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Saturday, December 15, 2012

ADVENTURES IN THE NORTHER REACHES #11

Session #11 (12-15-12): Back to Threshold, but not before a wilderness encounter...

After resting up in Eastbrook and resupplying for their journey, the group was now 11 in number ( Orien Greenflower, Myra the Wizardess, Brother Cadfael, Callum the Halfling, Golar the Dwarf and their hirelings, Thad the fighter, Mutlik the Man at Arms, Toldric and Finn the Torchbearers and the new recruits, recruits Yor and Glom).

Before departing they were approached by Snipps the halfling stableman to deliver a package to Philip the Mouse in Threshold for a handsome sum of 100 gp.  Callum recognised Phillip the Mouse as rumored to be the name of the head of the Thieves Guild back in Threshold and suggested it was a good connection to make. They were warned to not open the package but Myra was curious and cast Detect Magic to determine possible magical emanations but none were revealed. Though a brisk shake of the box revealed something inside which gave off the smell of rotten meat. They all decided it best not to tamper with the package further.

A days journey into the trek back, the group came upon a caravan under attack by a minotaur and his orc band. The group believes the minotaur may be Torg Droga who had been menacing the area around Thornswood Forest, but what was he doing this far east was a mystery.

Myra immediately set in with Sleep spells to drop as many orcs as she could as the rest of group readied for battle.  A Orcish lieutenant and his bowmen high atop a bluff with the minotaur proved to be a nuisance for the group.  Thad, Cadfael, Mutlik and Golar move down to the rivers ford to meet the other orcs head on, while Callum snuck through the under bush to make back attacks against the unsuspecting humanoids.

Unfortunately, only a few orcs are slain before the others arrived, waking the rest of the sleeping orcs who rose to join and do battle.  The minotaur, apparently injured from Orien's arrows and Myra's Magic Missile spells seemed to flee the high bluff away from the combat  only to return below a few moments later healed up . "Damn, must have drunk a healing potion" Orien surmised as he notices the minotaur's lack of bleeding wounds.


The minotaur proved to be a difficult adversary to overcome for he was armored in plate male and wielding a great two handed axe. But after the bowmen on the bluff were taken out, the group quickly moved all their efforts onto the minotaur with sword, spell, arrow and firebomb. In no time they had the minotaur on the run, but a quick volley of arrows from Orien downed the creature before it could escape.

The remaining caravan members  were grateful for the party's help and Vallus the head caravan guide offered the group to travel with them to Threshold to help them rest and for safety in numbers.
No one was felled from the party, but Glom and Thad took hard hits to drop them unconscious requiring days of rest to recover.

The orcs had some coinage but the minotaur's plate male and weapons were the real prize here it seemed for the plate male was lighter than chain and the battle axe and spear he wielded were of masterwork craftsmanship. They also hacked off a horn of the minotaur as proof to their success and to maybe gain a reward for felling Torg Droga.

Seven days later back in Threshold, Myra returned to the tower of the Wizard of ID to give him the potions containing the magical waters from the Pool Room. In return she received the Charm Person spell to inscribe into her spell book. Orien and Golar returned to the Broken Buckler to have Miko re size the plate armor to better fit Brother Cadfael and shared their stories of their adventure to and fro the Caves of Quasqueton. In doing so, Miko revealed to them that the minotaur they felled was not Torg Droga but one of his lieutenants for Torg Droga is was said is a huge red furred minotaur with white eyes and horns as black as pitch. If Torg Droga had minotaur lieutenants, how powerful will he be if they are ever forced to face him in person they wondered.

Callum went off to seek the person known as Phillip the Mouse along with Thad to return his package to him. It was then that he found a Wanted poster for Riva the Robber.  When Callum asked a passerby why there was still a posting since she had been captured many weeks before by their party and taken  into custody at Goblin Castle, the man replied "Why haven't you heard, Riva had escaped her prison cell and now roams free once more. It is said she is drawing to her a large band of brigands to serve under her and it is also said she swears revenge upon those that had captured her the first time and brought her to justice".  This Callum knew would be very important news for the party to hear about.

Meanwhile around a table at the Flaming Troll Tavern the rest of the group met to tell their tales with drink in hand and wonder at the adventures in their future.  

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Dwarven Forge 4th Edition Encounters

I ran a 4th edition encounters game over Thanksgiving weekend at the local gaming store. Here is a set up of the dungeon I created and ran.























Saturday, October 13, 2012

ADVENTURES IN THE NORTHERN REACHES #10

Session #10 (10-7-12): The party finally discovers  the Room of Pools

The group rested up back in Eastbrook after their harrowing ordeal in the Temple of Bhaal. They resupplied with weapons and healing salves and tromped back to Quasqueton. Callam, still recovering from grievous wounds, stayed behind. 

The party made their way through the entrance hall and past the magic mouths and into the hexagon chamber with the circular staircase leading up. They decided to investigate the door to the north.



Beyond they discovered a pillared throne room. At the far end was a short dais upon which rested two thrones and Golar could make out a desiccated body slumped in each chair. Cautiously the group made their way along the left wall towards the thrones. As they approached them, the cadavers jumped up off the thrones and attacked, revealing themselves to be ghouls. Brother Cadfael tried to turn them but was unsuccessful and when Orien shot arrows at them, they bounced off an invisible barrier in front of the thrones. " Damn some kind of shield spell is set upon the creatures". Myra's magic missile similarly failed to hit the creatures.





The group continued to surround and battle the nasty creatures and luckily no one fell to their paralysing grasp. Once finished with, the party removed the undead from the thrones and began searching about them for any thing hidden. A thorough search revealed a catch on the underside of one of the chairs and another on the other chair as well. When the catches were released, a secret door opened up in the wall behind each of the thrones in the corners of the room. Golar also discovered a secret panel behind each throne which slid up to reveal a silver stylized half helm. 

Brother Cadfael donned the helm hoping it was better than the one he had on then proceeded to check out the secret door behind the left chair. No sooner had he though about this action, when he disappeared  and reappeared next to the secret door. "Amazing, a helmet or blinking of some sort". "Thad, come over here and check out what is beyond this secret door". Thad who had donned the other helm heard Cadfaels thoughts in his head before he spoke them, " I can hear you in my helmet" . "Truly awesome, twin helmets of blinking and telepathy" Cadfael replied gleefully. 


The party spent some time cackling about all the uses of using the helmets in combat to blink around opponents and convey messages in secret. Everyone seemed happy by the find. The secret door to the left went off around a corridor into the darkness, but the one to the right, opened up into very ornate yet strangely shaped bed chambers with wood paneled walls and tapestries hanging in the corners and a large oak bed with the letter R carved into its frame. The tapestries depicted scenes involving Rogahn and Zelligar  at various tasks ( defeating enemy armies) and one depicted Rogahn astride a steed with his attractive mistress Melissa upon his lap.  The group moved into the room and began searching. They found a large banner on one wall with Victory stitched into it, below which rested a fine lance and mace and a trophy of a rearing  horse dedicated to Rogahn. 

In another corner of the room the elf found a secret door  behind one of the wood panels and in another corner a secret door was found behind a tapestry and secret panel. The group decided to open this door and it revealed a short dead end hallway. After a search of the back wall by the dwarf, another secret door catch was found and pushed.

Beyond this door a more tastefully decorated bedchamber containing a large oak curtained bed, nightstand, and table and another door on the opposite wall. On another wall was a smashed mirror in a frame and on against the wall was a smashed babies crib. How strange.  It occurred to some of the group that none of the items in either bedchamber were affected by the ravages of age or vermin. Everything seemed to be in pristine condition as though the occupants had departed  just yesterday. 


Cadfael and Golar made his way over to the door and searched beyond  and discovered more hallways. As they turned back to the bed and pulled away the concealing curtains, they were shocked to find a dark haired maiden with porcelain skin sleeping soundly under the covers. Myra and Orien approached cautiously, and tested the body to see if it was sleeping or dead. " Its cold to the touch and no breath can I detect" Myra reported. "Some kind of sleep spell" Orien added. From the various paintings, tapestries and statues they had encountered, the group knew this was the fair maiden Melissa, Rogahns lover.

As Cadfael approached the sleeping woman, she reared up, and screeched at  him, her eyes wide  with hate and her mouth revealing two sharp teeth... a vampire. " Get out of here", the woman commanded " servants are not allowed in my chambers unless I call upon you". Shocked by the creature before them and quite aware of its nature and power, the party slowly retreated. " Begn your pardon miss, we will disturb you no more", offered Myra. 

As the group departed through the secret door, the vampire Melissa called out to  Myra, her demeanour completely changed " Maiden, have you seen the child? I assume the wet nurse has him. Please find him for me. Oh and find Rogahn and tell him I wish to dine with him this morning. You are dismissed". Myra, confused by this, agreed to the vampires wishes, curtsied and left hurriedly out the secret door. Wide eyed with terror, the group shut both the secret doors to the bedchamber and headed for the other secret door the found " We shan't be going back in there any time soon" Golar trembled.

Beyond this secret door they found a short hallway to a T junction. Golar searched ahead and found another corridor off to the right with a door to the north. The group decided to go this way. They readied themselves before the door and opened it up to reveal a very large room filled with....Pools!!!!

Yes they had finally found the room of pools, a large room containing 14 pools  containing various elements the floor of colored mosaic patterns of golden brown, white and black. But no sooner did they take this all in, when a mass of small creatures came out of the darkness upon them. " These are the same strange little creatures we encountered once before, they are resistant to our sleep magic" Orien offered up. Cadfael tried to use his helmet to convey to Thad to "blink" to the front of the party behind the creatures, but Thad heard nothing. When they tried to use the helmets to blink, they had no effect. "Damn, they worked in the throne room, why are they useless when we need them" cursed Cadfael.



Immediatly the party set in to do battle with the little monsters, Cadfael, Golar and Mutlik taking on the front ranks while Orien and Myra did their best to use missile weapons and flaming oil from afar. As the creatures were slain, their bodies began to dissolve into a goo on the floor. It wasn't long before the little things were all slain, and the gooey bodies of the strange creatures melting into the floor.

The party cautiously moved into the room, moving along the left wall and dropping torches along the way to light the huge chamber. At the far end of the room they found a pool that contained a softly glowing goo and as they passed it, one of the creatures began to form from it and crawled out of the pool toward the party. A few arrows from Orien's bow quickly killed the monster and it fell back into the vat from which it was created. " I should stay watch here with my bow and see if any more form" Orien offered.

In a far corner of the room of pools Golar discovered a secret door very well hidden. A torch bracket on the wall lifted to open a door into another bed chamber. This simple room contained a bed, some chairs, a battered table and desk with a single locked drawer. On the wall was a painting of Zelligar and Rogahn with some words at the bottom in elvish."To wise Marevak, worthy advisor and counselor, from a grateful Zelligar and Rogahn", read Orien. The painting was signed by the artist Tuflor. 

Myra tried to use a dagger to jimmy the lock of the desk and accidentally set off a gas trap. The room immediately began to fill with burning gas that made caused them to flee the room.

While they waited, the party decided to examine the pools. Myra dipping a rope end into each pool to determine their effects and taste testing others then filling empty flasks with their contents. This proved helpful when their tests revealed the acid pool and green slime pool, but didn't help much when the red wine filled pool revealed a liquid that was so potent that a small taste rendered Myra completely intoxicated. Staggering, she tried to continue her task, but Orien and Cadfael assisted in bringing her over to a wall to rest and they continued the investigation on their own. 

One contained boiling water, another a clear pool of water with fish that when approached caused a watery elemental to lash out at Orien. Still others contained liquids of varying colors and one was empty and cracked. 

During this time, the group was surprised by a rival adventuring group, an elf, a magic user and two fighting men. The magic user shouted out " This is our room, we claimed rights to it first", and began to cast a sleep spell at the party. Unfortunately the party won initiative and Orien countered with his own sleep spell. This took out all but the elf, who continued to defend himself as the group beat him unconscious.

There was some discussion as to what to do with them and they were tied up and lined against the wall and questioned. The Magic user was one Ralt Gaither, the elf ( still unconcous) was Fencig, the two man at arms were called Yor and Glom. " I am a great and powerful wizard, I demand you release me, or unspeakable harm will come to you, for  I am Ralt Gaither and I..." the party gagged the spell caster.

They then offered the two half whit men at arms a better deal of leaving the company of the wizard and  adventuring with them to which they agreed, since their present employer was rather stingy with the coin.

The party continued to explore the pools, gathering samples of this one and that and in particular several samples of the sparkly liquid which was the goal of the quest as given to Myra by the Wizard of ID in Threshold. Once the exploration of the pools was complete, the group attempted to enter the bedchambers once again, but discovered the gas was still strong in the room and prevented safe entry. Not wishing to dally any longer in the dungeon, the group departed the room of pools and Quasqueton for Eastbrook once more with their quest item in hand and two more hired muscle for the group. 

It was a good day all around.