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Rhenny's Princes of the Apocalypse Campaign Logs
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<blockquote data-quote="Rhenny" data-source="post: 6883466" data-attributes="member: 18333"><p>Session 16 – Fighting inside Rivergard Keep, Encountering Grimjaw</p><p></p><p>The party was mid battle inside Rivergard Keep. The sounds of battle, and Hundar’s war cry, seemed to alert more of the cultists inside a building to the north. Before they entered the courtyard, the group gathered and Pate was able to cast a cure spell upon Tornade, who had nearly fallen. Foo scurried up to the northern building to listen and hide while Hundar rushed up to the door of the northern building and waited for a foe to appear with Windvane in hand. The others took defensive positions about 20’ from the door. Meanwhile, Zeed was still checking out the tower way to the south, so he wasn’t even with the others at this point.</p><p></p><p>A few cultists burst out from the northern building, but a number of bandits (8 in total) came from a building just south of where the party was positioned. The battle was fierce. Tornade killed a number of bandits with a thunderwave. Hundar wielded Windvane with reckless abandon, Pate granted inspiration and stabbed a few of the bandits with his rapier and dagger. Foo sneak attacked a number of foes as well. Eventually, a few other Crushing Wave Reavers joined the battle and Tornade was hit with a number of crossbow bolts and he went down. At this point, Zeed had returned from the tower and flew behind one of the reavers, delivering a savage rapier thrust, but it did not kill the foe. Pate also took a few hits and so did Foo and Hundar. </p><p></p><p>The adventurers were able to thin the ranks a little when a priest named, Drossin came out from the chapel to the north. She unloaded five magic missiles into Foo, who nearly dropped to the ground, but managed to keep his feet. Hundar, switching foes, ran at Drossin and got her attention. Then, Pate took out a wand of magic missile that he had found previously and unloaded six missiles on Drossin, taking her down. Miraculously, Tornade regained consciousness and stumbled away from danger for a while. Foo backed off and hid while Zeed and Hundar took down a few more foes. Pate was eventually able to get near Tornade to cast another healing spell. But, before the adventurers could defeat a few of the reavers that were left, a fathomer by the name of Urshnora turned visible, hexed Foo and fired an eldritch bolt that damaged him pretty badly. Then another reaver, and a large, hairy man with a maul came out of another building to the north. The large man told the party to surrender and throw down their arms, but the adventurers did not. It seemed that this was “Jolly” Grimjaw and he looked like a powerful foe.</p><p></p><p>Facing 6 foes, Pate sang and played his lute once more and a hypnotic pattern held 5 of them transfixed. This turned the tides of battle. The adventurers attacked the remaining bandit and then coordinated their attacks to take out one transfixed foe at a time. Eventually, “Jolly” was the only one left. Hundar stabbed him with Windvane, hitting twice, but the big lug didn’t go down. Then, Zeed lined up a shot from his crossbow, aiming to do sneak attack damage, but the bolt just bounced off of Grimjaw’s body unnaturally. Tornade hit Jolly with a fire bolt; then Foo jabbed with his rapier and it too could not break Grimjaw’s skin, but his secondary attack with his magical dagger, Razur, hit the mark and he was able to open a serious wound. This made Grimjaw howl, and as the party watched, his head transformed into the head of a boar with nasty tusks and all. Grimjaw slashed at Hundar and opened a gash on Hundar’s right arm. Sensing the danger, Pate tried his magic once again, holding Grimjaw in place with a song. Before Grimjaw could do much more, the others were able to take him down.</p><p></p><p>Foo led the way into the building to the northwest in which he found a great hall with a banquet table, a desk and chair. There were two other doors to the west and two stairways that went up to a stone balcony above. The group shut themselves inside and caught their breaths for a very short time. Foo investigated the doors to the west and found that the south one was stuck or locked, but the north one was not. At that point, Hundar convinced Foo to give up the magical healing ointment that Foo was carrying. Hundar spread the remaining dose of it on his wounds, and felt a bit better than he did just a few moments ago. After that, Foo opened the north door and saw a kitchen with five servants hiding in a corner, fish, meat and cheese hanging from the ceiling and pots simmering on two hearths. He realized that the commoners were not a threat and he calmed them. Later, when Tornade came into the kitchen, Foo slipped out stealthfully, and the servants asked if the adventurers had killed Jolly and the others. When Tornade told them that they had, the servants asked if they could be freed. They just worked here and they had nothing to do with the cult. They also told Tornade that Jolly’s room was upstairs.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, as Pate announced to the others that he needed to take a rest, they heard footsteps coming down both sets of stairways. Four other Crushing Wave Cultists came down to see what was happening. Pate fabricated a wonderful lie, saying that they were the new mercenaries who were hired for the keep. The cultists believed him, and they all sat down to eat some food and talk with the new mercenaries who were strangely bedaubed in blood and gore. After about 30 minutes, the cultists were getting a little nervous that Grimjaw had not returned so one of them stepped toward the door to go outside. The party tensed up and almost sprung into action to attack, but Pate was able to distract the cultist by speaking about the cultist’s sister. Luckily for Pate, the cultist did have a sister so he stopped to talk with Pate before opening the door to go outside. After a little longer, another cultist got up to go outside, but when he moved away from Hundar, Hundar jabbed him with Windvane. The fight ended pretty soon, with only Hundar taking a little damage from one of the cultist’s scimitars.</p><p></p><p>After all the carnage, it was about 10 pm. The group rested for a little bit and tended to their wounds. After that, Zeed and Foo stayed in the great hall to eat a little more as Tornade and Hundar went out to investigate Jolliver Grimjaw a bit more. Earlier, Foo had told the others that Grimjaw looked like a wereboar and those gored by one of it’s kind could become cursed with lycanthropy. Hundar was fascinated so he inspected Grimjaw more closely. Tornade also looked the dead brute over and he found that the creature wore a key on a chain around his neck. Pate went out into the yard and casted a detect magic spell as he walked around the dead bodies. Unfortunately, he was unable to detect any magic.</p><p></p><p>Inside the great hall, as Foo walked near the western wall about 10’ behind the desk and chair, he saw some of the stone wall seemed more like a door than a wall. He pushed on the stone and revealed a secret door that led to a spiral stairway that went down. By this time, Pate had come back in. He decided to go with Foo down the spiral stairway. They both stealthfully descended 20’ into a hidden landing next to an underground river. There were two row boats moored at the landing, and spaces for two others that were not there at this time. The river flowed gently from west to east and it spanned about 40’ of this underground tunnel. Not noticing anything too alarming, Foo and Pate went back up the stairs, but then Foo decided to double back to search the boats. Pate followed.</p><p></p><p>The two adventurers noticed that the boats had oars in them, but from the landing they could not see if there was anything else under the seats or under the oars inside the boats. They decided to pull the ropes that moored them to drag the boats up onto the stairs of the landing. As soon as they tugged the boats, six ghouls exploded from the water and attacked the two adventurers. They both screamed out for help before Foo was raked badly by one of the ghouls. The gashes seared him with pain, and then he was paralyzed. Pate moved to try to protect him all the while screaming out for help. Another ghoul attacked the paralyzed Foo and would have killed him if not for Pate’s cutting words. Thinking quickly, Pate remembered that he had a scroll of lesser restoration so he broke it out and uttered the incantation, allowing Foo to move once again. Foo stabbed viciously into one of the ghouls, but even with his deadly blows, it would not go down. Pate was attacked a number of times, but luckily he could avoid some of the claws and bites. At this point, most of the ghouls focused on Foo because they had a taste for his blood. Foo managed to survive a number of attacks just as the other party members came down the stairs into the chamber. Tornade unleashed a thunderwave and killed two injured ghouls, injuring a few more. Hundar also entered the battle and took one down. Eventually, the party prevailed, but they were exhausted and very badly hurt.</p><p></p><p>At this point, the group went up to the main hall, and then up the stone stairways to the second floor where there was a hallway and two doors on the north and south walls of the hallway. Somewhere up here would be Jolliver Grimjaw’s bedroom and perhaps some treasure or more information about the Crushing Wave cult.</p><p></p><p>That’s where we stopped.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Comments</p><p></p><p>Pate’s spells worked really well. It is amazing how sometimes a lucky die roll or two can change the game. Pate had been waiting for the right moment to unloose his hypnotic pattern, and he could not have picked a better moment.</p><p></p><p>It is not clear if Hundar is susceptible to the curse of Lycanthropy. This is a mystery at this point.</p><p></p><p>These last few sessions have drained the group of many of their resources (I think Pate is out of spells and Tornade has some of his Font of Magic so he can regain 1 first level spell). I’m impressed that they are still alive considering that they drew 2 or 3 encounters out at one time while in the keep.</p><p></p><p>Each PC gained 1,000 xp for this. Tornade leveled up to 5th so he is now at the same level as the others.</p><p></p><p>This session took about 3 hours to play.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Rhenny, post: 6883466, member: 18333"] Session 16 – Fighting inside Rivergard Keep, Encountering Grimjaw The party was mid battle inside Rivergard Keep. The sounds of battle, and Hundar’s war cry, seemed to alert more of the cultists inside a building to the north. Before they entered the courtyard, the group gathered and Pate was able to cast a cure spell upon Tornade, who had nearly fallen. Foo scurried up to the northern building to listen and hide while Hundar rushed up to the door of the northern building and waited for a foe to appear with Windvane in hand. The others took defensive positions about 20’ from the door. Meanwhile, Zeed was still checking out the tower way to the south, so he wasn’t even with the others at this point. A few cultists burst out from the northern building, but a number of bandits (8 in total) came from a building just south of where the party was positioned. The battle was fierce. Tornade killed a number of bandits with a thunderwave. Hundar wielded Windvane with reckless abandon, Pate granted inspiration and stabbed a few of the bandits with his rapier and dagger. Foo sneak attacked a number of foes as well. Eventually, a few other Crushing Wave Reavers joined the battle and Tornade was hit with a number of crossbow bolts and he went down. At this point, Zeed had returned from the tower and flew behind one of the reavers, delivering a savage rapier thrust, but it did not kill the foe. Pate also took a few hits and so did Foo and Hundar. The adventurers were able to thin the ranks a little when a priest named, Drossin came out from the chapel to the north. She unloaded five magic missiles into Foo, who nearly dropped to the ground, but managed to keep his feet. Hundar, switching foes, ran at Drossin and got her attention. Then, Pate took out a wand of magic missile that he had found previously and unloaded six missiles on Drossin, taking her down. Miraculously, Tornade regained consciousness and stumbled away from danger for a while. Foo backed off and hid while Zeed and Hundar took down a few more foes. Pate was eventually able to get near Tornade to cast another healing spell. But, before the adventurers could defeat a few of the reavers that were left, a fathomer by the name of Urshnora turned visible, hexed Foo and fired an eldritch bolt that damaged him pretty badly. Then another reaver, and a large, hairy man with a maul came out of another building to the north. The large man told the party to surrender and throw down their arms, but the adventurers did not. It seemed that this was “Jolly” Grimjaw and he looked like a powerful foe. Facing 6 foes, Pate sang and played his lute once more and a hypnotic pattern held 5 of them transfixed. This turned the tides of battle. The adventurers attacked the remaining bandit and then coordinated their attacks to take out one transfixed foe at a time. Eventually, “Jolly” was the only one left. Hundar stabbed him with Windvane, hitting twice, but the big lug didn’t go down. Then, Zeed lined up a shot from his crossbow, aiming to do sneak attack damage, but the bolt just bounced off of Grimjaw’s body unnaturally. Tornade hit Jolly with a fire bolt; then Foo jabbed with his rapier and it too could not break Grimjaw’s skin, but his secondary attack with his magical dagger, Razur, hit the mark and he was able to open a serious wound. This made Grimjaw howl, and as the party watched, his head transformed into the head of a boar with nasty tusks and all. Grimjaw slashed at Hundar and opened a gash on Hundar’s right arm. Sensing the danger, Pate tried his magic once again, holding Grimjaw in place with a song. Before Grimjaw could do much more, the others were able to take him down. Foo led the way into the building to the northwest in which he found a great hall with a banquet table, a desk and chair. There were two other doors to the west and two stairways that went up to a stone balcony above. The group shut themselves inside and caught their breaths for a very short time. Foo investigated the doors to the west and found that the south one was stuck or locked, but the north one was not. At that point, Hundar convinced Foo to give up the magical healing ointment that Foo was carrying. Hundar spread the remaining dose of it on his wounds, and felt a bit better than he did just a few moments ago. After that, Foo opened the north door and saw a kitchen with five servants hiding in a corner, fish, meat and cheese hanging from the ceiling and pots simmering on two hearths. He realized that the commoners were not a threat and he calmed them. Later, when Tornade came into the kitchen, Foo slipped out stealthfully, and the servants asked if the adventurers had killed Jolly and the others. When Tornade told them that they had, the servants asked if they could be freed. They just worked here and they had nothing to do with the cult. They also told Tornade that Jolly’s room was upstairs. Meanwhile, as Pate announced to the others that he needed to take a rest, they heard footsteps coming down both sets of stairways. Four other Crushing Wave Cultists came down to see what was happening. Pate fabricated a wonderful lie, saying that they were the new mercenaries who were hired for the keep. The cultists believed him, and they all sat down to eat some food and talk with the new mercenaries who were strangely bedaubed in blood and gore. After about 30 minutes, the cultists were getting a little nervous that Grimjaw had not returned so one of them stepped toward the door to go outside. The party tensed up and almost sprung into action to attack, but Pate was able to distract the cultist by speaking about the cultist’s sister. Luckily for Pate, the cultist did have a sister so he stopped to talk with Pate before opening the door to go outside. After a little longer, another cultist got up to go outside, but when he moved away from Hundar, Hundar jabbed him with Windvane. The fight ended pretty soon, with only Hundar taking a little damage from one of the cultist’s scimitars. After all the carnage, it was about 10 pm. The group rested for a little bit and tended to their wounds. After that, Zeed and Foo stayed in the great hall to eat a little more as Tornade and Hundar went out to investigate Jolliver Grimjaw a bit more. Earlier, Foo had told the others that Grimjaw looked like a wereboar and those gored by one of it’s kind could become cursed with lycanthropy. Hundar was fascinated so he inspected Grimjaw more closely. Tornade also looked the dead brute over and he found that the creature wore a key on a chain around his neck. Pate went out into the yard and casted a detect magic spell as he walked around the dead bodies. Unfortunately, he was unable to detect any magic. Inside the great hall, as Foo walked near the western wall about 10’ behind the desk and chair, he saw some of the stone wall seemed more like a door than a wall. He pushed on the stone and revealed a secret door that led to a spiral stairway that went down. By this time, Pate had come back in. He decided to go with Foo down the spiral stairway. They both stealthfully descended 20’ into a hidden landing next to an underground river. There were two row boats moored at the landing, and spaces for two others that were not there at this time. The river flowed gently from west to east and it spanned about 40’ of this underground tunnel. Not noticing anything too alarming, Foo and Pate went back up the stairs, but then Foo decided to double back to search the boats. Pate followed. The two adventurers noticed that the boats had oars in them, but from the landing they could not see if there was anything else under the seats or under the oars inside the boats. They decided to pull the ropes that moored them to drag the boats up onto the stairs of the landing. As soon as they tugged the boats, six ghouls exploded from the water and attacked the two adventurers. They both screamed out for help before Foo was raked badly by one of the ghouls. The gashes seared him with pain, and then he was paralyzed. Pate moved to try to protect him all the while screaming out for help. Another ghoul attacked the paralyzed Foo and would have killed him if not for Pate’s cutting words. Thinking quickly, Pate remembered that he had a scroll of lesser restoration so he broke it out and uttered the incantation, allowing Foo to move once again. Foo stabbed viciously into one of the ghouls, but even with his deadly blows, it would not go down. Pate was attacked a number of times, but luckily he could avoid some of the claws and bites. At this point, most of the ghouls focused on Foo because they had a taste for his blood. Foo managed to survive a number of attacks just as the other party members came down the stairs into the chamber. Tornade unleashed a thunderwave and killed two injured ghouls, injuring a few more. Hundar also entered the battle and took one down. Eventually, the party prevailed, but they were exhausted and very badly hurt. At this point, the group went up to the main hall, and then up the stone stairways to the second floor where there was a hallway and two doors on the north and south walls of the hallway. Somewhere up here would be Jolliver Grimjaw’s bedroom and perhaps some treasure or more information about the Crushing Wave cult. That’s where we stopped. Comments Pate’s spells worked really well. It is amazing how sometimes a lucky die roll or two can change the game. Pate had been waiting for the right moment to unloose his hypnotic pattern, and he could not have picked a better moment. It is not clear if Hundar is susceptible to the curse of Lycanthropy. This is a mystery at this point. These last few sessions have drained the group of many of their resources (I think Pate is out of spells and Tornade has some of his Font of Magic so he can regain 1 first level spell). I’m impressed that they are still alive considering that they drew 2 or 3 encounters out at one time while in the keep. Each PC gained 1,000 xp for this. Tornade leveled up to 5th so he is now at the same level as the others. This session took about 3 hours to play. [/QUOTE]
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