Session 9: Siege of Bordrin's Watch

2nd weekend of August 2010

The tale continues...

The Jonas Brothers are once again a trio, since Adam's Son failed to make an appearance in the next sessions. They journeyed to Overlook, a thriving dwarven city to the west, near the Stonehome mountains that serve as a border between the civilized Elsir Vale and the barbaric orc lands.

A call of arms was sent by the ruling council in Overlook to ask aid from adventurers in the defense of Bordrin's Watch, a fortress guarding the pass in the mountains where massive orc tribes have been seen gathering.

Homecoming of Sorts

While Justin was his usual buoyant self on the journey, he turned a bit melancholy and subdued once the group reached the large city of Overlook. He deftly guided the others through the streets of the city, offhandedly confirming the queries of Urza and Shark regarding his pre-adventuring life. He explains that though he was engaged in questionable activities and shady dealings during his younger years here in Overlook, he is adamant about having turned a new leaf and following a path as straight as the lines in a music sheet.

Overlook

All around the city are other mercenaries, adventuring groups and would-be adventurers all answering the call of arms. While passing some time in the Pickled Imp tavern, whose bar is elegantly decorated by a preserved imp in a jar and whose ale is simply the best in all of the city, they hear lots of talk about the best group of adventurers who answered the summons, the Hor- I mean, the Farstriders. This group seems to have battled kobold armies and even dragons and uncovered relics and stuff. Really awesome dudes and dudettes, they all say.

They congregate later inside the High Hall where the Council of Elders addresses them. The Farstriders were indeed present, but the bigger surprise was the ex-Jonas Brother paladin Erdan standing in their group.

Elder Cadrick briefly explains the situation to them, that indeed, the feuding orc tribes have been united by a strong chieftain and are now preparing to assault Bordrin's Watch (Aaron: "Huh? Borderwatch?"). Most of the groups will be led by guard captain Durkik Forgeheart to bolster the defenses of Borderwatch (for Aaron's sake) while they need a volunteer group to evacuate a monastery deep in the mountains who might not yet be warned about the orc horde.

Of course, all heads and eyes turn towards the suddenly glowing showoff, Urza.

Not to be outdone, the leader of the Farstriders raise objections, asking for the most glorious and most dangerous mission there is. Elder Cadrick assures him that they have already been assigned to that.

The Elder next tells the Jonas Brothers theirs, which is to go to the Monastery of the Sundered Chain and warn the monks there and help them evacuate. With little preparation, they head for the mountains.

The Monastery of Sundered Dwarves

A grueling hike up the rugged slopes lead them to the tall gates of the Monastery of the Sundered Chain, where they smell burning meat and stinky sweat. Entering the open gate, they witness orcs huddled in bonfires eating roasted flesh that alarmingly looks like dwarf legs. Seems they're too late..

Monastery entrance

After rudely dispatching the orcs who was rather enjoying their outdoor lunch, they venture inside to find gore and blood aplenty, splattered along the floor where several bodies of both dwarf monks and orcs lie. The half-orc Shark, who has abandoned that brutal way of life, flies in a rage at his blood-cousins and dispatches, too, the witch and her guards in the main atria of the monastery.

They descend into a worse nightmarish scene, where orcs and orogs (a stronger and more intelligent half-orc half-giant) were feasting upon the bodies of monks killed in their chambers. Seems the Jonas Brothers are really too late...

Moradin's holy symbol

They follow the trail deeper into the monastery which ends on the other side of the plateau. Down narrow and steep steps are more orcs on their way up. Felling (literally) these, they discover a cave by the foot of the slope that seems to be the forge hearth of the dwarves, where they could practice smithing in worship of their deity Moradin. However, the cave is occupied by a bunch of orcs and a large orog who seems to be their leader. This one is torturing the lone surviving dwarf and demanding he reopen a tunnel.

Using the rainbow magic he put to such good use in the last encounter, Urza once again demolishes the minions with ease. Shark uses his brilliant tactical expertise and superior strategic cunning to charge straight at the nearest enemy-looking enemy. Seconds later, all that's left is the plate-armored orog leader who unmercilessly punishes the stupid adventurers who deigned to surround him. With its bastard sword sweeping in wide arcs to slash at the three, he puts up a good fight yet still goes down at the incessant musical debacle of the Jonas Brothers.

Orog

They then see if the fallen dwarf is still alive...

Session 8: Lords of Rivenroar

1st Weekend of August 2010

The tale unfolds..

The Jonas Brothers bicker among themselves for Jalissa's attention. Meanwhile, they assign Adam's Son to guard over the captives found so far, so it was up to the three to face the remaining threats of Rivenroar...


Unleash the Guardians

The predominantly-hobgoblin Red Hand of Doom counts a variety of creatures under its banner. Among them:

Wererat

Evistro

Wererats releasing a frenzied bloodthirsty Evistro (carnage demon), who was no match for the more frenzied and bloodthirstier Shark.

Gnome arcanist

Invisible gnome skulks and their leader, the sometimes invisible but still useless gnome arcanist. (I probably handled him wrong.)

A Happy Drake Family

Two large rage drakes stood guard over the door to the captive old lady Zeriksa. The Jonas Brothers basically bounced them around the field of weird mushrooms. Two spitting drakes drank from Urza's acid orb and spat acid as Shark drove his greatsword in them in an earlier encounter.


The Red Hand's Chieftain

After dispatching the ghouls, the Jonas Brothers followed Shark's intuitive dungeon exploration technique of always going left. It led them to a chamber filled with stone cold menhirs (rough stone monoliths) which became just a tad colder as the huge (for a hobgoblin) leader of the Red Hand of Doom, Sinruth, emerged from the door on the other side.

Sinruth, wearing the helm and gauntlets stolen from Brindol's Hall of Valor, fearlessly faced the trio alone, spinning his long spiked chain to pull his enemies against his spiked armor or to knock them prone then kick them for good measure. Much blood (and singing and dancing) warmed the floor of the chamber before the spinning menace was defeated. Sertanian collected the historic items while spitting on and kicking Sinruth for a little bit of vengeance.

The next room contained a large tomb which had a few other items of interest, one of which is a letter addressed to Sinruth from the mysterious Emissary. It contained praises of the Red Hand's strength, promises of bolstering their numbers and most importantly, orders to attack Brindol and obtain the symbolic war relics from the town's Hall of Valor and also capturing a few townsfolk to appease Sinruth's unliving allies in Rivenroar...


The King and Queen of Hearts

The merry Jonas Brothers later emerge from a long hall lined with columns into a large throned chamber filled with scattered bones. Seated on the thrones were the allies spoken of in the letter: a robed figure with flayed skin and a humanoid skeleton armed with a scimitar. The robed figure turned its head upon the intruders and commanded an attack.

The boneshard skeleton rose up to defend its master, along with lesser skeletons that reanimated from the remains on the floor. These kept reassembling themselves even though Urza's chaos bolt continuously blasted them apart. The master, a deathlock wight, sent answering bolts of necrotic energy to weaken the rabid Shark and even reformed its boneshard mate which the barbarian had hacked apart. Urza desperately rolled Arcana checks to figure out why these undead were staying undead and not becoming dead undead, but it wasn't until Justin thunderously and radiantly blew the wight with his powerful song and sword combo while its mate was also down that the undead in the room permanently stayed dead.

Etched into the walls is the history of the lords of Rivenroar, who seemed to be a dynastic family of once-powerful mages and merchants. Shark and Urza were gleaning these historic bits from the vivid fresco depicting the Rivenroars' achievements while Justin was taking down some interesting magical weapons and armors displayed on the opposite wall.


Heroic Welcome

With the Red Hand destroyed, the group went through the remaining unexplored rooms and rounded out the missing captives, Thurann, the guard captain's son, and Adronsius, the town alchemist. With all captives accounted for, they haggardly went back to Brindol dead tired (but still alive) and received a heroes' welcome for their amazing efforts.

A week's respite in town allowed for some R&R. Urza, excited by the prospect of cooking and eating literally anything, took lessons from Mirtala. Justin divided his time between learning from the alchemist in the mornings, stealthily seeing Jalissa (to mercifully spare his envious band members from broken hearts) in the afternoons and performing in the packed Antler and Thistle Tavern in the evenings. Meanwhile, the talentless Shark took up random bouncer jobs here and there.

All seemed well until the growing rumors of orc tribes amassing against the dwarven fortress to the west called upon and pressured our famous local celebrities to answer the official summons for aid. A crowd of tear-streaked faces bid them goodbye, while a more teary-eyed Jalissa gave Justin what could be their final kiss...

Session 7: Dark Dwarves, Horrible Halflings, Terrible Trolls

2nd Weekend of August 2010

The story so far:

The Horsemen surprisingly spare duergar smith Urwol's life. Urwol repaid their mercy by sparing no threats of vengeance and destruction from his brothers Rundarr and Murkelmor awaiting them in the other chambers of Horned Hold. After a brief and ineffective interrogation, the Horsemen tire of his threats and re-repaid him by not sparing his life after all with a quick shove into the yawning 300 feet deep chasm.


Another Life is Not Spared

The Platinum Dragon's symbol

Rather than crossing the narrow bridge into the larger part of the Hold, the Horsemen proceed to a connecting corridor leading to the kitchens and mess hall. They stealthily skulk around for a while but manage to raise alarms as they crossed the room with the ovens. A jumpy Crono hurls a shuriken at the startled figure who opened a door to peek at the noise the group was making. The halfling rogue realized too late that the figure was a helpless and innocent slave, struck dead when the shuriken hit it in the back of the head, creating a pool of spilled innocent blood. Crono, a devout worshipper of lawful good Platinum Dragon, just shrugs it off and skulks off to flank the approaching enemies.

Duergar scouts materialize from the gray walls and divide the group, paving the way for their champion Rundarr, who manages to whack several characters unconscious with his +2 flaming warhammer. The 4 feet tall angry duergar swelled to large proportions when he got bloodied, but it only signaled his impending end. Troll delightfully picks up the burning weapon while Crono tries to say sorry to two other slaves scared of the belligerent little dude.

Duergar flavors

Since the Horsemen doesn't really care about the details of their quest, they neglect to ask these two if they are the captives taken from Winterhaven that they're looking for. They send the absent Aaron's Juno and Josh's Lone Wolf to escort them back to the Seven Pillared Hall along with a keg of ale to ease their way.


Priest of Asmodeus

The remaining Horsemen debate for a while which bridge to take across the windy chasm: the wider one ending in reinforced doors slitted for arrow fire, or the rail-less narrow one. Briefly haunted by the image of a falling Jace, they nevertheless choose the latter, ending in an unoccupied room filled with debris. They slowly but not silently slide open a door leading to what seems to be an infirmary, with the healer shouting in anger at the disturbance of his work.

Asmodeus' symbol

He turns out to be a cleric of Asmodeus, deity of power and tyranny, and manages to lengthen his allies's lives. Two crossbow shaped homunculus fire a rain of arrows at the characters to defend their guarded area. Though they suffer many wounds, Elros, Crono, Jim Castillo, Troll and Jace inflict much more.

After Jim happily frees his evil counterpart of its +2 holy healer's mace and healer's brooch, another brief debate ensued about whether to keep the sick unconscious duergar alive. It seems the Horsemen are subtly developing a conscience as they spared this one's life.

We'll see if this will develop into true heroic valor, or if it's just a fluke.


PS.

Troll's malingering acts of lasciviousness and debauchery led to him contracting a disease. Specifically, he got afflicted with a fever and his dingdong turned green.

Session 6: Rescue

5th Weekend of July 2010

Aaron was very disappointed with his Paladin so he rolled a new one. Seems he really likes being big and strong and mindless since he went for a half-orc barbarian. Fey wanted to try D&D so we made him a Ronin.

New Characters!

• Aaron plays Shark, a Half-Orc Barbarian, still with a greatsword, and still with a penchant for rushing in swinging it.
• Fey plays Adam William's Son, a small Human Ronin (Fighter) who washed into shore looking for his papa.

The tale unfolds...

After surviving the cave bear, Erdan, understandably dissatisfied with his place in the Jonas Brothers, decides to separate ways and start his own band. Before Urza and Justin had time to react, in comes Shark, ready for his audition and passing through his incredible talent of tree drumming. Though the half-orc is butt-ugly, it's ok since he'll be behind the drums anyway and won't take up the limelight of the charismatic duo.

Goblins - Paving the Way for Level 1 Characters since 1975

Adam's Son has ventured far in hopes of finding his papa, why, we don't know, but he ends up in Brindol just in time to help defend it against the Red Hand raid. Councilmember Eofram sends him after the Jonas Brothers, since he seemed a more reliable fellow for the job than the bungling stooges.


Battlechants at Rivenroar

Underneath the catacombs of Castle Rivenroar, the Jonas Brothers encounters goblins, hobgoblins, gnomes and other assorted creatures all wearing armor marked with a crimson Red Hand. Room after room of these unlucky robbers/kidnappers were battered down by the incredible singing and battle prowess capitally led by Shark, compounded by Justin, and punctuated by Urza. Once Adam's Son applied his foe-stopping comma marks, the rescue sentence became very simple. With TimberBieberLake's arcane harmonies, the sentences transformed into lyrics worthy of an epic ballad.

Mirtala

Sertanian

They find the first captive, Sertanian, the Hall of Great Valor's castellan, locked in a jail. He tells them of Mirtala the cook who's somewhere below a spiral staircase, and warned that Kartenix, the captain of the guard, might be in trouble since he said he'll be attempting to escape.

The old man certainly wasn't kidding, as they find the captain's body stiff and bloated from ettercap venom. Mirtala was almost catatonic with shock and feverish from the bites of dire rats which had constantly tormented her captivity. Both spider-men and giant rats were of course no longer breathing by that time.

Ettercap

Climbing the stairs up to the next room is a typical display of Jonas Brothers tactics: Urza plays pinball with a group of hobgoblin minions, bouncing rainbow colored bolts on their skulls, Shark charges in wading with his big sword, bouncing off the felled goblin hexer to the next target, and Justin jauntily bounces on his feet as he sings a bouncy tune while throwing a few heals here and there. They find the saucy Jalissa, an acolyte of Ioun, chained in the next room and while the barbarian and sorcerer was busy goggling their eyes and snapping their jaws shut, Justin was already beside the distressed damsel with lockpicks, soothing words and warm smiles.

Jalissa

Searching for the remaining 3 captives got increasingly difficult, as the bite-happy ghouls in the next room demonstrated. Shark was paralyzed and rendered useless by the ghouls' numbing claws, and if it wasn't for Justin's valiant sacrifice, the group would have succumbed to the undead teeth and nails.

Ghoul

Session 5: Tank Powah

5th Weekend of July

The story so far:

The Horsemen follow the fleeing goblin's path cautiously, expecting readied defenses from the Chamber of Eye's next rooms. They were not disappointed when the courageous frontman Juno opened a side door in a narrow corridor, and deftly dodged the descending warhammer aimed at his scaled head.


Reaping Bloodreavers

Duergar

What followed is an awesome display of durability, tenacity and plain stoneheadedness as the Dragonborn fighter dammed the corridor and singlehandedly took the assault of gray-skinned, spike-bearded and generally angry duergar (or gray dwarf). Another hobgoblin warcaster dishes out some knockdown pulses until the Bloodreavers leader himself, Chief Krand, charges into the fray, only to be foiled by the fighter who stops Krand's every attempt to run for its life when the battle went sour.

They find a key on Krand's mangled body which opened a chest full of the slavers' profits. You'd think that some of them would hesitate to keep such ill-gotten gains, but no, the Horsemen really likey goldie pieces. They also find a purchase contract detailing the sale of Winterhaven slaves to a Murkelmor Grimmerzhul, which is like a neon arrow sign for what to do next to accomplish their mission (find and rescue missing people from Winterhaven).

Warning! Explicit content! Skip to next paragraph if you are under 18 years of age.

They proceed to the unexplored rooms and find other slavers unaware that their leader is dead. Troll orders the rest to leave one goblin alive for questioning, then proceeds to inflict a most terrible, horrible, unspeakably vile, morally depraved, lewdly nefarious sodomy upon the poor defenseless green creature. Having satisfied his urges, Troll pushes the abused goblin off a balcony, which lets the latter hold its breath til it died, escaping the future molestations of the troublin (troll♥goblin) tiefling.


To The Horned Hold

The group returns to the Seven Pillared Hall in order to find out about Murkelmor Grimmerzhul and along the way they rescue Rendil again, this time from a pack of rabid and hungry hyenas. The halfling tells them the Grimmerzhul Clan owns a trading post in the Hall but has a base somewhere in the labyrinth, which is the more likely location for any slave trading activities.

They ask the mage Orontor but while he commends the group's annihilation of the Bloodreavers, he doesn't know the Grimmerzhul's base, and is generally miffed that the Horsemen have gotten no news of Paldemar's activities.

Gendar

After patching up his wounds and bathing, Juno avidly suggests checking out a magic items shop, so they visit the Deepgem Company (which Arbeen thoroughly disliked) but find only gems for sale. They could sell their gems but Arbeen's rogue Crono inexplicably keeps tightfisted control over the party's jewels. He just can't let go.

Rendil suggests checking out Gendar's Curios next, where Elros meets a fellow outcast drow, the proprietor Gendar himself. Though Gendar has an extensive collection of enchanted weapons and armor, it's his information the group bought. For the very cheap price of 200 gp, Gendar gave them a map to the Grimmerzhul's base, Horned Hold.


Breaking the Hold

Horned Hold

The Horned Hold was once a Minotaur stronghold in a massive cavern separated by a 300 feet deep chasm. The Horsemen waste no time in forcing their way in, with Juno wading through the longspears of orc defenders as soon as Crono unlocks the portcullis. Through some confusion on my part about reach weapons and opportunity attacks and marked enemies, the players manage to combo off the Combat Challenge skill of the fighter, triggering free attacks that I knew was too good to be legit.

They head inside the Hold's smithy and were warmly greeted by the fire-flinging duergar clansmith, Urwol. The players take advantage of my unfamiliarity with the monsters skills so Urwol's area affecting spells are only minimally effective, as highlighted when the drow Elros used his Cloud of Darkness right before the angry smith used his best hot-iron manipulation. They knock him out for later questioning.

Which is a mild surprise since they just usually kill unscrupulously.

Session 4: To Thunderspire

4th Weekend of July

The story so far:

Lord Pedro of Winterhaven quickly asks for the Horsmen's aid in tracking these Bloodreavers and rescuing any of his people taken captive.

After a day of preparations in town, the Horsemen journeys to Thunderspire, an underground labyrinth connected to the rest of the Underdark. Located beneath the mountain of the same name, it was once a grand minotaur city, but is now just a fairly large outpost for delvers and miners and traders of Underdark goods.


To the Seven Pillared Hall

Thunderspire entrance

They reach the entrance without any trouble but, being adventurers, they quickly and happily find some. Along the passageway to the main cavern of the underground complex, they hear conversations about some people selling some people. They quickly form a plan: they tie up the Dragonborn Fighter and try to sell him to these guys so they can gather clues on this obvious slave trading activity.

Problem is, Juno knows how to brawl and bash and cleave and pose menacingly, but not act. His huge greatsword still on his person didn't help either. So the horsemen default to what they do best and just brawl and bash and cleave. They rescue a halfling named Rendil Halfmoon from the hobgoblins, who were indeed members of the Bloodreavers. Rendil, who had no love for slavers, was snooping about when the hobgobs caught him, so he offered free board and lodging for his rescuers at his family's inn at the Seven Pillared Hall.


To the Chamber of Eyes

Rendil was quite happy to introduce his saviors to his family in the Halfmoon Inn. He asked the Horsemen if they needed directions in town and what their business in town is. He does like snooping around.

The Horsemen tells him of their mission and he directs them to Orontor, one of the Mages of Saruun who keep a semblance of order in the Hall. Orontor approves of their actions and asks them to further investigate the Bloodreavers, since he has suspicions that a colleague of his, Paldemar, is somehow connected with the rampant slave trading that the Mages are supposed to prevent. Rendil guides them partway to the supposed lair, the Chamber of Eyes.

Chamber of Eyes

They were hindered into further exploring the Chamber beyond the first hall by a locked door. Crono tries to pick it but fails. A balcony to the north promises entry, but even with Juno hoisting the halfling up there, they fail. Finally, Juno forces the door open, upon which the guards inside signal an alarm and file out into the balcony armed with crossbows.

Elros plays shooting gallery with the goblin sharpshooters, him doing his best to knock em down fast enough, and them doing their best to scrape the nimble drow while jumping to and fro to avoid the giant frost missiles. Meanwhile, Crono finally manages to unlock the front door and is rewarded by a hulking bugbear pouncing on him. Juno helps him out and when they tag team it to death, Elros and Jim have shot down all but one of the goblins, who then manages to escape to warn the rest of the Bloodreavers..

Session 4: Plunging into Depths Unfathomed

4th Weekend of July

I really wanted to finish the first adventure this session so I left off some encounters since the group doesn't need more XP at this point. Also, there are 6(!) guys playing tonight so it's probably going to be a walk in the park. Or more like a dip in a shallow pool. Or maybe a plunge into something a bit more... denjerasu.


The story so far:

There is a palpable air of malevolence stirring under the Horsemen's feet as they tread downstairs into the lower level of the dungeons. It seems Kalarel's ritual is going along nicely.

They are greeted by 2 heavily armored hobgoblins asking aloud, "Password?" Of course, our warmongering heroes have no clue what those guys are talking about, since they killed every living and non-living thing* that they met since they got here. Which is, of course, exactly what they did. Hobgoblins charged in from everywhere, punctuated by a large jumping spider that pounced on Troll and almost, almost, knocked him out. These gay guys are tough bastards.

They get bottlenecked at the entrance, and the hobgoblins' phalanx formation proves tough to crack. Eventually, Josh's dual wielding fighter Vizuviouz knocks off a few, Jace drowns some in a cloud of paper cuts and the rest mop up.


Baiting the Warchief

Hobgoblin Warchief

They next wander into what turned out to be the hobgoblins' barracks. The hobgoblins, being a curiously hospitable race, throw them a welcoming ambush party hosted by their Warchief who leads the fray, bellowing friendly taunts about selling these gate crashers as slaves later. Vizuviouz, who probably trained with straw dummies, puts his training to good use, albeit as the dummy. He buckles under the assault, knocked out in the first round of combat without ever taking an action.

Troll revives him and tells him to back off for a bit. Tough bastard that he is, he tanks the damage but couldn't return the favor with his measly +5 bonus to attack. So he gets creative and challenges the heavily armored hobgobs to be real men and fight them without armor. Well, the hobgobs aren't falling for such an obviously gay trick to see their underpants.

Carlo's drow Elros has his own squidly trick, spouting a cloud of darkness that engulfs several enemies. Juno blockades a room of hobgobs all by himself. Crono struggles to get combat advantage, but when he did, things quickly went south for the bad guys. Their HP, not their pants.

Another roomful of hobgoblins, this time led by a warcaster who thumps his staff a la Gandalf, was beaten in similar fashion.


The Trap Room

Everyone was mustering their resolve as they peered into the next room's dark depths and found a huge shadowy shape hidden in the umbra, believing it to be Mr. Boss Orcus himself, awaiting them.

Duh. If they met Orcus at this stage, they'd be wiped out from a single sneeze.

Juno ignites a sunrod which illuminates the shape to be a tall statue holding a two handed sword en guard. The doors slam shut and lock when they step under its reach, and suddenly it swings the massive blade in a wide arc.

Elros spots an access panel that underneath it and Crono attempts to disable the statue while ducking under the blade every time it passes by. Jace and Juno meanwhile tiptoe across the room and manage to get hit by the blasts from tiger and dragon statues.


Kalarel and The Thing in The Portal

Beyond the trap room they find a pit with four chains bolted to the floor beside it, all dangling down into the depths below. One by one they descend and all succeed on their Athletics checks except for... take a good guess. Jace! He slips, fumbles, panics a bit, then falls headlong into the darkness. Juno makes a brilliant attempt at trying to save Jace from his second death but alas, he doesn't catch him.

Jace plakdas into a shallow pool, his now open eyes greeted by skulls and bones filmed in vivid red. But he's Jecebel so he's not hurt much, and as the rest of the gang climb down into the pool of blood, they notice low, incessant chanting from an altar dominated by a figure clad in chainmail holding a skull-capped rod and wearing a horned helm. Kalarel.

Kalarel, Leader of Cult of Orcus

Behind them, the portal glows menacingly, the visage of something horrid and formless struggling against the dark and murky substance of the rift. Opposite it on the other side of the large hall is a huge statue of Orcus himself, looking eager to welcome his avatar into the world. Kalarel is livid at the disturbance, as he's near to completing the ritual, and orders several skeletons and a deathlock wight to keep the interlopers busy. Stopping the ritual would need either Kalarel's defeat, or a successful skill challenge in reversing the ritual's effects.

The heroes handily destroy the skeletons but the wight just keeps on reanimating them. The thing in the portal lashes out with a shadowy leash, pulling nearby characters into its maw, promising oblivion. The tide of battle turns when the wight falls, and Kalarel is forced to teleport to the defensive magic circle in front of the portal. Juno follows him, yet recklessly positions himself too close to the portal. Kalarel gives him a mighty shove, slam dunk! The Dragonborn plunges into a greater darkness than that which the wizard fell through.

Speaking of which, Jace has just incurred the second fail in the skill challenge right before that, making his next attempt the Do Or Die! (again) roll. Uncharacteristically, he manages to pull it off, and the thwarted avatar sucks Kalarel into the portal, spitting Juno out moments later along with Kalarel's horned helm stuck to his belt.

It's no surprise that Jace doesn't get any congratulations for being the Hero of the Day, in stark contrast to Troll's miraculous 20 in the kobold cave, but the Horsemen return victorious in their first adventure and are greeted with much accolades by the folks of Winterhaven, showering them with flowers and praise and water (cause they stink).


What's Next?

The Horsemen are paid handsomely and commended by Lord Pedro (he even lets them keep the horses to save them from the embarrassment of being horseless horsemen) for their services to the town and he hopefully inquires if they found any captives in the dungeons, as several townspeople have gone missing. He had believed that either the kobolds or the goblins have taken them under orders of the cult's leader, but the Horsemen had found no one they didn't immediately want to kill.

Instead, they showed Lord Pedro the message scroll they found after defeating the blue slime, a letter from Chief Krand of the Bloodreavers in Thunderspire offering to buy humanoids that Kalarel might be willing to sell...

Session 4: Deeper into the Keep

4th Weekend of July

Prior to the weekend, a lot of people got interested in joining the tremendous fun of geeking out with D&D, mostly through the coolness of this blog. I had to brainstorm a bit on how to incorporate the new characters into the story and thought up a really cool one involving stone replicas and devils and marshmallows, but in the end, I fell back on the classic "this guy knows that guy."

New Characters!

• Carlo (Macho Therapist) plays Elros, a Drow Ranger who rains frost arrows to rival the rogue's damage output.
• Josh (Jollibee) plays Vizuviouz, a dual-weapon wielder Longtooth Shifter Tempest Fighter. What a mouthful.

Billy was surprisingly not busy and was able to play in the morning. I made characters for Fey and Carlo based on what they'd like to play so we can dive in to the action quickly. Fey was supposed to play this really cool Swordmage who has elemental sword attacks, but sadly, higher powers than the DM's intervened with his availability to play. Carlo liked his archer dude and I think everybody was impressed with his average damage per round of 20 or so. I wasn't able to discuss with Josh his character beforehand, so when he showed up at night and we rolled up his swordie, he probably got disappointed in how it later turned out.


The story so far:

After days holed up in his room, communing with his deity Ioun, Jim emerged blessed with a +1 holy symbol slightly groggy from not eating, bathing, pissing, shitting, jerking off, etc, during the whole time. He finds that the rest of his group had gone ahead to Shadowfiend Keep to confront Kalarel. Staul asks him to aid his comrades, along with Elros, the dark-skinned brother of the elven hunter Ninaran. Staul then leaves to have a jolly good time in Lordaeron.


The Hunger Problem of Dungeon Dwelling

The Horsemen was about to retrace their steps to the locked door they had earlier passed when Jim Castillo and Elros found them. Since Aaron wasn't there yet, his Dragonborn Juno went to look after the horses that they parked outside the dungeon, because it's just dumb to call yourselves Horsemen if you ain't got horses. The group then stumbles into a blue slime lurking beneath a shallow underground pool, which bathes them in fart bubbles.

Rune of terror

They go back and enter the now-unlocked door which leads to dark corridors pervaded by low moaning sounds. No, not whimpering, Japanese-style moans; more like the moan you make when you're tired and hungry and bored. The very perceptive Elros scouts ahead with his darkvision, finding a rune-marked floor tile which he bravely steps on.

And, as Jace has previously illustrated, we know what happens to brave adventurers, don't we?

The Horsemen probably got a bit confused when they saw the dark elf screaming like a little girl headed in the opposite passageway. They follow him into a room where a very joyous welcome committee of zombies (about as joyous as starving wolves get when a flock of sheep stumbles into their cave) happily invites them in for lunch. And, similar to earlier encounters with similarly hungry rats, jelly, kruthiks and slime, the Horsemen decline the invitation, not quite keen to join a party where they are the lunch.


The Lovely Bones

They venture into a hallway lined with sarcophagi. Rattling, clicking noises seem to come from inside them and they pry each lid open, only to discover nothing inside. Just as they see the hallowed altars at the far end of the hall, the pried lids slam shut then burst open again, from which skeletons in various armor and weapons climb out. After dismantling the skeletal array, they discover the altars to be dedicated to the Platinum Dragon. So Crono offers a short prayer to his deity while Elros notices and loots several silver dragon statues from a secret compartment behind one. Nice combo.

The next room revealed a much larger sarcophagi than the others, with an equally larger skeleton climbing out of it. This one however, had a breastplate emblemed with a dragon, and more importantly, a voice, which then said, "The portal must never be reopened! State your intentions or prepare to die!"

You have to keep wondering why Daven was playing the intelligent wizard when he was all for attacking the dude and just taking its longsword. The backstabbing rogue and usually evil drow were quick to explain their benevolent mission, and together they successfully passed an impromptu interview via a skill challenge.

The skeleton introduced itself as Sir Leoric, the last Knight of Bahamut to guard the Keep before its ruin. Sir Leoric succumbed to the malevolent whispers of the evil from the portal and, became possessed of a terrible madness. He slew his wife and children, and, being the greatest warrior in the Keep, most of the guard battalion. The rest rallied forth and was able to trap him into the catacombs where he regained his sanity and realized in horror at the atrocity he has done. He begs the Horsemen to fulfill his mission of guarding the portal, which he now feels to be reopening, and gives them his +1 Aecris longsword.

They return to the passageways marked with runes of terror and, after being stumped on how to hurdle this impossible obstacle, tried to jump over them, which surprisingly worked (duh). Elros' spider senses detected a secret door with an illusory wall, and after destroying the hungry zombies inside, they get stumped for a while again by the following riddle:

A wondrous treasure,

Valued by all, sought by many.

Found in both victory and defeat,

Yet never at the bottom of a treasure chest.

It marches before you like a herald,

And lives long after you are gone.

Of what do I speak?

Jace finally shows his intelligence and correctly answers Reputation, getting rewarded with a +1 Black Iron scale armor he would later give to Juno. He tested its fire resistance when he later casts Burning Spray with Juno in the blast area.

It's evening (real time, not game time) by the time they venture down into the second level of the Shadowfiend Keep...

The Magic Item Wishlist

For those who don't know yet, I've asked everyone to give me a wishlist of the magical items they would like to get for their characters.

The purpose of the wishlist is so that I know what you guys want. Treasure rewards are more meaningful and exciting if there's something in there that the players can actually use, instead of random stuff no one really wants (like the shield of protection). This doesn't mean everyone will get what's on their list, but I'll try to accommodate your wishes.

How it works:

Make a list of 3 magical items you'd like to get within the next couple of levels, preferably a weapon, an armor, and a miscellaneous item (like boots, or rings, etc). The level of each item must not exceed your level + 4.

I'll then combine all your lists and use that to draw rewards from whenever there's a treasure reward that has magical items in it. So if you guys unlock a chest that the adventure guide says has 2 magic items, I'll pick 2 from the list and that's what you'll find. I'll try to balance it so that everyone will at least get 1 good weapon and armor.

You can choose from the items in any of the books, as well as those listed in the D&D Character Builder. It's a great tool and there's a free torrent for it. Just a reminder, item level is very important here. Usually, each adventure only has a couple of high level items and many lower level ones, so only listing level 8 items for example will make it much less likely for your item to be picked.


Those who don't give me lists will have to make do with random stuff.

Microsoft Surface - Dungeons and Dragons Demo Walkthrough | HD

Frikken awesome

Session 3: Side Campaign

3rd Weekend of July 2010

Since many players couldn't come this weekend, and since those who could are too addicted not to play, Aaron, Arbeen and I decided to start a side campaign. I thought we should try the races and characters in Player's Handbook 2 just for kicks.

New Characters!

Aaron plays Erdan (17 Charisma), an Elven Paladin who's the Jace of this campaign (i.e. misses a lot, gets knocked out a lot).
Arbeen plays Urza (18 Charisma), a Deva Sorcerer who dreams of planeswalking someday.
Derick plays Justin TimberBieberLake (20 Charisma), a Half-Elf Bard who likes to punish enemies both with ridiculous swordplay and even more ridiculous singing and dancing.

Having only 2 Player Characters (PC) is too hard for me, who has to adjust the encounter difficulties of the adventure (which was originally designed for 5 PCs) to have just the right amount of challenge. So I added my own character but adopted a support and laid back role so the real players are in charge of what they do.

Background Story

We decided to call our adventuring group The Jonas Brothers (or maybe DMC?) as we were a cute but tough trio out to make a name (and riches) for ourselves in a harsh, unforgiving world. With our high Charisma scores, no music loving crowd can resist us, men will shower us with gold, women will shower us with kisses and hugs and other hopefully indecent behavior, our fans will triple-double after every completed quest, and we will skyrocket to the top of the Hellboard Charts. That's the plan anyway.


The story so far:

Brindol

The wanderings of The Jonas Brothers led them to Brindol, a small town on the south shore of the Elsir River. While relaxing in the Antler and Thistle tavern, shouts, crashes, clangs, and other assorted noises ring through the early evening and suddenly, hobgoblins wearing armor imprinted with a red hand break the tavern door down shouting, "For the Red Hand! For Sinruth!" They attack several patrons while one of them throws a burning torch near the bar and sets it aflame.

The Jonas Brothers quickly respond in kind, being one of the several aforementioned patrons themselves. They fell hobgoblins, by the dozens, by the hundreds, nay, thousands! At least that's how the bard will sing about it later.

Red Hand of Doom

Arbeen's Urza bounces off Chaos Bolts that make bowling pins of the minions. Sick.

Aaron's Erdan becomes this Daven's campaign and misses a lot of attacks. He also gets hit a lot and misses his other character, a Dragonborn Fighter wearing scale armor, too.

When they finish dispatching the hobgoblins, and cleaning up the mess (including some spilled coins from a gambling table), a wounded city guard asks for Erdan's aid. It seems several attacks have unbelievably occurred inside the town, which with its high walls thought impervious from such incursions. Smoke and flames rise from several buildings all around, and the sound of battle can be heard over the panicking shouts and screams.

Ogre

A moment later a huge ogre strapped to a wagon turns the street and notices The Jonas Brothers. Erdan charges forward and feels the hugeness of the ogre as it pummels him with a club long and large enough to be a Meralco post. The wagon was also carrying 2 hobgoblins armed with longbows that punctuated the club swing with arrow piercings.

Not to be left out of such an exciting clubbing event, the rest of the party joins in and shoots some long range lyrics and bolts and arrows of their own. This is where I felt that 3 PCs can be really hard for both the players and the DM, since even though I already adjusted the monsters' stats, it was still a bit too difficult.

After Justin's incredible shooting percentage (2 hits out of 13 attacks), along with Erdan getting knocked out twice in typical Daven style, the party eventually brings down ogre and co.

The next day, they get summoned to the Council Hall where they are interviewed by Council Member Eofram (as a skill challenge) as possible rescuers of the townsfolk who were captured in the attack. 7 people were taken, along with some historic items in the Hall of Valor. The Jonas Brothers fail the skill challenge but get the quest anyway for half the reward.

They then interrogate a captured hobgoblin and attempt to force the Red Hand's lair from him. They fail this skill challenge too but he points out a location on their map anyway.

They then journey north to where the hobgoblin said they were camped, the catacombs at Castle Rivenroar. Traveling without getting lost was another skill challenge they failed, and they ended up at, instead of the entrance to the catacombs, the entrance to a cave bear's cave. Where Erdan also gets knocked out. They eventually find the right path and reach Castle Rivenroar anyway.

So, multiple skill challenges failed, Erdan practically hugging the floor all the time - seems like a good start!

Session 2 (Part 2)

2nd Weekend of July 2010

The story continues...

When the Horsemen finally untie Staul, he takes back his +1 amulet of protection from Jace's now-dead body (who won't be needing it anymore, since he's dead), removes his wife's picture from its locket and hands it back to the group to show his appreciation for his rescue from being kobold stew (or bbq, or whatever these kobolds do to their food). On their way back to Winterhaven, he then recounts what happened to him.


Staul's story

Staul

Staul has discovered from his sources in Winterhaven, namely an old farmer named Elian and a much older scholar named Voltar, that the rumored relic he was searching for would probably be connected to Orcus, the Prince of the Undead (cue suspense music). Orcus' avatar was released from a portal north of town back in the Scourge War, but was defeated by the now-legendary Knights of Bahamut. Though the fallen avatar was hurled back through the portal from whence it came, a piece was salvaged (the horn the Horsemen recovered) and taken away.

Staul lectures the Horsemen that usually, re-summoning works better and faster if there's a strong connection between the worlds that would be connected by the portal (Orcus in his world, and his horn in this world), and that if obviously evil men (and kobolds, and gnome, etc) are looking for it, then it only means that they want to reopen the portal for Orcus.

Orcus

Staul says that he need not say how terrible Orcus or even his avatar is (not bad-terrible or crappy-terrible, but horrendous-, merciless-, and disastrous-terrible), and that they would have to stop this Kalarel fellow from completing the ritual of reopening the portal. They, meaning of course, the intrepid and enterprising young adventurers named the Horsemen -1.

Upon returning to town, the Horsemen are in a hurry to collect the promised gold from both Lord Pedro and Sister Linore. Lord Pedro would meet them later with Staul, while Sister Linore reinforced Staul's assessment of the impending threat. The priestess of Avandra also took notice of the mangled body that Aaron's Dragonborn was dragging along and commented that it might be dead and would they be so kind as to properly dispose of it in a nearby trash can, preferably one marked non-recyclable, since it was starting to smell and might disturb the other dying people in the temple's ward.

However, the hero of the day, Troll, continues in his Action Hero role and asserts that bringing the dead wizard back alive would help in stopping Kalarel. He convinces Linore of the wizard's assets (i.e. meatshield) and she tells the group she will ask Avandra's intervention and inform them later via email.


Resting in Winterhaven

After recharging themselves at the Silver Unicorn, the Horsemen -1 meets with Staul and Lord Pedro. They agree to thwarting Kalarel's plans by going to his likeliest location: Shadowfiend Keep, which the Knights of Bahamut built to guard over the portal. Staul would love to help, but he's old and offers to send aid by travelling to the nearest Defenders of the Alliance HQ. Troll also convinces Lord Pedro to lend them horses to hasten their quest. So when they later went to the Temple to find Jace brought back to life, not only did Troll remove the -1 from the group's name, he also made them true Horsemen.

Troll, the sassy but charming Tiefling that he/she is, also flirts with the amicable male proprietor of Blair's Emporium, Blair.Smiles, winks, compliments, etc were exchanged in the brief but passionate haggling, along with gold coins that traded for potions of healing and a belt of giant strength among others.

I should note that since his character died, Daven was busy sleeping. When I was telling the others how Linore sadly informs the Horsemen the good news, Daven literally woke up and joined the table all smiles. He showed his appreciation by casting Burning Hands in a later encounter, burning more than Arbeen's Rogue's hands. Some time in the next part Fred nods off and dozes in his chair. Billy didn't return so I left his Cleric back in town, communing with his deity.

Level Up!

The characters reached Level 2 here after getting XP from completed quests. I made a mistake in giving too much though, as some would later level up again on Sunday, which never happened before in all my years of playing D&D.


Shadowfiend Keep

Shadowfiend Keep

They arrive at the ruins of Shadowfiend Keep to find the dungeons guarded by goblins. Much goblin-slaying ensues and the Horsemen clean up the first few rooms easily. They sneaked up on a sleeping fat goblin and after butchering the poor helpless dude, they find 2 keys on his person. One opens a chest containing a +2 magic wand which Jace happily takes (though it didn't improve his spell hit % any way) and the other probably can open a locked door they passed by. (Hint!)

They were able to explore natural cave areas where the Dragonborn Fighter constantly got chomped on by giant rats, slammed stickily by a large splitting ochre jelly, and gnashed by clawed, insect-like kruthiks. But he's a tough mofo and Aaron just mocks/brags/sighs-in-relief the DM whenever a monster rolls badly in its attack.

It's Sunday evening when everyone decides to call it a day. Since the encounters were too easy I'll jack up the next monsters in the next rooms next week. (Hint!)

Session 2 (Part 1)

2nd Week of July 2010

New Character!

• Fred (iCYxFRESH), plays Troll, a Tiefling Warlord of questionable gender.

Fred, envious of the tremendous fun the group was having, joins and creates a Warlord creatively named Troll. The adventure picks up early in the morning but had to pause for a quick break (about 8+ hours) so that Fred can go on a date.

Since the group is very understanding, and would gladly trade places with Fred (i.e. on a date with an actual girl), we re-energize by sleeping. Billy, however, has other friends and leaves. Fred returns after paying P120 for a tricycle ride to my house, and we play til morning (because he has to go meet his girl, again). 

The story so far:

Crono (the rogue) approaches the stirring thing and notices it's actually covered by a blanket. Lo and behold, beneath is Troll (the warlord) tied up, gagged, bruised, and with a sore behind. Troll struggles to remember why he ended up there, and, after the DM reassures him that he did not engage in S&M action with the gnome, recalls what has transpired.

Troll's tale

Troll is actually one of the Defenders chosen to escort Staul into Winterhaven. Things were going fine and dandy until they leave for the dragon burial site, where, some days later, they are ambushed by a gnome with fellows in dark clothing along with a kobold troop. They were quickly overpowered, and as Fred was being tied up, he hears the gnome talking with Irontooth, the kobold leader. Fred was to be made as a sacrifice for Kalarel's ritual, while Staul would be taken by a hungry Irontooth.

After Troll tells his story, the group opens the silver box, finding inside it a blackened ram's horn that radiated strong evil. Reading Staul's notes, they discover that the horn was a cut-off piece of an avatar of Orcus, Prince of the Undead. This malicious avatar was released from a portal near Winterhaven in the Scourge War, where it was defeated by a valiant company of Defenders named Knights of Bahamut. The fleeing summoners managed to salvage the broken off piece of the demon's horn, probably in the hope of resummoning it later. However, the Knights of Bahamut built a keep over the portal, swearing to keep guard over the partially sealed portal. How the horn came to be buried in a dragon's burial site is unknown.

Outer Kobold Lair

Troll then decides to team up with the horseless Horsemen, and they set off for the kobold lair. As they prepare to assault the unaware outer guard, Troll boisterously argues with the rest, blowing the surprise attack. Fred gets his first taste of D&D action, and finds his Jacob (wolf pack) tactics work really well with Arbeen's backstabs. Daven's wizard continues to miss, but luckily, his Cloud of Daggers have unavoidable damage, and he sweeps off most of the minions.

Here my memory seems to get muddled. I think Fred and Billy leaves after that encounter so the former can meet up with his girlfriend while the latter does something (I don't remember) for someone he fervently wishes would be his girlfriend. Fred comes back later, probably happy, and we continue playing, but Billy doesn't, since his fervent wish probably is still just that, a wish. I hijack the body of Billy's cleric, Jim Castillo, and control him in the next encounter for the sake of story continuity.

Inner Kobold Lair (or How Daven Died)

The group enters the cave behind the cliff waterfall and is promptly greeted by javelins aplenty. Out of bravery (or dumbheadedness, your pick), Daven rushes his wizard Jace to the forefront to clear the kobold minions with his trusty Cloud spell. He and Crono, Arbeen's equally brave (or courageous, your pick) Rogue, are quickly surrounded by numerous kobolds while the team's frontman, Aaron's 7 foot tall Dragonborn dude lags behind. They all fell kobolds left and right but more keep on coming.

Irontooth

Eventually, the dreaded leader of the kobolds, Irontooth, arrives, and, along with an acid-lobbing wyrmpriest, his dual axes give the players reason to dread. Soon, the cleric's healing prayers and the warlord's inspiring words run out, and the players wounds aggravate. One by one, snickety sharp axes deal mortal blows to the Horsemen, and one by one, they fall.

First to kiss the cave floor is, of course, the brave wizard. Daven has failed his first death saving throw* when the Dragonborn Fighter flops down. He fails his second saving throw by the time the Cleric sizzles down from an acid orb. The rogue Crono, sly lil bastard that he is, was down to 3 or so Hit Points and was flinging javelins or some such from behind a wall near the cave entrance/exit when the wyrmpriest decides to go out for fresh air and maybe a short stroll and a snack. He gives the Rogue a thump with his wooden stick on his way out and down goes the halfling.

*Characters reduced to 0 or less Hit Points become unconscious and need to succeed at death saving throws in order to stay alive. 3 failures and the character dies. Yep, dedz.


You can stir the air with a spoon at this point, the suspense was so thick now that everything, the entire Horsemen's survival, depended squarely on the shoulders of the Tiefling Warlord, Troll. He and Irontooth, both greatly wounded, were locked in final battle when Troll swings his falchion... and misses! Irontooth returns the blow in kind... hits! Somehow Troll is still alive and there's still hope left.

It is at this moment in the encounter that Daven has to succeed at his third saving throw else Jace dies. As you may have guessed from the subtitle, yes, Daven fails, and Jace perishes amidst great fits of laughter from everyone else. He awaits his final fate by taking a nap.

Troll rolls the dice, in the last desperate attempt at survival, and there is a moment of silence when all eyes stared unbelievingly as the 20-sided die rested on the 20. An automatic critical hit! Troll's falchion disembowels Irontooth and cuts him up into many pieces just to be sure. The hero of the day revives his unconscious teammates and gets many many thanks and whoops in return. Except of course for Jace, who died and who probably wouldn't have died if Fred hadn't missed his first attack.

Inside the cave they find Staul, who, bound and gagged, showed incredible relief in his eyes upon seeing his rescuers. The Horsemen however ignores him and goes for the treasure chest beside Irontooth's bed, finding lots of gold and a suit of +1 dwarven chainmail which Troll happily dons.

The Horsemen has accomplished its first mission but they are faced with more dilemmas: What is this ritual that Kalarel hopes to finish with the Horn of Orcus? Who is this Kalarel and what is his cult's true purpose? Should the Horsemen finish what they seem to have started and thwart Kalarel's plans? Should they finally stop counting the gold coins and untie the scholar? How should they bury Jace's cold but brave corpse and how do they divide his possessions and his share of the loot among the rest of the still-alive members?

Join us tomorrow for Session 2 (Part 2)!