Maddog and Company

[Maliki]

Maddog Drake



Drake was born to a tavern serving wench and a about two decades ago. His father, so he is told, was a caravan guard who was just passing through. As he grew older he began to help around the tavern. When he was about 10 the tavern was burnt to the ground by the local thieve guild when the owner failed to pay his monthly protection money. His mother was killed in the fire, and he was left alone and homeless.

After living on the streets for several months he was taken in by the clerics of a local temple of Pelor. He lived at the temple for several years, his quick temper and aggressive nature often conflicting with the teachings of the priests. For his faults the clerics could see that Drake had a good heart and did their best to curb his anger.. A traveling paladin that would visit the temple from time to time taught young Drake the basics of combat, teachings that would be put to the test in the coming years.

When he was about 15 the local lord was having trouble with goblin raiders, so he formed a volunteer militia to deal with the problem. Drake was “volunteered” into service. While most of his fellow volunteers feared for their lives, Drake relished the thought of getting into battle. Several months of minor skirmishes with the goblins led up to the lone major battle of the campaign, The Battle of Lone Oak. It was here that Drake earned his nickname “Madddog” as he repeatedly hurled himself at the goblins forces with no fear of death or injury. It was here that he acquired his club, taken from a fallen goblin warrior.

After the Battle of Lone Oak, regulars in the lords guardsmen took notice of Drake and he became a full time member of the lords guards. This did not work out well at all, for while Drake relished combat, the tedious routine of the guardsmen life grated on his nerves, and he began to make his own fights, with his fellow guards, the townsfolk and the his commanders. This led to his dismissal from the ranks.

He then turned to the life of a caravan guard, but the only time he was content was when the caravans where attacked. He began having brawls with his fellow guards almost on a daily basis. When the caravan master tried to intervene he was hit as well, Leaving Drake once again unemployed (and nearly broke), looking for a way to earn enough money to eat, while involving mass amounts of mayhem.

 

[Maliki]

Journey to Seawall

I. The Tor of Hightower

As I promised Father Lentin, at the temple of Pelor, I will keep a record of my journeys, as I travel across these realms.

I was three days into the five day trip to Seawall when the damn storm hit, I had heard of such storms in this region, but all the stories failed to fully prepare me for the full fury of the storm. The lighting struck nearby and often, hail the size of a mans fist pummeled the earth and rain came down as if standing under the Falls of Rorne.

I could see a large mound topped by the ruins of a fallen tower, so I made my way in that direction hoping to find some protection from the storm. As I got closer I noticed several others also making thier way in that general direction. One I recognized from my last caravan job, a capable warrior and drinking companion, "Hacksaw" Dimjuggin. We two arrived at the mound first and seeing a protected overhang we made our way into the relative cover. We noticed a very large set of doors in the back, and a large pile of scorched stone.

As each of the others arrived we invoked a "Storm Truce" the custome I had heard often in my travels.

After Hacksaw and myself the next to arrive was a stout dwarf carrying a large well crafted warhammer, and dwarven holy symbol, Grim Thunderbrew, by name.

The other two I mistook for a woman and child at first, In reality a elven archer and woodsman named Cardel Sharpeye, and a halfling named Ramas Blackroot.

Grim and Cardel(being of the old races) had a little information on where we now found ourselves. They called it the Tor of Hightower, a leftover remnant of an old humanoid kingdom from long ago. The stone rubble outside was once a large stone that sealed the entrance. Grim, after examing the rubble stated that the lighting most likely blasted the stone, reducing it to rubble. After examing the stone work near the doors he assured us of its stability.

The storm then picked up even more fury, driving the rain under the overhang, so we deciced to try our hand at the doors. Though each door was a man and a half wide and twice as tall they swung open easily and we entered a carved stone chamber. Setting down our packs we deciced to wait our the storm by exploring the chamber.

Light was provided by the halfing, Ramas, a spellcaster of some kind. The chamber turned out to be of great size(I guess about 100' square) completly empty. We found a stone door on each of the east, west and northern wall, but we could not open them. So we decided to bed down near the entrance and wait our the storm.

Sometime during the night, with the storm still raging, a large thunderclap was followed by craching sounds from within the great hall. As a group we went to investigate. To our shock and beyond all logic(even from the dwarf) all three stone doors lay cracked and broken on the floor, each revealing a stone hall leading into darkness.

Squealing noises from the north drew our attention to a pack of large rats, startled by the doors collapse. I do not believe the gods could have chosen eight more vicious creatures to send upon us. This pack of mere rats fought with the fury of the storm outside. The little fellow Ramas, was nearly killed as three rats swarmed him biting multiple times. the rest of us faired much better, although each of the others suffered small wounds from the little beasts.

Ramas finally released some more magic and the ones that we hadn't managed to kill yet, fell into a magical slumber. We quickly finished them off. Watching Hacksaw swing that big sword of his at the rats was quite a sight to see, if not for the wounds suffered by the poor halfling this battle would have been enjoyable.

Grim called upon his god Moradin and managed to heal all of Ramas's wounds, the other were only scratched a bit and needed none of the dwarves magic. We decided to check the rest of the place out, starting with the hallway to the right(because you can never go wrong by going right).

A 40' hall led to a rectangle chamber about 30X50, with a single stone chest resting in the middle. Cardel the elf, in a rash move, for an elf anyway) walked to the chest and flung it open. releasing a hail of darts, all of us except Cardel himself, were struck by at least one of the darn things. None of us took any major wounds, and there was treasure, so nobody gave the elf grief. A studded headband(later found to be magical) two pearls and a pouch with 100 golds.

Hacksaw appointed himself treasure keeper and scooped up everything(to be divided later). The others said nothing so neither did I, but I will keep an eye on my old friend, I have seen men cheated and killed for far less wealth.

Next we went to the western hall. The hall was about the same length and opened into a similar sized room. An upright sarcophagus on a stone slab. The top of the sarcophagus was carved to look like a distorted head, with snakey tendrils for hair and batwings. Much to my shock and horror the carved head came to life and emitted a terrable shriek and began flying about the chamber. My new compainions and I bravely fougth this hellspawned creature and, thank the gods we prevailed with no injuries.

The remains in the sarcophagus held only dust, and a ring(also found to be magical).

Next we went north. After about 100' we found ourselves in a 50' square chamber, a hole in the ceiling allowed the storm rains to fall into the chamber. A rope dangled from the hole as well, obviously used by the two hobgoblins that occupied this room. One, I stuck with a thrown dagger, and one of my allies quickly polished him off. The other fell under the magical charms of the amazing little Ramas.

Afrer some questioning it we learned that this tor was actually the burial mound of a long forgotten humanoid warlord. The hobgoblin claimed that only he and his now dead compainion were here. A hallway led further north so with the hobgoblin in tow we journeyed on.

After about 40' a side tunnel went east as the main hallway continued on. We chose the side passage. After about 50' or so we encounterd a doorway blocked by thick webs. Ramas fired a crossbow bolt into the web, for no effect. The hobgoblin, refused Ramas's request to retrieve the halflings bolt. I guess there are limits to his spell).

We backtracked to the main hall and contiued north. Here in the final chamber we found a bugbear corpes upon a large stone table, as we entered the room the corpse rose up armed with a morning star and a javalin(which he threw wildly at Ramas). Grim with a lot of conviction called upon his god to force the undead creature back, but to no avail. Cardel launched arrows while, Hacksaw and myself charged the big dead bugbear. Some of our blows seem not effect the thing at all, but for all of its size and durability it was slow and clumsy and soon be had beat the undeath out of it. As he fell I looked around and found that Ramas's "friend " had attacked him as we attacked the undead bugbear. Either Ramas himself, Cardel or Grim slew him however.

The bugbears only item of not was a wellcrafted longsword(not magical but still well crafted). 300 gold coins were scattered about, these were added to our growing collection of treasure.

We then decided to return and deal with the spider that we knew waited in the webbed chamber. Trying to burn the webs brought out the largest spider I had ever seen. He to fell to our groups surprising combat abilities.

Clearing the webs we found another pearl and a pouch with 75 gold. Grim then tended our wounds, using what magic he had left and we returned to the entrance hall to find the storm had stopped. Talking among ourselves we learned that we all were headed to Seawall, and decided to go as a group at first light.

Dividing the coins we each got 131 golds(More than I would have made in several years as a caravan guard). The sword we gave to the elf, whose race seems to favor them. The magical items we will have to wait until we can find someone to identify them.(Ramas, hasn't that ability).

A very eventful night with my new friends indeed. I have a feeling that more adventures will soon find us.

 

[Maliki]

Journey to Seawall

II. Meeting the Druid

Tthe next morning, the five of us set off for Seawell. The trip was uneventful until late in the day, when a slim figure stumbled out of the woods onto the path ahead of us. Fearing a ambush I held back as the others went to the persons aid.

The person turned out to be an elven lady, with several wounds. Grim magically healed them and she told us her story. She claimed to be a druid(Anna Silverpetal) and had a home in a cave nearby. A band of goblins attacked her and her wolf compainion, driving her from the cave and killing(she thinks) her wolf. Anna said the band was led by a spellcaster, a female shaman, and numbered about 10.

Being the noble heroes that we are(actually I just wanted to break some goblin skulls), we agreed to help her. She guided us to her cave, a green tarp covered the entrance. Cardel took the lead with the rest of us following. The elf walked right into a trap. As he pulled back the tarp, a fist sized stone dropped resulting in a thunderclap that deafened the elf(only for a few minutes). Hacksaw and Grim charged forward into three onrushing goblins.

As they engaged the three, I tried to force my way through, looking for the Shaman. I managed to get past, but one of the little buggers got me a good shot with his spear. The shaman appeared directly in front of me. The witch muttered some strange words waved her hands around and I felt a wave of magic energy cross over me, but to no effect. She then skipped to the side and cast another spell, this time a rainbow of colors flashed post me(Luckily I managed to shield my eyes). Again she managed to move away before I could land a blow. This time however she skipped right in front of Dimjuggin, and his great sword. She was done.

Turning around I seen that my companions had dealt with the three warriors in the entrance. Just then Anna runs in, saying that the rest of the band is returning. We took these five by surprise as they entered the cave. They never had a chance.

It was near dark so Anna offered to let us stay the night. We found her wolf, badly wounded but alive, so Grim worked his magic and we had a happy lady druid. The night passed uneventfully, although I do remeber waking to hear the druid and Cardel talking in elven(I guess).

At daybreak we were on our way, once again to Seawall, now less than a days travel to the south. I think the druid rewarded us with something, but again, Hacksaw took care of it.(I'm going to have to really keep an eye on him.)

 

[Maliki]

Seawall

I. Booze broads and brawls

The rest of the trip to Seawall was uneventful. As we passed through the gates the guards mentioned that the town was overly crowded, ships north had all been halted due to several disappearing. Plus local lizardmen were acting up, taking all the militias time. The Mayor was offering a reward for anyone able to solve the missing ship problem.

Of course with a hook like this we did what any band of adventurers would do, we went straight past the mayors and into the local tavern, The Lost Mug.

Inside the Mug we were served by Claire, one of the barmaids. The guards were right about the town being crowded, the common room was filled with drydocked sailors and many locals as well. After several rounds for all, except the the elf, Hacksaw noticed one sailor getting a little too friendly(and rough) with "our" Claire, so him and I went over to "speak" with the gentleman.

Suddenly he dozed off to sleep(magically). We turned to see a smiling Ramas. Friends of the sleeping man also noticed Ramas's work and took issue with the halfling. I tried to explain to the friend that all Ramas did was save his friend from a brutal beating.(That didn't help any). The man claimed that his friend could mop the floor with our entire party. This I had to see. SO as he and Hacksaw got physical I went over and woke up sleeping beauty.(I learned that magical sleep ends with a slap to the face).

The man woke up, and much to my disappointment went right back out after only one punch to his face(He was not that tough after all).

As I turned around, Hacksaw had everything under control with #2. The Ramas chucked a mug of ale at #2's table of friends, Grim then went an destroyed thier table with a massive belly flop into the middle of it. Cardel decided that he needed some fresh air(I guess bar brawls are not to his liking).

Things starte to get crazty then as Grim was getting stomped on by the three men at the table. Then one came for me, one went for Hacksaw, and Grim managed to get back to his feet for the third.(Everyone ignored Ramas). Mine was no tougher than the first, one punch, gone. Hacksaw was having a pretty good go with his and Grim manage to take his down.

Not liking the odds on Hacksaws fight (1 on 1), Grim and I both thought we would help out. Just as Hacksaw hit him, the dwarf went low and I went high. The poor fool did a complete flip and landed with a loud crash!
I thought we broke him(I think Grim gave him a little healing). The five were then picked up by thier shipmates and taken away.

We returned to our mugs. As Claire came to clean up the mess I gave her some gold for her trouble and to pay for the damages. Its amazing what 50 gold does to a serving wench. She bacame quite friendly, and she had some friends, and the night got better and better.

I'm not sure what happened at the Mug, after a while Claire and I went to here place, leaving the others to fend for themselves.

I guess now I'll go round them up and maybe we'll take care of some business(I'm needing some more money).

 

[Maliki]

Seawall II Lighthouse

When I returned to the Last Mug to rejoin my comrades, I found that they had taken another dwarf into our group, stout looking fellow with a huge axe named Rathgar Hellbringer.

So together with our new ally we headed off to see the mayor of Seawall. Explaining that we had traveled great distances to solve the towns problems, his guards quickly summoned his honor. He introduced himself(I forget his name), and said that he would pay us each 50 gold(exactly what I spent the night before), and any treasure that we found. he then arranged our transport to the lighthouse(where we suspected the problem was).

After stopping for the night in a small cove, we arrived the next day at the lighthouse. We had to take a rowboat to the small island where the lighthouse sat reefs encircled the island, all the way to the shore. We noticed a wooden tower with a platform on the top built on the shoreline(later we would figure out its meaning) The lighthouse had completly looted. On various floors we found an adult woman and two children, all had been slashed to death, probably well over a month ago.(At this point I vowed that somebody would die, painfully. Killing a foe in battle is one thing, in fact I find it fun, but the killing of a defenseless child is another matter). On the top floor we found the mirrors used to reflect the light had all been smashed.

From the top of the lighthouse we could see 2 small boats pulled up on the shore, near the wooden tower, so after we burried the bodies, Grim said a few words and we headed towards shore.

The tower had a large platform on top and a winch and pully system to haul stuff to the top. It looks like a fire had been built on the towers top. We figured that with the real lighthouse out of commision , someone had built this tower with a fire on top to lure ships onto the reefs.

When we returned to the ground two figures darted into the forest. Ramas used magic to put one to sleep, the other escaped. Binding then searching the man we found he had a very fine cutlass and a well crafted crossbow. I punched him in the face(to wake him up), but before we could ask any questions a group of 9 indivuduals showed up. led by a woman and a dwarf. They all were rough looking, and carried cutlass's and crossbows like thier friend.

They gave us one chane to surrender, I stuck my dagger through the throat of our captive. Then that damn woman waved her arms around and said some things and I went to sleep. When I woke the woman was down, Hacksaw was in the middle of the thier group, crossbow bolts were everywhere, even in some of my allies, Cardel was firing away with his bow, Grim was moving into battle, and both Ramas and Rathgar were sleeping.

I scooped up the halfling, tossed him on the dwarf, and charged into battle. Rathgar joined me, the halfling worked some magic and down went the thier dwarf and three others. Hacksaw took a couple hard hits and went down, Grim rushed to his aid, and Cardel kept plucking away with his bow.

Soon all but the sleeping pirates were dead or dying. Grim had healed Hacksaw. I talked to the prisoners while the others investigated thier nearby camp. They almost bragged about killing the family in the lighthouse, and it was all I could do to keep from killing every last one of them. They admitted to using the fake lighthouse to lure ships onto the reef, then they would go out in the rowboats, kill any survivors and collect the booty.

The rest of the group was ambushed by 4 more pirates but my boys easily prevailed, adding 4 more to the list of dead pirates. The camp contained lots of bulk trade goods, that we will have to come back for later.

We took the dwarf and three others back to Seawall.(Somehow on the way back to Seawall they suffered a severe beating, but I don't know anything about that.) The mayor says they will hang in the morning, we plan to have a front row seat.

We collected our 50 gold reward, but havn't decided what to do about the goods back at the pirate camp.