Kingdom of Alwen Res: Sword of Power Campaign

[ThaDoc]

***Wow, the frequency of my posts being eaten by this forum is becoming rather inconvenient***

Anywho, on with the RP'ing.
__________
Shenk laughed at Galieth's boasting.

"I don't doubt you believe that prevailing against such odds is possible. Unfortunately we have grievously wounded and coming to depend on them to hold a sword at this point would be wishing for a miracle. Not even my magics could turn this situation in our favour....yet."

With that he gazed toward the general direction of the cave and spoke indirectly to the rescuees.

"So, you mean to retrieve your mounts. You do realize that this would place us in a far worse position than we're already in at the moment: enemies at the mouth and an unknown abyss deeper in. Unless either of you can identify the assailants in those caves, I don't mean to enter."

Shenk then gave a snide, sidelong glance to the ailing paladins.

"The horses aren't that important, are they?"

He knew some special qualities the mounts of holy crusaders possessed...

 

[DungeonMaster]

* Aside: Always, always highlight your long post and hit "edit - copy" in the top of your browser to put it on the clipboard.

 

[Kinger]

"The horses aren't that important, are they?"

Bison-Run-Thunderous freezes momentarily, then let his eyes drop. Shenk did not understand, it seems, that the horses too were party members, pack members, even if they did not have the half-orc's intelligence. They were doubly important since Bison had noticed that both paladins seemed even more powerful when mounted, as if their particular abilities were only truly used when the symbiotic union of mount and rider was complete.

"I be tinkan we should find dem, mon," the druid says to Shenk. "Our friends here be at deir best when wit deir mounts, and I don't be tinkan dey be in da best shape for travellan on foot as it is."


**********

OOC: No suggestions for time-machine destinations? I be thinking this particular point in the adventure, new territory (with the possiblitiy of combat as it is), would best be done in person.

My god, I just did Bison-speak without even noticing.

 

[ThaDoc]

"Me want chicken, me want liver, meow mix meow mix, please dee-live-er"

-Excerpted from Lurgurtz's brain

How bout we time-machine ourselves back to Atherstone during the purge. There was much fun during that raid! =D

Diddilidoo Diddilidoo Diddilidoo...

"Take THAT you evil spawn of SATAN!!!"

Another beam of bright, white light shone clean through the vile undead creature before Shenk. When the scintillating burst subsided, the spawn was barely standing, obviously terribly weakened, after having spell after spell wrapped in positive energy shunted through its very being.

"Now, I will send you back to whatever grave you clawed yourself out of. An abomination to life, and cancer upon these people, BEGONE FROM THIS TOWN!!!"

Brought down upon its torso via a horrific overhead slash, the bastard sword gleaming with magic, ripped through the undead monster. The barbarian cleric had vanquished the lesser vampire to the elation of the peasant mob around him!

Turning about to see astonishment on the faces of the crowd surrounding him, he couldn't help but throw his hands in the air. His left hand singed from channeling raw energy, his right clenched about the large sword still soaked in vile blood of the undead spawn collapsed at his feet. A fire in his belly cued the release of a loud roar.

"I AM SHENK BLOODROCK! PH34R M3!!!"

The crowd responded as the half-orc spun about, arms raised in victory. "SHENK! SHENK! SHENK!" At that, he bounded into the mansion, leading his mob of peasants, ready for anything.

*OOC* My god does Shenk have an ego the size of the sword he carries

 

[Kinger]

Introducing Togenheim, played by Kinger

OOC: Right, now to drop the Warcraft Troll bit for the Warcraft Dwarf.

**************

This was NOT what Togenheim Runeforge of Clan Ungart had in mind when he came to the surface.

The attempted rescue of the Baron's wife was close enough. If they had succeeded, that would have made a good name for him. A good name would have reflected well on the denizens of the Mountain, which was why he was up here in the first place.

Of course, they hadn't succeeded. They had in fact got the Baron's wife killed. That made the whole thing somewhat of a mute point.

Then there was the constant running. It seemed wherever they went, the party he travelled with sowed chaos and discord, or some vengeful false god had cursed the whole party, or Fate had decided to make whipping-boys. Whatever the reason, things just didn't turn out well.

Sure, he and his comrades had defeated that army of orcs and made safe the Sword of Power, but in the process they had delivered it to the Church of Light rather than the arms dealer who was paying them. That in and of itself was probably for the better, if not for the fact that said arms dealer now had it in for them, as did the Church of Maodric, who he followed.

That led to the betrayal by the cleric of Maodric in their party and subsequent imprisonment at the next town they visited. They might have got away quietly if the wizard that aided them didn't decide to fireball the bloody castle out of spite. That was pleasant.

And so the running began again. Off into wide-open countryside, underneath that bloody great big sky. Togenheim still wasn't used to the lack of ceiling over his head. Bad enough that every time he looked at the horizon (which in and of itself was disturbing), there was some bloody bright ball of fire known as the Sun shining into his eyes and giving him headaches.

Of course, recently they didn't see the sun as often, since the party had the great fortune of wandering around during the month of Fog. Lovely. Bloody surface and all its bloody weather.

One messy encounter later involving a desolate tower and a green dragon, and the party (minus several members) finally stumbled into a town that wasn't intent on arresting them, trying to run them out, or on fire.

And wouldn't you know it? Fate had shat on them once again. Atherstone, aside from sitting atop some bloody great rock that supposedly fell from the sky, happened to be home to the world's largest population of lycanthrope-ruled plague-bearing rats, depth-spawned aberrations, and vampires. Oh, and its armies had recently been served a crushing defeat by the forces in the north. Absolutely fan-bloody-tastic.

Granted, some valuable and powerful allies had been made in Atherstone, several of which now travelled as party members. But in the process of aquiring them they had had to chase down every bloody monster in the whole bloody town, which nobody seemed to know anything about before Togenheim and his merry companions showed up. One actual death experience later, and the dwarf now sported a nasty scar on his neck fortunately hidden by what remained of his previously envy-generating beard (which the acidic breath of that dragon had done quite a number on).

And now, wouldn't you know it? An accidental discovery by the party had sparked a vampricidal crusade in Atherstone, and here was Togenheim, the craftsman and transmogrifier, roped into the whole mess, with nothing to wield but his sturdy forge hammer, dented crossbow, and several prepared Disrupt Undead spells.

"I'm really starting to hate the surface..." muttered Togenheim to himself as he followed the lynch mob into the mansion. "I need a drink."

 

[ThaDoc]

It's good that you don't hold any grudges against the DM or the other players and that you've continued to enjoy the story we've formed around us.

 

[Kinger]

OOC:

Hey, hey, I, the player, think the whole thing's kick ass.

However, Togenheim, the character, was getting right pissed off with the whole "being shat on by Fate" thing.

 

[ThaDoc]

Sarcasm is SO difficult to convey with a keyboard and mouse. In any case, the previous was dripping with it.

 

[DungeonMaster]

And here I thought you'de never forget fighting the epic battle of a handful of centipedes crawling on your clothes hip deep in bat guano with your forge hammer for 20 rounds... has Togenheim's dwarven memory failed him?
On the other hand you didn't glorify your trashing of the dragon on the second pass.

And people did know about the monsters! Both the old priest and the town idiot had a good idea of the lay of the land. It's a world of supersticion and until you go out and kill it and drag it back home people will beleive any story anyone hatches. All the rumors you got from gathering information turned out to be true except for one!

Those were pretty damn fun encounters to run. Climbing/falling around crevices, falling down wells, trying to murder sleeping vampire spawn then running like a bat out of hell, then victory and chasing down coffins in the attics with torches and pitchforks in toe.
Vampires, wererats, gricks and dragons, pfwah! The party will fight on! But a diseased baby....

The next term should be a lot of fun too as you guys are firmly into the mid-levels and the spells start to really pick up punch. Empowered fireballs, Scrying, walls of fire, planar allies, planar bindings, polymorph, awaken, teleport and plane shifting... Soon you will be free of random encounters in overland travel via teleport! But first you gotta make it back in one peice to claim your reward and praise! Or just hack and slash and pillage and wander along the way enough to be able to cast teleport by the end of it.

 

[Kinger]

OOC:

Oh god, the guano... the guano...

*curls into fetal position, whimpering*

I had blocked out that particularly unvaliant moment (as I expect Togenheim had done too), but it's all come crawling back!

The guano... Try to hit them... Keep missing... Can't grab... The smell... The poison... The guano... The guano...

And to be fair, at this point in history, Togenheim had yet to experience the shining triumph of rendering that dragon completely blind and deaf to the world. Right now he's in the middle of a lynch mob, along for the ride because there's not much else he can do.

"Right, uh, you lot go and have fun with your vampire purge. I'm just going to hang back here and give Craft Wonderous Item a go..."


And my Sarcasmometer was off the charts regarding your post, Doc.