The Second Age [4e PoL campaign]
Jack99
Adventurer
Yeah, we evaluated right after the wipe, and they all agreed that 99/100 times, they would have survived that fight.
See below
------------------
The new party is as follows:
Arpametan (Human Tome wizard)
Yurk (Half-orc Barbarian/Assassin)
Elron (Human Bear Shaman)
Wrek (Goliath Tempest Fighter)
River (Elf Archer Ranger)
[sblock=A very short introduction]
[/sblock]
[sblock=Comment]I normally don't start off with a brand new party like this, but one of my players is getting married in 10 days, so weekend was kinda booked by his bachelor party, and since all from the group were participating, we just didn't have the time to work on backgrounds and all sort of fluff. Several of the characters weren't done until right before the game. Such is life.[/sblock]
Freeday 4th Nauvambor, Year 599
At the Alehouse, the 5 heroes met for the first time. No sooner had they introduced themselves to each other, before an aging halfling named Viktor approached them. He hired them to carry and protect 10.000 gp north to a small village called Sirena. There the party should use the money to buy an item from a fellow named Jaspar, and then they should return with the item.
Lordday 5th Nauvambor, Year 599
The next morning, they set off from the northern harbor, in a boat provided by Viktor. They sailed throughout the day, handling naval obstacles with no problems, and when the darkness fell, they found a spot to stop for the night and made camp. No sooner had they made camp, before our heroes noticed that they were being watched. It turned out to be five Grey Wolves, xenophobic elves living in this area of the Forest of Nine Songs, and they hadn't come to talk. A short and bloody fight later, and the elves were dead.
Sonday 6th Nauvambor, Year 599
The next morning, the party moved on, sailing north towards Siren Lake and Sirena. Again, the day went without any problems, with the party just sitting in the boat and freezing, At night, they once again made camp next to the river. The snow had started falling quite heavily, so they used the boat to cover them against the worst of the downpour. The night went uneventfully, and while they were just about to leave, River suddenly got the idea that he should check the surrounding area. He snuck out of the camp and quickly found some tracks near the camp. He quickly alerted the others and then followed the tracks. Suddenly the tracks stopped, and for a second, they thought they had lost whoever had made them. Then River looked up and saw a cloaked figure suspended in the air, almost obscured by the heavy snowfall.
Battle was engaged, and while their foe was alone, he quickly showed himself to be a formidable opponent. And the stakes didn't get lower when the heroes that they were fighting a mind flayer! 5 against 1, but it still proved a tough fight. After the fight, the party talked a lot amongst themselves. Some knew what a mind flayer was, and they thought it was very odd that it was here. The most prevalent theory was that it hadn't intended to be seen, that it was following them in order to get the item the party had been sent to pick up.
[sblock=Thoughts]The encounter with the mindflayer was a test. I have been pondering about using higher level monsters against low level players while still creating interesting and balanced combats. What I do is that I remove 5 levels from the monster and switches it one category (minion->standard->elite->solo) up. Repeat until the monster is in the right level range. Then tweak it's attacks to match it's newfound category. So the level 14 mind flayer becomes a level 9 elite (which is too high still) and then a level 4 solo. So, I end up with a monster that can actually be hit, but still can stand up to a party. I sorta like it, as it enables me to have my low-level players encounter and battle stuff like drows and mind flayers who are on their own. It worked decently with the mind flayer, but it was sorta of last minute addition, and I should probably have spent more time (that I didn't have) tweaking it's powers and abilities.[/sblock]
After throwing the corpse in the river, they continued north. Towards the afternoon, they finally arrived to the Siren Lake, and soon found Sirena.
When they arrived, they found it odd that no one came down to the harbor and greeted them. As they approached the village, they noticed that most villagers were busy fortifying their houses. Talking with a few villagers informed the party that the village had suffered several attacks from some winged drakes, and that the leader of the village was called Mavros.
Soon enough they found Mavros and via him, Jaspar, who turned out to be the village's baker. They made the deal, buying the item (which turned out to be a magical rod of some sort), and also making a deal to escort Jaspar back to Fallcrest, along with all his newfound money.
After having concluded their deal, they decided to give a hand with the fortification of the town, which was suddenly interrupted by screams caused by the sudden arrival of several drakes.
[sblock=Thoughts]Not much to say. In general it was a very quiet evening, with semi-easy combats (none higher than n+1) and a fairly straight-forward story. I usually make sure that I do not make things too hard on the first night after a TPK (or semi-TPK as this was the case). New characters, new powers etc means that a party will only operate at around 80% efficiency or something like that, which means they would break under too much pressure. And nothing kills a campaign faster than 2 TPK's in a row.
The adventure I am running is actually a rip-off of an official adventure (Remains of the Empire, Dungeon 165), although it is changed to introduce one of the future recurrent enemies of the players, the Sons of Winter, an evil organization who wishes to acquire the ancient evil artifact(tm) buried beneath Fallcrest, and to set the players on the trail of the artifact as well. I might introduce another evil group, the Seekers, although I am not quite sure yet how I will introduce them.[/sblock]
Mr. Wilson
Explorer
I would never dream of giving my group 10k gps for a delivery at 3rd level; they'd agree to the deal and never return while laughing up what luck they just stumbled into.
A band of rogues, I tell ya.
A band of rogues, I tell ya.
Jack99
Adventurer
I like testing my players - Actions and consequences is an expression they have heard me use a lot of times. So whenever a carrot is dangled in front of them, they are usually very reluctant to take it
Jack99
Adventurer
Session 11
Sonday 6th Nauvambor, Year 599 (continued)
The drakes were mostly very big, and very scary, but in the end, they were easily dispatched by the party of adventurers. After the drakes were dead, Arpametan examined the creatures and realized he could use both scales and blood for his potions. He would need to test some things before being able to figure out just what potion would benefit from such ingredients.
Mavros approached and thanked the party, asking, nay begging them to find the source and reason of the drake attacks and deal with it. Unfortunately, not all of them turned out to be quite the heroes he had expected. Yurk was very focused on the amount of money he would get paid, which as it turns out, was way too little (Mavros estimated he could maybe gather 50-100 gp in total if he asked everyone in the village to turn over what they could spare). Elron thought they should deal with one mission at the time and was also a bit afraid of staying in the village. Maybe that mind flayer had more friends who were looking for them. River just wanted to help the poor villagers, and the two others (Arpametan and Wrek) were pretty indifferent. This divergence in opinion led to a pretty heated debate on how this group was to be run - and perhaps indirectly - who was the leader of the party?.
Before they could finish, they were interrupted by a young boy who came running out of the darkness, from beyond the village. He was yelling and screaming, saying that his father was dead and that the beast who killed him was still at their cottage. The party immediately bolted for the cottage. When they arrived, they saw the father laying in the snow, and a drake jumping around, as if trying to catch snowflakes. As soon as they could see it, they opened fire, and it fled in a matter of seconds, bleeding quite a bit from the wounds. As it turns out, the father was not dead, he had merely been knocked out when he accidentally was bumped into by the drake, who seemed slightly out of it.
River started looking for a blood trail from the air, but found instead tracks. It seemed the drake had arrived on foot to the cottage. The adventurers followed the tracks west, into a small forest. There they found a dead (white) Dragonborn who had by all appearances fallen off the drake and landed face down in the snow. He had some money and a map of the area. After some musing and thinking, the adventurers concluded that the arrows on the map were aerial routes (via wind currents) around settlements in the area. So, it was a "How-to-stay-hidden-while-flying-in-this-area"-map. On the map was also a place called Morningfall Summit, up in the mountains to the west. They also found a blue tabard with a ice-claw on it. Arpametan said that was the sign of a semi-secret organization called the Sons of Winter. The Sons are affiliated with the Raven Queen, quasi-worshiping her winter portfolio. Inspired by the tabard, but not wanting to copy it, Yurk and the others decided to call themselves the Golden Fist (make a black tabard with a golden fist).
The party was curious, but it was getting really late. They still opted to walk the last mile to the mountains, just to see what they could see. As it turns out, there was nothing interesting to see, especially not in the dark, but The Golden Fist did learn that it would be way too complicated to climb without some proper gear.
The Fist headed back for climbing kit and some much needed sleep. As they returned to the village, there was however more bad news. Inspired by the ease with which the Golden Fist had dispatched the drakes, a group of 15 teenagers and kids had grabbed pitchforks and the like when they learned that a drake had fallen into the icy lake and was stuck. The adults of the village learned this too late, and by the time they got there, most kids were dead.
Mansday 7th Nauvambor, Year 599
The next morning, the Fist left the village of Sirena and headed west to the mountains. There they climbed up. It proved to be fairly safe, but hard. On the way up, they found a wyvern cave/nest. Fortunately for the brave heroes, Mama Wyvern was out, and only a young wyvern was there, along with his newly hatched brothers. The poison of the young wyvern still proved strong, and Yurk came very close dieing.
Up they went, up until the top of the mountain, where a very strange sight met them. A valley, 2500 ft across, 600 ft deep, with bits of rocks floating in the air, including an undamaged tower floating well above ground (100 ft). The architecture of the tower was dragonborn, Arpametan deduced, and the alpine valley had definitely not formed naturally, but by impact. Which would probably explain the thousands of chunks of flying rocks filling the valley. Also, in a circle around the upper ledge, there stood statues of Dragonborns, all the way around the crater-valley.
As they got close to the statues, a ghostly spectre emerged and forbade them to enter the valley. When asked why, it told them that it was bound to honor the wishes of the last of it's clan. Using the tabard they had found earlier (and a little help), Yurk convinced the spectre that he was an ally of said relative and a member of the same organization (Sons of Winter) and should thus be allowed to enter.
Down they went, exploring the valley, but finding little of interest except for the pyramid of chunks of stone and earth and the tower floating on a big mote roughly 100 ft above the ground. The Golden Fist decided to check out the mysterious floating Dragonborn tower first.
They climbed up to the tower via small floating motes, and entered the ancient building. Inside they found 12 Dragonborns waiting for them. A short but brutal fight saw Wreck and Yurk go down towards the end, but in the end, the Dragonborns were dealt with in quick and orderly fashion.
After the Dragonborn fight, some of the Golden Fists wanted to explore the tower further, but they feared what they would find further up, as both Arpametan and Yurk were pretty roughed up. They decided to go hide behind the "pyramid" and resume things in the morning.
The rest of the day passed, and night came. As Arpametan was taking his turn on watch, he suddenly heard something from a crypt-like entrance nearby, that they found earlier while looking for a place to camp. He woke the others, but instead of hiding to see what was coming, they prepared an ambush. Out came 7 Dragonborns carrying a big chest. The ambush was sprung, and the unarmored Fists quickly realized that they might be in way over their heads. A drake joined the fight, making things even harder, and only a lot of lucky shots by especially River and Arpametan turned the battle. Still, at the end of the battle, several Fists lay dying on the ground and it could easily have been a lot more.
[sblock=Thoughts]Oh. My. God. This last (and final) fight was so close that just another minion or two would have caused a wipe. They were saved by an absolutely mad streak of crits (including on his daily) by the ranger and quite a few by the wizard as well. Of course, an n+4 fight wearing no armor is never found. Especially with the many soldiers present, since they were hitting most characters on fairly low rolls. Then again, it could all have been avoided, had 1) not camped right in front of a suspecious entrance 2) if they had just moved a tad away when they first heard noise of people coming 3) had camped up in the tower or 4) had not taken a break.
This fight also put me in what I call the rail-road dilemma. The rail-road dilemma is when your players are about to do something stupid (in this case doing something that will caused them to fight a very hard fight with no armor) if not shall we say guided in the proper direction. This dilemma always cause me huge head-aches. On one hand, I hate TPK's, but on the other, I also believe that what will be should be, meaning that if players screw up, they should suffer the consequences. I usually end up not rail-roading them, simply because I know most of them do not like when I do that (I did it a fair bit in my first years as a DM). That does lead to some occasional TPK's or near-TPK's, which in turn places me in the same dilemma to a even bigger degree the next time the players put themselves in such a position.
We talked about it a bit after the game, and one of the players asked if I could somehow presents the facts again, to make sure all were on the same page and sure of the decision they are about to take. Of course, this is a possibility, but the problem is that the moment a DM (paraphrased) asks "are you sure that this is your choice, the facts are as follows..", it's like waving a big flag saying: "DO NOT DO WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO DO", at least IMO. Maybe the solution is to do it more often, even when the players have made the right decision, so that they can never be sure of anything. On the other hand, this seems a bit of waste of time to me, since asking the players will likely reopen any debate there has been regarding a given decision.[/sblock]
Sonday 6th Nauvambor, Year 599 (continued)
The drakes were mostly very big, and very scary, but in the end, they were easily dispatched by the party of adventurers. After the drakes were dead, Arpametan examined the creatures and realized he could use both scales and blood for his potions. He would need to test some things before being able to figure out just what potion would benefit from such ingredients.
Mavros approached and thanked the party, asking, nay begging them to find the source and reason of the drake attacks and deal with it. Unfortunately, not all of them turned out to be quite the heroes he had expected. Yurk was very focused on the amount of money he would get paid, which as it turns out, was way too little (Mavros estimated he could maybe gather 50-100 gp in total if he asked everyone in the village to turn over what they could spare). Elron thought they should deal with one mission at the time and was also a bit afraid of staying in the village. Maybe that mind flayer had more friends who were looking for them. River just wanted to help the poor villagers, and the two others (Arpametan and Wrek) were pretty indifferent. This divergence in opinion led to a pretty heated debate on how this group was to be run - and perhaps indirectly - who was the leader of the party?.
Before they could finish, they were interrupted by a young boy who came running out of the darkness, from beyond the village. He was yelling and screaming, saying that his father was dead and that the beast who killed him was still at their cottage. The party immediately bolted for the cottage. When they arrived, they saw the father laying in the snow, and a drake jumping around, as if trying to catch snowflakes. As soon as they could see it, they opened fire, and it fled in a matter of seconds, bleeding quite a bit from the wounds. As it turns out, the father was not dead, he had merely been knocked out when he accidentally was bumped into by the drake, who seemed slightly out of it.
River started looking for a blood trail from the air, but found instead tracks. It seemed the drake had arrived on foot to the cottage. The adventurers followed the tracks west, into a small forest. There they found a dead (white) Dragonborn who had by all appearances fallen off the drake and landed face down in the snow. He had some money and a map of the area. After some musing and thinking, the adventurers concluded that the arrows on the map were aerial routes (via wind currents) around settlements in the area. So, it was a "How-to-stay-hidden-while-flying-in-this-area"-map. On the map was also a place called Morningfall Summit, up in the mountains to the west. They also found a blue tabard with a ice-claw on it. Arpametan said that was the sign of a semi-secret organization called the Sons of Winter. The Sons are affiliated with the Raven Queen, quasi-worshiping her winter portfolio. Inspired by the tabard, but not wanting to copy it, Yurk and the others decided to call themselves the Golden Fist (make a black tabard with a golden fist).
The party was curious, but it was getting really late. They still opted to walk the last mile to the mountains, just to see what they could see. As it turns out, there was nothing interesting to see, especially not in the dark, but The Golden Fist did learn that it would be way too complicated to climb without some proper gear.
The Fist headed back for climbing kit and some much needed sleep. As they returned to the village, there was however more bad news. Inspired by the ease with which the Golden Fist had dispatched the drakes, a group of 15 teenagers and kids had grabbed pitchforks and the like when they learned that a drake had fallen into the icy lake and was stuck. The adults of the village learned this too late, and by the time they got there, most kids were dead.
Mansday 7th Nauvambor, Year 599
The next morning, the Fist left the village of Sirena and headed west to the mountains. There they climbed up. It proved to be fairly safe, but hard. On the way up, they found a wyvern cave/nest. Fortunately for the brave heroes, Mama Wyvern was out, and only a young wyvern was there, along with his newly hatched brothers. The poison of the young wyvern still proved strong, and Yurk came very close dieing.
Up they went, up until the top of the mountain, where a very strange sight met them. A valley, 2500 ft across, 600 ft deep, with bits of rocks floating in the air, including an undamaged tower floating well above ground (100 ft). The architecture of the tower was dragonborn, Arpametan deduced, and the alpine valley had definitely not formed naturally, but by impact. Which would probably explain the thousands of chunks of flying rocks filling the valley. Also, in a circle around the upper ledge, there stood statues of Dragonborns, all the way around the crater-valley.
As they got close to the statues, a ghostly spectre emerged and forbade them to enter the valley. When asked why, it told them that it was bound to honor the wishes of the last of it's clan. Using the tabard they had found earlier (and a little help), Yurk convinced the spectre that he was an ally of said relative and a member of the same organization (Sons of Winter) and should thus be allowed to enter.
Down they went, exploring the valley, but finding little of interest except for the pyramid of chunks of stone and earth and the tower floating on a big mote roughly 100 ft above the ground. The Golden Fist decided to check out the mysterious floating Dragonborn tower first.
They climbed up to the tower via small floating motes, and entered the ancient building. Inside they found 12 Dragonborns waiting for them. A short but brutal fight saw Wreck and Yurk go down towards the end, but in the end, the Dragonborns were dealt with in quick and orderly fashion.
After the Dragonborn fight, some of the Golden Fists wanted to explore the tower further, but they feared what they would find further up, as both Arpametan and Yurk were pretty roughed up. They decided to go hide behind the "pyramid" and resume things in the morning.
The rest of the day passed, and night came. As Arpametan was taking his turn on watch, he suddenly heard something from a crypt-like entrance nearby, that they found earlier while looking for a place to camp. He woke the others, but instead of hiding to see what was coming, they prepared an ambush. Out came 7 Dragonborns carrying a big chest. The ambush was sprung, and the unarmored Fists quickly realized that they might be in way over their heads. A drake joined the fight, making things even harder, and only a lot of lucky shots by especially River and Arpametan turned the battle. Still, at the end of the battle, several Fists lay dying on the ground and it could easily have been a lot more.
[sblock=Thoughts]Oh. My. God. This last (and final) fight was so close that just another minion or two would have caused a wipe. They were saved by an absolutely mad streak of crits (including on his daily) by the ranger and quite a few by the wizard as well. Of course, an n+4 fight wearing no armor is never found. Especially with the many soldiers present, since they were hitting most characters on fairly low rolls. Then again, it could all have been avoided, had 1) not camped right in front of a suspecious entrance 2) if they had just moved a tad away when they first heard noise of people coming 3) had camped up in the tower or 4) had not taken a break.
This fight also put me in what I call the rail-road dilemma. The rail-road dilemma is when your players are about to do something stupid (in this case doing something that will caused them to fight a very hard fight with no armor) if not shall we say guided in the proper direction. This dilemma always cause me huge head-aches. On one hand, I hate TPK's, but on the other, I also believe that what will be should be, meaning that if players screw up, they should suffer the consequences. I usually end up not rail-roading them, simply because I know most of them do not like when I do that (I did it a fair bit in my first years as a DM). That does lead to some occasional TPK's or near-TPK's, which in turn places me in the same dilemma to a even bigger degree the next time the players put themselves in such a position.
We talked about it a bit after the game, and one of the players asked if I could somehow presents the facts again, to make sure all were on the same page and sure of the decision they are about to take. Of course, this is a possibility, but the problem is that the moment a DM (paraphrased) asks "are you sure that this is your choice, the facts are as follows..", it's like waving a big flag saying: "DO NOT DO WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO DO", at least IMO. Maybe the solution is to do it more often, even when the players have made the right decision, so that they can never be sure of anything. On the other hand, this seems a bit of waste of time to me, since asking the players will likely reopen any debate there has been regarding a given decision.[/sblock]
Lord_Blacksteel
Adventurer
Hey Jack, I am about to start my first 4th ed campaign ( after much 1st-2nd-3rd) and reading this thread and your epic virgin thread have been a big help in the "things to watch out for" department and the "cool ideas to steal" department too.
Jack99
Adventurer
Session 12
Tirsday 8th Nauvambor, Year 599
After killing the dragonborns, the Golden Fists turned the valley upside town for clues and more. Along with the mysterious chest, in which they found 3 medallions and a horn, they also found some magical hide armors as well as some letters, a diary and some notes.
Going by their find, they could deduce that the Sons of Winter were here to find the chest now in their possession. Said chest should relate somehow to an ancient artifact called the Globe. The Sons of Winter apparently think they can use the Globe to create eternal winter over Draegor.
It also became clear that the leader of the Sons of Winter was called Glarix, but that he was giving orders from elsewhere. It was also quite obvious that the Sons had been warned of the Fists coming.
After searching the place, The Golden Fists climbed down the mountain, this time carrying the 200 lbs chest as well. It was hard and they were tired upon arriving, but they managed the feat without breaking any bones.
When they returned to Sirena, the villagers were very happy, and a diner was held in their honor.
Onsday 9th Nauvambor, Year 599
The Golden Fists awoke the next morning in the middle of a blizzard. They still decided to leave, figuring that they were men enough to travel, even in a blizzard. However, as they were preparing to leave, they suddenly heard a crash and screams. When they got outside, they found themselves facing a big horse-sized white dragon, which was demanding that they turn over the medallions, less all in the village would perish.
Of course, the Golden Fists would have none of that, and a battle started on the rooftops. It was a hard fought battle, but just as things were looking up and the dragon was tiring, it managed to flee.
The Fists suspected that Mavros was the snitch, and River and Yurk immediately went to find him and talk to him. Unfortunately, while they were gone, the dragon returned. They (River and Yurk) heard the fight, but had some distance to cover before they could get back. Before they managed that, Elron was dead and gone. Once again, it was a hard battle, and just as they thought the dragon was going to die, it fled again. Luckily, this time Arpametan was on the ball and struck it down from the skies with his magic.
After killing, skinning and ripping the dragon, the Fists quickly buried Elron outside the village and said their goodbyes. They headed south towards Fallcrest. They quickly realized that sailing against the current would be rough, so they dragged the boat (with the chest (and Jaspar the Baker)) all the way back.
Onsday 16th Nauvambor, Year 599
After 7 days of hard travel through the cold, the Golden Fists arrived to Fallcrest. They entered discreetly, as they were having some suspicions about the mysterious rod they had been sent to pick up. First they went to see the Ioun priest Brother Zontak about the chest, but he could not decipher the ancient runes inside the chest. Then they went to see the Lord Warden and ask permission to use his private library. Since he (the Lord Warden) remembered River very well from when the goblin raids were pushed back, he allowed them to use it free of charge. With the help of the library, Arpametan deduced that the ancient runes were in fact High Damaran, an ancient (duh!) magical code, which very few people can decipher.
[sblock=Interlude]
Elron was cold. He was very cold. One minute he could feel his soul being ripped from his body, drifting towards the Shadowfell while his friends, his companions, were still fighting the big white dragon that had assaulted them moments earlier. Then all went bright, then dark, then quiet. Suddenly he heard a voice in his head:
Torsday 17th Nauvambor, Year 599
In the morning, they went back to see Brother Zontak. He told them that the rod was a very old and special item that is linked to an ancient artifact called (drumroll) the Globe. It could be used to amplify the powers of the Globe. Not only that, but it could also be used to amplify other magical devices and rituals.
This information of course started a heated debate. What should they do with the rod. Should they hand it over to Viktor? Should they keep it? Destroy it? Who was Viktor?
They went to meet Viktor at the Alehouse, and found Elron, their not-so-dead friend, sitting and waiting for them. In the end (after having a chat with Viktor) they did turn it over to the halfling. Mostly because they had themselves convinced that Viktor was far more powerful than he let on, and none of them felt like dying.
Freeday 18th Nauvambor, Year 599
After having yet another talk with Brother Zontak, they learned that he indeed once heard of someone who could decode Damaran. Zontak's mentor had often talked about an old blind hermit in the woods who could literally 100's of languages. Zontak even knew the general area where this hermit lived, and the Golden Fists were soon on their way, with a mule carrying the chest.
Tirsday 22nd Nauvambor, Year 599
After some days of travelling through the Silent Forest, the Golden Fists finally arrived at the hermit's cabin. Zanex and his pet kobold greeted them, and soon enough, the old hermit was well on his way studying the chest and the Damaran runes.
Freeday 25th Nauvambor, Year 599
After deciphering some of the runes, he could tell the Fists that the medallions they had found in the chest were also 3 of 4 keys needed to enter the portal to the Globe. The portal was according to the runes located below Fallcrest, somewhere.
After seeing, or rather feeling, the 3 medallions, he suddenly remember seeing one similar elsewhere. In a book they found a picture of a former adventurer of little reknown, called Metticus Massi. He is long dead of course, but his family has since prospered and are running one of the biggest merchant houses in Laketown.
Lordday 26th Nauvambor, Year 599
After a good night's rest, the Golden Fists decided to head to Laketown and find the Massi family and the last medallion.
Mansday 28th Nauvambor, Year 599
After traveling south and west for a couple of days, the Fists make halt at nightfall in order to rest in a little forest not too far from the road. There they spot a camp where someone is trying to muffle the light from the fire. As they close in to investigate, they are ambushed by two drows.
[sblock=Comments]12 session was what it took to finally kick things into gear. About bloody time, I might add. I far more enjoy a campaign once the plot starts to form, but from experience, I am leery to introduce things too early.
In case it is a bit feels a bit confusing, the overall plot is as follows (and fairly simple actually):
There is an ancient artifact hidden below Fallcrest. Called only the Globe, it has unknown properties, but is said to be able to do fairly insane things.
There are several groups looking for the Globe.
-Yerakk, an Asmodeus priest who has a hidden agenda with regards to the Globe. Also seems to believe that in order to gain access to the Globe, he must control Fallcrest. Therefore, he incites the humanoid races around Fallcrest into attacking the town. So far, his efforts have been ruined by the PC's. His ally is a succubus going by the name of Mistress Adele, that an earlier version of the party have encountered.
-The Sons of Winter, an evil organization who plan to use the Globe to plunge the world into eternal winter. Had the Chest and 3 medallions, but lost them to the players. Are now hunting our good heroes in order to get their things back.
-The Scholars, a secret cabal of wizards who wants to protect the Globe at all cost, but might considering using it, should they be able to acquire all things necessary. They are using the players for their own ends, which involves doing most of the heavy lifting when it comes to finding the medallions and warding off the Sons of Winter. Have no plans to let the Fists keep their things, once they have them gathered.
There are also a few unknowns. Like why and how did Elron become alive again? Is that yet another player in the game of the Globe? Why are there mindflayers and drows on the surface? As to how they fit in, only time will tell...[/sblock]
Tirsday 8th Nauvambor, Year 599
After killing the dragonborns, the Golden Fists turned the valley upside town for clues and more. Along with the mysterious chest, in which they found 3 medallions and a horn, they also found some magical hide armors as well as some letters, a diary and some notes.
Going by their find, they could deduce that the Sons of Winter were here to find the chest now in their possession. Said chest should relate somehow to an ancient artifact called the Globe. The Sons of Winter apparently think they can use the Globe to create eternal winter over Draegor.
It also became clear that the leader of the Sons of Winter was called Glarix, but that he was giving orders from elsewhere. It was also quite obvious that the Sons had been warned of the Fists coming.
After searching the place, The Golden Fists climbed down the mountain, this time carrying the 200 lbs chest as well. It was hard and they were tired upon arriving, but they managed the feat without breaking any bones.
When they returned to Sirena, the villagers were very happy, and a diner was held in their honor.
Onsday 9th Nauvambor, Year 599
The Golden Fists awoke the next morning in the middle of a blizzard. They still decided to leave, figuring that they were men enough to travel, even in a blizzard. However, as they were preparing to leave, they suddenly heard a crash and screams. When they got outside, they found themselves facing a big horse-sized white dragon, which was demanding that they turn over the medallions, less all in the village would perish.
Of course, the Golden Fists would have none of that, and a battle started on the rooftops. It was a hard fought battle, but just as things were looking up and the dragon was tiring, it managed to flee.
The Fists suspected that Mavros was the snitch, and River and Yurk immediately went to find him and talk to him. Unfortunately, while they were gone, the dragon returned. They (River and Yurk) heard the fight, but had some distance to cover before they could get back. Before they managed that, Elron was dead and gone. Once again, it was a hard battle, and just as they thought the dragon was going to die, it fled again. Luckily, this time Arpametan was on the ball and struck it down from the skies with his magic.
After killing, skinning and ripping the dragon, the Fists quickly buried Elron outside the village and said their goodbyes. They headed south towards Fallcrest. They quickly realized that sailing against the current would be rough, so they dragged the boat (with the chest (and Jaspar the Baker)) all the way back.
Onsday 16th Nauvambor, Year 599
After 7 days of hard travel through the cold, the Golden Fists arrived to Fallcrest. They entered discreetly, as they were having some suspicions about the mysterious rod they had been sent to pick up. First they went to see the Ioun priest Brother Zontak about the chest, but he could not decipher the ancient runes inside the chest. Then they went to see the Lord Warden and ask permission to use his private library. Since he (the Lord Warden) remembered River very well from when the goblin raids were pushed back, he allowed them to use it free of charge. With the help of the library, Arpametan deduced that the ancient runes were in fact High Damaran, an ancient (duh!) magical code, which very few people can decipher.
[sblock=Interlude]
Elron was cold. He was very cold. One minute he could feel his soul being ripped from his body, drifting towards the Shadowfell while his friends, his companions, were still fighting the big white dragon that had assaulted them moments earlier. Then all went bright, then dark, then quiet. Suddenly he heard a voice in his head:
and awoke even colder, in a world of hurt, with frozen earth in his mouth. He panicked and managed to claw his way up, out of the ground. As the suns rays hit his dirty frame, all he could think of was to get to Fallcrest. Why? He couldn't say. But to Fallcrest he went. For a week, he walked day and night, with only little sleep and no food but some frozen berries. To return to Fallcrest, finding his friends...[/sblock]
Torsday 17th Nauvambor, Year 599
In the morning, they went back to see Brother Zontak. He told them that the rod was a very old and special item that is linked to an ancient artifact called (drumroll) the Globe. It could be used to amplify the powers of the Globe. Not only that, but it could also be used to amplify other magical devices and rituals.
This information of course started a heated debate. What should they do with the rod. Should they hand it over to Viktor? Should they keep it? Destroy it? Who was Viktor?
They went to meet Viktor at the Alehouse, and found Elron, their not-so-dead friend, sitting and waiting for them. In the end (after having a chat with Viktor) they did turn it over to the halfling. Mostly because they had themselves convinced that Viktor was far more powerful than he let on, and none of them felt like dying.
Freeday 18th Nauvambor, Year 599
After having yet another talk with Brother Zontak, they learned that he indeed once heard of someone who could decode Damaran. Zontak's mentor had often talked about an old blind hermit in the woods who could literally 100's of languages. Zontak even knew the general area where this hermit lived, and the Golden Fists were soon on their way, with a mule carrying the chest.
Tirsday 22nd Nauvambor, Year 599
After some days of travelling through the Silent Forest, the Golden Fists finally arrived at the hermit's cabin. Zanex and his pet kobold greeted them, and soon enough, the old hermit was well on his way studying the chest and the Damaran runes.
Freeday 25th Nauvambor, Year 599
After deciphering some of the runes, he could tell the Fists that the medallions they had found in the chest were also 3 of 4 keys needed to enter the portal to the Globe. The portal was according to the runes located below Fallcrest, somewhere.
After seeing, or rather feeling, the 3 medallions, he suddenly remember seeing one similar elsewhere. In a book they found a picture of a former adventurer of little reknown, called Metticus Massi. He is long dead of course, but his family has since prospered and are running one of the biggest merchant houses in Laketown.
Lordday 26th Nauvambor, Year 599
After a good night's rest, the Golden Fists decided to head to Laketown and find the Massi family and the last medallion.
Mansday 28th Nauvambor, Year 599
After traveling south and west for a couple of days, the Fists make halt at nightfall in order to rest in a little forest not too far from the road. There they spot a camp where someone is trying to muffle the light from the fire. As they close in to investigate, they are ambushed by two drows.
[sblock=Comments]12 session was what it took to finally kick things into gear. About bloody time, I might add. I far more enjoy a campaign once the plot starts to form, but from experience, I am leery to introduce things too early.
In case it is a bit feels a bit confusing, the overall plot is as follows (and fairly simple actually):
There is an ancient artifact hidden below Fallcrest. Called only the Globe, it has unknown properties, but is said to be able to do fairly insane things.
There are several groups looking for the Globe.
-Yerakk, an Asmodeus priest who has a hidden agenda with regards to the Globe. Also seems to believe that in order to gain access to the Globe, he must control Fallcrest. Therefore, he incites the humanoid races around Fallcrest into attacking the town. So far, his efforts have been ruined by the PC's. His ally is a succubus going by the name of Mistress Adele, that an earlier version of the party have encountered.
-The Sons of Winter, an evil organization who plan to use the Globe to plunge the world into eternal winter. Had the Chest and 3 medallions, but lost them to the players. Are now hunting our good heroes in order to get their things back.
-The Scholars, a secret cabal of wizards who wants to protect the Globe at all cost, but might considering using it, should they be able to acquire all things necessary. They are using the players for their own ends, which involves doing most of the heavy lifting when it comes to finding the medallions and warding off the Sons of Winter. Have no plans to let the Fists keep their things, once they have them gathered.
There are also a few unknowns. Like why and how did Elron become alive again? Is that yet another player in the game of the Globe? Why are there mindflayers and drows on the surface? As to how they fit in, only time will tell...[/sblock]
Did Elron come back as himself or as revenant?
Was wondering since he made quite the trip back to the party.
And how did you do that situation in group, did you pull him aside to tell him what was happening right after he died or did he just think he was dead during the rest of the combat?
Was wondering since he made quite the trip back to the party.
And how did you do that situation in group, did you pull him aside to tell him what was happening right after he died or did he just think he was dead during the rest of the combat?
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