Once together again, Garret found the party more numerous than before. The wizard Tieran Lochslan, and the druid Rhoen had finally caught up with them. At last, the full group of friends could "adventure!" together.
The group saw before themselves the old farm of Palen Smitson, abandoned to the elements these last 8 (or was it 7?) years. Palen himself had died in town a year or two after he was forced by old age to leave his homestead. He had built this farm out of the trees felled on his land, stout hewn timbers, plastered and white-washed. Even now the barn, the house, and some outbuildings were in good shape.
The party explored the barn first. The barn doors were ajar, and Garret pointed out how they had apparently been forced open recently. Nails ripped from their sockets and newly splintered beams gave mute testimony to the strength of the attackers.
The ground floor of the barn was mostly empty. No tools lined the walls, no crates or barrles lay stacked to one side. While the rest of the party poked through the remains of rotted hay and old manure on the floor, Riva and Thaile climbed the stairs to the loft. And no sooner had they stepped up to the huge piles of hay above....than the hay attacked!
From the piles of hay came bony claws, tearing at Riva's armor and flesh. Riva had his axe and shield readied though, so he began to give as well as he got. He trusted his armor to be sturdy enough to protect him. Thaile recovered from the initial shock, then held out her holy symbol. For the first time in her adventuring career, she called on the power of her god, Darmon the Wayfarer.
"Back, you skeletal wretches! Behold the power of Darmon!"
The bony hands (and the skeletons connected to them) retreated to the back of the loft...and Riva was furious! His opponents were out of reach! The dwarvish warrior burrowed through the hay after them, tower shield dragging along behind....
...but the mounds of hay held other skeletons, that had not felt the cleric's power. They lashed out at both Riva and Thaile as they went past. It was difficult to see the skeletons, hiding in the hay, and nearly impossible to turn them while they were hidden. Rowan, with her trusty quaterstaff, and Terian, with his magic, joined the fray. Garret stayed below, as there was no room for the paladin and his wardog in the loft, and he could see the fight was going well for his compaions. A few blows from the druid and the dwarf, a well-placed Necromatic bolt, and an easy "turning" by Thaile of the finally-reveiled undead, and it was all over.
All over except for the looting, Thaile was quick to point out.
Last edited:
Nail
First Post
Session #2, Continued: -- written by the druid Rowan, and occasionally interupted by a rude DM.......
.....of course, Riva required some healing from Thaile and Rowan. (DM's note: that's a growing trend....) Once finished, he discarded his tower shield and wandered off as the rest of the party discussed a plan of action.
Thaile, Garret, and Tieran decided to check the layout of the rest of the farm. It consisted of a well located near the barn, the small, locked hut, a two story farmhouse, a smokehouse, a small cemetery and a root-cellar. A cursory examination of the well uncovered nothing of interest. Riva and Rowan went from the well to a small hut located near the well.
The hut door was strong and still closed and locked. The two windows were shuttered and had scratches on them as if something had tried and failed to get in. Riva decided that we had to see what was inside the hut. To that end, he determined that the best course of action would be to bash the door down. So, using his superior dwarven strength, he began the long process of bashing. Rowan stood watching.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party was wandering around checking out the rest of the farm. They discovered that the cemetery had been disturbed, the stones overturned. Also, while it was known that four family members had died here, there were five stones in the cemetery.
As they came from the cemetery toward the small locked hut, where Riva was still contentedly bashing away at the door, an arrow shot out of the brush, hitting Thaile. The arrow was poisoned! Garret located the source of the arrow, a small crossbow, which had obviously been modified to be a trap. It was set up to shoot automatically when a tripwire was snapped. It seemed to have worked pretty well too.
Garret took the trap and went to the small hut where Riva was still busily bashing at the door. Thaile and Teiran were already there. As they stood watching Riva trying to knock the door down....
DM's comment: The conversation went something like:
Moving on to the main farmhouse, Riva, Thaile and Rowan went in the door closest to the hut. Garret and Tieran moved to come in the door on the other side. The main room of the house contained a dining table and chairs, broken and tossed around and a desiccated corpse which upon examination appeared to be that of an Orc. From this room one door led to a bedroom containing a broken bed and nothing else of real interest.
The back hallway contained stairs going up to the second floor and down to the cellar. There were Orc corpses here as well. The corpses wore robes, jewelry, and fetishes that would be of some value to Orcs. Tieran took a fetish bundle from one of the corpses.
Upstairs we found nothing of value and nothing jumped out and attacked us.
Downstairs, we were completely unaware that anything was there until we were attacked. Riva was clawed and found himself unable to move. At this point, we also realized that it would have been wise to have a source of light with us. Tieran cast a light spell onto a copper and threw it into the room so that we could see what it was that we were fighting. They turned out to be two small undead reptilian creatures. We fought them for a bit, then, Thaile turned them and it became much easier to vanquish them. During the course of the battle, Tieran was also paralyzed and we were injured further.
(Another DM's interuption - sorry Rowan!:
Thaile's chance to affect these horrible little hungry-dead was very small. Very small indeed. In fact, I had planned some fun, knowing the PC cleric would be unable to turn the "ghouls". There was going to be all sorts of AoO-mayhem, as the PCs were trapped on a narrow stair, and the guy in front would be paralyzed and being turned into ghoul lunch-meat. How would they survive?
How? Pffft. "We turn the undead, of course! Did I mention I rolled a natural 20?"
Grrrrrr..... )
After this, our healing magic spent, we decided to go and spend the night in the small cottage before going into the root cellar. We did check out the entry to the root cellar and found dried blood on the steps, which further reinforced the wisdom of spending a night resting up and getting some healing back.
Watches were set and the broken door was set up as a barricade in the doorway. Hmmmm, maybe we should have picked the lock rather than broken the door.....oh well.
First watch was uneventful. Second watch saw some lights moving around in the darkness, but they seemed to be far away. Soon after, however, we found ourselves under attack by undead Orcs. The door gave us some protection and the shuttered windows were holding well. Thaile turned some of the creatures that ran off. Riva determined that he had to run outside and take care of the problem. Garret and Tieran also went out to fight. Thaile and Rowan remained inside the hut to defend there. In due time, the Orc were dispatched and we were able to spend the rest of the night uneventfully.
The next day we headed back to town, as we were in no shape to take on anything that might be lurking in the root cellar.
On the way back, we heard screams as we neared the Grigson farm. Garret charged forward and saw farmer Grigson running with an eight-foot centipede chasing him. It had already taken a chunk out of him. Garret, using his lance, charged the beast and skewered it. More screams turned us in the direction of farmer Grigson’s wife and son being chased by two more of the creatures. The child was badly hurt and fell as we arrived to lend aid. Garret skewered another one and the third was taken down by ??????. Rowan pulled the child out and gave him some healing and worked to neutralize the poison from the bite. She was able to bring him back to consciousness and advised the parents to put him to bed and keep him there until the healer from town arrived.
The rest of our trip to town was peaceful. Thaile, Tieran, and Rowan went to the healer at the mill. After telling her of the centipedes, she was able to heal our wounds and then packed up her bag to go and tend to the Grigson child. She asked the party to look after her Mill while she was gone.
Riva and Garret went to the town Warden and told him the whole story, from the Smitson farm to the centipedes. The Warden told them that the last time that the farm had been checked it had been fine, so this disturbance must be fairly recent. Then the Captain said that he would be sending out some men to deal with the farm and the centipedes.
End of Session #2
.....of course, Riva required some healing from Thaile and Rowan. (DM's note: that's a growing trend....) Once finished, he discarded his tower shield and wandered off as the rest of the party discussed a plan of action.
Thaile, Garret, and Tieran decided to check the layout of the rest of the farm. It consisted of a well located near the barn, the small, locked hut, a two story farmhouse, a smokehouse, a small cemetery and a root-cellar. A cursory examination of the well uncovered nothing of interest. Riva and Rowan went from the well to a small hut located near the well.
The hut door was strong and still closed and locked. The two windows were shuttered and had scratches on them as if something had tried and failed to get in. Riva decided that we had to see what was inside the hut. To that end, he determined that the best course of action would be to bash the door down. So, using his superior dwarven strength, he began the long process of bashing. Rowan stood watching.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party was wandering around checking out the rest of the farm. They discovered that the cemetery had been disturbed, the stones overturned. Also, while it was known that four family members had died here, there were five stones in the cemetery.
As they came from the cemetery toward the small locked hut, where Riva was still contentedly bashing away at the door, an arrow shot out of the brush, hitting Thaile. The arrow was poisoned! Garret located the source of the arrow, a small crossbow, which had obviously been modified to be a trap. It was set up to shoot automatically when a tripwire was snapped. It seemed to have worked pretty well too.
Garret took the trap and went to the small hut where Riva was still busily bashing at the door. Thaile and Teiran were already there. As they stood watching Riva trying to knock the door down....
DM's comment: The conversation went something like:
....The hut was small, sparse, with simple furniture. It was neatly kept, but had obviously not been used in quite some time. A search of the room revealed a secret drawer in the small table. From the drawer came a small throwing axe of superior quality which came into the hand ready for throwing.
Moving on to the main farmhouse, Riva, Thaile and Rowan went in the door closest to the hut. Garret and Tieran moved to come in the door on the other side. The main room of the house contained a dining table and chairs, broken and tossed around and a desiccated corpse which upon examination appeared to be that of an Orc. From this room one door led to a bedroom containing a broken bed and nothing else of real interest.
The back hallway contained stairs going up to the second floor and down to the cellar. There were Orc corpses here as well. The corpses wore robes, jewelry, and fetishes that would be of some value to Orcs. Tieran took a fetish bundle from one of the corpses.
Upstairs we found nothing of value and nothing jumped out and attacked us.
Downstairs, we were completely unaware that anything was there until we were attacked. Riva was clawed and found himself unable to move. At this point, we also realized that it would have been wise to have a source of light with us. Tieran cast a light spell onto a copper and threw it into the room so that we could see what it was that we were fighting. They turned out to be two small undead reptilian creatures. We fought them for a bit, then, Thaile turned them and it became much easier to vanquish them. During the course of the battle, Tieran was also paralyzed and we were injured further.
(Another DM's interuption - sorry Rowan!:
Thaile's chance to affect these horrible little hungry-dead was very small. Very small indeed. In fact, I had planned some fun, knowing the PC cleric would be unable to turn the "ghouls". There was going to be all sorts of AoO-mayhem, as the PCs were trapped on a narrow stair, and the guy in front would be paralyzed and being turned into ghoul lunch-meat. How would they survive?
How? Pffft. "We turn the undead, of course! Did I mention I rolled a natural 20?"
Grrrrrr.....
)After this, our healing magic spent, we decided to go and spend the night in the small cottage before going into the root cellar. We did check out the entry to the root cellar and found dried blood on the steps, which further reinforced the wisdom of spending a night resting up and getting some healing back.
Watches were set and the broken door was set up as a barricade in the doorway. Hmmmm, maybe we should have picked the lock rather than broken the door.....oh well.
First watch was uneventful. Second watch saw some lights moving around in the darkness, but they seemed to be far away. Soon after, however, we found ourselves under attack by undead Orcs. The door gave us some protection and the shuttered windows were holding well. Thaile turned some of the creatures that ran off. Riva determined that he had to run outside and take care of the problem. Garret and Tieran also went out to fight. Thaile and Rowan remained inside the hut to defend there. In due time, the Orc were dispatched and we were able to spend the rest of the night uneventfully.
The next day we headed back to town, as we were in no shape to take on anything that might be lurking in the root cellar.
On the way back, we heard screams as we neared the Grigson farm. Garret charged forward and saw farmer Grigson running with an eight-foot centipede chasing him. It had already taken a chunk out of him. Garret, using his lance, charged the beast and skewered it. More screams turned us in the direction of farmer Grigson’s wife and son being chased by two more of the creatures. The child was badly hurt and fell as we arrived to lend aid. Garret skewered another one and the third was taken down by ??????. Rowan pulled the child out and gave him some healing and worked to neutralize the poison from the bite. She was able to bring him back to consciousness and advised the parents to put him to bed and keep him there until the healer from town arrived.
The rest of our trip to town was peaceful. Thaile, Tieran, and Rowan went to the healer at the mill. After telling her of the centipedes, she was able to heal our wounds and then packed up her bag to go and tend to the Grigson child. She asked the party to look after her Mill while she was gone.
Riva and Garret went to the town Warden and told him the whole story, from the Smitson farm to the centipedes. The Warden told them that the last time that the farm had been checked it had been fine, so this disturbance must be fairly recent. Then the Captain said that he would be sending out some men to deal with the farm and the centipedes.
End of Session #2
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Nail
First Post
Inbetween: Post-session #2, via email
Set-up: Garret and Riva have finished speaking with the Captain. They leave the keep, and walk through the decrepit Eaglesford gate-house. Through the archway, looking down the hill and path, they can see Mrs. Faegan's mill. Their companions await them there.
There is no one around the gatehouse of consequence; perhaps one of the castle guard is on patrol in the gatehouse above them.
The Conversation: Riva stops, then says to Garret:
"Garret, I think we'd better go back to see the captain..
"He felt the mission to the Smitson farm was pretty urgent -- that it be dealt with since he wouldn't wait -- and I think we should be there to help..
"Things might have changed just like we noticed on the way back to town, and I'm healthy enough to provide a strong fighting arm to do it. You're faster than me, why don't you go get the others and I'll try and get the captain to wait for a few minutes until you come back.."
Garret responds:
"I agree that our presence can make a difference, and if the others are up to it, so am I.
"But realize that what works for you and the Warden's crew won't cut it with the Captain. He runs a tight ship -- each member knows their place and depends on the others to do theirs. You'll need to follow his orders explicitly or he'll send you packing.
"Look, leaving the issue that you almost died last night totally aside, I'm not sure what made you leave the defensible position we had established in the cottage, but you risked ALL of our lives by heading out the door the way you did! Did you really think that we, as your friends, weren't going to follow you out there and try to stand by you? Tieran and Rhoen were hurt pretty bad in the cellar, trying to save your hide, Mr. Statue!
"They knew as well as I did that to flee the cellar to save themselves meant handing you your death sentence. They didn't leave you behind, none of us did, though it took a lot out of us to inally bring those two things down.
"While you may have felt pretty good once you shook off the ffects of that paralysis and got some healing from the others, PLEASE try and take into consideration how the rest of us are doing before pulling another stunt like that. Where one of goes, we all go. That was something we agreed on in the last few days when we got serious about this "adventuring" stuff. I know you're feeling "healthy enough to provide a strong fighting arm to do it".
"After receiving the majority of Rhoen's magic this morning I would hope that's the case, but Tieran and Rhoen aren't! They're hurt pretty badly and have used up the majority of their magic between last night's battle and healing you up again this morning. Mrs. Faegan has likely healed them by now. Still, SHE isn't traveling with us and our ability to heal each other is severely limited.
"Just because you're feeling top notch doesn't mean that the rest of us are in a position to pull your butt out all the time. If this keeps up it's not going to be too long before someone gets killed by your actions--and it's not likely going to be you.
"I'll go back and talk to the Captain, since I know him much better than you and I'm sure he'd appreciate our help. Trust me, he doesn't think a much of the Warden and his crew, and I'm sure he still throws you into that lot. See if Mrs. Faegan has patched the others up. If they're willing we can all head up to the Smitson place with the Captain and his troops. I just hope everyone's planning on returning to town before dark. We could all still use
the rest!"
Riva gets a bit flustered, and says:
"Wait a moment.. look, the reason I left the cottage was for a very good reason.. those zombies, it was clear that they weren't going to go awayafter a couple of minutes.. I mean, look at the fact that those shutters had lots and lots of claw marks on them on the outside, and the fact that even after the others out front had been turned, the ones at the windows kept clawing at the windows.. so they're stupid and stubborn..
"All that activity if it kept up would attract more of the restless dead, intelligent dead, and we've already seen what a pair of those can do when I was paralyzed.. and then we would have been in a world of hurt.. and besides, there were only two of them, take those out and we'd have peace for the rest of the night.. not only that, but a couple of dead zombies at the windows would serve a very pointed message to any intelligent undead prowling about.. so you can see why I rushed out when I did to take care of those two zombies.. now, it so happens that I slipped in the mud and so one of those cursed-sons-of-orcs got in a couple lucky swipes with 'is claws while I regained my footing....but if it weren't for that, I'd have taken 'em both down! It was something that needed to be done for the survival of the party, I'm not ashamed of that, and I'd do it again too.. and if I happened to have fallen in a necessary task like that, so be it, at least I will have helped preserve the lives of the rest of ye all....
"Th' other thing is that we know something must be creating these undead, I'm guessing here that one undead can create more, so that's another reason why I've been keen on getting them all in one go.. or as swift as possible... and that unfortunately takes a certain amount of risk.. undead are hateful evil creatures, and I will not easily abide their existence.. I grant that perhaps that passion of mine, especially in regards to cleansing that filth from the world, could lead me from time to time to ignore the rest of ye in the heat of combat.. I will try and keep that in mind better in future.. ye are all my comrades, but I can hope that ye see why I feel urgency here, even to the extent of taking extra risks.. undead are something I will not suffer to exist when I have the least ability in me to resist.. noone of us knows that better than me.. but I won't get into the whys of that right now, that's old history.. grrrr.. I will have them destroyed and whatever might create 'em..
"I will try to act in a more groupwise manner... that said, better head off to the captain as you were doing and I'll see to the rest of us.."
The two of them part ways, off on their respective tasks. Garret may have mumbled something about the likelihood of defeated undead getting away...but we may never be sure.
Set-up: Garret and Riva have finished speaking with the Captain. They leave the keep, and walk through the decrepit Eaglesford gate-house. Through the archway, looking down the hill and path, they can see Mrs. Faegan's mill. Their companions await them there.
There is no one around the gatehouse of consequence; perhaps one of the castle guard is on patrol in the gatehouse above them.
The Conversation: Riva stops, then says to Garret:
"Garret, I think we'd better go back to see the captain..
"He felt the mission to the Smitson farm was pretty urgent -- that it be dealt with since he wouldn't wait -- and I think we should be there to help..
"Things might have changed just like we noticed on the way back to town, and I'm healthy enough to provide a strong fighting arm to do it. You're faster than me, why don't you go get the others and I'll try and get the captain to wait for a few minutes until you come back.."
Garret responds:
"I agree that our presence can make a difference, and if the others are up to it, so am I.
"But realize that what works for you and the Warden's crew won't cut it with the Captain. He runs a tight ship -- each member knows their place and depends on the others to do theirs. You'll need to follow his orders explicitly or he'll send you packing.
"Look, leaving the issue that you almost died last night totally aside, I'm not sure what made you leave the defensible position we had established in the cottage, but you risked ALL of our lives by heading out the door the way you did! Did you really think that we, as your friends, weren't going to follow you out there and try to stand by you? Tieran and Rhoen were hurt pretty bad in the cellar, trying to save your hide, Mr. Statue!
"They knew as well as I did that to flee the cellar to save themselves meant handing you your death sentence. They didn't leave you behind, none of us did, though it took a lot out of us to inally bring those two things down.
"While you may have felt pretty good once you shook off the ffects of that paralysis and got some healing from the others, PLEASE try and take into consideration how the rest of us are doing before pulling another stunt like that. Where one of goes, we all go. That was something we agreed on in the last few days when we got serious about this "adventuring" stuff. I know you're feeling "healthy enough to provide a strong fighting arm to do it".
"After receiving the majority of Rhoen's magic this morning I would hope that's the case, but Tieran and Rhoen aren't! They're hurt pretty badly and have used up the majority of their magic between last night's battle and healing you up again this morning. Mrs. Faegan has likely healed them by now. Still, SHE isn't traveling with us and our ability to heal each other is severely limited.
"Just because you're feeling top notch doesn't mean that the rest of us are in a position to pull your butt out all the time. If this keeps up it's not going to be too long before someone gets killed by your actions--and it's not likely going to be you.
"I'll go back and talk to the Captain, since I know him much better than you and I'm sure he'd appreciate our help. Trust me, he doesn't think a much of the Warden and his crew, and I'm sure he still throws you into that lot. See if Mrs. Faegan has patched the others up. If they're willing we can all head up to the Smitson place with the Captain and his troops. I just hope everyone's planning on returning to town before dark. We could all still use
the rest!"
Riva gets a bit flustered, and says:
"Wait a moment.. look, the reason I left the cottage was for a very good reason.. those zombies, it was clear that they weren't going to go awayafter a couple of minutes.. I mean, look at the fact that those shutters had lots and lots of claw marks on them on the outside, and the fact that even after the others out front had been turned, the ones at the windows kept clawing at the windows.. so they're stupid and stubborn..
"All that activity if it kept up would attract more of the restless dead, intelligent dead, and we've already seen what a pair of those can do when I was paralyzed.. and then we would have been in a world of hurt.. and besides, there were only two of them, take those out and we'd have peace for the rest of the night.. not only that, but a couple of dead zombies at the windows would serve a very pointed message to any intelligent undead prowling about.. so you can see why I rushed out when I did to take care of those two zombies.. now, it so happens that I slipped in the mud and so one of those cursed-sons-of-orcs got in a couple lucky swipes with 'is claws while I regained my footing....but if it weren't for that, I'd have taken 'em both down! It was something that needed to be done for the survival of the party, I'm not ashamed of that, and I'd do it again too.. and if I happened to have fallen in a necessary task like that, so be it, at least I will have helped preserve the lives of the rest of ye all....
"Th' other thing is that we know something must be creating these undead, I'm guessing here that one undead can create more, so that's another reason why I've been keen on getting them all in one go.. or as swift as possible... and that unfortunately takes a certain amount of risk.. undead are hateful evil creatures, and I will not easily abide their existence.. I grant that perhaps that passion of mine, especially in regards to cleansing that filth from the world, could lead me from time to time to ignore the rest of ye in the heat of combat.. I will try and keep that in mind better in future.. ye are all my comrades, but I can hope that ye see why I feel urgency here, even to the extent of taking extra risks.. undead are something I will not suffer to exist when I have the least ability in me to resist.. noone of us knows that better than me.. but I won't get into the whys of that right now, that's old history.. grrrr.. I will have them destroyed and whatever might create 'em..
"I will try to act in a more groupwise manner... that said, better head off to the captain as you were doing and I'll see to the rest of us.."
The two of them part ways, off on their respective tasks. Garret may have mumbled something about the likelihood of defeated undead getting away...but we may never be sure.
Last edited:
Nail
First Post
A Bit more about the PCs environs.....
The Hamlet of Eaglesford
location: On the northeastern border of the once-great Kambron Empire. To the north and east lie the Carpathian mountains, where a dwarvish kingdom still thrives; to the south lies the more prosperous regions of the empire, where human, elf, halfling, and gnome live in peace. All about Eaglesford lie the ruins of the civilizations that used to call this broad valley home. The empire’s decrepit fortresses are adding themselves to the stony remains, as the years go by….
physical description: The hamlet is located within the ruins of an old castle, built here in the early days of the Kambron Empire. The castle is in a terrible state of disrepair – much of the curtain wall around the castle has fallen in, and been replaced with a timber palisade, and the only livable part of the castle (the Keep) is in the western tower. The village’s buildings and houses are within the stone and timber wall. The only permanent building outside the wall is the Mill, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Faegan.
population: about 150, mixed race (Human 41%, Halfling 20%, Elf 18%, Dwarf 10%, Gnome 5%, Half-elf 5%, Half-orc 1%)
TOWNSFOLK:
“government”:
Lord Aelric Surrell, of Eaglesford, Gentleman of the Purple Order, Knight of the Kambron Embire (human; wife: Elsa; kids: Mina, Jelen, Thomas)
Captain Isareth Ennolad, Captain of the Castle Guard and Reeve of Eaglesford (elvish, a known warrior and wizard)
“The Castle Guard”
Warden Kenneth Brenan, Protector of the Empire’s Borders (human, a ranger)
“The Rangers”
“merchant’s guild” – advisory role in Eaglesford’s affairs
Mr. Oscott Burlywire, Owner of Eaglesford Inn (gnome, old, tricky but nice…; married with grown-up children)
Burain Stonebeard, leatherworker and wain-wright, also woodworker (dwarf, married with children)
Mrs. Melinda Faegan, Cleric of the Great Church of All the Gods, owner and operator of the Mill (human female, married, husband Robert – sickly; no children)
Mrs. Kayla Wiggins, Wizard of Eaglesford, owner of town stables (human female, widow, husband killed by bandits)
Jameth Smith, Blacksmith of Eaglesford (half-elf, stocky; married with 5 children)
Oalaf “The Lute”, Bard of Eaglesford (halfling; bumbling, rumored to be the stupidest person in Eaglesford)
“other notables”
Ralan Gregson (halfling, old farmer, married twice, very large family)
Bethany Salazar (human, Mrs. Wiggin’s apprentice wizard)
Hara Flatbottom (halfling, “Crazy Old Witch”, mystic)
Jingles Goldhill (young gnome, peddler in treasures and oddities, occasional visitor to town, has a half-orc guard)
EDIT: typos fixed, Mrs Faegan's cleric title fixed, Jingles added
The Hamlet of Eaglesford
location: On the northeastern border of the once-great Kambron Empire. To the north and east lie the Carpathian mountains, where a dwarvish kingdom still thrives; to the south lies the more prosperous regions of the empire, where human, elf, halfling, and gnome live in peace. All about Eaglesford lie the ruins of the civilizations that used to call this broad valley home. The empire’s decrepit fortresses are adding themselves to the stony remains, as the years go by….
physical description: The hamlet is located within the ruins of an old castle, built here in the early days of the Kambron Empire. The castle is in a terrible state of disrepair – much of the curtain wall around the castle has fallen in, and been replaced with a timber palisade, and the only livable part of the castle (the Keep) is in the western tower. The village’s buildings and houses are within the stone and timber wall. The only permanent building outside the wall is the Mill, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Faegan.
population: about 150, mixed race (Human 41%, Halfling 20%, Elf 18%, Dwarf 10%, Gnome 5%, Half-elf 5%, Half-orc 1%)
TOWNSFOLK:
“government”:
Lord Aelric Surrell, of Eaglesford, Gentleman of the Purple Order, Knight of the Kambron Embire (human; wife: Elsa; kids: Mina, Jelen, Thomas)
Captain Isareth Ennolad, Captain of the Castle Guard and Reeve of Eaglesford (elvish, a known warrior and wizard)
“The Castle Guard”
Sergeant Urgar Longtooth (half-orc, older, a “mean S.O.B.")
Sergeant Jullig Tealarr (gnome, older, very friendly; this is the guy you’d rather talk to…..)
Jared Mangelson (human, 19)
Karl Mangleson (human, 18)
Meloran Ennolad (elven, the captain’s younger brother, tanner’s apprentice)
Derun Stonebeard (dwarf)
Warden Kenneth Brenan, Protector of the Empire’s Borders (human, a ranger)
“The Rangers”
Ray Timbers (former warden; halfling, a ranger)
Lee Smitson (human)
Gregory Hill (human, old, well-liked farmer)
“merchant’s guild” – advisory role in Eaglesford’s affairs
Mr. Oscott Burlywire, Owner of Eaglesford Inn (gnome, old, tricky but nice…; married with grown-up children)
Burain Stonebeard, leatherworker and wain-wright, also woodworker (dwarf, married with children)
Mrs. Melinda Faegan, Cleric of the Great Church of All the Gods, owner and operator of the Mill (human female, married, husband Robert – sickly; no children)
Mrs. Kayla Wiggins, Wizard of Eaglesford, owner of town stables (human female, widow, husband killed by bandits)
Jameth Smith, Blacksmith of Eaglesford (half-elf, stocky; married with 5 children)
Oalaf “The Lute”, Bard of Eaglesford (halfling; bumbling, rumored to be the stupidest person in Eaglesford)
“other notables”
Ralan Gregson (halfling, old farmer, married twice, very large family)
Bethany Salazar (human, Mrs. Wiggin’s apprentice wizard)
Hara Flatbottom (halfling, “Crazy Old Witch”, mystic)
Jingles Goldhill (young gnome, peddler in treasures and oddities, occasional visitor to town, has a half-orc guard)
EDIT: typos fixed, Mrs Faegan's cleric title fixed, Jingles added
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