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The Heroes of Winterhaven - updated 8th June - Ryam Plays Dice
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<blockquote data-quote="Mathew_Freeman" data-source="post: 4565820" data-attributes="member: 1846"><p><strong>Battling The Bones</strong></p><p></p><p>The party emerged into a long processional passageway, lined on either side with stone sarcophagi that reached from floor to ceiling. In the eerie flicker of torchlight they could make out relief carvings of noble warriors standing proudly, bearing swords and shields with the insignia of a dragon.</p><p></p><p>Aran was first into the passageway, ducking from corner to alcove, inspecting the stonework for traps. He was followed by the frontliners: Paladin’s Elwanen and Rangrim, who, as they passed tomb after tomb, curiously glanced at the imagery. Rangrim peered down the passage to the limit of his vision. “A welcome sense of good eminates here, I suspect there was once a shrine nearby.”</p><p></p><p>Next came Fangorn Treeforged, barbarian, looking slowly over both shoulders before planting himself at the nearer end of the passage, scratching some moss from his bark. Lastly came the backline: Theron the wizard, Des the Troubadour, and Fau the warlock, who was being shadowed by a wary-looking goblin, Splug.</p><p></p><p>The party had delved beyond the goblin’s lair, slaying handfuls of the creatures where they found them, before opening an ominous door where Balgron had warned lay undead. In fact Balthgron had gloated that lurking here were so many foul creatures that no adventurer would succeed in such an endeavour.</p><p></p><p>“Please sir, I think this is a bad place, we should perhaps find another way around..” implored Splug in Goblin, the goblin prisoner now beginning to regret his new-found freedom. Splug had attached himself to the grim Fau, who also was beginning to regret having granted such freedom. However, as the only person who spoke Goblin, it had fallen on him to make the decision to free the wretched little sneak, and now Splug seemed determined to repay his kindness.</p><p></p><p>“Stay close and stay silent, my minion,” stated Fau disaprovingly. By way of courage, Splug assured himself that as the guardian of the prison cell key he had a great responsibility, a task which he had been honoured with and would not fail at. Those goblins who had been subdued in the wake of the adventurers’ progress through the upper level of the keep had been deposited there. They had been clapped in irony, Splug considered as he chuckled under his breath.</p><p></p><p>The group slowly and cautiously progressed along the passage. Splug could just about hear some whispered warnings or instructions passed amongst the leading members of the advance. From his point of view there wasn’t much to see, the way ahead was hidden by the voluminous folds of the wizard, the lumbering bulk of the Treeforged, and then several hefty and heavily armoured paladins.</p><p></p><p>Suddenly the group came to an abrupt halt. From up ahead could be heard the halfling’s voice shouting something about a trap. There came a long, slow, teeth-jangling sound of stone grating against stone and the sarcophagi began to open. All along the passage the ancient stone crypt was coming to life.</p><p></p><p>A sound from behind him made Splug spin around in a panic. A gust of fetid wind issued from two new openings in the wall from where he had passed, and out of the darkness stepped a pair of skeletal warriors, each armed with a sword and shield bearing the dragon motif. Looking around with their skeletal grins they launched forward preparing to attack. Splunk screamed and dived into an alcove. The sound of clashing steel could be heard from ahead, from the sound of it the Eladrin and the Dwarf were battling more of these undead creatures. The adventurers were shouting, there came a dwarven battle cry, then a throaty roar that must have been Fangorn, followed by bashing, crashing and the splintering of bone, and on top of it all…was somebody singing?</p><p></p><p>From his alcove Splug could peer out just far enough to see the skeletal warriors come dashing past. Then came the spells. From where Theron and Fau must have been came a deafening roar of flame and thunder. The dark passage lit up for a fleeting moment in which Splunk could see a silhouetted montage of the battle before him, weapons raised in fury, fragments of bone and armour appeared to be suspended in the air, a spray of sparks where two swords struck one another, and then it was dark once more.</p><p></p><p>Amongst the deafening roar of the battle Splug could hear arcane words of power hurled into the darkness. Another burst of light lit Fangorn’s face as he swung his mighty maul overhead, illuminating the knotted grimaced expression he wore as sword blows bounced off his bark. Then it was dark, the sound of something, or someone, crashing to the floor and a cry of victory that must have been the eladrin. Somebody was still singing.</p><p></p><p>Splug suddenly became aware that he was gasping for breath. Looking this way and that he caught sight of another skeletons emerging from it’s tomb. He froze in place as it advanced down the passage towards the melee. “By Maglubyet’s hairy toe, are you a goblin or a gamuzlyphlet?” he swore at himself, braced himself to charge out, and then suddenly thought better of it. The skeleton marched quickly past him.</p><p></p><p>Peering out Splug could see the skeleton making it’s way through the melee towards Fau, who stood calmly in the center of the battle. With his lank hair covering his face and trailing along the ground it wasn’t easy to tell which way the warlock was facing, but from the direction that the bolts of fire were flying in he seemed to be unaware of the advancing skeletal warrior. The creature lifted its sword ready to strike. Somebody was still singing. “This is it, Splug!” he gasped to himself, “It’s now or never, if you don’t act now the one who freed you will perish!”</p><p></p><p>Splug launched himself out of his hiding place and dived through the melee. He ducked a skeletons sword swing, and rolled next to a sarcophagus, which opened and released another skeleton. Fangorn waded past screaming, nearly stepping on the goblin to whom he was completely oblivious. The treeforged grabbed the skeleton in one hand, lifted it into the air and swung his maul with the other, cleaving the creatures head off.</p><p></p><p>Splug darted forward finding himself next to Theron. The blue skinned wizard was mustering blasts of roaring thunder and darts of dark energy, hurling them over the heads of battling figures around him. As Splunk ran past Theron swung around poised to unleash a ball of spitting force that he had molded in his hand. “Damn goblin!” the wizard cursed and, turning away, flung the ball of energy into a crowd of skeletons nearby.</p><p></p><p>Splug ducked past the wizard and suddenly realised he had placed himself between the two paladins, who were fighting back to back against numerous opponents. The dwarf twisted to avoid a blow and barged into the goblin, sending him sprawling across the damp stone floor. Picking himself up he caught sight of Aran leaping over the head of a skeleton, whirling round and taking it’s legs away with a scimitar.</p><p></p><p>Splug had lost his bearings. He panicked in the darkness as the sound of screaming and fighting filled the close air. Somebody was still singing, and now it was right in his ear. Des the orange haired tiefling reached down and picked the goblin up, placing him upright on his feet. “If you fall, I will catch you, i’ll be waiting…” he was singing with a remarkably true voice.</p><p></p><p>“Thank you very much!” said Splug with a salute. Beyond a group of fiercely battling warriors he glimpsed Fau and the approaching skeleton. “Nearly there! Nearly there!” he shouted. Diving across the floor he skidded on his belly across the flagstones, through the legs of two skeletons who narrowly missed him with sword thrusts. Rolling to his feet he rose immediately behind his skeletal quarry who was poised to strike down the warlock from behind. With a cry he swung his sword upwards, cleaving the skeletons pelvis and ribcage, sending it’s remains clattering to the floor in heap.</p><p></p><p>Oblivious, Fau blasted the two skeletons he faced into dust. Further behind him in the darkness Splug could just make out the paladins carving up the last of the terrible creatures. As suddenly as it had begun, the battle was over. Splug collapsed against one of the sarcophagi, gasping for breath while the party inspected the area until they were satisfied that the threat had passed.</p><p></p><p>“Come quickly minion, for we are away,” ordered the warlock. “Next time stay close.”</p><p></p><p>The adventurers found themselves in what appeared to be a shrine to Baphomet, lord of dragons, mighty and noble god of goodliness and order. Rangrim offered a prayer at the altar, and as he did so the air changed. It was as if the crypt was not quite as dark and foreboding as it had been when they had entered. At the far end of the passage stood a pair of large stone doors. The dragon-headed symbol of Bahomet could be seen emblazoned across the two doors.</p><p></p><p>Fangorn stepped forward and heaved the doors open. The party stepped cautiously into a large room. A single sarcophagus stood at the far side and all around were the carvings and trappings of a shrine to Baphomet. The doors they had stepped through slammed shut, and the sarcophagus slowly began to open…</p><p></p><p>“Oh,” thought Splug to himself. “Here we go again.”</p><p></p><p><span style="color: orange">DM's note: This encounter with the skeletons was actually very anticlimatic. I had seven players that night, rather than the five expected by the module, and they were 3rd level rather than 2nd.</span></p><p><span style="color: orange"></span></p><p><span style="color: orange">As a result, the initial ten skeletons + 2 skeleton soldiers were taken down almost immediately and thus the encounter ended very quickly. It really opened my eyes to the fact that I need to up both the number of enemies and their power level to challenge this group!</span></p><p><span style="color: orange"></span></p><p><span style="color: orange">You'll also shortly see that randomling is rejoining the game, playing Cass the fighter, and as such I'm up to eight players. This really is it for now, unless one of them leaves the group, but it's going to mean some significant reworking of the encounters to make sure I'm challenging them properly!</span></p><p><span style="color: orange"></span></p><p><span style="color: orange">As a side note, I can see that people are reading this SH, and I'd really appreciate some feedback. What do you like? What don't you like? Who's your favourite character? All comments welcome!</span></p><p><span style="color: orange"></span></p><p><span style="color: orange">Next Update: The party <em>Speak With Dead</em> without the use of rituals, and Elwanen gets some new toys.</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mathew_Freeman, post: 4565820, member: 1846"] [b]Battling The Bones[/b] The party emerged into a long processional passageway, lined on either side with stone sarcophagi that reached from floor to ceiling. In the eerie flicker of torchlight they could make out relief carvings of noble warriors standing proudly, bearing swords and shields with the insignia of a dragon. Aran was first into the passageway, ducking from corner to alcove, inspecting the stonework for traps. He was followed by the frontliners: Paladin’s Elwanen and Rangrim, who, as they passed tomb after tomb, curiously glanced at the imagery. Rangrim peered down the passage to the limit of his vision. “A welcome sense of good eminates here, I suspect there was once a shrine nearby.” Next came Fangorn Treeforged, barbarian, looking slowly over both shoulders before planting himself at the nearer end of the passage, scratching some moss from his bark. Lastly came the backline: Theron the wizard, Des the Troubadour, and Fau the warlock, who was being shadowed by a wary-looking goblin, Splug. The party had delved beyond the goblin’s lair, slaying handfuls of the creatures where they found them, before opening an ominous door where Balgron had warned lay undead. In fact Balthgron had gloated that lurking here were so many foul creatures that no adventurer would succeed in such an endeavour. “Please sir, I think this is a bad place, we should perhaps find another way around..” implored Splug in Goblin, the goblin prisoner now beginning to regret his new-found freedom. Splug had attached himself to the grim Fau, who also was beginning to regret having granted such freedom. However, as the only person who spoke Goblin, it had fallen on him to make the decision to free the wretched little sneak, and now Splug seemed determined to repay his kindness. “Stay close and stay silent, my minion,” stated Fau disaprovingly. By way of courage, Splug assured himself that as the guardian of the prison cell key he had a great responsibility, a task which he had been honoured with and would not fail at. Those goblins who had been subdued in the wake of the adventurers’ progress through the upper level of the keep had been deposited there. They had been clapped in irony, Splug considered as he chuckled under his breath. The group slowly and cautiously progressed along the passage. Splug could just about hear some whispered warnings or instructions passed amongst the leading members of the advance. From his point of view there wasn’t much to see, the way ahead was hidden by the voluminous folds of the wizard, the lumbering bulk of the Treeforged, and then several hefty and heavily armoured paladins. Suddenly the group came to an abrupt halt. From up ahead could be heard the halfling’s voice shouting something about a trap. There came a long, slow, teeth-jangling sound of stone grating against stone and the sarcophagi began to open. All along the passage the ancient stone crypt was coming to life. A sound from behind him made Splug spin around in a panic. A gust of fetid wind issued from two new openings in the wall from where he had passed, and out of the darkness stepped a pair of skeletal warriors, each armed with a sword and shield bearing the dragon motif. Looking around with their skeletal grins they launched forward preparing to attack. Splunk screamed and dived into an alcove. The sound of clashing steel could be heard from ahead, from the sound of it the Eladrin and the Dwarf were battling more of these undead creatures. The adventurers were shouting, there came a dwarven battle cry, then a throaty roar that must have been Fangorn, followed by bashing, crashing and the splintering of bone, and on top of it all…was somebody singing? From his alcove Splug could peer out just far enough to see the skeletal warriors come dashing past. Then came the spells. From where Theron and Fau must have been came a deafening roar of flame and thunder. The dark passage lit up for a fleeting moment in which Splunk could see a silhouetted montage of the battle before him, weapons raised in fury, fragments of bone and armour appeared to be suspended in the air, a spray of sparks where two swords struck one another, and then it was dark once more. Amongst the deafening roar of the battle Splug could hear arcane words of power hurled into the darkness. Another burst of light lit Fangorn’s face as he swung his mighty maul overhead, illuminating the knotted grimaced expression he wore as sword blows bounced off his bark. Then it was dark, the sound of something, or someone, crashing to the floor and a cry of victory that must have been the eladrin. Somebody was still singing. Splug suddenly became aware that he was gasping for breath. Looking this way and that he caught sight of another skeletons emerging from it’s tomb. He froze in place as it advanced down the passage towards the melee. “By Maglubyet’s hairy toe, are you a goblin or a gamuzlyphlet?” he swore at himself, braced himself to charge out, and then suddenly thought better of it. The skeleton marched quickly past him. Peering out Splug could see the skeleton making it’s way through the melee towards Fau, who stood calmly in the center of the battle. With his lank hair covering his face and trailing along the ground it wasn’t easy to tell which way the warlock was facing, but from the direction that the bolts of fire were flying in he seemed to be unaware of the advancing skeletal warrior. The creature lifted its sword ready to strike. Somebody was still singing. “This is it, Splug!” he gasped to himself, “It’s now or never, if you don’t act now the one who freed you will perish!” Splug launched himself out of his hiding place and dived through the melee. He ducked a skeletons sword swing, and rolled next to a sarcophagus, which opened and released another skeleton. Fangorn waded past screaming, nearly stepping on the goblin to whom he was completely oblivious. The treeforged grabbed the skeleton in one hand, lifted it into the air and swung his maul with the other, cleaving the creatures head off. Splug darted forward finding himself next to Theron. The blue skinned wizard was mustering blasts of roaring thunder and darts of dark energy, hurling them over the heads of battling figures around him. As Splunk ran past Theron swung around poised to unleash a ball of spitting force that he had molded in his hand. “Damn goblin!” the wizard cursed and, turning away, flung the ball of energy into a crowd of skeletons nearby. Splug ducked past the wizard and suddenly realised he had placed himself between the two paladins, who were fighting back to back against numerous opponents. The dwarf twisted to avoid a blow and barged into the goblin, sending him sprawling across the damp stone floor. Picking himself up he caught sight of Aran leaping over the head of a skeleton, whirling round and taking it’s legs away with a scimitar. Splug had lost his bearings. He panicked in the darkness as the sound of screaming and fighting filled the close air. Somebody was still singing, and now it was right in his ear. Des the orange haired tiefling reached down and picked the goblin up, placing him upright on his feet. “If you fall, I will catch you, i’ll be waiting…” he was singing with a remarkably true voice. “Thank you very much!” said Splug with a salute. Beyond a group of fiercely battling warriors he glimpsed Fau and the approaching skeleton. “Nearly there! Nearly there!” he shouted. Diving across the floor he skidded on his belly across the flagstones, through the legs of two skeletons who narrowly missed him with sword thrusts. Rolling to his feet he rose immediately behind his skeletal quarry who was poised to strike down the warlock from behind. With a cry he swung his sword upwards, cleaving the skeletons pelvis and ribcage, sending it’s remains clattering to the floor in heap. Oblivious, Fau blasted the two skeletons he faced into dust. Further behind him in the darkness Splug could just make out the paladins carving up the last of the terrible creatures. As suddenly as it had begun, the battle was over. Splug collapsed against one of the sarcophagi, gasping for breath while the party inspected the area until they were satisfied that the threat had passed. “Come quickly minion, for we are away,” ordered the warlock. “Next time stay close.” The adventurers found themselves in what appeared to be a shrine to Baphomet, lord of dragons, mighty and noble god of goodliness and order. Rangrim offered a prayer at the altar, and as he did so the air changed. It was as if the crypt was not quite as dark and foreboding as it had been when they had entered. At the far end of the passage stood a pair of large stone doors. The dragon-headed symbol of Bahomet could be seen emblazoned across the two doors. Fangorn stepped forward and heaved the doors open. The party stepped cautiously into a large room. A single sarcophagus stood at the far side and all around were the carvings and trappings of a shrine to Baphomet. The doors they had stepped through slammed shut, and the sarcophagus slowly began to open… “Oh,” thought Splug to himself. “Here we go again.” [color=orange]DM's note: This encounter with the skeletons was actually very anticlimatic. I had seven players that night, rather than the five expected by the module, and they were 3rd level rather than 2nd. As a result, the initial ten skeletons + 2 skeleton soldiers were taken down almost immediately and thus the encounter ended very quickly. It really opened my eyes to the fact that I need to up both the number of enemies and their power level to challenge this group! You'll also shortly see that randomling is rejoining the game, playing Cass the fighter, and as such I'm up to eight players. This really is it for now, unless one of them leaves the group, but it's going to mean some significant reworking of the encounters to make sure I'm challenging them properly! As a side note, I can see that people are reading this SH, and I'd really appreciate some feedback. What do you like? What don't you like? Who's your favourite character? All comments welcome! Next Update: The party [i]Speak With Dead[/i] without the use of rituals, and Elwanen gets some new toys.[/color] [/QUOTE]
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