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<blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 642" data-attributes="member: 63"><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Chapter Eleven: Dam<img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite23" alt="(n)" title="Thumbs down (n)" loading="lazy" data-shortname="(n)" /> Goblins</strong></span></p><p></p><p>When they get to their horses, outside the forest, they find a group of four Orcs busy cutting them free from their tethers on the trees. It being a hot afternoon and James not wanting to walk back to Milbourne, he rushes forward in his skivvies and cuts them down. The Orcs are caught off guard, and he wins initiative, so he manages to take them down before any get to attack back. Bhurisrava tells him not to kill the Orcs, and they leave a roll of bandages for the semi-conscious Orcs to use to keep themselves alive. Admittedly, they just got out of the bog, so the bandages are wet and smelly (and probably quite unsanitary), but it’s not like they’re going to give clean bandages to horse thieves. They’ve already lost three horses, and don’t feel like having to pay for any more.</p><p></p><p>When they reach Milbourne, just around dusk, Allar’s waiting for them. He gives them enough time to wash up and get a hot meal before presenting them with fresh horses. He’s paying them to work for him, and he needs a little help. If they’d stayed around yesterday instead of heading off to seek treasure, their work would be easier now, so Allar doesn’t apologize for forcing them to keep traveling even longer.</p><p></p><p>Just for your count, this is day seven in the Haranshire. Day one involved Harley, James, and Nikal getting attacked by bandits and meeting Allar and Bhurisrava. Day two began by following Nikal to Tauster’s house in Thurmaster, and ended with Bhurisrava calling out Death. Day three heralded the introduction of Roth and the first meeting with Inzeldrin, plus the fight with the ‘fake’ Allar and his thugs, who stole the book. Day four included a fruitless search through the woods, a fight with some Goblins in an abandoned church, and the introduction of the druid Oleanne (cue James laughing at her name). On day five Allar brought them back to Thurmaster and told them to stay put, but they decided instead to steal a treasure map and head to the Great Rock Dale. On day six they fought the wyverns in the dale, then returned to Milbourne and made friends with the Dwarf Old Grizzler. They ended day six in the Hardlow Woods, dealing with unfriendly spirits, then spent half of day seven looking for treasure. Now, at the evening of day seven, they return to Milbourne, only to have Allar politely reminding them that there are more important issues than looking for money. They’re trying to stop something that could potentially enslave all the peoples of the world, and now he has a lead they need to check on.</p><p></p><p>(By the way, they’re about to reach third level. My games always seem to go so fast.)</p><p></p><p>Harley, James, and Bhurisrava agree to go along, but they find it impossible to rouse Roth from his drunken slumber, so they once again leave him in the tavern. A little after nightfall, with everyone tired but clean, they set out to the northwest, through the Blanryde Hills. Allar explains that if they ever have to come out this way on their own, they should follow the <a href="http://www.geocities.com/rangerwickett/Haranshire.jpg" target="_blank">Churnette River</a> (which comes down from the north then turns east toward Milbourne), but he’s in a rush so they’re cutting across the hills. The Blanryde Hills are full of old mines, only a few of which are still even slightly profitable. The place is too rugged and arid for farming, and not rich enough for extensive mining, so the hills mostly just play home to various nomadic families of Orcs. That’s the problem he’s asking them to come out for. The last time the Mind Flayers sent agents to the surface in the Haranshire, they had allies with the Orcs, and just recently Orc activity has gone up. Allar wants their help so he can check it out and see if the Orcs in the hills have anything to do with the book thief, since his current efforts have proven useless in finding any leads.</p><p></p><p>As they canter swiftly through the rough hills, Allar asks what they’ve been doing since he last saw them. Upon hearing that they managed to save an abandoned man’s life, slay a pair of wyverns, cheer up a lonely old Dwarf, and dispatch a murderous Goblin-ghost, all in the span of two days, Allar does apologize for being frustrated with them earlier. Bhurisrava grumbles to himself, saying that he’s not going to let Allar out of his sight.</p><p></p><p>It takes them about two hours to reach their destination, the Eelhold, a large dam that has made what little farming there is in the area a little easier. The waters of dam are just home to a lot of eels, which don’t taste that good, but the people living around the dam have a cultivated taste for raw or pickled eel. To warn them ahead of time, Allar tells them the tale of the Goblins of the Eelhold.</p><p></p><p>[meta] I tried to fill in the PCs on the area as subtly as possible, so before each game session really got going I’d give them some details and tell them who told it to them. Most of my group is more action oriented than conversation oriented, though perhaps that’s my fault for not being a good role model. Anyway, I tried to speed up the sharing of information so we could get to the action. Of course, the information just made the action more interesting.[/meta]</p><p></p><p><strong>Allar tells The Story of the Goblins of the Eelhold:</strong></p><p> </p><p></p><p>[meta] It is at this point that Harley’s player, Jessica, confuses the name “Shiraz” for “Shasta.” One, a mid-level ranger. The other, an orange soft drink. Jessie’s explanation? She couldn’t remember “Shiraz,” and “Shasta” always sounded like a familiar name, so she assumed it must be the ranger chick’s name. At least this time it wasn’t malevolent, like the ‘Commie’ insults or ‘anal leakage girl.’ [/meta]</p><p></p><p>When they reach the Eelhold, the newcomers to the Haranshire finally get to see just how large a structure it is. The lake created by the dam stretches for a few miles in each direction, and the dam itself is sturdily-built stone. The lake fills a large basin, and the high walls around its edges are riddled with shallows caves. This late at night they can clearly see the dozens of cooking fires on the shore around the lake. The small dark shapes of perhaps hundreds of Goblins are silhouetted by the flames.</p><p></p><p>“That’s a lot of dam Goblins,” James notes.</p><p></p><p>* * *</p><p></p><p>They spend the night outside the dam plain, low enough that the rise around the lake conceals them from the Goblins. The Goblins are relatively peaceful, but Allar doesn’t want to take any chances in inciting them.</p><p></p><p>By this point, Allar has already informed them on what the main task before them is. If Shiraz shows up tonight or tomorrow morning, they will talk to the Goblins. Shiraz normally uses the ring every few days to regain control of the elemental, and Allar also wants to find out if the Goblins know anything about the goings-on with the book thieves. If Shiraz doesn’t show up, their second order of business is to travel north for a few miles and see if they can link up with a merchant caravan coming south from the InnenOtdarasne Phuurst. It’s a fairly prominent, yearly caravan, which comes down each Spring for the local Easter/Springtide Celebration (for Christians/for Meliskans), and Allar suspects that they may be raided. He wants to provide extra protection, just in case the caravan’s guards aren’t enough.</p><p></p><p>They take watches. Bhurisrava insists on staying up and watching Allar, talking to him and trying to trap him in logic games, but nothing interesting happens during the night.</p><p></p><p>The next morning, James wakes up first and takes last watch. The first person he gets up is Harley, then the others. Harley, not used to a hard life, grumbles about being up so early. She tries to cook for the group, to at least have an excuse for waking up, but doesn’t have the cooking proficiency, so no one likes her food. </p><p></p><p>After Bhurisrava cooks breakfast, Allar (followed by Bhur) scouts the edge of the dam again. They see no sign of Shiraz, and so they mount up and ride north, linking up with the caravan about ten miles north, almost before all the caravan members had woken up. Harley grumbles at James about this, but he doesn’t care.</p><p></p><p>At this point they meet two other professional adventuers, both wizards, and both employed by the caravan. The first is Arin Mir’tey, a slimy looking human with black hair and a torso too big for his legs. The other is also human, but with darker, sun-tanned skin and long white hair. He introduces himself as Victorious Elrad, a water mage (formerly a water technician). Vic dresses in dark blues and greys, and has a white mustache and goatee combination that makes him look highly distinguished.</p><p></p><p>[meta] I had new players this week in the game. I’m pretty sure that the first on, Jon Anasakis, doesn’t like D&D 3e, and so I don’t mind posting negative stuff about him. He disturbed me at first by asking if he could play a Neutral Evil character, but since he wanted to play a wild mage (and I love wild mages), I decided to let him try it out. I don’t really enforce alignment, but the idea of having a player character actively be evil kind of worried me. </p><p></p><p>The other new player, Justin Rollins, is probably the most relaxed person I know. He gets disappointed, but never angry. He’s had a very mellowing influence on me and the game. Thus, I shouldn’t really be surprised that he wanted to play a water elementalist. Water takes whatever shape it needs to. It’s calm and relaxed. Justin is water.</p><p></p><p>Both new characters started off at 2nd level. A 2nd level water wizard, and a 2nd level wild mage. Two wizards (we had no before), and two humans (we had no before). It looked promising, even though Jon was kind of annoying in his rules lawyering, demanding that I use alignment.[/meta]</p><p></p><p>The two wizards are hired guards of the caravan. Other guards include a mixture of humans and Innenlesti Elves, all warriors. All told there are two dozen wagons in the caravan, all separate businesses but working together in association. The incorporated caravan, consisting of many businesses and guarded by family or hired warriors, is a tradition started centuries earlier by Gnomish gypsies.</p><p></p><p>Not that any of the PCs care.</p><p></p><p>The caravan begins moving just as Allar, Bhurisrava, Harley, and James arrive, and Allar explains their intentions to the caravan master as the others get to know the prominent wizard guards. Vic is friendly; Arin is sarcastic. Vic makes a few jokes and laughs about their encounter with Oleane, and about the ‘dam Goblins’; Arin is bewildered at how silly the others are being, and doesn’t laugh. Vic uses a cantrip to get everyone some fresh water to drink to quench their thirsts; Arin does not. Vic will obviously get along with the others. Arin will not.</p><p></p><p><strong>Quick backstory of Victorious Elrad:</strong> </p><p> </p><p></p><p>By the way, this was Justin’s first time ever roleplaying.</p><p></p><p><strong>Quick backstory of Arin Mir’tey:</strong></p><p> </p><p>By the way, this was Jon A.’s umpteenth time roleplaying.</p><p></p><p>The caravan moves swiftly after hearing Allar’s warning of a possible attack, traveling within spitting distance of the Churnette River, on its east bank. Of course, true to Orcish form, less than an hour passes before, right as the caravan is nearing the Eelhold, James spots an Orcish war banner fluttering in the wind, barely visible above the hilltops. The Orcs, foolish and braggardly, have by their own carelessness let their ambush be spotted.</p><p></p><p>Victorious thinks fast and tells the caravan to move to the other side of the river, which isn’t easy, but is far safer than waiting for the Orcs to attack. One uncovered wagon stays on the east bank, which a group of six archers will use for cover.</p><p></p><p>Vic and Arin borrow horses, and together the whole group (Allar, Arin, Bhurisrava, Harley, James, and Vic) ride through the hills in three groups of two, coming at the Orcs from different directions. Allar and Bhur go in one group, Arin and Harley in another; these two groups come at the Orcs from the sides. James and Victorious ride straight at the Orcs, intending to goad the Orcs into charging the caravan prematurely, so the other two groups can attack while they’re disorganized.</p><p></p><p>James and Vic give the others a minute to get into position, then ride up to the hill behind which the Orcs are hiding, spotting a force of nearly twenty Orcs, all of them on foot except for their leader, who rides a huge lizard. Vic starts things off quickly by firing a <em>magic missile</em> at the raiding party’s leader, and James shouts that his mother was a pixie, and then they whirl around and ride beneath the crest of the hill before any Orcs can hurl their spears.</p><p></p><p>The war leader gives the battle cry, and the Orcs charge after the mounted human and half-Elf. It’s a few hundred feet back to the river, and so the others wait briefly before coming in from their hiding spots. Bhurisrava casts bless on them, and Arin rides close enough to catch a few Orcs with a <em>burning hands</em>. Harley gets into a tug-of-war with an Orc who tries to skewer her horse, and she manages to not only disarm the Orc and take his spear, but also trample the Orc. Allar rides into the midst of the Orcish warriors, riding ahead then dismounting and cutting down any Orcs who dare to come close to him.</p><p></p><p>James misses with his bow a few times as he rides back to the river, but one of the Orcs gets lucky and catches Vic’s horse in the flank with a spear. Vic and the horse drop, and James wheels his mount around to defend Vic while the water mage runs to get aid from the guards still at the river.</p><p></p><p>Harley smacks a few more Orcs, but eventually her mount is injured enough that it rides off. Harley considers riding off with it, but Bhurisrava gets pulled down from horse, so Harley leaps off her own steed and rushes to the priest’s aid. Half the Orcish raiding party turns back to attack the ambushers, while the other half keeps charging forward for the river. Allar sprints and tumbles his way to beside Harley and Bhurisrava, and the dual-scimitar-wielding ranger makes it a point to kill any Orc who gets a hit on either of the others. Bhurisrava cures himself and Harley, while Harley knocks an Orc down with a spear, then catches another with Ricochet.</p><p></p><p>The only ambusher still mounted, Arin rides after Vic, preferring to stick with the guards he knows and to keep clear of the thick of battle. James shrugs as the mage rides by, then he engages in mounted combat with the lead Orc warrior, who alternately wields a very long spear and an axe. The Orc leader distracts him while the rest of the Orcs kill James’ horse, spilling James to the ground. James dodges dozens of wild attacks but is severely wounded. He is about to fall to the ground unconscious when a war cry comes from the river, and a hail of arrows fall amid the Orcs around James. </p><p></p><p>Victorious mans the reins of the wagon, driving it forward at top speed while the six warriors lay down suppressing fire. Arin, not particularly liking horses, stumbles off his mount and lands in the back of the wagon, becoming part of the onward-hurtling war machine.</p><p></p><p>The Orc leader spurs his warriors onward, but one stays behind to finish off James, who is still on the ground. James, effectively unconscious, is at the Orc’s mercy as the tusked warrior raises his warhammer for the killing blow.</p><p></p><p>Victorious releases the reins and casts the only effective spell he still has, <em>Tenser’s floating disk</em>, creating the disk directly over James’ prone and helpless body. The disk is a plane of force, and though it was probably never intended for this use, it manages to stop the Orc’s killing blow. James musters enough strength to thrust his sword upward into the confused Orc’s belly before he himself sags to the ground.</p><p></p><p>Harley tumbles through some of the Orcs to distract them, and to recover Ricochet, which seems far more lucky than usual. She sprints off toward the river, pulling a handful of Orcs away from the beleagured Bhurisrava and Allar, and when she spots the leader of the war party she hurls Ricochet and wounds the huge Orc in the back. Harley then has to try to fend off the Orcs that pursued her, but she goes down to a volley of axe and hammer attacks. Allar rushes off to her aid, leaving Bhurisrava to fight two Orcs all by himself. Bhurisrava swears profanities at Allar for leaving him alone, not apparently realizing that Allar just saved Harley’s life.</p><p></p><p>Back on the other side of the fight, the war wagon crashes into lead Orc’s battle lizard, and the lizard falls to a combined volley of a dozen arrows to the face and neck (in 2e, even lowly 0th level warriors could fire 2 arrows per round), but the Orc leader leaps undaunted onto the wagon and cuts down the warriors one by one. The other Orcs with the leader hurl axes and spears, and take down a few more archers, leaving only one alive. </p><p></p><p>Arin Mir’tey realizes that the wagon has a lamp, so he smashes the lamp onto the back of the Orc leader, covering him with lamp oil. Victor knocks over a small container of water and uses <em>metamorphose liquids</em> to turn it to gasoline, and then Arin shouts for the guard and Vic to jump off. As the Orc leader turns and smashes his axe into Arin’s side, the wild mage tries to cast <em>burning hands</em>. Instead, the spell surges, and a rain of copper coins falls on Arin’s head, knocking him off balance and out of the wagon.</p><p></p><p>Vic doesn’t have any fire spells, and the other caravan guard is knocked unconscious before he can light a spark with flint and steel, but suddenly a weak shout can be heard over the din of combat. Vic turns and sees James, still laying near-death on the ground, drawing back and then hurling a shining silver object through the air. It lands on the ground near Vic, and both the wizards see that it flickers with flame. Arin and Victorious scramble through the half-dozen Orcs surrounding them, and finally Vic manages to grab the flaming object off the ground and hurl it into the wagon. Arin cuts the horse free, and it speeds away just before the Orc leader screams in agony, flames searing him and dropping him into unconsciousness.</p><p></p><p>With their leader defeated and more guards rushing across the river as reinforcements against them, the Orcs turn and flee. Bhurisrava knocks one unconscious with his blunt arrows, and Allar kills two more, and a total of only five manage to escape.</p><p></p><p>* * *</p><p></p><p>In the aftermath, the caravan regroups and Bhurisrava bandages James and Harley enough so they won’t die, and also helps the guards who were only wounded in the battle. Unfortunately, two of the guards died at the hands of the Orcs, and the caravan wraps them so they can be buried in a consecrated cemetery when they reach Milbourne. </p><p></p><p>Bhurisrava has to explain what exactly the ‘magical flaming object’ is that Vic used to set the Orc leader on fire. Arin Mir’tey considers the ‘Zippo,’ as Bhurisrava calls it, to be a waste of magic, but Victorious is impressed, and decides to keep it for now, since he can’t cast fire himself.</p><p></p><p>Allar brings James and Harley to the Goblin shaman from the tribe at the dam, and pays the shaman to use enough healing magic to return them to consciousness. Though still groggy, the two are able to move about well enough. Both Allar and the caravan leader thank the group for the well-planned and –executed defense against the Orcs. </p><p></p><p>The caravan stops just briefly to see if the Goblins want to trade for anything, which gives the party enough time to meet Shiraz, who was actually hanging out with the Goblins the night before, which is why they hadn’t seen her.</p><p></p><p>Shiraz is skinny and lithe, with pale skin and blone hair, looking something like the stereotypical 1920’s female singer, with a surprisingly long neck. She seems very at ease among the Goblins, and laughs with the party about how many dam Goblins she has to deal with. Then they watch her talk to the dam Goblin shaman and use his ring to call forth the Eelhold’s water elemental.</p><p></p><p>The elemental rises from the waters, towering twice as tall as Shiraz in a vaguely humanoid shimmer of waves and spray. She lifts her hand with the ring toward it and shouts at it that she is still in control, and that it will not harm anyone unless the ring-bearer commands otherwise. The water elemental replies in a deep gurgling voice, like speech underwater, and says that it will obey. Even though its voice sounds alien, they can all tell that the elemental hates being controlled. With movements that seem almost spiteful, the elemental crashes back into the lake’s waters, splashing spray onto Shiraz and the nearby Goblins, plus Harley, who wandered close in curiosity.</p><p></p><p>They talk to the Goblins for a little while longer and learn nothing useful about the book thieves, though one Goblin warrior shares that a courier from another tribe to the east delivered his tribe’s monthly threats, saying that the Blue Goblins (the one at the Eelhold), were lucky because the Troll Goblins (the ones from the eastern border of the Haranshire) weren’t going to be doing anything mighty and powerful this month.</p><p></p><p>Allar explains that it’s tradition among competing Goblin tribes for couriers to be sent each month with threats, just to prove how strong each tribe is. The thing is, most of the threats are blatant lies, so the fact that the Troll Goblins said they <em>wouldn’t</em> be doing anything this month is suspicious. </p><p></p><p>James groans, realizing that Allar’s going to ask them to go on another mission for him. Surprisingly, however, Allar tells them to rest when they get back to the Haranshire, and that he’ll link up with them. He plans to check around this area some more, traveling with Shiraz, and he’ll meet them in another day or two. If they feel up to it, he suggests it might be a good idea to go looking for leads.</p><p></p><p>James huffs, then says he might be more inclined to be investigative if he were to receive a bonus payment. Allar smiles, then shrugs and says he can only has on him enough to pay them for their work so far. He gives Harley, Bhurisrava, and James each twenty gold pieces, plus twenty extra for Roth. This cheers James up greatly, and Harley even admits it might be a good idea to ask some questions around Milbourne, but Bhurisrava still doesn’t trust Allar. He refuses to let Allar go away, since he thinks Allar is too suspicious, and might be one of the villains himself. Thus, after much arguing, Allar shrugs and accepts that short of knocking the priest unconscious, he’s going to have to put up with Bhur for a day or two.</p><p></p><p>The caravan sets off, leaving Allar, Bhurisrava, and Shiraz to explore the Blanryde Hills, while the rest of the group moves on to Milbourne, saying good bye to a friendly bunch of dam Goblins. Vic raises a toast to his new friends, and while James and Harley join in, Arin simply goes off by himself and has a few swigs of ale with the guards. Since the guards are unconscious, he drinks for them too, all by himself.</p><p></p><p>[meta]Did I mention I never really liked Jon A?[/meta]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RangerWickett, post: 642, member: 63"] [size=3][b]Chapter Eleven: Dam(n) Goblins[/b][/size] When they get to their horses, outside the forest, they find a group of four Orcs busy cutting them free from their tethers on the trees. It being a hot afternoon and James not wanting to walk back to Milbourne, he rushes forward in his skivvies and cuts them down. The Orcs are caught off guard, and he wins initiative, so he manages to take them down before any get to attack back. Bhurisrava tells him not to kill the Orcs, and they leave a roll of bandages for the semi-conscious Orcs to use to keep themselves alive. Admittedly, they just got out of the bog, so the bandages are wet and smelly (and probably quite unsanitary), but it’s not like they’re going to give clean bandages to horse thieves. They’ve already lost three horses, and don’t feel like having to pay for any more. When they reach Milbourne, just around dusk, Allar’s waiting for them. He gives them enough time to wash up and get a hot meal before presenting them with fresh horses. He’s paying them to work for him, and he needs a little help. If they’d stayed around yesterday instead of heading off to seek treasure, their work would be easier now, so Allar doesn’t apologize for forcing them to keep traveling even longer. Just for your count, this is day seven in the Haranshire. Day one involved Harley, James, and Nikal getting attacked by bandits and meeting Allar and Bhurisrava. Day two began by following Nikal to Tauster’s house in Thurmaster, and ended with Bhurisrava calling out Death. Day three heralded the introduction of Roth and the first meeting with Inzeldrin, plus the fight with the ‘fake’ Allar and his thugs, who stole the book. Day four included a fruitless search through the woods, a fight with some Goblins in an abandoned church, and the introduction of the druid Oleanne (cue James laughing at her name). On day five Allar brought them back to Thurmaster and told them to stay put, but they decided instead to steal a treasure map and head to the Great Rock Dale. On day six they fought the wyverns in the dale, then returned to Milbourne and made friends with the Dwarf Old Grizzler. They ended day six in the Hardlow Woods, dealing with unfriendly spirits, then spent half of day seven looking for treasure. Now, at the evening of day seven, they return to Milbourne, only to have Allar politely reminding them that there are more important issues than looking for money. They’re trying to stop something that could potentially enslave all the peoples of the world, and now he has a lead they need to check on. (By the way, they’re about to reach third level. My games always seem to go so fast.) Harley, James, and Bhurisrava agree to go along, but they find it impossible to rouse Roth from his drunken slumber, so they once again leave him in the tavern. A little after nightfall, with everyone tired but clean, they set out to the northwest, through the Blanryde Hills. Allar explains that if they ever have to come out this way on their own, they should follow the [URL=http://www.geocities.com/rangerwickett/Haranshire.jpg]Churnette River[/URL] (which comes down from the north then turns east toward Milbourne), but he’s in a rush so they’re cutting across the hills. The Blanryde Hills are full of old mines, only a few of which are still even slightly profitable. The place is too rugged and arid for farming, and not rich enough for extensive mining, so the hills mostly just play home to various nomadic families of Orcs. That’s the problem he’s asking them to come out for. The last time the Mind Flayers sent agents to the surface in the Haranshire, they had allies with the Orcs, and just recently Orc activity has gone up. Allar wants their help so he can check it out and see if the Orcs in the hills have anything to do with the book thief, since his current efforts have proven useless in finding any leads. As they canter swiftly through the rough hills, Allar asks what they’ve been doing since he last saw them. Upon hearing that they managed to save an abandoned man’s life, slay a pair of wyverns, cheer up a lonely old Dwarf, and dispatch a murderous Goblin-ghost, all in the span of two days, Allar does apologize for being frustrated with them earlier. Bhurisrava grumbles to himself, saying that he’s not going to let Allar out of his sight. It takes them about two hours to reach their destination, the Eelhold, a large dam that has made what little farming there is in the area a little easier. The waters of dam are just home to a lot of eels, which don’t taste that good, but the people living around the dam have a cultivated taste for raw or pickled eel. To warn them ahead of time, Allar tells them the tale of the Goblins of the Eelhold. [meta] I tried to fill in the PCs on the area as subtly as possible, so before each game session really got going I’d give them some details and tell them who told it to them. Most of my group is more action oriented than conversation oriented, though perhaps that’s my fault for not being a good role model. Anyway, I tried to speed up the sharing of information so we could get to the action. Of course, the information just made the action more interesting.[/meta] [b]Allar tells The Story of the Goblins of the Eelhold:[/b] [meta] It is at this point that Harley’s player, Jessica, confuses the name “Shiraz” for “Shasta.” One, a mid-level ranger. The other, an orange soft drink. Jessie’s explanation? She couldn’t remember “Shiraz,” and “Shasta” always sounded like a familiar name, so she assumed it must be the ranger chick’s name. At least this time it wasn’t malevolent, like the ‘Commie’ insults or ‘anal leakage girl.’ [/meta] When they reach the Eelhold, the newcomers to the Haranshire finally get to see just how large a structure it is. The lake created by the dam stretches for a few miles in each direction, and the dam itself is sturdily-built stone. The lake fills a large basin, and the high walls around its edges are riddled with shallows caves. This late at night they can clearly see the dozens of cooking fires on the shore around the lake. The small dark shapes of perhaps hundreds of Goblins are silhouetted by the flames. “That’s a lot of dam Goblins,” James notes. * * * They spend the night outside the dam plain, low enough that the rise around the lake conceals them from the Goblins. The Goblins are relatively peaceful, but Allar doesn’t want to take any chances in inciting them. By this point, Allar has already informed them on what the main task before them is. If Shiraz shows up tonight or tomorrow morning, they will talk to the Goblins. Shiraz normally uses the ring every few days to regain control of the elemental, and Allar also wants to find out if the Goblins know anything about the goings-on with the book thieves. If Shiraz doesn’t show up, their second order of business is to travel north for a few miles and see if they can link up with a merchant caravan coming south from the InnenOtdarasne Phuurst. It’s a fairly prominent, yearly caravan, which comes down each Spring for the local Easter/Springtide Celebration (for Christians/for Meliskans), and Allar suspects that they may be raided. He wants to provide extra protection, just in case the caravan’s guards aren’t enough. They take watches. Bhurisrava insists on staying up and watching Allar, talking to him and trying to trap him in logic games, but nothing interesting happens during the night. The next morning, James wakes up first and takes last watch. The first person he gets up is Harley, then the others. Harley, not used to a hard life, grumbles about being up so early. She tries to cook for the group, to at least have an excuse for waking up, but doesn’t have the cooking proficiency, so no one likes her food. After Bhurisrava cooks breakfast, Allar (followed by Bhur) scouts the edge of the dam again. They see no sign of Shiraz, and so they mount up and ride north, linking up with the caravan about ten miles north, almost before all the caravan members had woken up. Harley grumbles at James about this, but he doesn’t care. At this point they meet two other professional adventuers, both wizards, and both employed by the caravan. The first is Arin Mir’tey, a slimy looking human with black hair and a torso too big for his legs. The other is also human, but with darker, sun-tanned skin and long white hair. He introduces himself as Victorious Elrad, a water mage (formerly a water technician). Vic dresses in dark blues and greys, and has a white mustache and goatee combination that makes him look highly distinguished. [meta] I had new players this week in the game. I’m pretty sure that the first on, Jon Anasakis, doesn’t like D&D 3e, and so I don’t mind posting negative stuff about him. He disturbed me at first by asking if he could play a Neutral Evil character, but since he wanted to play a wild mage (and I love wild mages), I decided to let him try it out. I don’t really enforce alignment, but the idea of having a player character actively be evil kind of worried me. The other new player, Justin Rollins, is probably the most relaxed person I know. He gets disappointed, but never angry. He’s had a very mellowing influence on me and the game. Thus, I shouldn’t really be surprised that he wanted to play a water elementalist. Water takes whatever shape it needs to. It’s calm and relaxed. Justin is water. Both new characters started off at 2nd level. A 2nd level water wizard, and a 2nd level wild mage. Two wizards (we had no before), and two humans (we had no before). It looked promising, even though Jon was kind of annoying in his rules lawyering, demanding that I use alignment.[/meta] The two wizards are hired guards of the caravan. Other guards include a mixture of humans and Innenlesti Elves, all warriors. All told there are two dozen wagons in the caravan, all separate businesses but working together in association. The incorporated caravan, consisting of many businesses and guarded by family or hired warriors, is a tradition started centuries earlier by Gnomish gypsies. Not that any of the PCs care. The caravan begins moving just as Allar, Bhurisrava, Harley, and James arrive, and Allar explains their intentions to the caravan master as the others get to know the prominent wizard guards. Vic is friendly; Arin is sarcastic. Vic makes a few jokes and laughs about their encounter with Oleane, and about the ‘dam Goblins’; Arin is bewildered at how silly the others are being, and doesn’t laugh. Vic uses a cantrip to get everyone some fresh water to drink to quench their thirsts; Arin does not. Vic will obviously get along with the others. Arin will not. [b]Quick backstory of Victorious Elrad:[/b] By the way, this was Justin’s first time ever roleplaying. [b]Quick backstory of Arin Mir’tey:[/b] By the way, this was Jon A.’s umpteenth time roleplaying. The caravan moves swiftly after hearing Allar’s warning of a possible attack, traveling within spitting distance of the Churnette River, on its east bank. Of course, true to Orcish form, less than an hour passes before, right as the caravan is nearing the Eelhold, James spots an Orcish war banner fluttering in the wind, barely visible above the hilltops. The Orcs, foolish and braggardly, have by their own carelessness let their ambush be spotted. Victorious thinks fast and tells the caravan to move to the other side of the river, which isn’t easy, but is far safer than waiting for the Orcs to attack. One uncovered wagon stays on the east bank, which a group of six archers will use for cover. Vic and Arin borrow horses, and together the whole group (Allar, Arin, Bhurisrava, Harley, James, and Vic) ride through the hills in three groups of two, coming at the Orcs from different directions. Allar and Bhur go in one group, Arin and Harley in another; these two groups come at the Orcs from the sides. James and Victorious ride straight at the Orcs, intending to goad the Orcs into charging the caravan prematurely, so the other two groups can attack while they’re disorganized. James and Vic give the others a minute to get into position, then ride up to the hill behind which the Orcs are hiding, spotting a force of nearly twenty Orcs, all of them on foot except for their leader, who rides a huge lizard. Vic starts things off quickly by firing a [i]magic missile[/i] at the raiding party’s leader, and James shouts that his mother was a pixie, and then they whirl around and ride beneath the crest of the hill before any Orcs can hurl their spears. The war leader gives the battle cry, and the Orcs charge after the mounted human and half-Elf. It’s a few hundred feet back to the river, and so the others wait briefly before coming in from their hiding spots. Bhurisrava casts bless on them, and Arin rides close enough to catch a few Orcs with a [i]burning hands[/i]. Harley gets into a tug-of-war with an Orc who tries to skewer her horse, and she manages to not only disarm the Orc and take his spear, but also trample the Orc. Allar rides into the midst of the Orcish warriors, riding ahead then dismounting and cutting down any Orcs who dare to come close to him. James misses with his bow a few times as he rides back to the river, but one of the Orcs gets lucky and catches Vic’s horse in the flank with a spear. Vic and the horse drop, and James wheels his mount around to defend Vic while the water mage runs to get aid from the guards still at the river. Harley smacks a few more Orcs, but eventually her mount is injured enough that it rides off. Harley considers riding off with it, but Bhurisrava gets pulled down from horse, so Harley leaps off her own steed and rushes to the priest’s aid. Half the Orcish raiding party turns back to attack the ambushers, while the other half keeps charging forward for the river. Allar sprints and tumbles his way to beside Harley and Bhurisrava, and the dual-scimitar-wielding ranger makes it a point to kill any Orc who gets a hit on either of the others. Bhurisrava cures himself and Harley, while Harley knocks an Orc down with a spear, then catches another with Ricochet. The only ambusher still mounted, Arin rides after Vic, preferring to stick with the guards he knows and to keep clear of the thick of battle. James shrugs as the mage rides by, then he engages in mounted combat with the lead Orc warrior, who alternately wields a very long spear and an axe. The Orc leader distracts him while the rest of the Orcs kill James’ horse, spilling James to the ground. James dodges dozens of wild attacks but is severely wounded. He is about to fall to the ground unconscious when a war cry comes from the river, and a hail of arrows fall amid the Orcs around James. Victorious mans the reins of the wagon, driving it forward at top speed while the six warriors lay down suppressing fire. Arin, not particularly liking horses, stumbles off his mount and lands in the back of the wagon, becoming part of the onward-hurtling war machine. The Orc leader spurs his warriors onward, but one stays behind to finish off James, who is still on the ground. James, effectively unconscious, is at the Orc’s mercy as the tusked warrior raises his warhammer for the killing blow. Victorious releases the reins and casts the only effective spell he still has, [i]Tenser’s floating disk[/i], creating the disk directly over James’ prone and helpless body. The disk is a plane of force, and though it was probably never intended for this use, it manages to stop the Orc’s killing blow. James musters enough strength to thrust his sword upward into the confused Orc’s belly before he himself sags to the ground. Harley tumbles through some of the Orcs to distract them, and to recover Ricochet, which seems far more lucky than usual. She sprints off toward the river, pulling a handful of Orcs away from the beleagured Bhurisrava and Allar, and when she spots the leader of the war party she hurls Ricochet and wounds the huge Orc in the back. Harley then has to try to fend off the Orcs that pursued her, but she goes down to a volley of axe and hammer attacks. Allar rushes off to her aid, leaving Bhurisrava to fight two Orcs all by himself. Bhurisrava swears profanities at Allar for leaving him alone, not apparently realizing that Allar just saved Harley’s life. Back on the other side of the fight, the war wagon crashes into lead Orc’s battle lizard, and the lizard falls to a combined volley of a dozen arrows to the face and neck (in 2e, even lowly 0th level warriors could fire 2 arrows per round), but the Orc leader leaps undaunted onto the wagon and cuts down the warriors one by one. The other Orcs with the leader hurl axes and spears, and take down a few more archers, leaving only one alive. Arin Mir’tey realizes that the wagon has a lamp, so he smashes the lamp onto the back of the Orc leader, covering him with lamp oil. Victor knocks over a small container of water and uses [i]metamorphose liquids[/i] to turn it to gasoline, and then Arin shouts for the guard and Vic to jump off. As the Orc leader turns and smashes his axe into Arin’s side, the wild mage tries to cast [i]burning hands[/i]. Instead, the spell surges, and a rain of copper coins falls on Arin’s head, knocking him off balance and out of the wagon. Vic doesn’t have any fire spells, and the other caravan guard is knocked unconscious before he can light a spark with flint and steel, but suddenly a weak shout can be heard over the din of combat. Vic turns and sees James, still laying near-death on the ground, drawing back and then hurling a shining silver object through the air. It lands on the ground near Vic, and both the wizards see that it flickers with flame. Arin and Victorious scramble through the half-dozen Orcs surrounding them, and finally Vic manages to grab the flaming object off the ground and hurl it into the wagon. Arin cuts the horse free, and it speeds away just before the Orc leader screams in agony, flames searing him and dropping him into unconsciousness. With their leader defeated and more guards rushing across the river as reinforcements against them, the Orcs turn and flee. Bhurisrava knocks one unconscious with his blunt arrows, and Allar kills two more, and a total of only five manage to escape. * * * In the aftermath, the caravan regroups and Bhurisrava bandages James and Harley enough so they won’t die, and also helps the guards who were only wounded in the battle. Unfortunately, two of the guards died at the hands of the Orcs, and the caravan wraps them so they can be buried in a consecrated cemetery when they reach Milbourne. Bhurisrava has to explain what exactly the ‘magical flaming object’ is that Vic used to set the Orc leader on fire. Arin Mir’tey considers the ‘Zippo,’ as Bhurisrava calls it, to be a waste of magic, but Victorious is impressed, and decides to keep it for now, since he can’t cast fire himself. Allar brings James and Harley to the Goblin shaman from the tribe at the dam, and pays the shaman to use enough healing magic to return them to consciousness. Though still groggy, the two are able to move about well enough. Both Allar and the caravan leader thank the group for the well-planned and –executed defense against the Orcs. The caravan stops just briefly to see if the Goblins want to trade for anything, which gives the party enough time to meet Shiraz, who was actually hanging out with the Goblins the night before, which is why they hadn’t seen her. Shiraz is skinny and lithe, with pale skin and blone hair, looking something like the stereotypical 1920’s female singer, with a surprisingly long neck. She seems very at ease among the Goblins, and laughs with the party about how many dam Goblins she has to deal with. Then they watch her talk to the dam Goblin shaman and use his ring to call forth the Eelhold’s water elemental. The elemental rises from the waters, towering twice as tall as Shiraz in a vaguely humanoid shimmer of waves and spray. She lifts her hand with the ring toward it and shouts at it that she is still in control, and that it will not harm anyone unless the ring-bearer commands otherwise. The water elemental replies in a deep gurgling voice, like speech underwater, and says that it will obey. Even though its voice sounds alien, they can all tell that the elemental hates being controlled. With movements that seem almost spiteful, the elemental crashes back into the lake’s waters, splashing spray onto Shiraz and the nearby Goblins, plus Harley, who wandered close in curiosity. They talk to the Goblins for a little while longer and learn nothing useful about the book thieves, though one Goblin warrior shares that a courier from another tribe to the east delivered his tribe’s monthly threats, saying that the Blue Goblins (the one at the Eelhold), were lucky because the Troll Goblins (the ones from the eastern border of the Haranshire) weren’t going to be doing anything mighty and powerful this month. Allar explains that it’s tradition among competing Goblin tribes for couriers to be sent each month with threats, just to prove how strong each tribe is. The thing is, most of the threats are blatant lies, so the fact that the Troll Goblins said they [i]wouldn’t[/i] be doing anything this month is suspicious. James groans, realizing that Allar’s going to ask them to go on another mission for him. Surprisingly, however, Allar tells them to rest when they get back to the Haranshire, and that he’ll link up with them. He plans to check around this area some more, traveling with Shiraz, and he’ll meet them in another day or two. If they feel up to it, he suggests it might be a good idea to go looking for leads. James huffs, then says he might be more inclined to be investigative if he were to receive a bonus payment. Allar smiles, then shrugs and says he can only has on him enough to pay them for their work so far. He gives Harley, Bhurisrava, and James each twenty gold pieces, plus twenty extra for Roth. This cheers James up greatly, and Harley even admits it might be a good idea to ask some questions around Milbourne, but Bhurisrava still doesn’t trust Allar. He refuses to let Allar go away, since he thinks Allar is too suspicious, and might be one of the villains himself. Thus, after much arguing, Allar shrugs and accepts that short of knocking the priest unconscious, he’s going to have to put up with Bhur for a day or two. The caravan sets off, leaving Allar, Bhurisrava, and Shiraz to explore the Blanryde Hills, while the rest of the group moves on to Milbourne, saying good bye to a friendly bunch of dam Goblins. Vic raises a toast to his new friends, and while James and Harley join in, Arin simply goes off by himself and has a few swigs of ale with the guards. Since the guards are unconscious, he drinks for them too, all by himself. [meta]Did I mention I never really liked Jon A?[/meta] [/QUOTE]
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