Title: My FR Campaign
Tags: RPG Forgotten Realms D&D
Blog Entry: Well this is my current campaign which will be ending sometime this year (after 12 years of play), but of course that depends on how crazy my player's decide to get. I was detailing things on facebook in a group I created. But I am just going to port things over to here instead. So, check it out. Incidentally, this will be one hell of a long entry, as it will be the compiling several months of game in brief capsules, so to speak. I'll add new entires in a normal way after this. Oh and I realize there are some type-o's but bear with me. Oh and here is a list of characters and their players in brackets: Dane Daggersly (Mike Adams) CG thief(er...rogue)/fighter Rhone Ethenkhar (NPC) LG paladin 13/fighter 2 Martin Battlestorm (NPC) NG ranger 13/fighter 2 Alvansar Mulvahil (Andrew Buhagiar) NG ranger/druid (15th level, more druid than ranger) Levertine Amras (Logan or to some Sean Logan. Dude has a cool name) CG cleric 15 Korroth Flinteye (Chris Buhagiar)LG cleric 14 Braxton Davehorn (Troy Young)LN fighter 15 (I think) Eric Midwood fighter (Greg Malcolm) LN 13 I think. He died and lost a level or two. Anyway, these are the current levels of characters as of this writing. It is a high level campaign. As an intersting note, Dane and Rhone are two oldest characters, with Rhone being an NPC since it really ended up being a one player affair. Martin joined shortly thereafter during an adapted-for-the-Realms version of the module L1 Secret Of Bone Hill (if you own the module, you will see in a list of NPC's that populate the inn a ranger called Martin! I added the name Battlestorm to give him a bit more of a background, added to which for those followers of the Realms will know the last name attached to teh Battlestorm Brewery in Cormyr) Dane no longer participates in game, but was around 12th level I beleive when he departed. Talia was 12th level, but was only there for 2 sessions and was quickly a casualty at the player's request. Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Forgotten Realms News : TARSAKH 18 1370 D.R. Lev Amras, Rhone Ethenkhar, Korroth Flinteye, Eric Midwood and new group member Talia have traveled to Westagte to recover some of Talia's equipment from her family home. Once there it was discovered that the house had been ransacked and her brother, Thom Je, tortured and murdered, most likely by the Night Masks. After raising him from the dead (the next day which would be the 19th), it was discovered that this attack was the result of their family's involvement in trying to break up the Night Masks control of Westgate. The party helped Thom-Je escape to a safe house within the city. The party now finds themselves (after using scry & teleport) apparently in the bowels of Westgates sewers trying to recover the body of the head of servants in Talia's household. TARSAKH 19 1370 D.R. Braxton & Martin set out the same day as the Westgate bound group, and after two days of travel are back at the location east of Tilverton where Braxton made a successful stand & defeat of a very capable (almost TOO capable) group of orc bandits. They used good tracking and old fashioned adventure know-how to find a trail up into the base of the mountains to discover the lair of the orcs. A strange greenish-black fire pit was found and is highly suspected to be the work of foul arcane trickery. It was at this point when they were about to leave that the two adventurer's were beset by 5 Yrthaks! Blind, flying, sonic-beasties, that eventually separated Martin & Braxton via a cave-in of the orc lair. Martin, now trapped outside with the remaining 4 yrthaks (Braxton felled one of them), does his best to stave off the attacks. Braxton, finds a way out of the cave by climbing through a strange natural drainage crevice (with a magically imbued glowing coin clenched between his teeth, in a constant struggle with death because, at any minute, he could make a false move and choke on the very thing lighting his way to freedom and life) within the stone wall at the back of the orc cave lair. He is now some 150 feet up approximately from where he was and is outside. KYTHORN 15 1370 D.R. (Flash Forward) Alavansar is hot on the trail of underdark interlopers on the surface just south of Daggerdale. He encounters a strike force/reconnaissance team comprised of at least 4 Drow. Feeling overpowered (there must have been a cleric & a wizard present) he hightailed it out of there to warn other Dales folk and gather the other members of the group to see what they can do about this pestilence now stinking up the land! Upon his return to Shadowdale, Alvansar made for the unofficial HQ of the town: The Old Skull Inn. There he found one of his boon comrades: Dane, already in his cups! After Alvansar quaffed a quick pint, he and a weaving Dane made for the adventuring store of one Levertine Amras. Forgotten Realms News: April 6 Session Recap Westgate Sewers Tarsakh 20 1370 DR After teleporting to where the blood drained corpse of Thom Je Arandor's head servant was, Levertine Amras, Rhone Ethenkhar, Korroth Flinteye, Eric Midwood & Talia Arandor found themselves deep within the bowels of Wesgate's sewer complex.. After retrieving the corpse, they discovered this was indeed a secret hideout of vampires operating with the city. The managed to free a group of human who were abducted over the last few weeks. Briefly, the group searched the immediate area, and discovered a trapped sarcophagus which exploded into flame. They stopped investigating the sarcophagi shortly after, assuming (rightly) they were merely a diversion to weaken them. In an attempt to search the hideout more thouroughly, they inadvertently left the area and instead, found their way out to the surface. It took them the remainder of the night, traversing the labyrinthine Westgate sewer system. They proceeded to and resurrect the servant and make good their exit from Westgate to Eveningstar, where they stayed at Wander Brook Keep for recuperative purposes. On the 20 of Tarsakh, they made for Shadowdale. During the next month, it was unknown what would become of Talia as she disappeared for no apparent reason. She had apparently agreed to take on Eric as some sort of bodyguard, but neglected to inform him of her spontaneous nature for random departure. Meanwhile... Tarsakh 19 1370 outside of Tilverton to the east Braxton & Martin Battlestorm reunited after their brief but challenging separation by a group of rather aggressive Yrthaks. After Braxton found his way out of the cave in, he clambered down the mountainside to find that Martin had managed to fight of the remainder of the Yrthaks. This allowed him to evade the beasts utilizing his camouflage ability and his displacement cloak. Soon after, they made their way to Tilverton and soon after, Shadowdale. by the 21 of Tarsakh they had made it back to Shadowdale. soon after however, Braxton disappeared again, for purposes unbeknownst to the rest of the party (much to Alvansar's delight, no doubt). Kythorn 15 1370 Shadowdale After finding Dane,( the only member of the Vanguard around at the time) Alvansar took him to find the rest of the party starting off with Lev. Informed by a rather drunken cousin of Lev's (the manager of his very profitable adventuring outfitter store on the edge of Shadowdale) that Lev ahs gone away back home to officiate at a family wedding and would be back in 2 days. The next stop was to go to Martin's place, where they were greeted by a very cautious bow wielding Martin. Quickly, Alvansar conveyed the urgency of their task to deal with the incursion of drow on the surface.Here they discovered that Rhone was back east in Tantras on church of Torm business. And that he was due to return within 2 days or so. It was decided by the three adventurer’s that they would head to Dagger Falls in the morning to speak with Randal Morn about this problem. They proceeded to leave messages around town for their comrades who had yet to return home. During this course of action, while leaving a message at the Old Skull Inn it was found out by Martin that Korroth was also away for business purposes of securing supply partners for his dwarven spirit distillery to the north of town. He was in Voonlar. With that, the three set out to Dagger Falls . Forgotten Realms News April 20 2008 Session Recap: Kythorn 21 Dagger Falls, Daggerdale In a meeting held that evening at the great hall of Lord Randal Morn, rightful ruler of Daggerdale, the assembled party of the Vanguard consisted of: Alvansar Mulvahil, Rhone Ethekhar, Martin Battlestorm, Levertine Amras & Eric Midwood. Dane Daggersly had unfortunately, been called away on Harper business. So it was that to Twilight Hall he was summoned via teleport courtesy of Elminster as a spokesperson to represent the Harper members of the Vanguard. The judgment of one Khelben “Blackstaff” Arunson was at hand; his dealings with Zhentarim behind everyone’s back had been found out. He is to be judged by a group of his peers, voting to see whether or not he shall be excommunicated from the Harpers for what is perceived to be acts of betrayal. What is discovered by the party in the Hall of Lord Morn is this: there has been indeed an incursion of drow on the surface within Daggerdale; but not the drow of Cormanthor. These seem to have stemmed from an ancient burial area know as the Dordrien Crypts about 10 mile south of Dagger Falls and on the western edge of the Dagger Hills, according to local trackers. And so, the party accepted and a great sigh of relief was issued from the Lord of Daggerdale. Each member is paid, upfront, the sum of 5000 gp and has all mundane equipment supplied for them. Later that morning of the 22 of Kythorn, they headed forth toward the Dordrien crypts. They were to find a small contingent of vampires (6 to be exact) outside the crypt proper. They vanquished them with relative ease, if for some minor wounds incurred on Lev and Alvansar. From that point they proceed to bypass the chained doors leading into the crypt via some of Alvansar’s woodland magic (stoneshape). It was here, that a group of five dead drow, were discovered on the floor and all their equipment gone. They were killed by crossbow quarrels and bludgeoning. Following their tracks, they headed further into the crypt. A room was discovered that was warded with Celestial Dire Lions, which they left alone. There was also a doorway that was sealed with plaster. Soon after its discovery, everyone agreed that it was unworthy of their investigatory energy. The group proceeds down a flight of stairs that led deep into the ground. Here a chamber of rough hewn stone was revealed that had graves cut into the wall (most likely for commoners). There was but one way to proceed out of the chamber, and proceed they did. The next room was twice the size. In the middle of the chamber was large metal statue that resembled an umber hulk (but was not). After careful consideration by Lev and Korroth, it was remembered to be a statue of the ancient deity Jergal, guardian of tombs. More of a superstition, it was considered good luck and proper etiquette to have a tribute to him in structures such as this, long ago in Faerun’s history. Upon leaving the chamber, they were beset upon in the adjoining corridor by a roper! It did manage to hurt some of the party members in a very minor way, but was quickly dispatched by Rhone , Martin and Eric, primarily. After cutting open it’s “belly” as it were (Alvansar’s idea) a cache of precious and rare gems was found. They party continued onward further into the tomb. Forgotten Realms News Session Recap May 10 2008: Kythorn 21 1370, Shadowdale/Daggerdale Border Braxton Davhorn, upon return from the rough and tumble frontier town of Tilverton (near Cormyr) has decided to explore his new found “home” of Shadowdale. He sets out west of town several miles (just south of the Daggerdale border) and discovers a small plot of land owned by an old man named Jeebus. He chats with the old man and asks if anything interesting is occurring in these parts. All Braxton discovers is that there has been talk lately of underdark dwellers coming out and causing a ruckus in some areas nearby, and that Jeebus has his own still of very potent alcohol (which Braxton gives a taste test). This little taste also gives Braxton insight to the fact that one should never attempt to climb a tree after imbibing such potent drink. After eventually climbing said tree ( pine tree, as it turned out) and being assaulted by some squirrels with nuts (sent by Alvansar no doubt) he scans the horizon and sees in the distance: the ruins of Castle Daggerdale. Braxton proceeds to talk to the old man Jeebus once again to try and find out about these ruins. He discovers little but in the old man’s rambling, hears of an inn not far away called Anathar’s Dell. It sounded good, so Braxton set forth on horseback to investigate the inn. Once he arrived there, he finds that Anathar’s Dell is indeed a very pleasant place. He stays for one night and after hearing more rumours about underdark dwellers and Castle Daggerdale he decides to check this place out and see if there is a connection between the two. Once inside the ruins of Castle Daggerdale Braxton found the entrance to the once former stronghold’s dungeon. It was here he came across at least 3 drow, who defeated him utilizing a virulent poison, some good ol’ bashing and a little help from a high powered magic missile spell. With that he was spirited away, never to be seen again…….? Later that day, a couple of guards from the Serpentsbridge that crosses over Dagger River came to check up on him (as they had spoke to him previously and gave directions to the ruin) as it had been sometime since he had left. All they found was Braxton’s horse. Shaking heir head sadly, they muttered to themselves as they brought the horse out of the ruins and back to their out post: “Aw, too bad. Those young, inexperienced adventure-types should never go off, on their own. Damn shame.” Kythorn 22 1370 Dordrien Crypts After dispatching the Roper, the company of adventurer’s (Lev, Rhone , Korroth, Martin, Alvansar & Eric) decide to rest in the old non vampire infested crypt outside the Dordrien one they are currently in. the night passes uneventfully and they make their way back through the crypt. It is here in the room after the Roper that they come across two particularly nasty creatures : ghoul like creatures called Maurezhi. The foul things were feasting upon the remains of fallen adventurer’s presumably. It was here that the party did battle with and made short work of them. Aside from a few cuts and bruises they discovered that one of the “corpses” was not dead and was in fact, their colleague Braxton! After a quick heal spell from Korroth (and an even quicker explanation as to what the party was doing here) the party moved forth even deeper within the crypt of Dordrien. Forgotten Realms News Session Recap June 7 2008: Kythorn 22 1370 Dordrien Crypts They would make their first encounter with a couple of drow sentries and an undead spider, discover a wall of stone (dismantled by Alvansar) that was basically blocking in some huge spiders (and some driders they did not engage). And of course, a hole leading further into the Underdark. After descending the 20’ pit into the ground (the first 10’ of which was through solid rock), the Vanguard encountered a guard posting consisting of 2 drow spell casters, 2 drow sentries and two horrible undead creatures called Quth Maren (which were encountered long ago in the mountains of the Neverwinter Woods, The Crags in search of Alvansar’s father within the Ghost Tower Of Inverness and in Myth Drannor if memory serves). The drow sentries initially underestimated the party, to their detriment. The Vanguard made short work of the Quth Maren, although not before suffering some wounds from magic missiles and a couple of fireballs. Most of this damage was accrued by Eric, as Rhone has a major protection from fire major, Alvansar minor protection and Martin utilized his ranger evasion ability. One of the sentries proceeded to call down into a chasm, looking for re-enforcements. Lev cast Wall of Stone to block the sentry and any of the re-enforcements from entering the area. After this melee, and a door way was opened into the stone wall, Alvansar turned into a bat an investigated the large chasm. On the face of the chasm wall was a great spider web used to traverse to different levels of the Underdark. However, it was decided that Wind walk would be a better way to traverse the depths rather than face some arachnid nasties on the giant web. The party floated down to the closest lower level and were met by a rather large contingent of drow (10 in fact) and 2 more Quth Maren, all of whom were more than prepared for the above ground lurkers. While the battle was long and hard fought one ( Alvansar took many wounds while in dire tiger form) the party won most decisively. Aside from the few bumps and bruises (easily mended by both of the party clerics, Lev & Korroth), the Vanguard continues their journey. Descending into the depths of the underdark, the party hopes to discover what it is that is causing this strange group of drow with skulls emblazoned on their tabards ( and who apparently kill other drow who worship Lolth) to be launching above ground raids. Forgotten Realms News Session Recap June 15 2008: Kythorn 22 1370 Szith Morcane Level The party were proceeding to investigate the barracks. They discovered nothing of any great value, as they had already killed the inhabitants. The Vanguard did manage to come across a curious note in one of the drow officers rooms: it detailed that Lolth had indeed gone silent and that The Lady Of The Dead (Kiaransalee) is taking over a drow city called Maerimydra. Obviously her followers and those of Lolth do not see eye to eye, hence drow killing drow. It was while investigating the second sentries barracks that Alvansar heard something down the hall, footsteps perhaps. Quickly the group was ready for action and proceeded out and back through the complex. Upon returning to “foyer”, they were met by the Drow Web Assault team! The battle went on for a short time, the drow not really standing a chance. From this point the Vanguard traveled down further the enormous chasm web (via Wind Walk) and entered a strange, small cave opening. It led to a inside-out tower, interestingly named the Inverted Tower as they would discover soon enough. Two guards came to “greet” them ( advanced in a hostile way) but only one of them made a get away, if you know what I mean. Lev cast Stone Shape on the wall of stone Koroth had placed in front of the barrack room door, so as to prevent the escaping guard who had turned invisible, from escaping. But escape he did, to warn all the other members in the tower. But unbeknownst to the party, the whole tower was already alerted by their presence due to a Guards and Wards trap which was triggered as soon as they entered the cave. The door of the barracks opened to an interesting scene: 2 unarmed drow guards playing cards and eating chrysanthwiches and 2 other guards at the back meditating. Quickly the group pounced on the unarmed & surprised card playing guards, making mincemeat of them. The meditating drow yielded to the superior force of the Vanguard. It was discovered that Inverted Tower has nothing to do with this latest incursion within and outside of the underdark. The Tower is merely a place of study for drow who possess skills in the arcane. Satisfied with the answers given to them, the Vanguard left the premises to investigate further on the chasm web. Their next stop led them to a bazaar or sorts, where they floated through unmolested (again with the WindWalk) and followed a passage which has led them to an enormous, rambling cavern that stretches for more than ¼ mile from the chasm. It appears to be the home hundreds of Szith Morcane’s drow common population, and from the looks of it many hundreds more slaves. Forgotten Realms News Session Recap July 13 2008: Kythorn 22 1370 Szith Morcane/Drow Commoner Area After searching the Commoner Area of the Underdark for quite awhile in Wind Walk form, the group of intrepid adventurers found there “secret” passage that would lead to the drow city of Maerimydra (information gained from some of the denizens of the Inverted Tower q.q.v.) . Upon entering said passage, Braxton Davhorn collapsed for some unknown reason, although it was conjectured that it was due to drow sleep poison used against him previously. Perhaps it could have been something done to him by the Maurezhi that tired to eat him. Who knows. Anyway, they had to do something with their comatose friend. They decided to transport back to the surface via a teleport spell. They appeared shortly thereafter at the front door of the Shadowdale temple of Tymora . Here they left Braxton to the ministrations of the clergy. The stayed over night in Sahdowdale and teleported the next day back to the secret passage leading to Maerimydra, Kythorn 23 1370 The Deep Wastes The group was now 6: Rhone Ethenkhar, Levertine Amras, Alvansar Mulvahill, Korroth Flinteye, Eric Midwood and Martin Battlestorm. They traveled in the Underdark tunnel for several hours heading towards Maerimydra. The going was tough, slow and very dank. Luckily, they possessed rather ingeniously configured magic coins that had daylight spells cast on them, so they sought no need to bring torches or require darkvision to see them through the underground labyrinth. However, the coins did not help much against the Cornuggon Devil and his four Hamatula subordinates who launched a surprise attack on the party, seemingly from nowhere. Truth is, they were a group of devils who just enjoy traveling around the Prime causing havoc and mayhem. In fact, the Hamatula’s had bets on which one of the humans would go down first, drowning in their own blood! The devils were sadly mistaken. Although the devils did cause a good deal of harm to the party (particularly the clerics via fireballs, lightning bolts and the odd impaling) The Vanguard won out the day, and vanquished the evil from the Nine Hells! Several hours more of difficult travel lay before the party until they could have a respite from their dark journey. And so it was until they came across a settlement of stone giants who inhabited an area adjacent to an underground lake (as they would soon find out). Luckily Martin spoke fluent giant, and was able to broker a deal of friendship with the giants. In fact, the giants were so impressed with the group, and developed such a fondness for the surface dwellers (as much as a stone giant could anyway) they not only offered them transport across the Lake of Shadows (as it is called) but warned them of the future dangers that lay ahead of them. One of these problems was a huge wall or cliff, they would have to scale. It apparently measured over 300’ in height. And so it went, with the party being pulled across the lake in boats by the giants. They did this so as to afford the protection to the party from the kraken which resided in the lake and feared the giants. Forgotten Realms News Session Recap August 9, 2008: Kythorn 23 1370 D.R. The Deep Wastes Who was to appear waist deep in water on the other side of the Lake of Shadows but Braxton Davhorn! He was teleported by the preceptress Eressa Ambergyle of Tymora, Shadowdale. Apparently he healed up real nicely and was fit as a fiddle. He also brought a special message for Lev with him from the High Council of Tymora. The party trekked for several hours, covering some sixteen and a half miles before resting. It was while on the last watch of the night (paired with Rhone ) that Lev opened the letter delivered by Braxton. It stated that as soon as possible, upon Lev’s return from his mission he will reside as the preceptor of the Tymoran temple within Shadowdale. This will allow the current preceptress to gain more worldly experience from other areas of Faerun. The position is temporary for Lev, but as he has proved himself to be not only resourceful, but considerate and responsible as well. Also he is the only “ranking” cleric of Tymora within the vicinity. Rhone and Lev had been discussing what this would hold for him in the future and what Lev would do about it, when they were beset by a group of Mind Flayers! Interestingly, the party had thought to block of the passage they were traveling in with a wall of stone spell, to prevent assailants from further on down the passage attacking them in their sleep. The Mind Flayers had appeared behind them, where the party had come from. They combat was brief and brutal: Lev was stunned and almost had his brain sucked out by one, but the quick thinking Korroth summoned a Fire Elemental and smote mind flayer where it stood almost instantly! It did have some help from Martin and Alvansar. Another had been directly confronted by Rhone , who proceeded to make mincemeat of the thing, decapitating it and splitting it nearly in two. Lev, when released from his stupor, actually crushed one of the mind flayers heads with his maul, until it was literally jelly! The other mind flayers fled for their lives in fear of the superior force of the Vanguard! Kythorn 24 1370 D.R. The Deep Wastes & Wailing Cliff From this point, the party traversed a few more miles and encountered the 300’ wall the giants had mentioned to them. They decided to utilize the house insignias they liberated from the drow enemies they had encountered previously, as they are enchanted with the spell levitate. They proceed to travel up the cliff, to investigate 3 caves: one contained some rather fierce and violent Kir-Lanans that they made short work of; another cave 70’ up from that that did contain even more Kir-Lanans, but they instead decided to use wall of stone to block them in their cave. They did not even hear the party enter their cave, as one would have had to drop down a hole from the cave floor to enter their lair. The third and final cave was huge and had a rather large, old shadow dragon residing inside of it. This foe was beyond any of them. Lev actually parleyed with the fiend and he did likewise ( as he was a having a nap, and did not feel like fighting…….at that moment anyway). He heard their tale, and decided that, while had did not like surface dwellers, his dislike of drow was far stronger; he brooked them no love. He allowed the party to proceed unmolested to the top of the cliff (the Wailing Cliff as it is known in these parts) and onwards descending even further into the depths of the underdark beyond. Anyway, I know it is long but whatever. Next post will occur after August 30.
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