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Story Hour
Kid Charlemagne's Story Hour, Pt II
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<blockquote data-quote="Kid Charlemagne" data-source="post: 1464" data-attributes="member: 93"><p><strong>Fencig, January 11th, AE 420</strong></p><p></p><p>The party is furious – and a little bit scared. They’ve just returned from the Underdark of the Vokal Mountains, after having gotten their butts kicked by Drow just a few days ago, and the Drow have twisted the dagger a little bit by capturing and killing their guide, Vekkoth, and delivering his severed head to Jovah’s casino via parcel post.</p><p></p><p>“They know who we are!” Jovah says. “And where we live! Where <em>I</em> live!”</p><p></p><p>“That does it – we’re going back there and blowing the whole place up!” Aris yells, furious. Not only did one of the Drow slit his throat – which he barely survived – they killed Vekkoth, whom Aris had promised to make amends to for the deaths of the enslaved dwarves he had accidentally <em>fireballed</em>.</p><p></p><p>“Hold it,” Reana says. “Hold it!”</p><p></p><p>“We can’t lose our focus here. We were going down there to find out information, not to try and retake Kazathun. We can’t just blow up all the Drow in the Underdark.”</p><p></p><p>“Yeah,” Gavin adds. “Vekkoth said there sixty of them there. And we got our asses kicked by <em>two</em>.”</p><p></p><p>“Okay.” Aris has regained some of his composure. “But if anyone had any doubts about whether this was important or not, I think they can cast those doubts aside!”</p><p></p><p>They calm down, and take stock of their situation and capabilities. They replenish their stock of arrows and spell components, and Jovah <em>dimensionally folds</em> them back to the long cavern; this time under the cover of a <em>darkness</em> spell. The guards at the gatehouse never see them as they slip up the path towards Kazathun.</p><p></p><p>“Luckily, we’re almost there,” Batista says. “Or we’d never even be able to find it!”</p><p></p><p>Within a couple of hours, they are in sight of the gatehouse to Kazathun itself. The town lies along an underground river that is fed by the Lake of a Thousand Waterfalls, and is built around a harbor created by a series of locks that allow river traffic to be raised and lowered from the level of the Lake down to the river, and back. A spillway blocks most of the passage, and whats left is stopped by a gatehouse.</p><p></p><p>“This one won’t be easy to take,” Sir Brennen says.</p><p></p><p>“That’s why we won’t be taking it,” Jovah says. “I have two <em>etherealness</em> spells that will get us inside. They don’t last really long, so we’ll have to move fast and find a place in the town to materialize.”</p><p></p><p><em>In second edition there was spell (whose name escapes me at the moment) that allowed short Ethereal journeys. Sadly, that spell will not be as easy to come by for Jovah in 3e, as Ethereal Jaunt is 5th level and only takes the caster…</em></p><p></p><p>Jovah takes the first group into town, and they find a small storage room to materialize in. As Jovah goes back to get the rest of the party, Sir Brennen and Jalea take a look around the room, determining that they have popped into a dwarven accounting firm. The peek into the next room and see a solitary dwarf with a green eyeshade visor working at something. </p><p></p><p>By the time Jovah gets back with the rest of the group, Sir Brennen has befriended the dwarf, and begun to get information out of him. The Drow are using the dwarves as slaves, working them hard but not to the point of death; the Caradinian government seems to be friendly with the Drow (the human Mage they fought in the caverns is a Caradinian ambassador, it turns out); the Drow control the upper levels of the Kazathun’s chiseled-out town, and only venture into the lower areas with heavy orcish bodyguards; and if any Drow is killed, 10 dwarves are killed in retaliation. </p><p></p><p>They decide to try and scout around and get some information. Aris casts <em>invisibilty</em> on himself and Jalea, and they go out to take a look. </p><p></p><p>They find that the very upper level of the town is only reachable by heavily guarded gates, and they deem it too risky to try and slip through. The next-to-top level is also teeming with a fair amount of Drow, however, and Aris and Jalea start tailing them in hopes of overhearing interesting info. Eventually they follow a few into a bar that the Drow have commandeered. An enslaved dwarven bartender gloomily serves drinks to the Drow officers, and tries to stay out of trouble.</p><p></p><p>After a while, Aris tires of all the inane Drowish chit-chat. He looks around for the apparent highest-ranking Drow, a male in drow chain, bearing two shortswords.</p><p></p><p>“Jalea,” he whispers to his invisible elf compatriot. “I have an idea. Go back to the party and get them ready, and then use your ring.”</p><p></p><p>“My ring? Which…” Jalea trails off.</p><p></p><p>“Yeah. That ring. Get there as fast as you can.”</p><p></p><p>“I’m going to get us a prisoner.”</p><p></p><p> Jalea leaves as quickly as he can, and Aris starts looking for some way to create a distraction. He slips behind the bar, avoiding contact with the bartender, and finds a bottle of elvish wine under the counter. He wavers for a moment, then sticks the bottle in his backpack and rummages around for something less refined.</p><p></p><p>He finds a bottle of dwarvish ale, and slips back out near his mark. After a few minutes have passed, he decides he’s given Jalea enough time, and he tosses the bottle of dwarvish ale against the far wall of the bar. It explodes into fragments, and everyone in the bar turns to look at what happened.</p><p></p><p>Aris is already moving, though. His target is sitting on the ledge of a balcony overlooking the town harbor, and as everyone’s attention is averted, Aris tackles hims over the edge of the balcony, slipping on his yellow ring as he goes.</p><p></p><p><em>Aris has an identical pair of yellow and green rings that access the interdimensional castle to the ones that Jalea has. For a long time, the party thought that Aris’ rings were the only ones, not knowing that Jalea had palmed the other pair.</em></p><p></p><p>The Drow never sees it coming. The next thing he knows, he and an apparently insane elven bladesinger are in a strange cavern whose opening overlooks a deep chasm, and a rope and wood bridge connecting the cave to a small keep in the center of the chasm. The Drow slips away from Aris grasp, and draws his two shortswords. Aris draws his <em>flameblade</em> and activates it. Flames leap from the sword’s blade, and the two racial enemies square off, alone.</p><p></p><p>“Where’s Jalea?” Aris begins to wonder, as the fight progresses.</p><p></p><p>The two opponents begin dueling, and the fight is a drawn out one. Aris is exceptionally tough to lay a hand on, and the Drow are reknowned for both the quality of their armor and their own innate quickness. Steel and adamantine alloy blades flash impressively, but very little blood is drawn.</p><p></p><p><em>Aris also has very few HP, as did the Drow, being also multiclassed. This fight went on for a while, and neither guy seemed to be able to touch the other.</em></p><p></p><p>Eventually both begin to wear down. The few strikes that are landed cut deep, and Aris is about to get worried when the Drow strikes awkwardly, and momentarily loses his grip on his off-hand shortsword. Aris kicks the blade over the edge of the precipice, and just as that happens, the rest of the party fades into view, with Jalea.</p><p></p><p>The Drow hesitates for a moment, and then runs for the ledge. Gavin and Brennen tackle him before he can hurl himself over the side. They bind him thoroughly and bring him into the castle, tying him to a chair.</p><p></p><p>Aris pulls up a chair in front of the Drow, and sits in it backwards with his arms crossed over the backrest.</p><p></p><p>“Alrighty then,” the bladesinger says with a smile. “What shall we talk about?”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Kid Charlemagne, post: 1464, member: 93"] [b]Fencig, January 11th, AE 420[/b] The party is furious – and a little bit scared. They’ve just returned from the Underdark of the Vokal Mountains, after having gotten their butts kicked by Drow just a few days ago, and the Drow have twisted the dagger a little bit by capturing and killing their guide, Vekkoth, and delivering his severed head to Jovah’s casino via parcel post. “They know who we are!” Jovah says. “And where we live! Where [i]I[/i] live!” “That does it – we’re going back there and blowing the whole place up!” Aris yells, furious. Not only did one of the Drow slit his throat – which he barely survived – they killed Vekkoth, whom Aris had promised to make amends to for the deaths of the enslaved dwarves he had accidentally [i]fireballed[/i]. “Hold it,” Reana says. “Hold it!” “We can’t lose our focus here. We were going down there to find out information, not to try and retake Kazathun. We can’t just blow up all the Drow in the Underdark.” “Yeah,” Gavin adds. “Vekkoth said there sixty of them there. And we got our asses kicked by [i]two[/i].” “Okay.” Aris has regained some of his composure. “But if anyone had any doubts about whether this was important or not, I think they can cast those doubts aside!” They calm down, and take stock of their situation and capabilities. They replenish their stock of arrows and spell components, and Jovah [i]dimensionally folds[/i] them back to the long cavern; this time under the cover of a [i]darkness[/i] spell. The guards at the gatehouse never see them as they slip up the path towards Kazathun. “Luckily, we’re almost there,” Batista says. “Or we’d never even be able to find it!” Within a couple of hours, they are in sight of the gatehouse to Kazathun itself. The town lies along an underground river that is fed by the Lake of a Thousand Waterfalls, and is built around a harbor created by a series of locks that allow river traffic to be raised and lowered from the level of the Lake down to the river, and back. A spillway blocks most of the passage, and whats left is stopped by a gatehouse. “This one won’t be easy to take,” Sir Brennen says. “That’s why we won’t be taking it,” Jovah says. “I have two [i]etherealness[/i] spells that will get us inside. They don’t last really long, so we’ll have to move fast and find a place in the town to materialize.” [i]In second edition there was spell (whose name escapes me at the moment) that allowed short Ethereal journeys. Sadly, that spell will not be as easy to come by for Jovah in 3e, as Ethereal Jaunt is 5th level and only takes the caster…[/i] Jovah takes the first group into town, and they find a small storage room to materialize in. As Jovah goes back to get the rest of the party, Sir Brennen and Jalea take a look around the room, determining that they have popped into a dwarven accounting firm. The peek into the next room and see a solitary dwarf with a green eyeshade visor working at something. By the time Jovah gets back with the rest of the group, Sir Brennen has befriended the dwarf, and begun to get information out of him. The Drow are using the dwarves as slaves, working them hard but not to the point of death; the Caradinian government seems to be friendly with the Drow (the human Mage they fought in the caverns is a Caradinian ambassador, it turns out); the Drow control the upper levels of the Kazathun’s chiseled-out town, and only venture into the lower areas with heavy orcish bodyguards; and if any Drow is killed, 10 dwarves are killed in retaliation. They decide to try and scout around and get some information. Aris casts [i]invisibilty[/i] on himself and Jalea, and they go out to take a look. They find that the very upper level of the town is only reachable by heavily guarded gates, and they deem it too risky to try and slip through. The next-to-top level is also teeming with a fair amount of Drow, however, and Aris and Jalea start tailing them in hopes of overhearing interesting info. Eventually they follow a few into a bar that the Drow have commandeered. An enslaved dwarven bartender gloomily serves drinks to the Drow officers, and tries to stay out of trouble. After a while, Aris tires of all the inane Drowish chit-chat. He looks around for the apparent highest-ranking Drow, a male in drow chain, bearing two shortswords. “Jalea,” he whispers to his invisible elf compatriot. “I have an idea. Go back to the party and get them ready, and then use your ring.” “My ring? Which…” Jalea trails off. “Yeah. That ring. Get there as fast as you can.” “I’m going to get us a prisoner.” Jalea leaves as quickly as he can, and Aris starts looking for some way to create a distraction. He slips behind the bar, avoiding contact with the bartender, and finds a bottle of elvish wine under the counter. He wavers for a moment, then sticks the bottle in his backpack and rummages around for something less refined. He finds a bottle of dwarvish ale, and slips back out near his mark. After a few minutes have passed, he decides he’s given Jalea enough time, and he tosses the bottle of dwarvish ale against the far wall of the bar. It explodes into fragments, and everyone in the bar turns to look at what happened. Aris is already moving, though. His target is sitting on the ledge of a balcony overlooking the town harbor, and as everyone’s attention is averted, Aris tackles hims over the edge of the balcony, slipping on his yellow ring as he goes. [i]Aris has an identical pair of yellow and green rings that access the interdimensional castle to the ones that Jalea has. For a long time, the party thought that Aris’ rings were the only ones, not knowing that Jalea had palmed the other pair.[/i] The Drow never sees it coming. The next thing he knows, he and an apparently insane elven bladesinger are in a strange cavern whose opening overlooks a deep chasm, and a rope and wood bridge connecting the cave to a small keep in the center of the chasm. The Drow slips away from Aris grasp, and draws his two shortswords. Aris draws his [i]flameblade[/i] and activates it. Flames leap from the sword’s blade, and the two racial enemies square off, alone. “Where’s Jalea?” Aris begins to wonder, as the fight progresses. The two opponents begin dueling, and the fight is a drawn out one. Aris is exceptionally tough to lay a hand on, and the Drow are reknowned for both the quality of their armor and their own innate quickness. Steel and adamantine alloy blades flash impressively, but very little blood is drawn. [i]Aris also has very few HP, as did the Drow, being also multiclassed. This fight went on for a while, and neither guy seemed to be able to touch the other.[/i] Eventually both begin to wear down. The few strikes that are landed cut deep, and Aris is about to get worried when the Drow strikes awkwardly, and momentarily loses his grip on his off-hand shortsword. Aris kicks the blade over the edge of the precipice, and just as that happens, the rest of the party fades into view, with Jalea. The Drow hesitates for a moment, and then runs for the ledge. Gavin and Brennen tackle him before he can hurl himself over the side. They bind him thoroughly and bring him into the castle, tying him to a chair. Aris pulls up a chair in front of the Drow, and sits in it backwards with his arms crossed over the backrest. “Alrighty then,” the bladesinger says with a smile. “What shall we talk about?” [/QUOTE]
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