10.17.2008

The Gnomad and the Masters of the Multiverse!

Not an update here, the old "Arcane College" game (Because Paul never has named it, I've taken the liberty), in quite some time, but as of Wednesday night, we finally completed locking the Inner Planes by defeating the guardian of the Elemental Plane of Fire's hourglass....a colossal great wyrm red dragon!

It was almost two months in the making, so to speak, but we finally got to play the 25th level characters we made for the epic side quest that is the locking of the Plane of Fire. Sadly, it was a little anticlimactic...

We started off with our epics getting a ride to the volcano-lair of the dragon in the Gnomad then travelled up the side of the mountain where we spotted an entrance to the side that was guarded by two Initiates of Orcus who let us pass, without question, into a larger chamber that held an Infernal and 4 Balor, which we dispatched without too much effort (other than John C. dying) and then moved further, where we found a large settlement of kobolds within the mountain, some of which had obvious dragon blood in them. There, we made sacrifices to Tiamat by giving up an item of worth to us, after which we agreed to escort 4 of the kobolds to an altar area.

On the way there, we encountered a Paragon Steel Predator, which also killed John C., that was one of, if not the toughest things we faced, though getting past it simply took giving the creature enchanted items of metal to eat, which we did, then I Wished to duplicate Fabricate and created 250 cu. ft. of iron for it to gnaw on while we continued on to the altar room, in which an altar to Tiamat was present. Throughout the adventure, Carl's epic was frustrated because he was a Dragon Reborn Cleric of Bahamut who chafed under working with Tiamat followers and being around Tiamat icons. His discomfort became all of ours when the altar spit forth a Disjunction, which my character failed to counterspell and which stripped most of our magic items of power, causing Tony's character to give up the quest.

The rest of us decided to press further, encountering a huge lava pit containing a dragon of immense size, who reared up and shocked us when we saw that the thing had two heads! Alot of useless combat with the thing gave me time to cast my epic save or die spell three times, which is all it took for us to finish the thing off and then we made way with its loot and locked the hourglass, all of which the thing had inside of him.

Exiting the mountain made us cringe as off in the distance, we spotted a dragon flying toward the mountain off in the distance. Carl's character turned into a smaller dragon and gave us a ride to the Gnomad and we shifted out before the dragon got to us.

What does the future hold for us? I don't know quite yet, but it should be pretty freaking fun.

Eberron: Bastions of the Broken Road, pt 4

Tuesday's adventures continued as the group traversed further into Durgeddin the Black's old hold of Kundrukar, making this our second session in The Forge of Fury adventure.

The party moved upon a chamber that held 6 orcs and a multitude of trade goods that were obviously taken during raids of caravans. After slaying the brutes, they then moved on to another chamber wherein, sat upon his throne of discarded junk, was an Ogre who named himself as the Great Ulfe as he stood and roared a challenge, unleashing two wolves on the adventurers as he did so. Robert tried to move in, presumably to flank, but was tripped and then hacked by a hidden orc halberdier. The battle was short but very violent, culminating in the group having fell the wolves and two hidden orcs, as well as the ogre, and Robert dying to a spray of crystal shards conjured forth by Allura.

Ulfe's throne room held the treasure amassed by the bully-king and a prisoner, a changeling by the name of Soh who had taken the guise of a human man, who decided to join the group as they ventured further through the caverns, and who stayed to aid Devin in the funerary rites of Robert as they carried him back to the entryway to the hold.

In light of the death and needing some healing, the group chose to withdraw to a secure room and make camp to heal and regain their focus. Resolving to go further, the group first decided to make sure that there were no survivors of their last battle only to find that one of the orcs and both wolves' bodies weren't present, though the ogre's and another orc's throat was slit, which more than a few found unsettling, but didn't deter, as they pressed ever on, Ghyrsum and Devin being affected by a poison gas trap before entering a room with half a dozen more orcs, one of which, an old, battle-scarred orc calling himself Yarrack, negotiated safe passage through the caverns (by way of a payment of 500 gold) with the party, sold them a slave, a shifter calling himself Mohkan, and also sent a guide for them to make direct passage through the orc holdings.

The guide led the party to a locked door and said he would take them no farther, saying that blood bugs were on the other side and restating that their chief only promised safe passage through the orc-held caves.

The "blood bug" room and places further in led the PCs against a multitude of stirges and against a group of troglodytes and their pet brown bear. This battle, which saw the party slightly outmanned, due to stirges, trogs and the bear, also saw the death of the nameless Warforged Paladin that had been a part of the group as Vacht used his wand of Lightning Bolt and took down 4 party members, the bear, and a trog. Poor David.

After that battle, they found an elf that had been imprisoned by the trogs and passageways into a huge cavern that sparkled in the light of Eberron dragonshards all over the ceiling, which held gricks that the PCs quickly dispatched and a door on the far side.

Cast of Characters
Allura Fellhaven Kalashtar Psion(Telepath) 5 - Carl
Bellosh Feral Razorclaw Shifter Barbarian 3 - Tami
Devin "Lucky" Nel Human Cleric 5 of Olladra - Paul
Vacht Human Wizard 4 - Steve C.
Robert (R.I.P.) Human Rogue 3 - Chris S.
Bant Wildhunt Shifter Druid(Child of Winter) 3 - Jesse
Xen Human Monk 4 - Taylor
" "(R.I.P.) Warforged Paladin 3 of the Silver Flame - David
Soh Changeling Fighter 3 - Josh H.
Mohkan Shifter Soulknife 3 - John H.
Calcryx White Dragon Wyrmling - NPC
Meepo, Keeper of Dragons Kobold Dragon Shaman 3 - NPC
Fellim Human Marshal 3 - NPC
Ghyrsum Human Fighter 3 - NPC
Vey Human Sorceror 3 - NPC

10.09.2008

My Tuesday Campaign, Sessions 2 and 3: The Sunless Citadel, pt 2 and The Forge of Fury, pt 1

I've gotten to run this campaign 3 of 5 weeks, and while I'm hoping the skip weeks don't contine (I work at the shop on that day, after all,) that's not made me mad or anything. I just have a blast with this game. The group has expanded to currently larger than Paul's Wednesday night game and even though it's a book campaign, it seems to flow well with the high numbers.

The party's further venturing led them deeper into the sunken ruins and natural caverns surrounding it, with quick thinking by Lucky leading them past tons of rooms and what would be armed resistance with a Bugbear guiding them the whole way. When you're able to convince the bad guys that you work for their boss, things just kinda work out like that.

Their guide led them into a grove of brittle looking bushes, what the PCs knew to be budding Twig Blights and to a shattered husk of a keep, in which a gigantic tree, resembling an oak and bearing ripe fruits resembling apples, grew in the pale light of phosphorescent fungus. There, they found the fate of two of the four adventurers that delved into the lightless passages, as Sharwyn, a local mage of small talent, and Sir Braford, a questing knight of the Silver Flame, stood before them, seemingly carved of wood and attacked alongside a man whose name they had learned from the goblins was Belak, a Child of Winter who was branded with a Mark of the Outcast, and his large praying mantis companion.

A fight ensued between the two groups, but went well for the adventurers, except for Steve, who couldn't hit a twig blight to save his life and was surrounded by them. The bugbear was put to sleep by Sharwyn, since his HD took up most of the spell and blocked it from affecting the PCs, who then charged in and took Sir Braford and the mantis out quickly, then Sharwyn and the twig blights in short order after. Belak, however, stepped into the great tree and disappeared.

After having gathered the effects of Braford and Sharwyn, the party ascended back up out of the sunken citadel, encountering their kobold and dragon companion bathed in illusory fire in a shrine dedicated to dragons, where the two reptilians rejoined the group, then moving further and finding many a charred gobbo corpse and the Thoqqua responsible. Lucky decided not to press his luck against the 5 fire beasts there, so they left out, slipping unnoticed through kobold territory and encountering a human adventurer named Robert, who they convinced to leave the place and travel with them, convincing him that there was nothing further to find in the deeps.

Having gone back to town and dealt with the Hucrele family, who originally set them on this quest, they were rewarded for the information and signet rings returned and then decided to pursue riches to the north, following the lead of the legend of Durgeddin the Black, said to be the greatest smith to have ever lived, and whose weapons are valued highest among all others. Having found a small stash of weapons with his mark in the citadel and making bank off them, Allura, who is also on the path of the fate of her father, decides to push north. The rest of the party agreed to this and Allura recruited 5 mercenaries (two of which are PCs) to accompany them on their quest.

Having travelled a few days north, they finally reached their destination...the Stone Tooth, a mountain where it is said that Durgeddin's last hold was. Outside, they encountered a scouting party and were able to eliminate that threat, then they were able to move unnoticed on the guard-orcs that were positioned at the door and killed them before any alarm could be raised. A short skirmish with two more groups of orcs just inside has been their only resistance as they have ventured deeper, and other than two human slaves, who were eventually released, the only signs of life inside the large compound.


Cast of Characters
Calcryx White Dragon Wyrmling - Racheal
Meepo, Keeper of Dragons Kobold Dragon Shaman 3 - Darrell
Allura Fellhaven Kalashtar Psion(Telepath) 3 - Carl
Devin "Lucky" Nel Human Cleric 4 of Olladra - Paul
Vacht Human Wizard 4 - Steve C.
Bellosh Feral Razorclaw Shifter Barbarian 3 - Tami
Bant Wildhunt Shifter Druid(Child of Winter) 3 - Jesse
Robert Human Rogue 3 - Chris S.
Xen Human Monk 3 - Taylor
" " Warforged Paladin 3 of the Silver Flame - David
Fellim Human Marshal 3 - NPC
Ghyrsum Human Fighter 3 - NPC
Vey Human Sorceror 3 - NPC