Wulf's "Lazy Days" Campaign Story Hour

[Eridanis]

Well, no, we don't have a sneak-about kind of character, really. Nik usually fills that role, since he has a level of rogue and has access to fly, dimension door, and other spells through his travel domain. Rod's invisibility spell completes the package.

And yes, the first few times or so that Kellan was dominated/forced to run, I was skeptical. But the yuan-ti ability is *aversion*, not fear; and a failed saving throw vs. the domination is just a failed saving throw, nothing that the fear immunity can help out against. A subtle difference, but a difference nonetheless.

Thanks for reading! I know I enjoy writing the journals, even if at times Kellan's voice is a little too dry for my taste. I intentionally write the journals as if Kellan is writing a report back to his superior, and since military reports get to the point with little embellishment, I fear that not all the fun-ness of this game comes through. But that's why there are five of us writing journals...

 

[Eridanis]

Just a self-serving...

... bump!

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

JAAG’s TWENTY-FIRST SESSION JOURNAL

I prepared two mules, with tents, rations, and the usual camping gear. Added plenty of sunrods and tindertwigs, as well as spare quivers of bolts and arrows--who knows how long we might be stuck there. I brought a small container of oil and wool to keep my own equipment clean from the ravages of rain that no doubt cover the jungle. A couple grenades of alchemist's fire and a good machete, and I'm ready for anything...I hope.

Nikolai replaced the missing stones into the gate we found at the yuan-ti vampire's lair. And into it's bowl we poured the blood of a pair of rabbits we captured for the task. As the bowl drank the blood, the gate began to change, and a magical mirror-like shimmer formed and awaited our entrance. Kellan marched bravely into the gate, and the rest of us followed him into the great beyond.

Rain! It's pouring down sheets of rain! "Ka-BOOM!" Thunder! Lightning flashes gave us glimpses of each other's faces as well as the land around us. There were other buildings in the distance, with a very different architecture than anything I've seen back home. Only a brief moment looking around ourselves and we were already soaked! It was time to find a drier place until the storm passes.

We got ourselves down and rested among some ruined buildings. Our mules were given the ability to, "feather fall," as Rodrigo calls it, and safely landed from atop the building where we arrived. The rain kept up for quite a few hours, when Nik finally decided to scout the landscape with his fly spell. It seems that there was a portion of the city that had sunken into a marsh, or swampy lake area, and high cliffs surrounded the city on nearly all sides. But opposite the swamp there was a lone building, and further along that same way, a cave entrance.

We left Jorie to watch the mules, as it seemed he wasn't himself today, while the rest of us headed toward the lone building. Rodrigo, being the cautious type granted us each with invisibility before we approached too close. The building was worn, with large cracks in the outer wall, and rather than give ourselves away with lighted torches, I chose to investigate alone with my dwarven sight. As I peered in I saw two pillars, each with manacles for binding wrists and ankles. The rest of the insides appeared quite normal.

Suddenly, I felt a great weight land atop my body that knocked me down! It was a giant snake! It tightened its coils as I struggled to free myself. My companions rushed to my rescue! As I gained my freedom, I could see two more snakes inside the building. Together, we made quick work of the snakes, though it was not without some pain. As Rodrigo entered the building from a large wall crack, a female sphinx followed him in. I had heard stories, but, well...I guess they are real after all. It became clear she wanted us to follow it, so we did, all the way back to where we left Jorie and the mules.

After some riddles and information exchange we learned more about the locals and were warned against going to the cave entrance. The Yuan-ti are there! But isn't that where we expected Stirling Dale to be? Still in need of a shelter, secure from yuan-ti patrols, we decided to move to a different cave near the swamp, opposite the yuan-ti cave. It was on our way that we were surrounded by uncivilized beastmen--their semi-intelligent looking leader challenged Kellan to a wrestling match to permit us the freedom to move on. Kellan, being the proud fool that he is, accepted the match. After winning, one of their own struck a mortal blow to finish their defeated leader, and a proclamation was made that Kellan was their new leader! All I could do was shake my head in disbelief.

They say they'll lead us to meet the dweller in the lake, and take us to the cave nearby to dry ourselves and rest. I'll be happy if they just keep their hands off the mules and let me oil my armor in peace. For now, I'll only trust them as long as they prove useful--I have little patience for their uncivilized manners.

*****
KELLAN’s TWENTY-FIRST SESSION JOURNAL

Seek Justice, and find one who craves Vengeance. Seek Honor, and find one who craves Glory. Seek Valor, and find one who craves Death.
- results of Nikolai's divinations

To the Radiant Lady Gloriana Taskmettle, greetings -

Our uneventful journey to the yuan-ti fortress placed us once again in front of the broken portal to who-knows-where. We put the pieces we had retrieved from the half-orcs in their places, and Nikolai cast 'Make Whole' on them (Rodrigo seemed to think the spell had other purposes, but I did not understand what he meant). After surmising that the bowl needed to be filled with blood in order to open, we bled two rabbits into the bowl, and it had the desired effect - the stone wall turned to quicksilver, shiny and shimmery. One by one, we went through: me first, followed by Jaag (leading the two mules laden with equipment), then Nik, Rod, and Jorie (curiously distracted and quiet) bringing up the rear.

We stepped out into a blistering rain - 50 feet above the ground on top of what we soon determined to be a vine-covered ziggurat. A crumbling city lay before us - what little we could see through the rain showed we were in the middle of a humid, lushly green, jungle valley that Nik's aerial reconnaissance showed to be a bit less than a half-mile long, and about 1000 feet wide. Two roads lead away from the zuggerat - one to the north and one east; a high cliff wall was to our west; and the valley, curving narrowly away, was to our south. We quickly deliberated how to get the mules down (the application of a feather fall spell and a firm kick from Jaag's boot - in that order - did the job), and then took refuge in a smaller domed building on the valley floor. Nik flew away for more reconnaisance, and returned to tell us of a city filled with snake carvings and strange buildings [think Aztec architecture with Far East detail]; a lake to the northeast that covered more of the crumbling city; and, to the south, steps that led up to the mouth of a cave. On my advice, Nikolai used his locate object spell to try and find another holy symbol of Heironeous, but did not find one. After two hours or so, the monsoon finally abated, and since there was no sign of Stirling Dale's symbol out in the city, we determined to move on the cave complex immediately to search for him there.

Leaving Jorie to guard the mules, we moved south through the narrowing valley, and came upon the only large building between the ziggurat and the cave mouth. Two huge bronze doors closed the entrance, but Jaag took advange of a large crack in the wall, instead, to look inside. He was able to see two large pillars in the center of the space, lined with manacles, and that was all the detail he was able to tell of before a gigantic snake grabbed him from above and dragged him inside. We all pursued, and defeated three immense snakes in all - but the greatest challenge came as we completed our fight, and saw a creature with a black-skinned woman's head, a lion's body, and large wings fly swiftly up the valley to our location. Having only heard legends of these creatures, I was still certain this was a sphinx - a wise ally if we could win her, and an implacable foe if we made a mistake. We were able to establish communication with her through use of her tongues spell, and she lead us back to Jorie and relative safety.

She was willing to give us information about the area if we answered her riddles - most of which we were able to decipher. The riddles, and the information she gave us:

Which burns longer, a blue candle or a green candle?
We did not answer correctly-- she smiled and explained that it was something of a trick question, and moved on to more traditional riddles.

When one does not know what it is, then it is something; but when one knows what it is, then it is nothing.

Rod and I made a guess each, neither of which was exactly correct, but it was enough for her to tell us that enemies to the yuan-ti also lived in the city - a surprising development!

What is it that you can keep after giving it to someone else?
I was able to answer correctly, and she gave us more information.

A pale man matching Dale's description had arrived some time before - and now wanders the city at night. This seemed to confirm our suspicion that Dale and been turned undead by the vampire - but the sphinx' information seemed to indicate that we was a ghost, rather than a vampire. While this saddened me, perhaps it is fitting that a fellow paladin would be there to free him from his undead state - and remembering the poem of the divination, it is probable that he eagerly wishes to be freed.

Also, the bugbears (and their chieftain, Shruzgrap) living in the city stay far from the lake, as the dweller in the lake is some kind of nasty creature that might find sacrifices of fruits and vegetables to her liking.

It is yours, but others use it more than you do.

Nik correctly answered, after which the sphinx left us with the advice that the safest place for us to stay in this unsafe area was a cave at the end of the eastern road; one that would provide shelter if we could avoid the attentions of the lady in the lake. We made our way to that location, staying off the road in case patrols of yuan-ti or bugbears made their appearance, and we got about halfway to our destination when we were stopped by almost two-dozen misshapen humanoid forms - creatures who seemed to be stitched together from distinct parts of other humanoids.

They demanded tribute in order for us to pass, and before we could pursue any kind of reasoning with their leader, he stepped forth, asked if I was their leader, and upon my grudging affirmative, challenged me to single combat to the death!

I, of course, would not refuse such a challenge, and seeing how other avenues would not be available, I stripped off my armor, and prepared for hand-to-hand combat. While I was trying to keep it a fair, sporting fight, the leader obviously did not subscribe to the same idea; after poking me in the eyes, then holding me down and choking me, I threw him off and kicked him unconscious. Turning from my foe to see if my companions were all right, I glanced around again to find that another 'mongrelman' had slit the leader's throat - because I was their new leader!

"Take them to meet the lady in the lake," they cried...

******************
Good quotes:

"Profession (prostitute): the oldest skill" – Nik

"It's not my fault your genetic makeup is 'pink'" - the mongrelman leader to Kellan, after I mention that it's not exactly fair that my unarmored self should go up against his naturally-armored body

DMs TWENTY-FIRST SESSION SUMMARY

I had fun coming up with a slew of riddles, including one that I actually wrote myself-- and never got to use. I seem to write a lot of riddles, divinations, clues and such that the players forget within about 5 minutes. Don’t know why I bother sometimes…

I tried to choose riddles so that each of them would have some pertinence to the characters or the issue at hand. I was particularly happy with Kellan’s riddle as it nicely foreshadows his stay in the valley.

 

[Dinkeldog]

The correct answer, btw, is the green candle. I provided the proof, but Wulf doesn't believe me.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

If my players who had a chance to use Action Dice last week would kindly visit this thread:

http://test.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=210381#post210381

I think there are some folks who could use your feedback! (Including me.)


Wulf

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

SESSION TWENTY-TWO: a flawless plan

KELLAN’s TWENTY-SECOND SESSION JOURNAL

<continued from previous>

... but instead of taking us to the Dweller, they took us to their caves where they made their home.

The tribe of about 60 souls made us feel welcome; they provided hot water for baths, food and wine for dinner. They told us the story of how they came to be as they were: their leader (with the strange name of "Bobo") was said to have gone to the dog, the bear, the owl, and other animals seeking their wisdom, and took parts of their physical forms in return. Their story spoke of honor, duty, and sacrifice among their leaders. While I partook of very little of their wine, the rich food must have had some similar intoxicant, as I fell asleep by the end of the feast (as did Rod and Jaag, as I found out later). I dreamt of Stirling Dale - but was awakened by a female mongrelman (one with the face of a horse, and the skin of a lizard) climbing into my bed! She insisted that since I was the new leader, and she was the leader's mate, we had to make love and procreate so that my strength would be passed down to further generations. Minding our order's vow of celibacy outside marriage, I thought as quickly as I could; I explained that while her people expected their leader to do such things, my own honor code could not allow me to do what she expected of me. I did promise that I would pray for further guidance, and that if Heironeous would allow me to do so, I would do what she wished us to do. She was displeased, and she did eventually leave me alone in my bed and did not importune me further that might.

The next day, we discussed our next step, and it was decided that I would go alone to meet with the Lady in the Lake (since the mongrelmen did not think that the others would be safe if they went). We walked down the main road, then boarded a canoe to row out into the lake. She did appear before us, glowing with a blue flame and causing the lake surface to burst into flame as well. She was not particularly helpful, although she did provide more information to us: basically, she would not guarantee that she would not interfere if we tipped the balance of power in the valley to one party or another, but it seemed that she would not unless greatly provoked. The mongrelmen also gave her offerings that included items we had brought with us, most importantly a wand of restoration we had created to aid against any other vampires; she was not willing to give it back to me, but did entertain the idea of trading it for something more valuable from the bugbear's encampment. Leaving her, we rowed back to land, and returned to the caves to make more plans.

We considered the fact that we were not powerful enough to take on either main faction face-to-face (there being over 100 bugbears, and about 50 or so yuan-ti), and Nik hit upon a plan to help get the avalanche rolling, as it were. Since Stirling Dale (or whatever Dale has become) fed from the yuan-ti, the bugbears, and the mongrelmen equally, he reasoned that if we could make the bugbears think Dale had taken the yuan-ti side, they might be roused to strike against the yuan-ti in force. If the two evil factions destroyed each other, we would perhaps be able to find Dale and complete that mission, while leaving the valley with more peace and fewer evil creatures than we had found here. We decided to disguise me as Dale, with yuan-ti symbol affixed to my shield, and Nik would disguise himself as a pureblood yuan-ti (basically a humanoid, but with scaly skin). We would fight a patrol party of bugbears alone, with Rod and Jaag invisible and ready to help if necessary; we would leave one or two alive to retreat back to the bugbear leader to hopefully report that Dale had sided with the snakemen.


NIK’s TWENTY-SECOND SESSION JOURNAL

I am not ordinarily much of a writer, but I make an exception in this case to record a deception that we played on the bugbears of the Jungle City. We have found ourselves in a deserted jungle city, with multiple forces at play: Yuan-Ti, bugbears, mongrelmen, a Sphinx, a Vampire, and the Lady of the Lake, who has neither swords to offer us nor kingdoms to grant. I know not what manner of creature she is.

In any case, we have allied ourselves with the mongrelmen, who revere the Lady. We have received advice and riddles from the Sphinx, leaving only the Yuan-Ti, the Bugbears, and the Vampires as our foes. Compounding this problem is the fact that it has become apparent that the Vampire is none other than Sterling Dale, the Paladin of Heironious that Kellen was sent to find.

Speaking with the Lady left us with the concern that the Bugbears and Yuan Ti might band together against us if we were too obvious in our dealings with the city’s denizens.

So we devised a plan. Since Sterling Dale is a paladin (or was) of Heironious, as is Kellen, we (with the mongrelmen’s help) disguised Kellen as Sterling, complete with pale skin, and so on. Rodrigo lent Kellen his slippers of spider climbing, to allow him to cling to walls, and I cast Fly on him.

The plan is to set the Yuan Ti against the Bugbears, and upset the delicate balance of evil in this valley. So I stole away one of the reptile-men’s emblems from their lair, and Jaag set it upon Kellen’s shield as a device, to make the bugbears think that the Vampire had joined them.

Then we set an ambush for a Bugbear patrol. I was also disguised, as a yuan-ti pure-blood. Rodrigo and Jaag were nearby, invisible. We took the patrol, and killed 7 of the 8. One was left to run to his fellows, as planned. The others were given puncture marks on their necks to make it look like they were attacked by Sterling.

As we fled, I cast an Obscuring Mist to heighten the vampire effect, and Kellen flew away. The surviving bugbear never saw Kellen get injured, nor did he see any other evidence of the invisible foes, although Rodrigo killed several with Phantasmal Killer spells.

All he saw (hopefully) was a Vampire looking like Sterling Dale, egged on by a Yuan-Ti pureblood, killing bugbears.

Next, we will find out if it worked.

-Nikolai Dhavros

DM’s TWENTY-SECOND SESSION NOTES

For those of you playing along at home, I’ve adapted this setting/scenario from the old “Dwellers of the Forbidden City” module. I’ve rolled the clock forward an indeterminate number of years since unknown adventurers first disturbed the balance of power in the valley. The yuan-ti remain, though now (thanks to 3e) with a couple of higher-level spellcasters in their ranks. The bullywugs are gone, wiped out and replaced entirely by the mongrelmen—though the small lake, their old breeding ground, has expanded greatly and now fills at least 25% of the valley. Many buildings that were once visible are now completely submerged as that end of the valley sinks and the water level rises.

Finally, the bugbears have done quite well for themselves, taking over about a third of the city. The tribal struggle detailed in the original module has now played out and Shruzgrap is in charge, egged on by a rather nasty sword…

As for the Lady, if you are familiar with the module, you can guess what she's all about-- but DON'T POST IT HERE! The players are still (relatively) clueless.

I made a small collection of 1” scale maps to detail the ruined buildings- all of which I grabbed from a nice site you may want to check out:

http://www.aginsinn.com/tiles.html

The group was not happy to lose their wand of restoration to the light-fingered mongrelmen. When the party accused them of stealing, the Lady patiently explained that it was not possible to steal that which already belonged to you. In the minds of the mongrelmen (steadfastly LN, of course) the PCs were now part of the tribe, and their belongings were collective property.

Of course the party didn't see it that way, especially Rodrigo, who was never at a loss for a few choice epithets about the mongrelmen-- not that that stopped him from bedding down with two or three (or eight) of them.

 

[Rodrigo]

Hey Laady

I will point out that most of our party did not seem too put out to see our hard earned loot stolen by The Lady. Later on even a very powerful magic item was given to her. This despite the fact that her minions had stollen the wand, among other things, from us and she refused to hand it back over! All because of this augury (or commune can't remember) question

Q: "Can the lady in the lake be trusted"

A: Without a doubt.


Trusted to do what? I think even Satan will keep his end of a bargain. So I supposed he can be trusted too. Ohh well, It all worked out well for Rod, as it always does. Hopefully she doesn't show up and decide to whack us with it.


And we had Nooo idea who she is. But I don't want to jump ahead too much.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Re: Hey Laady

I will point out that most of our party did not seem too put out to see our hard earned loot stolen by The Lady. Later on even a very powerful magic item was given to her. This despite the fact that her minions had stollen the wand, among other things, from us and she refused to hand it back over! All because of this augury (or commune can't remember) question

Q: "Can the lady in the lake be trusted"

A: Without a doubt.


Trusted to do what? I think even Satan will keep his end of a bargain. So I supposed he can be trusted too. Ohh well, It all worked out well for Rod, as it always does. Hopefully she doesn't show up and decide to whack us with it.


And we had Nooo idea who she is. But I don't want to jump ahead too much.

Yeah, but you leave out the more interesting commune question:

Q: Are Rodrigo and Jaag telling the truth?
A: No.



NO more spoilers from here for a while...!

 

[Rodrigo]

Hey Laady

I will point out that most of our party did not seem too put out to see our hard earned loot stolen by The Lady. Later on even a very powerful magic item was given to her. This despite the fact that her minions had stollen the wand, among other things, from us and she refused to hand it back over! All because of this augury (or commune can't remember) question

Q: "Can the lady in the lake be trusted"

A: Without a doubt.


Trusted to do what? I think even Satan will keep his end of a bargain. So I supposed he can be trusted too. Ohh well, It all worked out well for Rod, as it always does. Hopefully she doesn't show up and decide to whack us with it.


And we had Nooo idea who she is. But I don't want to jump ahead too much.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

SESSION TWENTY-THREE: the fallen paladin

KELLAN’s TWENTY-THIRD SESSION JOURNAL

The next day, we explored the city surrounding the mongrelmen caves. We discovered a half-dozen possible hiding spots for Dale - some of them with multiple sarcophagi. After spending the day searching for Dale, I had to spend a good part of the evening explaining to the mongrelman woman why I wouldn't sleep with her. She could not accept that I had made a promise to my deity, and breaking such a vow would cause me to lose face with my order, lose powers from my deity, and lose respect for myself. She could not accept this, seeing mating as a *duty* no less than the duties I hold dear - but in the end, she left.

The next morning brought another challenger for the leadership. I knew I would defeat him easily, so I tried to convince the mongrelmen that their method of choosing a leader was not only counterproductive, but it robbed them of what they needed most - healthy, strong tribesmen to stand against the predations of the yuan-ti and the bugbears. He, and the others, would not listen (perhaps not surprising - it is hard to instantly change one's deeply-held beliefs, and since I would not change for them, it shouldn't surprise me that they would not change for me), and I eventually tired him out, and the others killed him for being defeated. Disgusted, I left the caves, and with the others, moved out once again to explore more of the city.

Jorie had a parrot companion flying overhead to contact us if anything unusual happened from his vantage point at the caves while we explored. It alerted us to a curious meeting: the bugbear chieftain exited their compound, blew a horn, and summoned the Lady of the Lake. After about a ten minute conversation (would that we could have overheard it!), the chieftain handed over a box, and the Lady departed.

We hit upon the idea that since we could not find Dale, we should leave notes for him inviting him to a rendezvous of our choosing. While this was certainly a dangerous gambit, it was better than what we were doing: quickly losing cachet with the mongrelmen, the bugbears and the yuan-ti ready to crush us between their combined might and interests. We had to upset the status quo and hope that things would turn out all right. Our mission, after all, was to find the whereabouts of Dale, and while the evil groups were a tempting target, we had to be able to survive to report back, or all would be in vain. The notes said "Kellan Evershar, Paladin of Heironeous, wishes to meet with you at the temple by the lake shortly after dark to discuss your current state and possible redemption." We left copies of this note at the sarcophagi we had discovered, and at the end of the day, made ready at the place we had appointed.

The response was quickly forthcoming. As the last light left the sky, four vampire spawn (two mongrelmen, one bugbear, and one tasloi) crept up to the roof where we waited, and a reptilian flying creature with rider swooped down and alighted on our tower. The rider lifted his helm, and the sight of Stirling Dale's undead white face stared back at me.

While I had suspected Dale's fate, the fact of his condition was greatly disturbing to me. Here was the man whose tales of valor and might I had grown up hearing - an idol of my young innocent days, as I dreamt of defeating evil at the side of one of our premier hunters of the dead - and now he had become that which he most hated. Was I, a mere undistinguished knight, to destroy this paragon? Who was I to defeat him? The answer, of course, is that each of us must do our best to do our duty, and let Heironeous champion the valorous. Meanwhile, hoping to get more time, I struck up conversation with him. It turns out that he was turned by the vampire yuan-ti, and he does not see any difference in his responsibilities; he carries on as if still in Heironeous' service, destroying evil, but in his own way - by turning them, slowly, one by one to vampires, and causing maximum fear among them all. He rejected my suggestion that he come back with us to find some way to heal his condition; he is truly a vampire, he's happy about it, and he is slaying evil right and left. Seeking to buy time to think, I told him that my superiors would not accept me coming home without proof of his whereabouts; I asked him to return the next night with a letter to you explaining that he still existed. He agreed to do so, seeing perhaps that I was indeed trying to buy time but still respecting a young paladin's devotion to duty and honor. With that, he turned and once again took flight, the fallen paladin silhouetted against the moon above.

DMs TWENTY-THIRD SESSION NOTES

I was impressed with the players' disguise plan from the previous session, and the plan went off without a hitch.

However, they then spent the next day wandering around the city in full daylight. In good conscience I couldn't let the bugbears NOT notice that, so the "political" situation changed once again.

The encounter with Dale was a lot of fun for me, watching the players squirm, trying to decide if they could "take him" or not right then and there...