Rolling Excursion into the Land of Cheese

[GodOfCheese]

I had begun posting my campaign notes on another website, then I discovered that people were apparently reading the notes. So, I started writing them in story-form. However, it's becoming cumbersome to maintain the story there, so I'm going to continue it here.

I'm going to start in the middle and provide backstory as needed and see how it goes (the alternative is to repost all 200+ pages). Please bear with me, but if it doesn't make sense, let me know

 

[GodOfCheese]

The Gods (Backstory)

This campaign started as an experiment to learn about 3rd Edition when it first came out, with the Sunless Citadel adventure, and went from there. The campaign world is mostly homespun, though using only the standard deities (during planning I didn't know how to balance them, so I used the defaults...).

• Pelor, god of the Sun -- benevolent deity, essentially as described in the PHB, known throughout the lands for his plain temples where clerics administer healing to the sick.
• Wee Jas, goddess of death and magic -- Wee Jas's domain is the mystery of death, its dignity and inevitability. Wee Jas's cult was effectively wiped out in a war with the cult of Nerull long ago, and as a result, her power is weakened and the peoples of the world have largely forgotten her.
• Nerull, god of murder -- Nerull's cult was decimated after his war with the cult of Wee Jas. As a deity, Nerull governs death before one's time; the death by trickery, deceit and betrayal. His shrines were destroyed and he, like Wee Jas, was forgotten by all but the learned of the world.

 

[GodOfCheese]

People of Interest

• The core party:
  • Zara the tainted (Human), a Monk of the Crescent Moon Order with no sense of humor and very little concept of mercy. Carries a magical kama of alien intelligence and unknown purpose.
  • Chloe Steeles the discerning (Human), a young adventuring priestess of the Church of Pelor who has seen too much. Chloe has intermittent, uncontrolled empathic powers that are sometimes helpful but usually seem like a curse. Wears a magic amulet to stave off horrible nightmares.
  • Effrem the Fine (Human), a quiet man of intelligence who doesn't like to be touched, with a fantastic gift for archery and stealth. Effrem is paranoid but a snappy dresser. Wears a magical helm that can see invisible creatures but also causes the occasional hallucination.
  • Davron Chesek (Half-Elf), a tracker formerly in the service of Hask Oakenstone. Horribly killed by Ogres long ago, and had to be physically reassembled by Chloe prior to resurrection.
• The known "Bad Guys"
  • Hask Oakenstone-- the last archmage of the dying Elven race. Went missing almost a decade ago, turned up in Millington, apparently friendly. The party discovered his evil purpose and ambushed him. He escaped, but not before his consort, Elania Silkenshaft, was slain. His last words before teleporting away were "This isn't over."
  • Milo the Sadistic-- a halfling from the Western Cliffs with a talent for sorcery. Abandoned the party during an expedition underneath Millington.
  • Axiardalon the Terrible*-- the Great White Wyrm of the Great White Wastes. His numerous spawn have menaced the party in the past.
  • the Master -- a vile illithid trapped on the Material plane, residing in the Forbidden Forest with a horde of Ogre thralls. Spared the party's lives in an earlier encounter because they seem to figure into his plans somehow. Visits (torments) Chloe's dreams from time to time.
• Supporting Characters (abbreviated)
  • Sir Voldren Greenshield (elf) -- a knight of the Saldasha empire charged with tracking down the rogue mage Oakenstone and the leader of Millington's security reinforcements (read: occupying army).
  • Baghb, son of Bighl** (human) -- Oakenstone's leutenant.
  • Tharmellaine Autumnbreeze (elf)-- an elderly Diviner in the service of the Empire. Advisor to Greenshield and some form of instructor to Baghb.
  • Bishop Sarek (human) -- the aged cleric in charge of the unique Cathedral of Pelor in Millington
  • Young Bradley (human) -- a handsome apprentice priest at the Cathedral.
  • Nicholas (half-elf) -- a Druid of the Circle who maintains a strange grove in the center of Millington. A close friend of Sarek's for many years. (see Rogue's Gallery entry)
  • Ainthreaxilos-- a flamboyantly happy silver dragon with a love of "human food" who tracks Axiardalon's movements.
  • Torlith Dornar (human) -- a bald monk of the Snow Order formerly allied with Oakenstone, who maintained a secret training ground beneath Millington. Cold and serious, he betrayed Oakenstone and sided with the party at the ambush. In reprisal, Oakenstone's consort, a consecrate of Nerull, slew him. Chloe resurrected him recently and he is recovering.
  • Andrew Scraal (human) -- a criminal of low character, well connected in Millington, who sometimes helps the party.

*Axiardalon is a bastardization of "Ashardalon", the name of a dragon mentioned in the Sunless Citadel. I thought the name was great, and used it on my own. Unfortunately, the name "Ashardalon" showed up in many other sources, and draconic names IMC now have an incompatible symantic structure, so the dragon's name needed to change to avoid confusion. It is pronounced "Ak-shee-arr-duh-lonn".

** Baghb and Bighl: the "gh" combination is pronounced as though clearing one's throat, and would otherwise sound like "Bob" and "Bill". The fact that Baghb has no last name suggests that he is low-born.

 

[GodOfCheese]

Previously in the Land of Cheese...

quick run-up to where we are...

Investigating Oakenstone's now-deserted lair after ambushing him, Effrem, Zara, Davron and Chloe (with Bighl, Tharmellaine, and Voldren) discover that Oakenstone has been and gone while the core party Wind Walked hundreds of miles back from the mountains. After finding numerous strange objects (and being depleted by traps) in the lair, they decide to wait until the morning before returning. So, the core party retires to the Cathedral of Pelor, where Chloe studies and the rest of the party sleeps.

That night, Slugs* break into the Cathedral, but are repulsed by Our Heroes.

The next morning, en route back to the lair, the party is ambushed by more slugs in broad daylight, in the middle of a crowd, where the slugs can blend into the crowd and conceal the attack. Zara is captured and Effrem falls prey to a fear effect, panics, and runs off.

Chloe has mostly utility spells readied, because she didn't expect much combat today (they knew the lair was deserted and most of the traps triggered). She left open slots for further prayer, but doesn't want to budget the time to pray for better spells.


*"Slugs" are slow-talking human-like creatures with a hive mind. They have several spell-like abilities and dissolve into black slime when slain. Chloe's empathy is sometimes triggered when they are near in sufficient number. Ruleswise, the Slugs are members of the Crowd (in the Minions:Fearsome Foes supplement).

 

[GodOfCheese]

Effrem's flight

Effrem runs down an alley, pursued at distance by a throng of creepily quiet commoners, all of whom, to his eye, sport horns, tails, hooves, or horrid teeth. Indeed, the commoners seem surrounded by a wicked, churning aura of green fire. He pushes past dozens of other, less frightening commoners, looking hastily over his shoulder at every turn to see if they’re still pursuing him.

Turning a corner in a paranoid fright, Effrem gasps in as much air as his lungs can hold. In his blind escape, he crashes headlong through a trio of town guard, knocking one off his feet. “Stop!” shouts one. “Put that sword down!” The two militiamen help up their fallen comrade and turn to pursue Effrem.

Effrem himself doesn’t know whether the guards are slugs or truly Millington’s guardians, but in his current mental condition he doesn’t give the matter much thought. He utters a frightened cry, his throat trembling as he hurtles across the cobblestones. His soft boots pound the street past storefronts and bewildered townsfolk, opposite of Effrem’s usually quiet demeanor.

The archer, light on his feet, is rapidly losing the armored guards. Even in his irrational panic, though, Effrem knows their cries of alarm are sure to bring others. His eyes scout left and right, seeking escape. It is perhaps because of this paranoid searching that his eyes are elsewhere when danger arrives from a different quarter.

As Effrem passes an alleyway, an arm reaches out from within it to entangle him. He struggles, but something heavy hits him in the head, stunning him. Effrem’s fumbling form is pulled quickly and efficiently into the alley and out of sight. The town protectors charge past, still shouting for him to lay down his arms.

 

[GodOfCheese]

Effrem's flight, continued

Effrem wrestles roughly with his unknown assailant, who appears as nothing more than a tempest of reaching arms and nondescript clothes. The pain radiating from the back of his head is befuddling his reflexes, and it doesn’t help that his opponent’s fingers seem to sprout roots into Effrem’s flesh where they grip. Even when the fingers leave his body, Effrem feels strangely tainted by them, as though they’ve left seeds of evil within his skin.

A harsh twist at his torso wrenches him sideways to the ground. He tries to cartwheel to his feet, but he can’t seem to focus through the woozy pain in his skull. So, instead, Effrem succeeds only in falling on his stomach, where he is flat in the disused and filthy alley.

This corridor is dark and full of smoke. Effrem imagines brimstone and hellfire leaping from great ovens somewhere in the caverns beneath Millington, where infernal monsters summoned by Hask Oakenstone work tirelessly to incinerate the bodies of everyone Effrem has ever cared about. The smoke, he surmises, must have filtered up through the soil. He tries to hold his breath and, rolling over on his back, kicks his way toward a wall behind him.

His adversary, a horrible demon with a hundred tentacle-like arms sprouting hands that have only thumbs for fingers, waves its arms. An intimidation tactic, no doubt, or perhaps it’s gloating? Effrem can’t see it very well because of the darkness and smoke. The creatures in Chorok’s maze seemed to relish the suffering of their victims, so Effrem sits up. He’s determined to at least go down fighting and not give the monster the satisfaction.

However, he seems to have dropped his sword when the monster snatched him. That was the plan all along! The enchanted townsfolk drove him right into this creature’s waiting clutches! How many others must this demon have ensnared with the aid of its pet townsfolk?

Sound gushes forth from the demon’s horrid maw, hidden somewhere in the smoke and darkness. It seems to be speaking to him, but Effrem refuses to hear the words. What would a demon want to say to him? It could only be an attempt to gloat over him, intimidate him, or worse, enslave him through some enchantment. That must have been how the townsfolk were co-opted! It’s all so clear now! Effrem’s fate lurches sickeningly toward him.

 

[GodOfCheese]

Chloe and Effrem, left behind...

Davron and Chloe remain defensive, each covering the other’s back, for what seems like a century before the crowd appears to disperse. The dispersal is not so much a physical one, because the crowd itself is still around them. It’s more of a churning—the cold-faced people with improvised weapons vanish into the throng, and other unfamiliar faces replace them.

Chloe feels the voices slink away, though they’re not so far off that she can’t hear them. “I think they’ve called this one a draw,” Chloe observes into Davron’s ear. He nods in relief, though worry doesn’t leave his profile.

A nearby scream is muffled by the sound of hundreds of conversations, which abruptly stop. The hazy ring of people around Chloe and Davron expands outward hastily. Someone has spotted the skeletons and the two armed adventurers. Further, the slug-warrior at Davron’s feet seems to have bled to death, and is now rotting rapidly away like his brethren.

The crowd writhes chaotically, and the difference is obvious to Chloe. Before, the people were moving in an almost-orchestrated way, but now each is acting on his own. Is this a change in the people’s behavior, or a change of the people themselves? Have the slugs in the crowd now been replaced by people, who are acting on their own, or did the slugs become or revert to people?

Assuming that the slugs can’t actually become regular folk, Chloe whispers quickly to Davron. “We can’t let them get away. You must have wounded a few of them—can you track them by their blood?”

Abruptly, the crowd parts for a gleaming knight on horseback. Voldren Greenshield’s white horse rears up on its hind legs in a spectacular show of cavalry-splendor. His sword is drawn, and his face pans over the crowd for potential aggressors. His eyes note the skeletons, the decomposing body, and come quickly to rest on the two adventurers.

Voldren’s gaze meets Chloe’s eyes and she sees his concern. Her expression of fear and serious determination melts a little, and he nods, realizing that they’re not hurt. Indeed, Voldren’s appearance seems to have a calming influence on the crowd in general, which was churning a great deal as onlookers struggled to get a look at the decomposing body, then struggled to get away from the sight and smell of the cooked skeletons.

“Calm yourselves!” Voldren calls, which seems to have additional reassuring effect. “All of you back away slowly. We will get to the bottom of this!” He sheathes his sword and makes a spreading gesture with his hands. “Everyone is safe!” The knight swings off his saddle, an elaborately-inscribed piece of thick leather and fabric that looks supple and comfortable, and kneels over the slug’s body.

“I can track them,” Davron says as Voldren watches the slug liquify. “...but we must not linger here—as the crowd moves, they’ll scatter and trample anything that would direct me.”

Chloe nods and leans down to address the knight. “Vol—Sir Greenshield,” she begins stiltedly, “Those who did this have evaded us and we have to catch them.” She struggles for words, wanting to ask him for help, but knows that he probably can’t go with them.

Voldren’s piercing green eyes look up at her. “My men will be here any moment,” he looks around at the bodies. “When they get here...”

Davron interrupts, “The trail grows colder by the second.”

“I’m sorry,” Chloe adds emphatically. “We have no time! You have my word that we’ll find you when we can.” She starts to add more, but simply falls silent, waiting nervously.

“Go” is all Voldren says, though his expression is similar to that worn by children who must go to bed while the midsummer sun shines in the evening.

 

[GodOfCheese]

Effrem and the Demon

“Effrem,” the demon calls as it approaches. “Effrem, calm down!” Effrem shakes his head, determined to resist the increasingly familiar voice. “Snap out of it! A panicked rat only attracts hungry cats!”

Effrem blinks at this last statement and looks carefully at the demon, whose edges are still blurry. The demon pauses and looks out from the corner of the alley into the main street, then looks back at him. Its extra arms seem to have fallen off, and it looks distinctly more human. The shape resolves before his eyes. “Andrew?”

The man exhales carefully. “Stay quiet, Effrem. They’re still looking for you.”

“Andrew...” Effrem whispers, his head clearing. Why were you a demon? What’s happening to me? Where are my friends?

The humanoid standing over Effrem becomes increasingly Andrew-like in the coming seconds. Andrew says nothing for awhile, but alternates between watching Effrem and sneaking glances at the main street. Presently, he crouches over Effrem. “Listen to me, Effrem. It goes away, do you understand? Just calm down and breathe carefully and your head will clear.”

Breathe carefully? Is there something in the air?

“Whoa, whoa whoa, calm down, friend.” Effrem realizes he is squirming because Andrew’s sharp teeth are in striking range of his jugular. “You’re safe for now, and I’ll give you back your sword in just a minute.” Andrew doesn’t actually touch his shoulders, knowing that Effrem doesn’t like to be touched, but he whispers reassuringly. “They put a spell on you. Do you remember?”

The eyes... the eyes!

“That’s right, Effrem... remember? They hit you with their magic and you took off running.”

Effrem eyes Andrew, who holds what appears to be a heavy leather bag in one now-completely-human hand. A sap. Effrem rubs the back of his head, which still hurts. “You hit me,” he says evenly.

 

[GodOfCheese]

In case anyone's wondering why these posts are so close together...

...I'm pasting the last few entries before I resume writing. Not all of them are wholly relevant, so I'm skipping a few. Updates won't normally be this fast, obviously ;-)

 

[GodOfCheese]

Zara

Zara’s toes drag bumpily over the cobblestones as she’s pulled bodily away from the combat area. She’s badly beaten, and her eyelids flutter open and closed. “I am whole...” she whispers. “Put me down... let me fight,” she begs, delirious, before something massive collides with the side of her face. Whatever was holding her up has released her arms, so she sinks down across the cold impact surface to a cold, stone floor.

“Good, she’s alive,” says a confident and extremely non-sluggish male voice. “Tie her to that chair,” the voice commands with a snicker. The snicker trails away into the silence as Zara’s consciousness seeps away.