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Time for Adventure! (A Homebrew Campaign Log)
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<blockquote data-quote="pukunui" data-source="post: 6913906" data-attributes="member: 54629"><p><strong>THE SPEAKER IN DREAMS</strong></p><p><em>Dramatis Personae:</em> Berrian, Bhara (and some others)</p><p><em>Source: The Speaker in Dreams</em></p><p></p><p><strong>The Guild</strong></p><p>Safely ensconced at the Reality Wrinkle, the Starflower siblings and Ser Alein rested and discussed their options going forward. They had no way of knowing if Karth had survived his heroic gesture, or where their friends Gil and Tasklar were. Nevertheless, they decided they'd try heading for the thieves' guild again in hopes of making contact with some of their friends. From there, they would seek help in infiltrating the baron's manor so they could investigate the hooded figure Bhára saw lurking in the shadows during the proclamation. After that, they'd deal with the hellish portal in the septry. [Their reasoning being that if they shut that off first, the hooded figure seemingly in charge of things might just open it up again. Better to strike at the head of the snake first, then take care of the body as it writhed about in its death throes.]</p><p></p><p>This time, they stuck to the back alleys and managed to keep out of sight of both the militia and their fiendish overlords. That is, until they were getting ready to cross Southspur Street. As they approached the mouth of an alley, a familiar voice called out from around the corner: <em>"O wand of wonder! Please will you conjure something frightening, like a bolt of lightning!"</em> </p><p></p><p>Sure enough, as Berrian popped his head around the corner and looked out into the street, he saw the familiar form of Bruce the Goose, pointing his wand at a horrid-looking fiend with a wicked glaive in its hands and a beard consisting of what appeared to be barbed tentacles. As the elf watched, a beam of light shot out from Bruce's wand and caused the fiend to glow with purple faerie fire, marking him as an easy target.</p><p></p><p>Berrian and Ser Alein dashed out into the street, swords in hand, while Bhára moved to where she could see the foul creature and readied her magic. Although Bruce's wand hadn't given him the result he'd wanted, the effect nevertheless assisted his rescuers in making short work of the devil before it could harm the halfling. As Ser Alein landed the killing blow, the creature disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Seeing her companions exchange worried glances, Ser Alein told them not worry: <em>"That fiend has gone back to where he came from. We won't be seeing him again any time soon."</em></p><p></p><p>Grabbing Bruce before he could finish thanking them for rescuing him, they dashed across the street into another alley and continued on their way to Brindinford's thieves' guild, using the directions Karth had given them before he'd disappeared. They arrived at the Gold Tabard Merchant Company building in Eastgate without further ado and found themselves being welcomed by an amiable human named Thos, who explained to the heroes that, while their companions had been and gone, they were welcome to make themselves at home in the warehouse.</p><p></p><p>Partaking of the guildmaster's hospitality, the heroes soon learned that a hooded figure had been approaching various merchants in the Eastgate district with offers of large sums of money. When the thieves' guild looked into it, they discovered that the figure was seeing to expand the influence of a diabolical cult - the one now in possession of the septry across town - to other towns and cities in the vicinity. One merchant had even accepted the offer.</p><p></p><p>Upon learning that the heroes had spied a hooded figure lurking behind the baron, Thos suggested they could be one and the same. He offered to have a scout around the baron's manor, if the heroes were willing to wait overnight. They readily agreed and settled down to get more rest. Before leaving, Thos joked to Ser Alein that now that she knew where the guild was located, they'd have to move ... once the fiends had been dealt with, of course.</p><p></p><p>Thos and his spies returned an hour or so before daybreak. They informed the heroes that a mysterious hooded figure was indeed hanging around with the baron. They hadn't spotted the baron's regular bodyguards either. Lady Eriana and her family appeared to be all right, though; they weren't being kept hostage or anything like that. Giving a description of the manor layout, Thos added that there was a trapdoor on the roof of the tower.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Manor</strong></p><p>Following directions from the thieves, the heroes made their way across town without encountering any wandering fiends or militia patrols. They scaled the walls of the keep without any trouble and made their way to the baron's manor. </p><p></p><p>Climbing up to the top of the tower, they found that Thos had even oiled the hinges of the trapdoor for them. It turned out to be a piece of cake to get into the tower. Creeping down the spiral stairs, they first passed a room in which Lady Eriana and her family were sleeping. Seeing that they appeared to be all right, they continued down to the next floor, where they found Baron Euphemes II snoring away in his large, ornate bed. </p><p></p><p>While the others waited in the stairwell, Berrian crept into the baron's room and then eased open the door that led out onto the balcony overlooking the main hall. He spied two comfortable chairs positioned in front of a roaring fire. Two figures were sitting in the chairs, one wearing a dark robe stitched with arcane symbols, the other wearing hide armor and fondling an axe. The latter pricked up her ears and turned her sightless gaze toward Berrian. A grimlock! Probably the one that got away from the abandoned warehouse. Berrian quickly closed the door and went back to report what he'd seen.</p><p></p><p>Not knowing if there was any other way to flank these foes, the heroes decided to charge right in. Berrian went first and found that the grimlock was waiting. She tossed a handaxe at him as he came through the door. The figure in the robes, however, was now floating near the ceiling. He could see that the creature had tentacles on its face and its eyes were milky white, as was its skin.</p><p></p><p>Chaos ensued. Bhára cast <em>thunderwave</em>, which pushed the grimlock towards the balcony's edge and woke up everyone in the manor. As the baron rose from his bed, seemingly in a trance, and reached for his sword, Bruce stepped forward and cast <em>Tasha's hideous laughter</em> on him, causing him to fall back onto his bed in a fit. Ser Alein rushed in to assist Berrian with the grimock. As she did so, the heroes's minds were pummelled with a blast of psychic energy. Ser Alein and Bhára were both stunned but Berrian managed to shake it off.</p><p></p><p>The grimlock soon fell to sword and spell, her dead body toppling off the balcony into the hall. The heroes were rather surprised to see that it floated down gently. They vowed to look into that more closely later. There was still the tentacle-faced mage to deal with! It attempted to take control of Berrian's mind, but he was again able to resist. Then one of Bhára's spells broke its concentration, and, as it floated back down to the ground, Berrian and Set Alein leapt forward with their blades. Just as Berrian thought he was about to land the killing blow, the creature vanished into thin air! It hadn't merely turned invisible either. One moment it was there, the next it was simply as if it had never been there at all!</p><p></p><p>Perplexed, the heroes returned to the baron. As Bruce released him from the spell, he came to his senses. As the heroes explained to him what had happened, Euphemes was most remorseful. He told them that he felt like he'd been living a dream and couldn't fully remember what it was he'd said or done over the past few days. He was most shocked to learn that he had invited fiends into his beloved town! When his thoughts turned to the welfare of his sister and her family, the heroes assured him that they were quite all right and suggested that he take them somewhere safe while they dealt with the fiends. Euphemes agreed to take them down into the dungeons beneath the manor house.</p><p></p><p>Berrian went and checked on the dead body of the grimlock. A quick search revealed a metallic ring in the shape of a twisted feather on one finger. Pocketing the ring, he later discovered that it was magical and conferred upon its wearer a <em>feather fall</em> effect. He offered it to his sister, but Bhára replied that she didn't need it as she could already reproduce the effect with her own magic, so he decided to keep it for himself.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Grove</strong></p><p>After ensuring that the baron and his family were as safe as could be, the elf siblings and their companions set off for the druid grove in the woods across the river in hopes that they might be able to help them close the portal in the septry. Cutting across the Chatterstreet Market district to avoid having to pass the septry, they scaled the outer walls and headed across the open fields towards the northern bridge. They soon found themselves being approached by three hell hounds, though they were able to dispatch them without too much trouble.</p><p></p><p>They also discovered that the druids' grove was not too difficult to locate either. The circle tending the grove was led by an elderly woman named Enselle, who was only too happy to provide what healing she could to the heroes. She was also able to provide them with a scroll of <em>dispel magic</em> inscribed on a strip of bark, though she warned them that she could not guarantee it would work. Successfully closing a gate was a difficult thing.</p><p></p><p>For some reason, Berrian then brought up their friend, Iriandel the unicorn, lamenting that he was too far away to be able to help them in their current predicament. At the mention of unicorns, both Ser Alein and Enselle perked up. It just so happened that this forest had its own unicorn, one who went by the name Dawnstrider! Berrian was able to convince Enselle to summon the unicorn. It took a few hours for him to arrive, but when the majestic beast strode into the grove, the heroes set about asking him for his assistance. Convincing a unicorn to enter a walled city and assist with driving out some powerful fiends was never going to be easy, but Berrian and Bhára proved to be up to the task. They even managed to convince Enselle to accompany them. [DM note: I went with the default DC 20 Persuasion check to get a friendly creature to take a significant risk to help, and they nailed both checks! I think they even rolled a natural 20 for one of them.]</p><p></p><p>After a quick pow-wow to discuss strategy, Enselle magicked up a view of the burning septry in the grove's pond so that Dawnstrider could teleport himself, Ser Alein, and the elves to the back door, while Enselle shapeshifted into a large owl and flew Bruce across the river in her talons.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Septry</strong></p><p>Without Gil there to help them break in, Berrian decided to just smash a window. Luckily for him, it opened into a closed stairway. He climbed through and entered the hallway with great caution, but there was no one about so he went and unbarred the door to the outside so the unicorn could get in.</p><p></p><p>At that moment, a door across the hall opened and one of the diabolists stepped out ... and died a swift death for his troubles. Berrian then had to fend off a pesky imp that came out of the kitchen it had been trashing to investigate the noise. The heroes could also hear scratching and pawing coming from the other side of another door.</p><p></p><p>Setting up an ambush, they had Ser Alein open the door so they could get at the hell hounds inside. Bruce's magic wand turned one of them to stone and sword and spell made short work of the other one. Enselle and Dawnstrider provided the heroes with some healing and then they proceeded up the stairs rather than heading straight into the septry's main hall. Upstairs they found what had once been the chamber of Ser Marith, the septry's champion. A gory scene greeted them inside. They weren't sure if the remains were those of Ser Marith herself or someone else, but they decided to leave the room be for now and headed over to a door leading onto a balcony overlooking the septry's main hall.</p><p></p><p>Berrian pushed the door open quietly and then crept out onto the balcony. The roar of the flames rising up through the hole in the domed roof helped cover his movements. Peering over the railing, he saw the bone devil lurking amidst the wreckage below, talking to a blond warrior woman who appeared to carry some authority. The woman soon turned and walked out the door on the far side of the hall, and the bone devil resumed its watch over the portal. Berrian crept back to report his findings.</p><p></p><p>As the group headed back down the stairs, Dawnstrider used his magic to suppress the sound of their movements. This even enabled him to creep up on the bone devil without it being aware of him so that he could banish it back to its home plane with a touch of his horn. The devil never even knew what had hit it! Bhára then whipped out the bark scroll and intoned the words to dispel the magic holding the portal open. Her will was strong and as she read the last words, the portal closed with a strange sucking noise, and the fire dissipated. [DM note: With <em>gate</em> being a 9th level spell, the DC was 19. Bhára got a high roll on the check. If she had failed, though, she had been (jokingly?) intending to use Ser Alein as a sacrifice ...]</p><p></p><p>With that done, the heroes decided to sweep through the rest of the septry complex. They encountered the blond woman and another diabolist underling in the library. A fierce battle ensued, in which Berrian fell not once but twice and wound up with partial amnesia, Bruce finally got his wand to cast <em>lightning bolt</em>, and the diabolist immolated himself and all the books in the room with a <em>fireball</em>. The blond woman did not last long under the combined might of the heroes and their allies either.</p><p></p><p>As Berrian wondered aloud where he was and who all these strange people were, the others patched up their wounds and set about searching the rest of the septry. They found another hell hound that had taken up residence in the vestry and quickly slew it. And that was it. No sign of any other fiends or diabolists.</p><p></p><p><strong>Epilogue</strong></p><p>As the heroes emerged from the still-smoking wreckage of the septry and headed back towards the keep at the top of the hill, a crowd of followers quickly grew behind them. Everyone wanted to know what had happened. The crowd's curiosity quickly turned to elation as the heroes told their tale, and all of a sudden the heroes found themselves in the middle of a street party as vendors began handing out free food and drink and minstrels retold their story in song as the townsfolk danced in the streets. Brindinford was saved! All hail the mighty heroes!</p><p></p><p>After taking their fill of the festivities, Bhára and Berrian went in search of their missing companions. Those scoundrels had some explaining to do ...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pukunui, post: 6913906, member: 54629"] [B]THE SPEAKER IN DREAMS[/B] [I]Dramatis Personae:[/I] Berrian, Bhara (and some others) [I]Source: The Speaker in Dreams[/I] [B]The Guild[/B] Safely ensconced at the Reality Wrinkle, the Starflower siblings and Ser Alein rested and discussed their options going forward. They had no way of knowing if Karth had survived his heroic gesture, or where their friends Gil and Tasklar were. Nevertheless, they decided they'd try heading for the thieves' guild again in hopes of making contact with some of their friends. From there, they would seek help in infiltrating the baron's manor so they could investigate the hooded figure Bhára saw lurking in the shadows during the proclamation. After that, they'd deal with the hellish portal in the septry. [Their reasoning being that if they shut that off first, the hooded figure seemingly in charge of things might just open it up again. Better to strike at the head of the snake first, then take care of the body as it writhed about in its death throes.] This time, they stuck to the back alleys and managed to keep out of sight of both the militia and their fiendish overlords. That is, until they were getting ready to cross Southspur Street. As they approached the mouth of an alley, a familiar voice called out from around the corner: [I]"O wand of wonder! Please will you conjure something frightening, like a bolt of lightning!"[/I] Sure enough, as Berrian popped his head around the corner and looked out into the street, he saw the familiar form of Bruce the Goose, pointing his wand at a horrid-looking fiend with a wicked glaive in its hands and a beard consisting of what appeared to be barbed tentacles. As the elf watched, a beam of light shot out from Bruce's wand and caused the fiend to glow with purple faerie fire, marking him as an easy target. Berrian and Ser Alein dashed out into the street, swords in hand, while Bhára moved to where she could see the foul creature and readied her magic. Although Bruce's wand hadn't given him the result he'd wanted, the effect nevertheless assisted his rescuers in making short work of the devil before it could harm the halfling. As Ser Alein landed the killing blow, the creature disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Seeing her companions exchange worried glances, Ser Alein told them not worry: [I]"That fiend has gone back to where he came from. We won't be seeing him again any time soon."[/I] Grabbing Bruce before he could finish thanking them for rescuing him, they dashed across the street into another alley and continued on their way to Brindinford's thieves' guild, using the directions Karth had given them before he'd disappeared. They arrived at the Gold Tabard Merchant Company building in Eastgate without further ado and found themselves being welcomed by an amiable human named Thos, who explained to the heroes that, while their companions had been and gone, they were welcome to make themselves at home in the warehouse. Partaking of the guildmaster's hospitality, the heroes soon learned that a hooded figure had been approaching various merchants in the Eastgate district with offers of large sums of money. When the thieves' guild looked into it, they discovered that the figure was seeing to expand the influence of a diabolical cult - the one now in possession of the septry across town - to other towns and cities in the vicinity. One merchant had even accepted the offer. Upon learning that the heroes had spied a hooded figure lurking behind the baron, Thos suggested they could be one and the same. He offered to have a scout around the baron's manor, if the heroes were willing to wait overnight. They readily agreed and settled down to get more rest. Before leaving, Thos joked to Ser Alein that now that she knew where the guild was located, they'd have to move ... once the fiends had been dealt with, of course. Thos and his spies returned an hour or so before daybreak. They informed the heroes that a mysterious hooded figure was indeed hanging around with the baron. They hadn't spotted the baron's regular bodyguards either. Lady Eriana and her family appeared to be all right, though; they weren't being kept hostage or anything like that. Giving a description of the manor layout, Thos added that there was a trapdoor on the roof of the tower. [B]The Manor[/B] Following directions from the thieves, the heroes made their way across town without encountering any wandering fiends or militia patrols. They scaled the walls of the keep without any trouble and made their way to the baron's manor. Climbing up to the top of the tower, they found that Thos had even oiled the hinges of the trapdoor for them. It turned out to be a piece of cake to get into the tower. Creeping down the spiral stairs, they first passed a room in which Lady Eriana and her family were sleeping. Seeing that they appeared to be all right, they continued down to the next floor, where they found Baron Euphemes II snoring away in his large, ornate bed. While the others waited in the stairwell, Berrian crept into the baron's room and then eased open the door that led out onto the balcony overlooking the main hall. He spied two comfortable chairs positioned in front of a roaring fire. Two figures were sitting in the chairs, one wearing a dark robe stitched with arcane symbols, the other wearing hide armor and fondling an axe. The latter pricked up her ears and turned her sightless gaze toward Berrian. A grimlock! Probably the one that got away from the abandoned warehouse. Berrian quickly closed the door and went back to report what he'd seen. Not knowing if there was any other way to flank these foes, the heroes decided to charge right in. Berrian went first and found that the grimlock was waiting. She tossed a handaxe at him as he came through the door. The figure in the robes, however, was now floating near the ceiling. He could see that the creature had tentacles on its face and its eyes were milky white, as was its skin. Chaos ensued. Bhára cast [I]thunderwave[/I], which pushed the grimlock towards the balcony's edge and woke up everyone in the manor. As the baron rose from his bed, seemingly in a trance, and reached for his sword, Bruce stepped forward and cast [I]Tasha's hideous laughter[/I] on him, causing him to fall back onto his bed in a fit. Ser Alein rushed in to assist Berrian with the grimock. As she did so, the heroes's minds were pummelled with a blast of psychic energy. Ser Alein and Bhára were both stunned but Berrian managed to shake it off. The grimlock soon fell to sword and spell, her dead body toppling off the balcony into the hall. The heroes were rather surprised to see that it floated down gently. They vowed to look into that more closely later. There was still the tentacle-faced mage to deal with! It attempted to take control of Berrian's mind, but he was again able to resist. Then one of Bhára's spells broke its concentration, and, as it floated back down to the ground, Berrian and Set Alein leapt forward with their blades. Just as Berrian thought he was about to land the killing blow, the creature vanished into thin air! It hadn't merely turned invisible either. One moment it was there, the next it was simply as if it had never been there at all! Perplexed, the heroes returned to the baron. As Bruce released him from the spell, he came to his senses. As the heroes explained to him what had happened, Euphemes was most remorseful. He told them that he felt like he'd been living a dream and couldn't fully remember what it was he'd said or done over the past few days. He was most shocked to learn that he had invited fiends into his beloved town! When his thoughts turned to the welfare of his sister and her family, the heroes assured him that they were quite all right and suggested that he take them somewhere safe while they dealt with the fiends. Euphemes agreed to take them down into the dungeons beneath the manor house. Berrian went and checked on the dead body of the grimlock. A quick search revealed a metallic ring in the shape of a twisted feather on one finger. Pocketing the ring, he later discovered that it was magical and conferred upon its wearer a [I]feather fall[/I] effect. He offered it to his sister, but Bhára replied that she didn't need it as she could already reproduce the effect with her own magic, so he decided to keep it for himself. [B]The Grove[/B] After ensuring that the baron and his family were as safe as could be, the elf siblings and their companions set off for the druid grove in the woods across the river in hopes that they might be able to help them close the portal in the septry. Cutting across the Chatterstreet Market district to avoid having to pass the septry, they scaled the outer walls and headed across the open fields towards the northern bridge. They soon found themselves being approached by three hell hounds, though they were able to dispatch them without too much trouble. They also discovered that the druids' grove was not too difficult to locate either. The circle tending the grove was led by an elderly woman named Enselle, who was only too happy to provide what healing she could to the heroes. She was also able to provide them with a scroll of [I]dispel magic[/I] inscribed on a strip of bark, though she warned them that she could not guarantee it would work. Successfully closing a gate was a difficult thing. For some reason, Berrian then brought up their friend, Iriandel the unicorn, lamenting that he was too far away to be able to help them in their current predicament. At the mention of unicorns, both Ser Alein and Enselle perked up. It just so happened that this forest had its own unicorn, one who went by the name Dawnstrider! Berrian was able to convince Enselle to summon the unicorn. It took a few hours for him to arrive, but when the majestic beast strode into the grove, the heroes set about asking him for his assistance. Convincing a unicorn to enter a walled city and assist with driving out some powerful fiends was never going to be easy, but Berrian and Bhára proved to be up to the task. They even managed to convince Enselle to accompany them. [DM note: I went with the default DC 20 Persuasion check to get a friendly creature to take a significant risk to help, and they nailed both checks! I think they even rolled a natural 20 for one of them.] After a quick pow-wow to discuss strategy, Enselle magicked up a view of the burning septry in the grove's pond so that Dawnstrider could teleport himself, Ser Alein, and the elves to the back door, while Enselle shapeshifted into a large owl and flew Bruce across the river in her talons. [B]The Septry[/B] Without Gil there to help them break in, Berrian decided to just smash a window. Luckily for him, it opened into a closed stairway. He climbed through and entered the hallway with great caution, but there was no one about so he went and unbarred the door to the outside so the unicorn could get in. At that moment, a door across the hall opened and one of the diabolists stepped out ... and died a swift death for his troubles. Berrian then had to fend off a pesky imp that came out of the kitchen it had been trashing to investigate the noise. The heroes could also hear scratching and pawing coming from the other side of another door. Setting up an ambush, they had Ser Alein open the door so they could get at the hell hounds inside. Bruce's magic wand turned one of them to stone and sword and spell made short work of the other one. Enselle and Dawnstrider provided the heroes with some healing and then they proceeded up the stairs rather than heading straight into the septry's main hall. Upstairs they found what had once been the chamber of Ser Marith, the septry's champion. A gory scene greeted them inside. They weren't sure if the remains were those of Ser Marith herself or someone else, but they decided to leave the room be for now and headed over to a door leading onto a balcony overlooking the septry's main hall. Berrian pushed the door open quietly and then crept out onto the balcony. The roar of the flames rising up through the hole in the domed roof helped cover his movements. Peering over the railing, he saw the bone devil lurking amidst the wreckage below, talking to a blond warrior woman who appeared to carry some authority. The woman soon turned and walked out the door on the far side of the hall, and the bone devil resumed its watch over the portal. Berrian crept back to report his findings. As the group headed back down the stairs, Dawnstrider used his magic to suppress the sound of their movements. This even enabled him to creep up on the bone devil without it being aware of him so that he could banish it back to its home plane with a touch of his horn. The devil never even knew what had hit it! Bhára then whipped out the bark scroll and intoned the words to dispel the magic holding the portal open. Her will was strong and as she read the last words, the portal closed with a strange sucking noise, and the fire dissipated. [DM note: With [I]gate[/I] being a 9th level spell, the DC was 19. Bhára got a high roll on the check. If she had failed, though, she had been (jokingly?) intending to use Ser Alein as a sacrifice ...] With that done, the heroes decided to sweep through the rest of the septry complex. They encountered the blond woman and another diabolist underling in the library. A fierce battle ensued, in which Berrian fell not once but twice and wound up with partial amnesia, Bruce finally got his wand to cast [I]lightning bolt[/I], and the diabolist immolated himself and all the books in the room with a [I]fireball[/I]. The blond woman did not last long under the combined might of the heroes and their allies either. As Berrian wondered aloud where he was and who all these strange people were, the others patched up their wounds and set about searching the rest of the septry. They found another hell hound that had taken up residence in the vestry and quickly slew it. And that was it. No sign of any other fiends or diabolists. [B]Epilogue[/B] As the heroes emerged from the still-smoking wreckage of the septry and headed back towards the keep at the top of the hill, a crowd of followers quickly grew behind them. Everyone wanted to know what had happened. The crowd's curiosity quickly turned to elation as the heroes told their tale, and all of a sudden the heroes found themselves in the middle of a street party as vendors began handing out free food and drink and minstrels retold their story in song as the townsfolk danced in the streets. Brindinford was saved! All hail the mighty heroes! After taking their fill of the festivities, Bhára and Berrian went in search of their missing companions. Those scoundrels had some explaining to do ... [/QUOTE]
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