In attendance were;
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Bard
Tim: Halfling Ranger
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
Arriving in Turtleback Ferry a light rain has begun, the children all depart towards what is assumed to be the school house while Kumak finds the local smithy helmed by a dwarf with a metallic lower jaw named Ironjaw. Ordering a spiked gauntlet that will take one day to construct and a barbed vest which will take about a week Kumak purchases a local map and departs to find the others. Thaddeus finds an old biddy gossip and tries to get the low down around town. Kronk, Tim, and Susan attend the local tavern, "Bottoms Up" and secure some rooms as well as arrange to transport a cart laden with the monthly supplies destined for Fort Rannick since none of the Black Arrows have been down in some time to collect it. The proprietor tells them that once paid they can return with the money and split the proceeds. The cart will take several hours to load so the party spends the evening in Turtleback at the pub. A young lad star struck at the travelling group, musters the courage to sit with them and inquire about their deeds and current goals. Thaddeus encourages the child's bravado and learning that he considers himself a reasonable shot calls for an archery contest between the newcomer and the Redeemers resident crack shot Tim. Tim is uninterested in the competition even with Thaddeus calling for bets and Kumak willing to cover the lads wagers. The evening winds down and come dawn Kumak collects his gauntlet, Susan and Tim their donkey drawn cart and the Redeemers leave Turtleback ferry, headed north for Fort Rannick.
Having just crossed one of the rivers Tim hears the cry of an animal nearby. Telling the party what he has heard, but not from which direction since he wants to arrive there first, Tim leads them to a clearing where a bear is caught in a leg trap. Kumak and Orik free the creature from the metal jaws while Shalelu appears put off and appears to know this bear. There is no time to inquire further as from the bushes several ragged hounds appear and dart for the party. Kumak puts one of the dogs down as a hideously formed half man half ogre creature steps from the forest, seeing his prized pups felled the Ogrekin rushes at Kumak, trading powerful blows the half orc stands victorious and acquires an enchanted belt for his troubles. The bear, which Shalelu calls Kib starts pulling Kumak in a direction and taking the hint Tim hops astride the bear followed by Susan, Shalelu, Orik, Tim and Kronk. Thaddeus and Kumak look back towards the now abandoned cart and debate the merits of going, settling on there being a fair chance that the bear intends to fuck Tim to death the two agree that seeing that would be worth the trip and follow.
The first group arrives at the edge of a small farmhouse with a barn nearby. Just as they are surveying the area another orgekin steps out of the nearby woods to attack. Kronk hold him in place magically and in almost no time Tim downs the creature. Tim hearing voices coming from the nearby barn tells Susan he will go survey the area, and open a hole in the barn so she may throw a fireball in and incinerate any ogrekin before they can react. Kumak, Thaddeus and Maj Tiernay arrive just as Thaddeus is moving around the barn, as Susan is explaining the plan to the others Tim hears ogre voices and pretends to check inside before opening a small hole in the wall and giving Susan the thumbs up to proceed. Kumak and Thaddeus ask that since the bear is clearly trained and led the group here what if there are prisoners or valuable items inside that will be destroyed by Susan's devastating fireball but Susan seems nonplussed as she fires a magical bead through the crack made by Tim and the interior of the barn detonates and catches fire. Kumak sighs and moves to the front door to deal with any ogrekin escaping the inferno as Kronk rushes to the front door of the house.
Kronk announces "house inspector" as he kicks the door in, only to see his foot now impaled by a spiked trap, unable to move he is caught by several saw blades that shoot up through the floor boards as well. Kronk having already taken some damage from the earlier fight collapses and falls inward, the front door closing behind him. Kumak abandons the barn and having seen the deadly traps uses his Earthbreaker to make a door inside, Thaddeus rushing behind to heal Kronk, who promptly moves to the side, triggering yet another trap as the floor gives way beneath him, thankfully he manages to roll back to safety. Having seen too many traps for his liking Kumak picks a spot on the wall and starts smashing his way through the house. The group move through the first floor finding furniture made from bones and upholstered in the flesh of humans. Kronk heads upstairs and finding a chest manages to force the lid open, only to be wounded by the trap hidden within, poison wracking his body inflicting devastating damage to him.Tim arrives behind everyone else and choosing to explore the door at the end of a hall finds himself in the bedroom of the corpulent nightmare of the matriarch of the house.
"Mammy" invites Tim to join her but the halfling resists her magical compulsion and puts a few arrows into her while stepping back and calling for help. Between Shalelu and Tims arrows and Susans magic "Mammy Graul" is put down. The second floor is cleared by Kronk, and Kumak has one final room to gain entrance to as well as the as of yet unexplored basement and whatever can be saved from the barn.
Thoughts
Tim's player was getting a bit upset by the ogrekin towards the end, which was unfortunate because I was loving the visuals of a couch upholstered in man-flesh, the bones of all the daughters since "Mammy" wanted to be the only woman around for her sons, etc. But oh well. The GM had to cancel the next game due to work and I am working the 3 following it so we will see when I am next able to post.
Sunday 16 December 2018
Wednesday 5 December 2018
Don't rock the boat - Rise of the Runelords campaign session 26
In attendance were;
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Bard
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
Tim and Susan's players were away this session so they ran mostly in the background.
In the morning the captain sets off. None of the Redeemers are paying enough attention to their journey so it comes as a surprise when they arrive to a secluded cave village of Biston. The captain ducks their inquiries as to where they are and how long they are intending to remain. Kumak busies himself with the local fish platter, which tastes like so much sawdust. Thaddeus causes several minor incidents to keep himself occupied, and Kronk just has a run of terrible luck (the player couldn't roll above a 7 for most of the night, he was usually throwing out 3 or less).
Eventually Thaddeus is told that basic repairs will be completed on the ship by the evening and they may resume their journey. The ship sets off close to dusk heading north but with an hour or so left of light come to a stop. Shalelu has spotted 2 boulders jamming the river ahead, the captain suspecting a trap has chosen to let the group off here and turn back rather than proceed further up, even if the Redeemers had cleared the way. Thaddeus and Kronk try guilt, threatening, and coercion but nothing will sway him so the group disembark and send Tim stealthily ahead to see what lies in wait. An hour or so later the halfling returns and indicates that on this side of the river there is on Bog Giant hiding by the boulder and another a hundred or so feet further north at a small camp. Assuming that a similar set up is on the other side there is a brief discussion about facing 4 bog giants, but Kumak eagerly wanted to finally test his mettle against something larger than himself, and Thaddeus just thinking how delightful this will be sways the group.
Kumak borrows Thaddeus's hat of disguise, enlarges himself and attempts to pass himself off as another bog giant. Asking Thaddeus how to say a few phrases in giant he steps into the clearing at the camp further north. The ruse doesn't seem to be particularly effective but all caution is thrown to the wind when Thaddeus leaps forward screaming in giant that he will cut off all their faces and wear the skin like a mask. The lone giant falls easily to the group, as does the one from the neighboring camp, however the 2 giants from the ambush site start hurling rocks towards the sound of battle and some strike true. Kumak advances far ahead of the group and engages the final 2 suffering some noticeable wounds but dropping one and crippling the other until Tim puts a final arrow into it. Finding nothing of note other than the corpses of 2 unfortunate humans the group heads north to the nearest settlement to seek shelter, the thorpe Pendaka.
Situated on the southern end of Clay bottom lake not much is remarkable of the thorpe. The group manages to secure a few rooms in the Walleyed Wife. Come morning Kumak searches for a blacksmith to purchase a spiked gauntlet in case he is swallowed by anything again. Kronk finds himself in a competition with the Inns baker, whose Cranberry and Turtle-egg pies are surprisingly delicious. Thaddeus asks around and finds that there is a giant fish called Pinkeye people are discussing as well as the wreck of the Paradise gambling barge. Speaking to one individual he finds that one of the members of the Black Arrows had been seen there from time to time as well. The ferry which would take the group across had already departed for the day when the Redeemers arrived so Kronk enters into a baking competition, and places second and third against the cranberry and turtle-egg pie. The group spends the remainder of the day as they see fit and come dawn are first in line to board the ferry. A number of children accompany them across, it seems that school is taught only at Turtleback. Thaddeus and one of the children bicker during the passage.
Thoughts: Not a great session. The DM was pretty distracted and it was noticeable. Further it really really felt like he did not want us to arrive to Turtleback without the full party present. All in all it was a bit disappointing, should have probably called the game and played Pandemic Legacy instead but oh well. DM has told me that this next bit is going to be a little Hills have Eyes-y so I'm looking forward to seeing how gross he can get.
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Bard
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
Tim and Susan's players were away this session so they ran mostly in the background.
In the morning the captain sets off. None of the Redeemers are paying enough attention to their journey so it comes as a surprise when they arrive to a secluded cave village of Biston. The captain ducks their inquiries as to where they are and how long they are intending to remain. Kumak busies himself with the local fish platter, which tastes like so much sawdust. Thaddeus causes several minor incidents to keep himself occupied, and Kronk just has a run of terrible luck (the player couldn't roll above a 7 for most of the night, he was usually throwing out 3 or less).
Eventually Thaddeus is told that basic repairs will be completed on the ship by the evening and they may resume their journey. The ship sets off close to dusk heading north but with an hour or so left of light come to a stop. Shalelu has spotted 2 boulders jamming the river ahead, the captain suspecting a trap has chosen to let the group off here and turn back rather than proceed further up, even if the Redeemers had cleared the way. Thaddeus and Kronk try guilt, threatening, and coercion but nothing will sway him so the group disembark and send Tim stealthily ahead to see what lies in wait. An hour or so later the halfling returns and indicates that on this side of the river there is on Bog Giant hiding by the boulder and another a hundred or so feet further north at a small camp. Assuming that a similar set up is on the other side there is a brief discussion about facing 4 bog giants, but Kumak eagerly wanted to finally test his mettle against something larger than himself, and Thaddeus just thinking how delightful this will be sways the group.
Kumak borrows Thaddeus's hat of disguise, enlarges himself and attempts to pass himself off as another bog giant. Asking Thaddeus how to say a few phrases in giant he steps into the clearing at the camp further north. The ruse doesn't seem to be particularly effective but all caution is thrown to the wind when Thaddeus leaps forward screaming in giant that he will cut off all their faces and wear the skin like a mask. The lone giant falls easily to the group, as does the one from the neighboring camp, however the 2 giants from the ambush site start hurling rocks towards the sound of battle and some strike true. Kumak advances far ahead of the group and engages the final 2 suffering some noticeable wounds but dropping one and crippling the other until Tim puts a final arrow into it. Finding nothing of note other than the corpses of 2 unfortunate humans the group heads north to the nearest settlement to seek shelter, the thorpe Pendaka.
Situated on the southern end of Clay bottom lake not much is remarkable of the thorpe. The group manages to secure a few rooms in the Walleyed Wife. Come morning Kumak searches for a blacksmith to purchase a spiked gauntlet in case he is swallowed by anything again. Kronk finds himself in a competition with the Inns baker, whose Cranberry and Turtle-egg pies are surprisingly delicious. Thaddeus asks around and finds that there is a giant fish called Pinkeye people are discussing as well as the wreck of the Paradise gambling barge. Speaking to one individual he finds that one of the members of the Black Arrows had been seen there from time to time as well. The ferry which would take the group across had already departed for the day when the Redeemers arrived so Kronk enters into a baking competition, and places second and third against the cranberry and turtle-egg pie. The group spends the remainder of the day as they see fit and come dawn are first in line to board the ferry. A number of children accompany them across, it seems that school is taught only at Turtleback. Thaddeus and one of the children bicker during the passage.
Thoughts: Not a great session. The DM was pretty distracted and it was noticeable. Further it really really felt like he did not want us to arrive to Turtleback without the full party present. All in all it was a bit disappointing, should have probably called the game and played Pandemic Legacy instead but oh well. DM has told me that this next bit is going to be a little Hills have Eyes-y so I'm looking forward to seeing how gross he can get.
Tuesday 27 November 2018
Troubled Waters - Rise of the Runelords campaign session 25
In attendance were;
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Bard
Tim: Halfling Ranger
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
(Kronks player was late arriving so Thaddeus took over the negotiations)
Thaddeus and Tim elicit as much of an agreement from the lamia as they feel they can that she wont run and begin questioning her. The lamia tells them that she is just a pawn of her sister, Luccrecia, who is plotting a massacre in Turtle Back Ferry. She offers to aid them in killing her sister and Tim and Thaddeus take her at her word. Capt Tiernay joins them and he is elected to drag the unconscious half orc below where they will further question the lamia Xenisha.
The jostling wakes Kumak up, with Tim swiftly moving to explain that they were in the process of talking and there was no current need for violence. Kumak looks around at the others and unable to sense any magical domination on them stands back warily while he collects his weapons. Once Thaddeus and Tim each felt that their questions were answered to their satisfaction they turned to Kumak and invited him to ask anything.
"Just one question I guess"
he grumbled as Tim noticed the blood vial that dangled from the end of his weapon suddenly deplete, as Kumaks figure swelled,
"Ow many orphans you reckon you've made?"
Xanesia recognizing his intent bolted to the edge of the tower and began slithering her way down the wall while Kumak having pulled out the Ranseur he had taken from the statue below Sandpoint jumped after her and with all his might and gravity drove the blades of it straight through her body, separating her human torso from her serpent lower half. Susan and Kumak eventually rejoin the others, Kumak throwing the human torso to the floor
"We don't negotiate with murderers"
Collecting whatever intelligence and spoils they can find the group returns to their expensive lodgings to find the Mayor has taken up residence in one of their quarters.
Thaddeus discusses with him the implications of what they have found and upon discovering there was a plot to assassinate the mayor himself, the man gasps and faints on the spot. Upon rousing he gratefully gifts the Redeemers 6,000 gold for their work, Kumak tries to throw in a parade and Knighthood for Sir, Tiny Nuggets but Thaddeus gladly takes a counter offer of a statue in his likeness being erected in the city.
A page arrives to the room that evening informing them that 2 guests are looking for them, and the Redeemers are met with Shalelu and Orik again. Shalelu laughs and claps their backs telling them of all the wild stories shes heard. Asking about Tiberius whereabouts, Thaddeus bluntly informs her of his fate. Her expression somewhat saddened she recovers and introductions are made to Kronk and Tim. The party mention that they have business at Turtle Back Ferry, which she considers for a moment before requesting to accompany them. Orik seems taken aback but one look from her lets it be known that he still followed her lead.
The mayor hearing their destination asks that they check in on the Order of the Black Arrow that is headquartered nearby as he had not been receiving letters from them as of late. Kumak remarks that generally couriers get paid, to which the mayor hastily agreed and threw in 500 gold each, even for Shalelu and Orik.
The destination set all that remained was how to get there. Kumak was adamantly against horses which left either walking or boat. Thaddeus decreed that only boat would do and the mayor agreed to book them passage leaving dawn the next day. Using the staff at the manor-inn to sell items and make purchases the group settled in for the evening with Susan finally completing a headband for Kumak which the half orc had requested almost a week ago. At dawn the group boarded the ship headed down the Yondabakari River, a journey the captain insists will only take 2 days to reach Turtle Back Ferry
(That travel time seemed way off to me, I've checked on travel in the area from prepping for Curse of the Crimson Throne and either the Captain is full of it in game or the GM just pulled an arbitrary number out of his ass)
The first day aboard Kronk alienates himself by conversing with the spirits everywhere, soon no one wishes to be near him except one man who asks that he try and contact his son who passed years ago. Kronk agrees to try at a later time which seems to satisfy the sailor. Tim spends the day throwing a ball against the deck or to Kulai to fetch. Thaddeus busies himself in an attempt to organize a secret fight club on the ship. Susan seems to have caught the eyes of several deck hands who all vie for her affection and their attempts to win her over result in an impromptu dance off, which Orik joins in and impresses all with how limber the stocky man is without all his armor on. Kumak is eating stale ships biscuit when the first mate sits down across from him,
"You look just like him, only smaller, but I'd know that look anywhere"
"What you on about then?"
"Yer pa, whats 'is name?"
"That'd be Brekket"
"Tha's him alright, Brekket the Butcher he was called. Slaughtered people by the handfuls"
"You got the wrong man then, my pa's no butcher, e's a farmer"
"Naw, I don't think so"
"Right then, this Brekket yous talkin' about, is he human or half orc?"
"Full Orc, and mean as ever been"
"Yeah, the one I'm talking about is full blooded human. You got anything else to add?"
The first mate gives Kumak a sharp look, then walks away. While the dance is reaching its crescendo there is a sudden crack and the ship lurches forward having struck something massive. Most are knocked off their feet but those not picking themselves off the deck watch in horror as a gargantuan snapping turtle starts to climb over the bow of the ship, razor sharp beak snapping a man in two and its fore legs find more purchase on the ship. The boat leaps into a flurry of activity, Thaddeus and Capt Tiernay make for the stern of the ship as the bulk of the turtle begins tilting the ship dangerously, Susan lets fly a blast of lightning while arrows mostly bounce off the hardened shell. Tim sends his dog to engage the creature but the hound barely makes it 10 feet before the turtle snaps it up in its jaws. Kumak stands up, enlarging himself and grinning makes his way towards a true test of his courage and strength but is unable to arrive in time to save Tims dog from the turtle swallowing it whole. Tim lets out a mournful cry and seeing the halfing scrambling to get to his pet Kumak sighs, nods his head, drains his enchanted blood vial again increasing his already impressive strength to an almost absurd level for the next crucial few seconds then strides forward trying to look as delicious as possible. The turtle easily snaps the bloodrager up and manages to choke down the larger morsel. Tim starts climbing up the side of the turtle in an effort to reach its maw. Shalelu and the others pepper the creature with arrows but few find any purchase. Thaddeus uses his arcane skills to trick the turtle into thinking its mate is calling out in pain but before the creature can respond there are 2 sudden and violent jerking motions from within and the turtle vomits out a gore soaked Kumak wielding a knife and the unmoving form of Tims dog. The turtle, either seeing to its mates care or deciding to find a less angry meal, quickly retracts into its shell and sinks beneath the waters.
Tim rushes to his dog, but finding it dead takes the magical equipment off it and thanks Kronk who says he can help repair it.
"............Yeah, you're welcome too I guess" Kumak remarks as he moves to help the crew who are beaching the ship to assess the damages.
Once the full assessment of the damages are done the captain calls for the ship to turn around and head back to Magnimar, Susans magical mending and Thaddeus's quick tongue convince him to continue to Turtle Back Ferry, though this will add another day to the trip. That night Kumak laying awake, pondering the fact that he supposedly looks like this Butcher who goes by the same name as his step-father, and his mother steadfastly refusing to discuss his half orc origins asks Thaddeus if he had ever heard of a Brekket the Butcher. Thaddeus answers immediately that of course he had, but when pressed on details lies and claims that he heard Slekket the Butcher which he alleges was a gnome ghost story. Kumak fascinated asks Thaddeus to tell it, which the gnome obliges, crafting a tale of a tall gnome that would collect the fingers of children who misbehaved, Kumak asks what Slekket does with the fingers when finally Susan, having enough of this yells at them both to shut up.
Thoughts
I had hoped that the talkers would have gotten better intel out of the lamia such as what abilities her sister had, what she looked like, other names of high ranking individuals but oh well. Once we had encountered a room in the saw mill where they were tanning human faces it was a foregone conclusion with this character that there was going to be no quarter.
Tim's character freaking out over his dog being eaten, then trying to climb inside so he would die too, then only caring about the gear he had just purchased for the dog and not even acknowledging the guy who just almost killed himself trying to rescue said dog did not sit too well. I have been having a hard time with that character, he has no discernible motivation for staying with the party since he complains about them but seems to go out of his way to not step up when he could endear himself, like protecting the wizard and oracle last session.
Jumping in that turtles mouth was a terrible idea.
1) I took a bunch of damage getting in there
2) Apparently the rule to get out is you have to do 10% of the total hit point damage to the creature and this particular one has a rule saying that it counts as having double the hit points in the stomach. I don't know if that is 10% in one hit or in a round but yeesh
3) You can only use a light one handed weapon while swallowed so it was dicey.
That blood vial really was the MVP of this session for me, almost guaranteed I hit the lamia and gave me the strength boost while swallowed to trigger a vomit. First hit was for something like 21, second was for 23
Kronk and Kumak pooled almost all their money and bought enough materials for 2 sets of celestial armor which Kumak has now begun to craft since he has his headband of Int (keyed to Spellcraft)
Tim and Susans players are out next week so Tim is going to be communing with nature to get a bear companion and Susan will probably be scribing spells or something.
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Bard
Tim: Halfling Ranger
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
(Kronks player was late arriving so Thaddeus took over the negotiations)
Thaddeus and Tim elicit as much of an agreement from the lamia as they feel they can that she wont run and begin questioning her. The lamia tells them that she is just a pawn of her sister, Luccrecia, who is plotting a massacre in Turtle Back Ferry. She offers to aid them in killing her sister and Tim and Thaddeus take her at her word. Capt Tiernay joins them and he is elected to drag the unconscious half orc below where they will further question the lamia Xenisha.
The jostling wakes Kumak up, with Tim swiftly moving to explain that they were in the process of talking and there was no current need for violence. Kumak looks around at the others and unable to sense any magical domination on them stands back warily while he collects his weapons. Once Thaddeus and Tim each felt that their questions were answered to their satisfaction they turned to Kumak and invited him to ask anything.
"Just one question I guess"
he grumbled as Tim noticed the blood vial that dangled from the end of his weapon suddenly deplete, as Kumaks figure swelled,
"Ow many orphans you reckon you've made?"
Xanesia recognizing his intent bolted to the edge of the tower and began slithering her way down the wall while Kumak having pulled out the Ranseur he had taken from the statue below Sandpoint jumped after her and with all his might and gravity drove the blades of it straight through her body, separating her human torso from her serpent lower half. Susan and Kumak eventually rejoin the others, Kumak throwing the human torso to the floor
"We don't negotiate with murderers"
Collecting whatever intelligence and spoils they can find the group returns to their expensive lodgings to find the Mayor has taken up residence in one of their quarters.
Thaddeus discusses with him the implications of what they have found and upon discovering there was a plot to assassinate the mayor himself, the man gasps and faints on the spot. Upon rousing he gratefully gifts the Redeemers 6,000 gold for their work, Kumak tries to throw in a parade and Knighthood for Sir, Tiny Nuggets but Thaddeus gladly takes a counter offer of a statue in his likeness being erected in the city.
A page arrives to the room that evening informing them that 2 guests are looking for them, and the Redeemers are met with Shalelu and Orik again. Shalelu laughs and claps their backs telling them of all the wild stories shes heard. Asking about Tiberius whereabouts, Thaddeus bluntly informs her of his fate. Her expression somewhat saddened she recovers and introductions are made to Kronk and Tim. The party mention that they have business at Turtle Back Ferry, which she considers for a moment before requesting to accompany them. Orik seems taken aback but one look from her lets it be known that he still followed her lead.
The mayor hearing their destination asks that they check in on the Order of the Black Arrow that is headquartered nearby as he had not been receiving letters from them as of late. Kumak remarks that generally couriers get paid, to which the mayor hastily agreed and threw in 500 gold each, even for Shalelu and Orik.
The destination set all that remained was how to get there. Kumak was adamantly against horses which left either walking or boat. Thaddeus decreed that only boat would do and the mayor agreed to book them passage leaving dawn the next day. Using the staff at the manor-inn to sell items and make purchases the group settled in for the evening with Susan finally completing a headband for Kumak which the half orc had requested almost a week ago. At dawn the group boarded the ship headed down the Yondabakari River, a journey the captain insists will only take 2 days to reach Turtle Back Ferry
(That travel time seemed way off to me, I've checked on travel in the area from prepping for Curse of the Crimson Throne and either the Captain is full of it in game or the GM just pulled an arbitrary number out of his ass)
The first day aboard Kronk alienates himself by conversing with the spirits everywhere, soon no one wishes to be near him except one man who asks that he try and contact his son who passed years ago. Kronk agrees to try at a later time which seems to satisfy the sailor. Tim spends the day throwing a ball against the deck or to Kulai to fetch. Thaddeus busies himself in an attempt to organize a secret fight club on the ship. Susan seems to have caught the eyes of several deck hands who all vie for her affection and their attempts to win her over result in an impromptu dance off, which Orik joins in and impresses all with how limber the stocky man is without all his armor on. Kumak is eating stale ships biscuit when the first mate sits down across from him,
"You look just like him, only smaller, but I'd know that look anywhere"
"What you on about then?"
"Yer pa, whats 'is name?"
"That'd be Brekket"
"Tha's him alright, Brekket the Butcher he was called. Slaughtered people by the handfuls"
"You got the wrong man then, my pa's no butcher, e's a farmer"
"Naw, I don't think so"
"Right then, this Brekket yous talkin' about, is he human or half orc?"
"Full Orc, and mean as ever been"
"Yeah, the one I'm talking about is full blooded human. You got anything else to add?"
The first mate gives Kumak a sharp look, then walks away. While the dance is reaching its crescendo there is a sudden crack and the ship lurches forward having struck something massive. Most are knocked off their feet but those not picking themselves off the deck watch in horror as a gargantuan snapping turtle starts to climb over the bow of the ship, razor sharp beak snapping a man in two and its fore legs find more purchase on the ship. The boat leaps into a flurry of activity, Thaddeus and Capt Tiernay make for the stern of the ship as the bulk of the turtle begins tilting the ship dangerously, Susan lets fly a blast of lightning while arrows mostly bounce off the hardened shell. Tim sends his dog to engage the creature but the hound barely makes it 10 feet before the turtle snaps it up in its jaws. Kumak stands up, enlarging himself and grinning makes his way towards a true test of his courage and strength but is unable to arrive in time to save Tims dog from the turtle swallowing it whole. Tim lets out a mournful cry and seeing the halfing scrambling to get to his pet Kumak sighs, nods his head, drains his enchanted blood vial again increasing his already impressive strength to an almost absurd level for the next crucial few seconds then strides forward trying to look as delicious as possible. The turtle easily snaps the bloodrager up and manages to choke down the larger morsel. Tim starts climbing up the side of the turtle in an effort to reach its maw. Shalelu and the others pepper the creature with arrows but few find any purchase. Thaddeus uses his arcane skills to trick the turtle into thinking its mate is calling out in pain but before the creature can respond there are 2 sudden and violent jerking motions from within and the turtle vomits out a gore soaked Kumak wielding a knife and the unmoving form of Tims dog. The turtle, either seeing to its mates care or deciding to find a less angry meal, quickly retracts into its shell and sinks beneath the waters.
Tim rushes to his dog, but finding it dead takes the magical equipment off it and thanks Kronk who says he can help repair it.
"............Yeah, you're welcome too I guess" Kumak remarks as he moves to help the crew who are beaching the ship to assess the damages.
Once the full assessment of the damages are done the captain calls for the ship to turn around and head back to Magnimar, Susans magical mending and Thaddeus's quick tongue convince him to continue to Turtle Back Ferry, though this will add another day to the trip. That night Kumak laying awake, pondering the fact that he supposedly looks like this Butcher who goes by the same name as his step-father, and his mother steadfastly refusing to discuss his half orc origins asks Thaddeus if he had ever heard of a Brekket the Butcher. Thaddeus answers immediately that of course he had, but when pressed on details lies and claims that he heard Slekket the Butcher which he alleges was a gnome ghost story. Kumak fascinated asks Thaddeus to tell it, which the gnome obliges, crafting a tale of a tall gnome that would collect the fingers of children who misbehaved, Kumak asks what Slekket does with the fingers when finally Susan, having enough of this yells at them both to shut up.
Thoughts
I had hoped that the talkers would have gotten better intel out of the lamia such as what abilities her sister had, what she looked like, other names of high ranking individuals but oh well. Once we had encountered a room in the saw mill where they were tanning human faces it was a foregone conclusion with this character that there was going to be no quarter.
Tim's character freaking out over his dog being eaten, then trying to climb inside so he would die too, then only caring about the gear he had just purchased for the dog and not even acknowledging the guy who just almost killed himself trying to rescue said dog did not sit too well. I have been having a hard time with that character, he has no discernible motivation for staying with the party since he complains about them but seems to go out of his way to not step up when he could endear himself, like protecting the wizard and oracle last session.
Jumping in that turtles mouth was a terrible idea.
1) I took a bunch of damage getting in there
2) Apparently the rule to get out is you have to do 10% of the total hit point damage to the creature and this particular one has a rule saying that it counts as having double the hit points in the stomach. I don't know if that is 10% in one hit or in a round but yeesh
3) You can only use a light one handed weapon while swallowed so it was dicey.
That blood vial really was the MVP of this session for me, almost guaranteed I hit the lamia and gave me the strength boost while swallowed to trigger a vomit. First hit was for something like 21, second was for 23
Kronk and Kumak pooled almost all their money and bought enough materials for 2 sets of celestial armor which Kumak has now begun to craft since he has his headband of Int (keyed to Spellcraft)
Tim and Susans players are out next week so Tim is going to be communing with nature to get a bear companion and Susan will probably be scribing spells or something.
Monday 19 November 2018
For Whom the Bell Tolls - Rise of the Runelords campaign session 23-24
I missed session 23 so the first part of what follows is based off the brief run down I got from the DM with some additions from other players
In attendance were;
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Bard
Tim: Halfling Ranger
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
In attendance were;
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Bard
Tim: Halfling Ranger
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
The party members still inside the mill finish collecting anything of value and all meet up again with their now secured prisoner. Kumak waits behind in the mill with the prisoner to catch any late arriving cultists that may return while the remainder return to the elf to report on their dealings. Kronk neglects to mention the remaining 3 cultists that were operating the machinery in the basement to anyone, they meet their end later when they venture above to the floor with Kumak.
The rest return to the Red Flagon to deliver their report. The elf is pleased with the development and brings them before the Mayor of Magnimar to sing their praises and smooth over any lingering legal issues some of their escapades may have created. Unsolicited, Tim confesses their activities involving the Hellknights as well, earning a sharp look from their elf escort who then deftly maneuvers through this public confession of murder against an organization that as far as Magnimar was concerned had not committed any crimes since they were returning run away slaves. The mayor allows the group to stay at one of the high end establishments he has a financial interest in and requests that they finish this Skin Saw Cult off for good. Rumors had indicated that they were headquartered in Underbridge operating out of an old decrepit clock tower.
The party returns to collect Kumak and the prisoner then move into their high class chambers for the evening. Thaddeus and Kronk engage in a disturbing torture/interrogation session to pull information from the prisoner ending with Kumak putting the man down by beheading.
****Session 23 ends here *****
Waking, Kumak finds that the dining table seems to constantly replenishes. Testing the limits of the table out he stashes several chickens and bottles of wine in the bag of holding for later. There is a terrible storm outside with the rain pouring down, winds buffeting the shutters and lighting piercing the clouded sky outside. Tim and Susan wish to wait, but Kumak can not contain his glee at facing a foe on rain slick stairs, high above the city, while thunder cracks and lighting illuminates them. Its everything the mighty heroes did in the stories. The rest of the party acquiesce, more due to the fact that the cult will soon learn of whats happened so this is the best chance to catch them unprepared.
The walk is difficult, rain obscures visibility and the howl of the wind steals the sound of even a shout past a few feet. Kumak holds Thaddeus under his arms to keep the Gnome semi-dry and ensure he isnt blown away. Making their way down from the escarpment of the wealthy districts to Underbridge Kumak slips on a step and with no railing on the other side of the long stairs plunges down 150 feet with Thaddeus. Susan and Kronk are worried, Tim smirks, but Thaddeus's valet Capt Tiernay just shakes his head and yells over the storm that they will be ok, his boss always finds a way.
Kumaks enchanted boots make what would have been a deadly fall and turn it into a mild inconvenience. Crashing through the roof of some poorer family to see them sitting around a table about to eat, Kumak looks up at the hole he just made, checks that Thaddeus is still ok, reaches into his bag of holding plucking 2 chickens and bottle of wine out and setting them on the table.
"Sorry 'bout the mess"
Then walks outside towards the clocktower.
The rest work their way down the stairs and through the streets, Susans owl catches a glimpse of some people stalking them after a few minutes and she relays the information to the others. Tim runs away to hide while Kronk lights his mace up with divine fire and starts screaming like a mad man into the darkness while he walks, which seems to deter whoever thought them easy prey as all the Redeemers convene outside the Clocktower. Kronk, high off his successful tough guy act strides right up to the door and kicks it, producing no effect. Clearing his throat he tries again and the rotted wood around the handle gives way, allowing entrance and announcing the partys arrival.
Kronk and Thaddeus search the bottom floor which has a refuse pile in one corner and a number of stable like sections in the far end finding nothing. Kumak wasting no time starts up the winding stairs that circle the walls leaving a looming open center through the center of the tower. Kronk rummages through 2 of the stalls finding damaged gargoyles and what looks like scarecrows before he finds one particularly ugly looking one which suddenly looks at him, grabs a particularly mean looking scythe, and starts towards him.
Tim tries to hide behind rubble far away while Susan sends some minor magical spells into the beast. Kumak hearing the ruckus directly below him, steps to the edge and nods towards Thaddeus in a "watch this" motion. Kronk chooses not to back away from the deadly nightmare attempting to dissuade it with his magics but to no avail. While waiting for Kronk to flee so he could leap down to attack Kumak fails to notice someone has cut the bonds that held one of the large brass bells above. It is only through Thaddeus's warning and magical aid that the half orc avoids getting crushed by the falling bell. Kronk finally backs away and as the creature moves to attack him Kumak leaps down and gets to work with his Earthbreaker, crushing this things form with each blow. The Scarecrow swings its scythe with all the strength and intent behind it and the blade drives deep into Kumaks chest pulling free the Bloodrager watches as fonts of his own blood and viscera spill out of the wound. A lesser man would be dead already but Kumak is made of hardier stock. With one, two swings he drives the creature down to its knees and crushes its chest cavity with a final blow. Kronk sees to some magical ministrations while from above 3 cultists start firing arrows down at the party. Tim and Susan trade shots until one of the cultists lurches over and falls the hundred or so feet through the open air, body destroyed by the fall. The other 2 move further up and out of sight. Kumak and Kronk trade rings and magically enhancing his already supplemented leaping ability takes Tahddeus in his arms and leaps across the gaps in the walkway, broken by the falling bell. Kronk grabs Tim, and with Susan they magically ascend to the top where they find a shut trap door.
Kronk, not wishing to wait throws the door open and strides through. Susan shaking her head follows, summoning 3 eagles to aid them. Tim refuses to join them until his meat shields have arrived. Caught off guard Kronk takes several stabs from the cultists as they appear from the shadows. Things begin to look grim for the Oracle and Wizard as Susan spies a shape circling around the tower. She is unable to determine exactly what it is but feels it is some sort of demon. Tim hearing the desperate call of his allies finally joins them and it looks as though the 3 of them might be able to hold their own until Kumak and Thaddeus arrive with Capt Tiernay. From above a large snake like creature descends and taking in the group chuckles as she stabs Kronk with her spear. The oracle falls, bleeding out, Susan's eagles keep the last 2 cultists occupied but the snake woman moves towards Susan and magically compels her to stand in the corner and do nothing. Just as Tim fears he may be finished Kumak leaps through the floor and in quick succession removes the 2 cultists from the battle. Thaddeus counters the magic holding Susan, and Tiernay calls his divine magic to returns Kronk from deaths door. The snake woman seeing that she now stands alone draws herself up and unleashes a spell on the group. Kumak feels himself falling asleep but Thaddeus shouts a word of power giving the half orc just enough of a jolt to resist the effect, Tim is not so lucky and collapses, asleep. The snake creature is difficult to hit as she has magical duplicates, slowly but surely though her defenses start to falter, then she starts to take hits. Susan recognizing the spell for what it was moves over and slaps Tim awake. The serpent woman having enough of Susan pulls her mask down over her face and attempts to petrify Susan, who fights off the effect. As the demon outside begins its charging attack towards the tower Susan moves back to get a better angle for her spell and the snake woman uses the opportunity to shove Susan off the tower. Kumak charges at the creature who is looking to escape herself and with his gnome friends aid just manages to grapple it yelling to Susan, who is gently floating down thanks to her magic to hit them both with her best fireball but Susan refuses and waits below for any development. The creature easily breaks free though and slithers above to the final floor. Kumak leaps through the hole it vanished though and finds it coiled around an angelic statue pleading,
"Let me live and I will tell you everything, you'll never survive against him, you dont even know what it is you've stepped into."
The snake then tries again to put Kumak to sleep and without the timely aid of Thaddeus this time the half orc collapses in a snoring heap. Unable to relish in her good fortune Tim, and Kronk arrive. Tim stands over Kumak ready to kick him awake with his bow trained on the creature with Kronk puts his mace down and starts to bargain. Thaddeus soon joins them and with the ticking clock of a sleeping bloodrager, some of the Redeemers enter into negotiations to see what this creatures life is really worth.
Thoughts.
Nice session, that scythe hit from the Scarecrow was to the tune of 80 or so damage. Literally anyone else taking that crit would have been an instant kill so lucky it found me. Boots of the Cat have already earned their keep as far as I am concerned. Saved me from having to waste a Featherfall on the way there. Kronk going up by himself was a terrible idea, but supposedly in character so I am all for it. He did almost pay dearly for it though, I think he was about 7 or so damage / stabilize saves from dead. I know that the Ranger is a bow only Ranger but when your Oracle and Wizard run into the room you need to follow them. I hope he learns to put himself between danger and the squishy casters more, I can only be in one place at a time. I was joking with the DM as the snake was begging for her life that a still raging Bloodrager probably isnt going to be the most receptive to a parley and hoped that she was being earnest so ignoring it and killing her would be all the more tragic but the dice failed me and the bard couldnt save me this time.
Sunday 11 November 2018
The Skin Saw-Mill - Rise of the Runelords campaign session 22
In attendance were;
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Bard
Tim: Halfling Ranger
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
The Redeemers find themselves in need of a place to rest and unfortunately Naos district has no inns that Thaddeus can recall. While there may be some in nearby Capital District Thaddeus feels, and some of the party agrees that they would draw too much attention in the more affluent districts and elect to make their way into Lowcleft to the Red Flagon. The guards at the gate between the districts question why the group is moving around past curfew and Thaddeus gives them a story about Susan being the daughter of their wealthy employer, and that she is not quite right in the head so they had been dispatched to retrieve her. The Sgt at the gate seems to take the story but wants them to wait while he confirms it and fills the paperwork. Thaddeus convinces him that he should allow the rest to return to the safety of their inn while he remains to answer any questions and fill the various forms.
Thaddeus spends the next few hours charming the Sgt in the guardhouse and discreetly spiking the mans drink with stronger spirits. While they trade tales and laughs the gnome fans the flames of any wild conspiracy theories the man has until he is so deep in his cup that he passes out. Thaddeus searches the guard room for anything interesting but finding only common smut and a fine dagger sneaks out and makes his way to the Red Flagon. The group having arrived hour earlier, Kumak pays for the last 2 rooms available, 1 small sized room for Thaddeus and 1 normal sized one for himself. Kronk and Susan room with him while Tim takes the small room with his dog. Thaddeus instead orders a full suite for himself upon arriving and settles in for the remainder of the night and much of the next morning.
Awakening first, Tim joins the others upstairs and when Kumak finds that Thaddeus never arrived the towering half orc seizes Kronk and Susan and demands that which ever one of them used their dark powers to speak with Thaddeus last night do it again to find him. Susan casts her spell and assures Kumak that Thaddeus says he is here and quite safe, don't come look for him he will be out when he is ready. Kumak declares that he is clearly under distress and starts kicking in various doors finding the gnome on the second try.
Seeing that Thaddeus is indeed safe the two debate on the quality of his personal grooming, settling on the cursive design shaved into his nether regions as being elvish script they make their way downstairs to find breakfast when they are met by a peculiar elf who suggests they are in his employers debt and should be very interested in returning to their good graces. Thaddeus and the elf trade some barbs until Kumak's hunger gets the better of him and the half orc steps past, followed quickly by Thaddeus. The mystery elf enters into the room with the remainder and plies them with the same vague threats and promises until they agree to perform a small service, investigate a local saw mill and bring any evidence of wrong doing to them. Agreeing to his demands, Susan, Tim and Kronk join Kumak and Thaddeus downstairs where they convince the gnome and half orc to assist them, just so long as its not because the elf wants them too. Tim complains about some of his existing wounds and asks Kronk to heal him but the odd human attempts to convince the halfling that his wounds are not so grievous as to need divine intervention. Tim stands up and declares that if he wont be healed then he will go see his friend in the southern most district of Ordellia, Kumak asks if he can't heal his own wounds with his magic or buy himself a wand if he is that concerned but Tim counters that he is preparing other spells and doesn't want to waste money needlessly.
One halfling and one dog down the group head to the Sawmill nearby. Kronk descends down to the river floor while the others enter the ground floor. The ground floor is mostly barren but they do find evidence that something large had been nesting inside until recently. Kronk finds 3 men working below and over the loud grinding of the machinery tells them he is here to inspect the operation. Catching out of the corner of his eye one of the men retrieving a blade from behind a barrel as he approaches to talk, Kronk pulls out a mask made from cured human flesh that he had taken off their would be assassin the first night they arrived in Magnimar, that along with Kronks swift talk convinces the men that he belongs to their cult and one of them begins walking him around the gears explaining the operation.
On the second floor Kumak opens the door to 3 men in work clothes who question what he is doing here
"Hi, I'm Kumak, I'm here to smash some cultist's faces in. Are you cultists?"
The men pull long razors for their answer and the fight is joined. Thaddeus and Susan spy through holes in the ceiling leading to the 3rd floor a rather attractive woman whose eyes go wide at the sight of the raging bloodrager below her. She quickly shouts some orders that are lost in the din of battle and the sawmill then casts a spell that causes Thaddeus to flee the building. Susan summons a wolverine at the stairwell and finds herself unable to continue due to several cultists blocking the way up. Kumak spends the next few moments slamming his hammer into the 3 men that were on this level to begin with and 2 more who had jumped down from the 3rd floor until he arrives at the stairwell and tackles through the last 3 opponents.
Kronk having inspected the machinery as well as he feels he can pretend to is moving towards the door, supposedly to inspect above when Capt Tiernay pokes his head through the door, having finally tracked the group down. The cultists start moving towards him when Kronk stops them, and manages to tell them that this man is with him before his sleeve is caught by the machinery. The cultists all give a collective gasp and wince in anticipation of whats to come as Kronk is yanked into the spinning gears and pistons. Crushed and jabbed the human sees an opening against all odds and manages to angle himself so that he is ejected from the sawmill after only a few seconds of torment. Casting levitate just before he plunged into the icy river below Kronk hollers for the men to stop the machinery so that he can escape back up. Capt Tiernay slowly backs away and finds Thaddeus just exiting the building. Snapping back to himself the gnome commands his personal assistant to carry him back upstairs into the fray.
Kumak slams his Earthbreaker into 2 of the remaining 5 cultists, felling one and putting the other to his knees which Susan's wolverine dives into tearing his throat out. Two of the other cultists move into position while the final looks to Kumak,
"I Suggest you get everyone out of the building as fast as possible"
Kumak suddenly turns towards the wall and using his adamantine hammer smashes a large hole through to the other side glimpsing the fleeing form of his rather attractive friend from before. Then the half orc moves towards the nearest cultist, meaning to start tossing friends and foes alike out his newly minted exit. Thaddeus ascends the stairs and Susan having seen the exchange warns him of Kumaks intent. The gnome counters the compulsion and with Susans aid finishes the other 2 cultists. The final one, assessing his surroundings flees into a back room and bars the door but Kumak smashes through the wall to glimpse him escaping via a hatch on the roof. Up there the man looks like he cant decide if he should leap into the river below or not, but the arrival of the raging half orc seems to settle the matter for him and he jumps. Kumak leaps after him landing nearby, Thaddeus jumps as well, seemingly just for the hell of it. The waters are relatively turbulent and all 3 are having difficulty doing more than staying afloat as they begin to be swept further down.
Kronk just now emerging from the below spies the three and annoyed at his entire ordeal magically seizes the cultist, who begins to sink and drown until Kumak catches up and hauls Thaddeus and the cultist out of the river. Tying up the cultist and taking his holy symbol the Redeemers take stock. The final 3 cultists below, still unaware of the developments should be easy to deal with, then they can take stock of the building and see if this endeavor has payed off.
Thoughts:
The Oracle refusing to heal the ranger was a bit odd, but I figured he wanted to hold on to his spell slots and channels for the moment, especially since the ranger stays back out of the fight. The ranger declaring he is then leaving was odd, I tried to give him some outs like, you can prepare cure light wounds yourself, or hey don't you have a lot of money? You could buy yourself a wand if you are concerned, but he was annoyed so he sat out the rest of the session. Interjecting every initiative round that he was indeed, still walking. The issue I'm seeing coming up is Tim was already hard to show horn into the party. He never spoke to us, I had to go way out of game to do what he was trying to get us to do, now he seems to have zero connection to us and is more interested in doing his own thing. I had been hoping to get some drinking and mild illicit substances to have a rundown with Thaddeus and Susan about some of their backstory, as a way to include some Kronk and Tim stuff too but I just don't know.
I am working the next game so we will see how it goes.
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Bard
Tim: Halfling Ranger
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
The Redeemers find themselves in need of a place to rest and unfortunately Naos district has no inns that Thaddeus can recall. While there may be some in nearby Capital District Thaddeus feels, and some of the party agrees that they would draw too much attention in the more affluent districts and elect to make their way into Lowcleft to the Red Flagon. The guards at the gate between the districts question why the group is moving around past curfew and Thaddeus gives them a story about Susan being the daughter of their wealthy employer, and that she is not quite right in the head so they had been dispatched to retrieve her. The Sgt at the gate seems to take the story but wants them to wait while he confirms it and fills the paperwork. Thaddeus convinces him that he should allow the rest to return to the safety of their inn while he remains to answer any questions and fill the various forms.
Thaddeus spends the next few hours charming the Sgt in the guardhouse and discreetly spiking the mans drink with stronger spirits. While they trade tales and laughs the gnome fans the flames of any wild conspiracy theories the man has until he is so deep in his cup that he passes out. Thaddeus searches the guard room for anything interesting but finding only common smut and a fine dagger sneaks out and makes his way to the Red Flagon. The group having arrived hour earlier, Kumak pays for the last 2 rooms available, 1 small sized room for Thaddeus and 1 normal sized one for himself. Kronk and Susan room with him while Tim takes the small room with his dog. Thaddeus instead orders a full suite for himself upon arriving and settles in for the remainder of the night and much of the next morning.
Awakening first, Tim joins the others upstairs and when Kumak finds that Thaddeus never arrived the towering half orc seizes Kronk and Susan and demands that which ever one of them used their dark powers to speak with Thaddeus last night do it again to find him. Susan casts her spell and assures Kumak that Thaddeus says he is here and quite safe, don't come look for him he will be out when he is ready. Kumak declares that he is clearly under distress and starts kicking in various doors finding the gnome on the second try.
Seeing that Thaddeus is indeed safe the two debate on the quality of his personal grooming, settling on the cursive design shaved into his nether regions as being elvish script they make their way downstairs to find breakfast when they are met by a peculiar elf who suggests they are in his employers debt and should be very interested in returning to their good graces. Thaddeus and the elf trade some barbs until Kumak's hunger gets the better of him and the half orc steps past, followed quickly by Thaddeus. The mystery elf enters into the room with the remainder and plies them with the same vague threats and promises until they agree to perform a small service, investigate a local saw mill and bring any evidence of wrong doing to them. Agreeing to his demands, Susan, Tim and Kronk join Kumak and Thaddeus downstairs where they convince the gnome and half orc to assist them, just so long as its not because the elf wants them too. Tim complains about some of his existing wounds and asks Kronk to heal him but the odd human attempts to convince the halfling that his wounds are not so grievous as to need divine intervention. Tim stands up and declares that if he wont be healed then he will go see his friend in the southern most district of Ordellia, Kumak asks if he can't heal his own wounds with his magic or buy himself a wand if he is that concerned but Tim counters that he is preparing other spells and doesn't want to waste money needlessly.
One halfling and one dog down the group head to the Sawmill nearby. Kronk descends down to the river floor while the others enter the ground floor. The ground floor is mostly barren but they do find evidence that something large had been nesting inside until recently. Kronk finds 3 men working below and over the loud grinding of the machinery tells them he is here to inspect the operation. Catching out of the corner of his eye one of the men retrieving a blade from behind a barrel as he approaches to talk, Kronk pulls out a mask made from cured human flesh that he had taken off their would be assassin the first night they arrived in Magnimar, that along with Kronks swift talk convinces the men that he belongs to their cult and one of them begins walking him around the gears explaining the operation.
On the second floor Kumak opens the door to 3 men in work clothes who question what he is doing here
"Hi, I'm Kumak, I'm here to smash some cultist's faces in. Are you cultists?"
The men pull long razors for their answer and the fight is joined. Thaddeus and Susan spy through holes in the ceiling leading to the 3rd floor a rather attractive woman whose eyes go wide at the sight of the raging bloodrager below her. She quickly shouts some orders that are lost in the din of battle and the sawmill then casts a spell that causes Thaddeus to flee the building. Susan summons a wolverine at the stairwell and finds herself unable to continue due to several cultists blocking the way up. Kumak spends the next few moments slamming his hammer into the 3 men that were on this level to begin with and 2 more who had jumped down from the 3rd floor until he arrives at the stairwell and tackles through the last 3 opponents.
Kronk having inspected the machinery as well as he feels he can pretend to is moving towards the door, supposedly to inspect above when Capt Tiernay pokes his head through the door, having finally tracked the group down. The cultists start moving towards him when Kronk stops them, and manages to tell them that this man is with him before his sleeve is caught by the machinery. The cultists all give a collective gasp and wince in anticipation of whats to come as Kronk is yanked into the spinning gears and pistons. Crushed and jabbed the human sees an opening against all odds and manages to angle himself so that he is ejected from the sawmill after only a few seconds of torment. Casting levitate just before he plunged into the icy river below Kronk hollers for the men to stop the machinery so that he can escape back up. Capt Tiernay slowly backs away and finds Thaddeus just exiting the building. Snapping back to himself the gnome commands his personal assistant to carry him back upstairs into the fray.
Kumak slams his Earthbreaker into 2 of the remaining 5 cultists, felling one and putting the other to his knees which Susan's wolverine dives into tearing his throat out. Two of the other cultists move into position while the final looks to Kumak,
"I Suggest you get everyone out of the building as fast as possible"
Kumak suddenly turns towards the wall and using his adamantine hammer smashes a large hole through to the other side glimpsing the fleeing form of his rather attractive friend from before. Then the half orc moves towards the nearest cultist, meaning to start tossing friends and foes alike out his newly minted exit. Thaddeus ascends the stairs and Susan having seen the exchange warns him of Kumaks intent. The gnome counters the compulsion and with Susans aid finishes the other 2 cultists. The final one, assessing his surroundings flees into a back room and bars the door but Kumak smashes through the wall to glimpse him escaping via a hatch on the roof. Up there the man looks like he cant decide if he should leap into the river below or not, but the arrival of the raging half orc seems to settle the matter for him and he jumps. Kumak leaps after him landing nearby, Thaddeus jumps as well, seemingly just for the hell of it. The waters are relatively turbulent and all 3 are having difficulty doing more than staying afloat as they begin to be swept further down.
Kronk just now emerging from the below spies the three and annoyed at his entire ordeal magically seizes the cultist, who begins to sink and drown until Kumak catches up and hauls Thaddeus and the cultist out of the river. Tying up the cultist and taking his holy symbol the Redeemers take stock. The final 3 cultists below, still unaware of the developments should be easy to deal with, then they can take stock of the building and see if this endeavor has payed off.
Thoughts:
The Oracle refusing to heal the ranger was a bit odd, but I figured he wanted to hold on to his spell slots and channels for the moment, especially since the ranger stays back out of the fight. The ranger declaring he is then leaving was odd, I tried to give him some outs like, you can prepare cure light wounds yourself, or hey don't you have a lot of money? You could buy yourself a wand if you are concerned, but he was annoyed so he sat out the rest of the session. Interjecting every initiative round that he was indeed, still walking. The issue I'm seeing coming up is Tim was already hard to show horn into the party. He never spoke to us, I had to go way out of game to do what he was trying to get us to do, now he seems to have zero connection to us and is more interested in doing his own thing. I had been hoping to get some drinking and mild illicit substances to have a rundown with Thaddeus and Susan about some of their backstory, as a way to include some Kronk and Tim stuff too but I just don't know.
I am working the next game so we will see how it goes.
Saturday 3 November 2018
We're Guards - Rise of the Runelords Campaign Session 21
In attendance were;
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Bard
Tim: Halfling Ranger
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
Kronk and Susan lead their following of rescued prisoners through the streets towards The Big Fish, the inn they were staying at, paying no heed to their surroundings and not noticing the tail they had picked up.
Kumak, Tim and Thaddeus stealthily move through the city arriving about an hour later to Vic the proprieter all but throwing them out. Apparently news of the incident had already spread and their involvement, discussed. Thaddeus makes a suitable scene before the group finds themselves taking stock of their options. Much back and forth is given and with the conversation leading towards sleeping in the sewers Kumak, not wishing to be cramped underground again suggests that they try for Foxglove's townhouse which Thaddeus's friend Pinky had indicated was under protection from being robbed. The group worried about the assassin cult but greatly preferring a bed to the sewers makes their way to the Alabaster District.
A contingent of 5 guards stand outside Foxglove Townhouse showing no sign of moving on. Thaddeus disguises himself as a small child and tries to lure the guards away with a story of a missing sister taken by a scary man, but the guards only send one of their number to walk him home. The remainder eventually work their way around back, and over the stone fence. Tim finds a shed and starts making his bed space in there but Kumak did not come all this way to sleep in a shed. Drinking 2 of the potions of Silence he had he breaks enough of the boards nailed across the back door to allow entry. Trying the Lion headed key they took from Aldren's corpse they enter the home. Tim decides that he will join them and with Thaddeus returning having given the guard the slip it is time to find a place to rest.
Thaddeus finds a living room with a large couch and claims it as his domain, Kumak heads upstairs to find a master bedroom in the hopes it might fit his frame. Kronk and Susan join him while Tim moves about the first floor. Checking the 2 rooms on the second floor before proceeding to the third Kumak finds one empty bedroom and the other occupied by what appears to be two teens in a state of undressed embrace. Shocked, at first Kumak does not react in time to stop the girl from screaming, which alerts the guards outside, causing all of them to rush into the building. Kumak and Kronk move to the other room, locking the door to hide while Thaddeus hearing the guards bursting in closes his door as well. Tim and Susan move downstairs with the idea of smoothing this over but are shortly placed under arrest and manacled.
The guards move upstairs to clear out the rooms, finding Kumaks locked the guard moves into the other room, but where Kumak had seen the two teens the guard reports all clear. Hearing Susan being placed under arrest Kumak opens the door and grabs the guard, pulling him in and pummeling him into unconsciousness. Thaddeus peering out of his room, tries to use what magic he has to aid Susan's escape but she doesn't take the hint and is being led away. The guards move outside with their prisoners, Kumak heading down the stairs suddenly gets the premonition that something below is mocking him. Not about to let this slight pass he heads into the basement and finds rows of corpses hung up like slabs of beef, the bodies carved with strange symbols. In the side room he finds a statue of a Lion that he feels is the source of his unease. Thaddeus and Kronk join him and they spy a small keyhole in the mouth of the lion. Using the Lion key the mouth drops and some documents and coin are pilfered, among which is the deed to the Townhouse.
Thaddeus calls out the guards and attempts to convince them that he is the rightful owner of the house with the deed but soon finds himself in chains as well. Kronk moves out the back to escape and Kumak to the third floor to look for the teens or anything to help but finds neither. The guard Captain assigns one of his men to lead Thaddeus to the stockade while Susan and Tim spy a chance to escape and hide in the backyard. Kumak waits until the Captain passes by going into the basement and using Thaddeus's Hat of Disguise he had borrowed makes a reasonable facsimile of the Captain. Catching up to the guard escorting Thaddeus Kumak convinces him to guard the townhouse while he will take the Gnome and gets the guards keys. Moving out of sight Kumak unlocks Thaddeus, who had suspected the deception and the two wonder how to find the others now, when suddenly Kronk sends a magic message to Thaddeus informing them that they are under attack by some sort of faceless creatures and in dire straits. Thaddeus climbs on Kumak and with Thaddeus's knowledge of the city they are able to arrive in time to save the others from certain death given all the party is tapped clean on spells and health.
With the night later, their assets fewer and the heat growing on them the Redeemers find themselves in desperate need of lodging and rest.
Thoughts:
Well, either those guards are in on the murder cult stuff (thought so right up until I heard them freaking out about the dead bodies below) or they are the Worst. Guards. Ever.
Not sure where the GM was going with having a 5 man guard "patrol" outside our destination that does not move, will only send 1 man to escort a child home when that child just said a scary man stole his sister, but will all come running at the scream from the abandoned boarded up house. I'm guessing there was maybe a stake out that they were doing at Foxglove. We are running on fumes now, no spells, no rage, some heavily damaged. Whatever we decide, we had better find some haven soon.
I didn't think that news of the fight with the Hellknights would have traveled that quickly and our specific involvement be known only an hour or two after the fact. The teens turned out to be faceless stalkers who could squeeze through really tiny holes, which was how they escaped that one room without me or the guards seeing them.
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Bard
Tim: Halfling Ranger
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
Kronk and Susan lead their following of rescued prisoners through the streets towards The Big Fish, the inn they were staying at, paying no heed to their surroundings and not noticing the tail they had picked up.
Kumak, Tim and Thaddeus stealthily move through the city arriving about an hour later to Vic the proprieter all but throwing them out. Apparently news of the incident had already spread and their involvement, discussed. Thaddeus makes a suitable scene before the group finds themselves taking stock of their options. Much back and forth is given and with the conversation leading towards sleeping in the sewers Kumak, not wishing to be cramped underground again suggests that they try for Foxglove's townhouse which Thaddeus's friend Pinky had indicated was under protection from being robbed. The group worried about the assassin cult but greatly preferring a bed to the sewers makes their way to the Alabaster District.
A contingent of 5 guards stand outside Foxglove Townhouse showing no sign of moving on. Thaddeus disguises himself as a small child and tries to lure the guards away with a story of a missing sister taken by a scary man, but the guards only send one of their number to walk him home. The remainder eventually work their way around back, and over the stone fence. Tim finds a shed and starts making his bed space in there but Kumak did not come all this way to sleep in a shed. Drinking 2 of the potions of Silence he had he breaks enough of the boards nailed across the back door to allow entry. Trying the Lion headed key they took from Aldren's corpse they enter the home. Tim decides that he will join them and with Thaddeus returning having given the guard the slip it is time to find a place to rest.
Thaddeus finds a living room with a large couch and claims it as his domain, Kumak heads upstairs to find a master bedroom in the hopes it might fit his frame. Kronk and Susan join him while Tim moves about the first floor. Checking the 2 rooms on the second floor before proceeding to the third Kumak finds one empty bedroom and the other occupied by what appears to be two teens in a state of undressed embrace. Shocked, at first Kumak does not react in time to stop the girl from screaming, which alerts the guards outside, causing all of them to rush into the building. Kumak and Kronk move to the other room, locking the door to hide while Thaddeus hearing the guards bursting in closes his door as well. Tim and Susan move downstairs with the idea of smoothing this over but are shortly placed under arrest and manacled.
The guards move upstairs to clear out the rooms, finding Kumaks locked the guard moves into the other room, but where Kumak had seen the two teens the guard reports all clear. Hearing Susan being placed under arrest Kumak opens the door and grabs the guard, pulling him in and pummeling him into unconsciousness. Thaddeus peering out of his room, tries to use what magic he has to aid Susan's escape but she doesn't take the hint and is being led away. The guards move outside with their prisoners, Kumak heading down the stairs suddenly gets the premonition that something below is mocking him. Not about to let this slight pass he heads into the basement and finds rows of corpses hung up like slabs of beef, the bodies carved with strange symbols. In the side room he finds a statue of a Lion that he feels is the source of his unease. Thaddeus and Kronk join him and they spy a small keyhole in the mouth of the lion. Using the Lion key the mouth drops and some documents and coin are pilfered, among which is the deed to the Townhouse.
Thaddeus calls out the guards and attempts to convince them that he is the rightful owner of the house with the deed but soon finds himself in chains as well. Kronk moves out the back to escape and Kumak to the third floor to look for the teens or anything to help but finds neither. The guard Captain assigns one of his men to lead Thaddeus to the stockade while Susan and Tim spy a chance to escape and hide in the backyard. Kumak waits until the Captain passes by going into the basement and using Thaddeus's Hat of Disguise he had borrowed makes a reasonable facsimile of the Captain. Catching up to the guard escorting Thaddeus Kumak convinces him to guard the townhouse while he will take the Gnome and gets the guards keys. Moving out of sight Kumak unlocks Thaddeus, who had suspected the deception and the two wonder how to find the others now, when suddenly Kronk sends a magic message to Thaddeus informing them that they are under attack by some sort of faceless creatures and in dire straits. Thaddeus climbs on Kumak and with Thaddeus's knowledge of the city they are able to arrive in time to save the others from certain death given all the party is tapped clean on spells and health.
With the night later, their assets fewer and the heat growing on them the Redeemers find themselves in desperate need of lodging and rest.
Thoughts:
Well, either those guards are in on the murder cult stuff (thought so right up until I heard them freaking out about the dead bodies below) or they are the Worst. Guards. Ever.
Not sure where the GM was going with having a 5 man guard "patrol" outside our destination that does not move, will only send 1 man to escort a child home when that child just said a scary man stole his sister, but will all come running at the scream from the abandoned boarded up house. I'm guessing there was maybe a stake out that they were doing at Foxglove. We are running on fumes now, no spells, no rage, some heavily damaged. Whatever we decide, we had better find some haven soon.
I didn't think that news of the fight with the Hellknights would have traveled that quickly and our specific involvement be known only an hour or two after the fact. The teens turned out to be faceless stalkers who could squeeze through really tiny holes, which was how they escaped that one room without me or the guards seeing them.
Wednesday 24 October 2018
Jail Break - Rise of the Runelords Campaign session 20
In attendance were;
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Bard
Tim: Halfling Ranger
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
It takes several days for Thaddeus to get the drugs out of his system, Susan further enchants Kumaks cloak, while Kumak purchases them both rings of Sustenance. Coming down off their high the Redeemers took stock of their options. Tim was keen to root out the Hellknights and rescue any prisoners. With no one offering a counter point the group move towards the Hellknight refuge. Thaddeus and Tim had informed the party through their respective connections both where the Hellknights were quartered and that the city guard had been turning a blind eye towards their activities for the moment since the bulk of their acquisitions had been coming from the undesirables of the city but shouldn't be troubled if the group dispose of them.
Arriving at a long warehouse the party spies 2 guards in position on the roof, 2 at the front door and 2 on roaming patrol. Thaddeus moves everyone into a nearby abandoned building and declares
"Watch this"
He suddenly transforms into a stunning courtesan and approaches the 2 guards at the door. Kumak exits the building to watch as Thaddeus walks up to the guards and weaving magic into his words suggests that they come join him for a relaxing massage. The guards follow, their eyes glazed over but they are noticed by one on the roof who cries out an alarm. Thaddeus manages to pull the 2 he has enchanted into the building where the Redeemers quickly make work of them while Kumak stands outside. 3 Hellknights are quickly bearing down on them and Kumak finally understanding flies into a rage. 2 of the Hellknights are clearly junior and fall quickly but the third is well versed in combat and frustratingly difficult to hit. She is soon joined by 2 more of her caliber then another later and Kumak finds that his rage is all that sustains him. An older woman emerges and casts a spell towards the now enlarged half orc but her magic can not penetrate the red haze of Kumaks rage. She is swiftly put down by Tim.
Kronk keeps the Redeemers healed, but Kumak is taking deep cuts and hangs on the cusp of death. Susan sends a fireball into a small group of them causing the front of the building to catch fire. Thaddeus distracts and confuses the remaining Hellknights and after a long bloody battle the last of the Hellknights falls. Rushing into the building there are a dozen cages each with a prisoner confined, the fire has claimed the lives of the 2 closest to the door but using his new Adamantine Earthbreaker Kumak shatters the door of the closest living one and hauls him out. Susan takes the keys off the body of the final Hellknight to emerge and begiunis unlocking cells on one side while Kumak breaks the cells on the other. Thaddeus hears the approach of guards so still in his vivacious disguise runs off to stall them. Kronk channels his divine might to stave off a fiery death inside the remains of the building. Kumak destroys a large hold in the back wall that only succeeds in bringing down a small portion of the roof. The living survivors are rushed through the gap, joined by Tim, Susan, and Kronk. Kumak, still under the assumption that there would be no repercussions for this walks out the front and begins collecting the bodies of the Hellknights in an effort to salvage the equipment. Thaddeus is unable to stall the guards for long and eventually one of them gets wise to his antics forcing the gnome to vanish and flee.
The guards come upon a 13 foot tall, 1 ton half orc, singed and cut despite Kronks ministrations, still in the throes of his rage, tossing the corpses of battered Hellknights while still wielding a massive hammer covered in viscera.
"Drop your weapon and surrender" the captain cries while they begin fanning out around him.
"IF YOU HELP WE MIGHT STILL SAVE SOME"
"Drop your weapon now"
Kumak understanding that he is all alone and perhaps in trouble taps into the last bit of his bloodline and sprints off down the street at an impossible pace. The guards are thankful they won't have to give chase and fan out trying to get an idea of what happened. Thaddeus throughout the confrontation had been invisibly pocketing whatever valuables he could off the corpses that were out of eyesight follows Kumaks trail and soon finds him huddled in a shack waiting for his form to shrink back down to its normal still impressive but not so conspicuous size.
Thoughts:
Level 7! GM showed the stats, it was something like
4 level 11 Hellknights
6 level 6 Hellknight trainees
Rough encounter, he spread them out by having the level 11's enter combat every 2nd round but it was still a very close one. Once he remembered he had smite Chaos on them they started hitting me like a truck. At one point Kumak was in the deep negatives (past raging hitpoints) I had the option of using my orc Endurance to stay standing until I could take one action or save it and trust that the other Hellknight wouldn't coup de grace me while there were other threats next to him. GM rolled for it and said that he would choose another target but later told me he fudged something in the fight. If it was damage I would rather he did it and killed me. If it was the coup de grace then I'm fine with it, since we had an agreement from an earlier game that NPC's wouldn't go for the coup de grace if there was existing threats still. Either way that's the Hellknights off the list. Next should be checking out Foxgloves place.
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Bard
Tim: Halfling Ranger
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
It takes several days for Thaddeus to get the drugs out of his system, Susan further enchants Kumaks cloak, while Kumak purchases them both rings of Sustenance. Coming down off their high the Redeemers took stock of their options. Tim was keen to root out the Hellknights and rescue any prisoners. With no one offering a counter point the group move towards the Hellknight refuge. Thaddeus and Tim had informed the party through their respective connections both where the Hellknights were quartered and that the city guard had been turning a blind eye towards their activities for the moment since the bulk of their acquisitions had been coming from the undesirables of the city but shouldn't be troubled if the group dispose of them.
Arriving at a long warehouse the party spies 2 guards in position on the roof, 2 at the front door and 2 on roaming patrol. Thaddeus moves everyone into a nearby abandoned building and declares
"Watch this"
He suddenly transforms into a stunning courtesan and approaches the 2 guards at the door. Kumak exits the building to watch as Thaddeus walks up to the guards and weaving magic into his words suggests that they come join him for a relaxing massage. The guards follow, their eyes glazed over but they are noticed by one on the roof who cries out an alarm. Thaddeus manages to pull the 2 he has enchanted into the building where the Redeemers quickly make work of them while Kumak stands outside. 3 Hellknights are quickly bearing down on them and Kumak finally understanding flies into a rage. 2 of the Hellknights are clearly junior and fall quickly but the third is well versed in combat and frustratingly difficult to hit. She is soon joined by 2 more of her caliber then another later and Kumak finds that his rage is all that sustains him. An older woman emerges and casts a spell towards the now enlarged half orc but her magic can not penetrate the red haze of Kumaks rage. She is swiftly put down by Tim.
Kronk keeps the Redeemers healed, but Kumak is taking deep cuts and hangs on the cusp of death. Susan sends a fireball into a small group of them causing the front of the building to catch fire. Thaddeus distracts and confuses the remaining Hellknights and after a long bloody battle the last of the Hellknights falls. Rushing into the building there are a dozen cages each with a prisoner confined, the fire has claimed the lives of the 2 closest to the door but using his new Adamantine Earthbreaker Kumak shatters the door of the closest living one and hauls him out. Susan takes the keys off the body of the final Hellknight to emerge and begiunis unlocking cells on one side while Kumak breaks the cells on the other. Thaddeus hears the approach of guards so still in his vivacious disguise runs off to stall them. Kronk channels his divine might to stave off a fiery death inside the remains of the building. Kumak destroys a large hold in the back wall that only succeeds in bringing down a small portion of the roof. The living survivors are rushed through the gap, joined by Tim, Susan, and Kronk. Kumak, still under the assumption that there would be no repercussions for this walks out the front and begins collecting the bodies of the Hellknights in an effort to salvage the equipment. Thaddeus is unable to stall the guards for long and eventually one of them gets wise to his antics forcing the gnome to vanish and flee.
The guards come upon a 13 foot tall, 1 ton half orc, singed and cut despite Kronks ministrations, still in the throes of his rage, tossing the corpses of battered Hellknights while still wielding a massive hammer covered in viscera.
"Drop your weapon and surrender" the captain cries while they begin fanning out around him.
"IF YOU HELP WE MIGHT STILL SAVE SOME"
"Drop your weapon now"
Kumak understanding that he is all alone and perhaps in trouble taps into the last bit of his bloodline and sprints off down the street at an impossible pace. The guards are thankful they won't have to give chase and fan out trying to get an idea of what happened. Thaddeus throughout the confrontation had been invisibly pocketing whatever valuables he could off the corpses that were out of eyesight follows Kumaks trail and soon finds him huddled in a shack waiting for his form to shrink back down to its normal still impressive but not so conspicuous size.
Thoughts:
Level 7! GM showed the stats, it was something like
4 level 11 Hellknights
6 level 6 Hellknight trainees
Rough encounter, he spread them out by having the level 11's enter combat every 2nd round but it was still a very close one. Once he remembered he had smite Chaos on them they started hitting me like a truck. At one point Kumak was in the deep negatives (past raging hitpoints) I had the option of using my orc Endurance to stay standing until I could take one action or save it and trust that the other Hellknight wouldn't coup de grace me while there were other threats next to him. GM rolled for it and said that he would choose another target but later told me he fudged something in the fight. If it was damage I would rather he did it and killed me. If it was the coup de grace then I'm fine with it, since we had an agreement from an earlier game that NPC's wouldn't go for the coup de grace if there was existing threats still. Either way that's the Hellknights off the list. Next should be checking out Foxgloves place.
Saturday 6 October 2018
Warm Welcomes - Rise of the Runelords session 18-19
In attendance were;
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Tim: Halfling Ranger
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
Entering into Magnimar through the east gate the Redeemers encounter a bit of resistance when Thaddeus suspects the guard is racially profiling him for being a gnome, one short but awkward conversation later finds the group stumbling into the city in full swing of celebrating Ascendance Day, to mark the ascension of the goddess Iomedae. Kumak wishing nothing more than to find an inn to unload all the extraneous gear is overruled for the moment so Thaddeus can revel. Having never been in a city of this size nor participated in such revelry the half orc makes the most of the experience and accepts 3 doses of a narcotic offered to him by a citizen. Inhaling one dose of the dust leaves his mind working far more rapidly than before, able to piece together connections that had previously seemed so complicated. Offering up the remaining 2 doses to any who would care to join him, Thaddeus swiftly imbibes then followed by Kronk. It is Kronk who suddenly realizes what the drug was once he experiences the effects, Inspiration Dust, a powerfully addictive narcotic whose down will cause them significant troubles. Before he can relay this information to the others an arrow strikes Susan in the shoulder and from a nearby rooftop the group spies the shooter moving away. Kumak gives chase to the obvious trap before any of the group can warn him let alone join him.
Kumak soon finds himself turning a corner and coming face to face with a hooded woman who quickly completes an incantation before Kumak realizes that she is one of his dearest friends. She offers her aid to catch the assassin but they must hurry and with that she and Kumak move through the alleyways until they come to a warehouse where a particular knock grants them access, then down a hidden passage to the sewers.
The Redeemers catch up to the rooftop sniper and manage to spoil his escape, the assassin falling off the roof sustaining several broken bones. Kronk in the throes of the drugs leaps from the roof himself to deliver a devastating blow, both to himself and the crippled form of Susan's attacker. Thaddeus is the first to notice the towering half orcs absence and he manages to pick up the trail reaching the abandoned warehouse first and annoying the doorman enough that he opens the door to deal with the gnome, only for Thaddeus to disappear and scurry into the building. Thaddeus's startling tracking skills hold and he notices the crates that cover the entrance to the sewers had been recently moved and manages to sneak down before the guard can catch him. In the sewers Thaddeus comes across one of his less scrupulous friends from his old days in Magnimar, asking if he had seen anyone move through recently his contact mentions that he heard the thrashing and roaring of some horrid monster from one tunnel, and after some cajoling from Thaddeus accompanies him. Thaddeus turns the corner to see an enlarged Kumak half stuck up an exit, his head caught in some sort of bear trap while a rat like creature is advancing on him from below with a blade drawn. The rat creature notices Thaddeus and flees just as Kumak frees his head from the trap. Some brief conversation reveals to Thaddeus that Kumak is likely still under the magical influence of his sudden "friend" and with the timely arrival of Susan and the others any lingering presence is purged from him. Thaddeus's old friend offers to take the group to one of several inns that would serve someone of the gnomes reputation, Thaddeus settles on one and tells the group to trust his halfling friend while he will go topside and wrangle the horses. Kumak not wishing to be in the confined space of the sewer declines to travel below as well and soon the group finds themselves securing lodging in one of the seedier parts of town, with the unconscious badly injured body of the would be assassin in tow.
The inspiration dust begins to take its toll and the 3 soon find themselves viewing everything and everyone with suspicion. The prisoner escapes in the predawn hours, but thanks to the effects of the inspiration dust only Susan and Tim are capable or interested in following him. Getting as far as the sewers they decide that just the 2 of them are not enough to handle any dangers from below and return to the inn. Thaddeus having a moment of lucidity in the morning offers to bring the others with him to meet his "fixer" Dr. D. Some tiring time later Dr. D has administered a restorative to the 3 but it will take at least a day to see if it will help their condition. Until then they will have to just ride out the symptoms.
Thoughts
A fast recap, missed a few salient points like Thaddeus's friends name. I missed everything from the first session up to getting my head trapped in a bear trap. The 24 hours of extreme paranoia, where it takes a DC 20 sense motive to not suspect EVERYTHING someone says really sucked. Kumak made his save to resist the addiction, Kronk made his save after Dr. D gave him some alchemical assistance, but Thaddeus is still addicted. Thaddeus will be missing the next game and possibly Kronk so we will see what we have.
There is the job to clear out some Hellknights.
There is word that Foxglove has a house here and the thieves guild has put it off limits. Thaddeus's friend provided the address.
I think there was one more task we could do at Magnimar but cant for the life of me remember what
Finally was able to sell off the loot, since I was under the effects of the dust and was automatically suspicious of everything I actually ended up getting a better deal for items and scored a 60% sale price on things.
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Tim: Halfling Ranger
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
Entering into Magnimar through the east gate the Redeemers encounter a bit of resistance when Thaddeus suspects the guard is racially profiling him for being a gnome, one short but awkward conversation later finds the group stumbling into the city in full swing of celebrating Ascendance Day, to mark the ascension of the goddess Iomedae. Kumak wishing nothing more than to find an inn to unload all the extraneous gear is overruled for the moment so Thaddeus can revel. Having never been in a city of this size nor participated in such revelry the half orc makes the most of the experience and accepts 3 doses of a narcotic offered to him by a citizen. Inhaling one dose of the dust leaves his mind working far more rapidly than before, able to piece together connections that had previously seemed so complicated. Offering up the remaining 2 doses to any who would care to join him, Thaddeus swiftly imbibes then followed by Kronk. It is Kronk who suddenly realizes what the drug was once he experiences the effects, Inspiration Dust, a powerfully addictive narcotic whose down will cause them significant troubles. Before he can relay this information to the others an arrow strikes Susan in the shoulder and from a nearby rooftop the group spies the shooter moving away. Kumak gives chase to the obvious trap before any of the group can warn him let alone join him.
Kumak soon finds himself turning a corner and coming face to face with a hooded woman who quickly completes an incantation before Kumak realizes that she is one of his dearest friends. She offers her aid to catch the assassin but they must hurry and with that she and Kumak move through the alleyways until they come to a warehouse where a particular knock grants them access, then down a hidden passage to the sewers.
The Redeemers catch up to the rooftop sniper and manage to spoil his escape, the assassin falling off the roof sustaining several broken bones. Kronk in the throes of the drugs leaps from the roof himself to deliver a devastating blow, both to himself and the crippled form of Susan's attacker. Thaddeus is the first to notice the towering half orcs absence and he manages to pick up the trail reaching the abandoned warehouse first and annoying the doorman enough that he opens the door to deal with the gnome, only for Thaddeus to disappear and scurry into the building. Thaddeus's startling tracking skills hold and he notices the crates that cover the entrance to the sewers had been recently moved and manages to sneak down before the guard can catch him. In the sewers Thaddeus comes across one of his less scrupulous friends from his old days in Magnimar, asking if he had seen anyone move through recently his contact mentions that he heard the thrashing and roaring of some horrid monster from one tunnel, and after some cajoling from Thaddeus accompanies him. Thaddeus turns the corner to see an enlarged Kumak half stuck up an exit, his head caught in some sort of bear trap while a rat like creature is advancing on him from below with a blade drawn. The rat creature notices Thaddeus and flees just as Kumak frees his head from the trap. Some brief conversation reveals to Thaddeus that Kumak is likely still under the magical influence of his sudden "friend" and with the timely arrival of Susan and the others any lingering presence is purged from him. Thaddeus's old friend offers to take the group to one of several inns that would serve someone of the gnomes reputation, Thaddeus settles on one and tells the group to trust his halfling friend while he will go topside and wrangle the horses. Kumak not wishing to be in the confined space of the sewer declines to travel below as well and soon the group finds themselves securing lodging in one of the seedier parts of town, with the unconscious badly injured body of the would be assassin in tow.
The inspiration dust begins to take its toll and the 3 soon find themselves viewing everything and everyone with suspicion. The prisoner escapes in the predawn hours, but thanks to the effects of the inspiration dust only Susan and Tim are capable or interested in following him. Getting as far as the sewers they decide that just the 2 of them are not enough to handle any dangers from below and return to the inn. Thaddeus having a moment of lucidity in the morning offers to bring the others with him to meet his "fixer" Dr. D. Some tiring time later Dr. D has administered a restorative to the 3 but it will take at least a day to see if it will help their condition. Until then they will have to just ride out the symptoms.
Thoughts
A fast recap, missed a few salient points like Thaddeus's friends name. I missed everything from the first session up to getting my head trapped in a bear trap. The 24 hours of extreme paranoia, where it takes a DC 20 sense motive to not suspect EVERYTHING someone says really sucked. Kumak made his save to resist the addiction, Kronk made his save after Dr. D gave him some alchemical assistance, but Thaddeus is still addicted. Thaddeus will be missing the next game and possibly Kronk so we will see what we have.
There is the job to clear out some Hellknights.
There is word that Foxglove has a house here and the thieves guild has put it off limits. Thaddeus's friend provided the address.
I think there was one more task we could do at Magnimar but cant for the life of me remember what
Finally was able to sell off the loot, since I was under the effects of the dust and was automatically suspicious of everything I actually ended up getting a better deal for items and scored a 60% sale price on things.
Sunday 16 September 2018
The road to Magnimar - Rise of the Runelords Campaign session 17
In attendance were;
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Tim: Halfling Ranger
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
The group wakes up the next morning and agrees to head for Magnimar, each attends to various tasks. While selling items is problematic there is a substantial amount of gold to divide. Kumak purchases magical reagents and asks Susan to craft some magical boots to protect from fall damage and an enchanted vial to use some of his supernatural blood. Susan finds that Tiberius had ordered 3 additional horses before the group had left for Foxglove manor and convinces the proprietor to give them to her. Thaddeus balks at the notion of riding a pony in a child's saddle but after speaking to the farrier gets some accouterments placed on it to seem more serious. The ride to Magnimar looks to take about 3 days. The first night passes without incident until near daybreak when Tim points out that a large spider has begun spinning a web across the top of the groups pavilion tent. Kumak enlarges himself to be able to reach the spider and with Tim firing an arrow into the massive body and one solid swing from Kumaks Earthbreaker the spider is launched 40 feet, crashing into the ground, its legs contracting in death throes.
The party converses with Kronk and Tim getting to know a little about their new companions until on the third day several of them spot a large suspicious patch of what seems to be mud on the road. Susan sends her owl up to scout ahead and is immediately alerted to its concern. Thaddeus is unable to warn Kumak not to disturb the mud in time before the half orc lobs a rock into it. Shambling into action the now huge mud elemental advances towards the Redeemers. The mud monster fails to connect its beefy limbs to Kronk several times before finally landing a blow that continues past the Oracle and connects with almost all the party. Kronk uses his divine talents to keep the group healthy and soon the creature retreats below ground swiping at the group from relative safety until a solid thwack from an Earthbreaker lives up to its name and the Elemental departs to search for easier prey.
The group debates the merits of camping for the night vs pressing on when Thaddeus announces that if they hustle they could reach Magnimar in 2 hours time. Electing to sleep in a bed rather than outside the group continue towards Magnimar and arrive at the gates at open into Keystone and Lowcleft districts.
Thoughts,
Not a very eventful session. The GM declared that Sandpoint only had 5,000 gold in total to purchase anything, and that was if we could somehow convince them to pool all their gold. At this point I just gave up and given the knowledge that in Magnimar I should be able to sell items with relative ease let go that I will be unable to unburden myself for the moment.
Unfortunately I will be missing next session due to work, I told the GM to just sideline me with selling items and trying to get my magical Adamantine Earthbreaker, but have been told that essentially I am going to be charmed/kidnapped. Not thrilled at that since being kidnapped there is a decent chance I will lose a bunch of money/equipment but more importantly when I return I will be sidelined for I'm guessing 45 mins to an hour until I get rescued, where as if I was just selling items that would remove the need to carry around all this gear and I could rejoin the party at almost any point having just finished selling some things.
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Tim: Halfling Ranger
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
The group wakes up the next morning and agrees to head for Magnimar, each attends to various tasks. While selling items is problematic there is a substantial amount of gold to divide. Kumak purchases magical reagents and asks Susan to craft some magical boots to protect from fall damage and an enchanted vial to use some of his supernatural blood. Susan finds that Tiberius had ordered 3 additional horses before the group had left for Foxglove manor and convinces the proprietor to give them to her. Thaddeus balks at the notion of riding a pony in a child's saddle but after speaking to the farrier gets some accouterments placed on it to seem more serious. The ride to Magnimar looks to take about 3 days. The first night passes without incident until near daybreak when Tim points out that a large spider has begun spinning a web across the top of the groups pavilion tent. Kumak enlarges himself to be able to reach the spider and with Tim firing an arrow into the massive body and one solid swing from Kumaks Earthbreaker the spider is launched 40 feet, crashing into the ground, its legs contracting in death throes.
The party converses with Kronk and Tim getting to know a little about their new companions until on the third day several of them spot a large suspicious patch of what seems to be mud on the road. Susan sends her owl up to scout ahead and is immediately alerted to its concern. Thaddeus is unable to warn Kumak not to disturb the mud in time before the half orc lobs a rock into it. Shambling into action the now huge mud elemental advances towards the Redeemers. The mud monster fails to connect its beefy limbs to Kronk several times before finally landing a blow that continues past the Oracle and connects with almost all the party. Kronk uses his divine talents to keep the group healthy and soon the creature retreats below ground swiping at the group from relative safety until a solid thwack from an Earthbreaker lives up to its name and the Elemental departs to search for easier prey.
The group debates the merits of camping for the night vs pressing on when Thaddeus announces that if they hustle they could reach Magnimar in 2 hours time. Electing to sleep in a bed rather than outside the group continue towards Magnimar and arrive at the gates at open into Keystone and Lowcleft districts.
Thoughts,
Not a very eventful session. The GM declared that Sandpoint only had 5,000 gold in total to purchase anything, and that was if we could somehow convince them to pool all their gold. At this point I just gave up and given the knowledge that in Magnimar I should be able to sell items with relative ease let go that I will be unable to unburden myself for the moment.
Unfortunately I will be missing next session due to work, I told the GM to just sideline me with selling items and trying to get my magical Adamantine Earthbreaker, but have been told that essentially I am going to be charmed/kidnapped. Not thrilled at that since being kidnapped there is a decent chance I will lose a bunch of money/equipment but more importantly when I return I will be sidelined for I'm guessing 45 mins to an hour until I get rescued, where as if I was just selling items that would remove the need to carry around all this gear and I could rejoin the party at almost any point having just finished selling some things.
Tuesday 28 August 2018
Allies are found - Rise of the Runelords campaign session 16
In attendance were;
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Arriving this session were
Tim: Halfling Ranger
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
The surviving 3 Redeemers looking down at the bodies of the slain ghouls and the pool where Tiberius's body had disappeared into are startled to hear movement coming from behind. Weapons to the ready a unassuming human man comes around the corner and walks right into them. After poking him to ensure he is real and not another haunt the newcomer introduces himself as Kronk. Seeing the team is in dire states Kronk offers his assistance. Kumak demands that Tiny Nuggets be healed first. Using several spells Kronk brings Thaddeus back from deaths door to something resembling health. Kumak dives into the pool and retrieves Tiberius's corpse, stripping the body of usable gear Kumak is too encumbered to bring the body back, neither Susan or Thaddeus have the strength for the task so Tiberius is laid to rest back in the pool. Thaddeus stays back with Kronk to compare notes while Kumak and Susan explore the room that Aldern came from. Susan spies a broken puzzle box which she identifies as a broken phylactery, Kumak is overcome by a vision of a man, who he suddenly knows is Vorel Foxglove, in the process of consuming a potion that will complete his transformation into a lich when suddenly a crossbow blot shatters the remainder of the potion, his body wracked with arcane energies Vorel screams in agony and collapses on the floor as his corpse rapidly turns into a rotten man shaped pile of mold. Kumak regains his senses to find he is standing over that same man shaped mold patch, consuming portions of it. The realization is cut short by the wracking pain as whatever illness takes hold. Susan collects some notes, paintings and most disturbing what appears to be bits of her hair and scraps of her clothing. On their way out of Aldern's abode Kumak spies a set of well made wind chimes off in a corner. Pocketing them, the Redeemers move back up to the house proper.
The sun not yet risen Kumak doesn't spy any of the dangerous ravens outside. Mounting up on his horse, which had weathered the night inside rather well all things considered, Kumak offers to take another on the horse. Susan speaks up and with Thaddeus riding on Kronks shoulders the group leave behind the nightmare of Foxglove manor.
Choosing between a 6 hour walking speed to Sandpoint or an hours walk to the Asylum the group chooses Sandpoint and in the wee hours before sunrise they spy a campfire and wagons. Thaddeus wishes to approach and as they near an armed guard demands to know their intentions. Some discussion is had and the guard commands that they join him. Taking the reins of Kumak's horse he leads them to the campfire where they find a caged wagon holding several prisoners and 5 other armed fighters. Based off the specialized armor 3 of them are wearing, Susan and Thaddeus identify them as Hellknights. The Captain begins asking pointed questions which the group answers, while lacking manners the Hellknights had not made any untoward moves on their persons. Suddenly two arrows fly out from the darkness. The 2 lightest armored Hellknights rush off to deal with the threat while the group is warned not to make any moves. Complying for several seconds while a scuffle can be heard a few feet into the darkened woods the one Hellknight holding the reigns starts shoving his blade into Kumak's face and making increasingly aggressive demands until the Bloodrager dismounts and swings the flat of his blade against the Hellknights head. Kumak faces against the Hellknight Captain and 2 Sergeants while the fight in the woods continues. Suddenly one of the "prisoners" stands up, his bonds falling off him like rain water, takes one step and in a flash appears outside the cage. The fight is on the verge of going sour with the Captain in the mix but the golly rotund prisoner chuckles and with a touch sends the Captain to see his beloved Asmodeus via a Plane Shift.
Regrouping, the golly Cleric of Cayden Cailean introduces himself as Father Lum. The arrow had come from one of his misguided agents seeking to rescue him, a halfling named Tim. Working the cage locks Thaddeus and Susan manage to free the remaining prisoners. Father Lum offers to take the group wherever they are heading and with that the group returns to Sandpoint slightly ahead of schedule. Over a conjured feast at the Rusty Dragon Father Lum inquires about the group and offers them a contract of 1,000 gold to accompany Tim to Magnimar to "remove" some more Hellknights. Kumak worries that the authorities might take offence if they were to go around and "remove" problems like that, Father Lum attempts to assure him that there would be no repercussions should they agree. The group elects to sleep on the offer and after several hours Kumak attempts to sell some of their wares around town but Sandpoint seems to be money poor.
Susan reading through one of the notes found in Alderns lair finds that he had a townhouse in Magnimar and whatever nefarious organisation he belonged to might be found there. Their destinations seemingly aligned for the moment Thaddeus proposes they agree to the terms.
Notes:
Not a great session I found.
First introducing the new characters, having the Oracle just stumble into us at the bottom of a haunted mansion we had literally just finished clearing out then we all just have to kind of shrug and say "team up?" felt way off to me.
Then as we were riding back to Sandpoint the Ranger stealthed and watched us pass, then followed us until the Hellknights encountered us. Then decided to silently fire an arrow at them and provide no context to clue us in about whose side we should be on. After 2 rounds of not doing anything since as far as we could tell he was a bandit I picked up on the GM's clues to engage. The Ranger cheered that he had caused us to enter the fight but in all honesty I had to metagame pretty hard to keep him from losing his character again.
The Hellknight encounter itself was weird. The Capt was something like a level 8-9 Inquisitor I think. With Father Lum ending up around level 13 based off some abilities. Combat was a drag for the most part, new characters meant that people needed more time to figure out their moves. Much of the session was wasted.
The push to team up and go to Magnimar was jarring. As I see it we would be getting 1,000 gold total to go to one of the most populous cities, commit mass murder against a well funded very dangerous organization and somehow also not attract the ire of the local constabulary.
Based off what I know here, there being a group in Magnimar that was allied with Foxglove, possibly pulling his strings. I think a better move would have been to team up the Oracle and Ranger, stick them in Sandpoint, fast track our travel back from the mansion, then have them arrived last night having lost an ally or two to "The Brothers" (I don't actually know their name only the Wizard read the note, she just summarized it's contents for us). So they are out for payback but need more muscle, we have the local rep as heavy hitters plus wanting to tidy up the loose end of Foxglove makes for a neater package than an Oracle who just wanders in and decides to hang out and a Ranger who is trying to kill some people who mean nothing to us. Coupled with a monstrously high level cleric severely underpaying for mass murder.
Not being able to sell anything is also getting annoying. I acknowledge that the 10.5k gold dagger might not be able to be sold in Sandpoint but I should be able to sell some mundane but masterwork weapons and armor. Instead I got, "the blacksmith only has 400 gold to buy anything". A small town should have a purchase limit of 5,000 gold that a shop can spend on just a single item.
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Arriving this session were
Tim: Halfling Ranger
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
The surviving 3 Redeemers looking down at the bodies of the slain ghouls and the pool where Tiberius's body had disappeared into are startled to hear movement coming from behind. Weapons to the ready a unassuming human man comes around the corner and walks right into them. After poking him to ensure he is real and not another haunt the newcomer introduces himself as Kronk. Seeing the team is in dire states Kronk offers his assistance. Kumak demands that Tiny Nuggets be healed first. Using several spells Kronk brings Thaddeus back from deaths door to something resembling health. Kumak dives into the pool and retrieves Tiberius's corpse, stripping the body of usable gear Kumak is too encumbered to bring the body back, neither Susan or Thaddeus have the strength for the task so Tiberius is laid to rest back in the pool. Thaddeus stays back with Kronk to compare notes while Kumak and Susan explore the room that Aldern came from. Susan spies a broken puzzle box which she identifies as a broken phylactery, Kumak is overcome by a vision of a man, who he suddenly knows is Vorel Foxglove, in the process of consuming a potion that will complete his transformation into a lich when suddenly a crossbow blot shatters the remainder of the potion, his body wracked with arcane energies Vorel screams in agony and collapses on the floor as his corpse rapidly turns into a rotten man shaped pile of mold. Kumak regains his senses to find he is standing over that same man shaped mold patch, consuming portions of it. The realization is cut short by the wracking pain as whatever illness takes hold. Susan collects some notes, paintings and most disturbing what appears to be bits of her hair and scraps of her clothing. On their way out of Aldern's abode Kumak spies a set of well made wind chimes off in a corner. Pocketing them, the Redeemers move back up to the house proper.
The sun not yet risen Kumak doesn't spy any of the dangerous ravens outside. Mounting up on his horse, which had weathered the night inside rather well all things considered, Kumak offers to take another on the horse. Susan speaks up and with Thaddeus riding on Kronks shoulders the group leave behind the nightmare of Foxglove manor.
Choosing between a 6 hour walking speed to Sandpoint or an hours walk to the Asylum the group chooses Sandpoint and in the wee hours before sunrise they spy a campfire and wagons. Thaddeus wishes to approach and as they near an armed guard demands to know their intentions. Some discussion is had and the guard commands that they join him. Taking the reins of Kumak's horse he leads them to the campfire where they find a caged wagon holding several prisoners and 5 other armed fighters. Based off the specialized armor 3 of them are wearing, Susan and Thaddeus identify them as Hellknights. The Captain begins asking pointed questions which the group answers, while lacking manners the Hellknights had not made any untoward moves on their persons. Suddenly two arrows fly out from the darkness. The 2 lightest armored Hellknights rush off to deal with the threat while the group is warned not to make any moves. Complying for several seconds while a scuffle can be heard a few feet into the darkened woods the one Hellknight holding the reigns starts shoving his blade into Kumak's face and making increasingly aggressive demands until the Bloodrager dismounts and swings the flat of his blade against the Hellknights head. Kumak faces against the Hellknight Captain and 2 Sergeants while the fight in the woods continues. Suddenly one of the "prisoners" stands up, his bonds falling off him like rain water, takes one step and in a flash appears outside the cage. The fight is on the verge of going sour with the Captain in the mix but the golly rotund prisoner chuckles and with a touch sends the Captain to see his beloved Asmodeus via a Plane Shift.
Regrouping, the golly Cleric of Cayden Cailean introduces himself as Father Lum. The arrow had come from one of his misguided agents seeking to rescue him, a halfling named Tim. Working the cage locks Thaddeus and Susan manage to free the remaining prisoners. Father Lum offers to take the group wherever they are heading and with that the group returns to Sandpoint slightly ahead of schedule. Over a conjured feast at the Rusty Dragon Father Lum inquires about the group and offers them a contract of 1,000 gold to accompany Tim to Magnimar to "remove" some more Hellknights. Kumak worries that the authorities might take offence if they were to go around and "remove" problems like that, Father Lum attempts to assure him that there would be no repercussions should they agree. The group elects to sleep on the offer and after several hours Kumak attempts to sell some of their wares around town but Sandpoint seems to be money poor.
Susan reading through one of the notes found in Alderns lair finds that he had a townhouse in Magnimar and whatever nefarious organisation he belonged to might be found there. Their destinations seemingly aligned for the moment Thaddeus proposes they agree to the terms.
Notes:
Not a great session I found.
First introducing the new characters, having the Oracle just stumble into us at the bottom of a haunted mansion we had literally just finished clearing out then we all just have to kind of shrug and say "team up?" felt way off to me.
Then as we were riding back to Sandpoint the Ranger stealthed and watched us pass, then followed us until the Hellknights encountered us. Then decided to silently fire an arrow at them and provide no context to clue us in about whose side we should be on. After 2 rounds of not doing anything since as far as we could tell he was a bandit I picked up on the GM's clues to engage. The Ranger cheered that he had caused us to enter the fight but in all honesty I had to metagame pretty hard to keep him from losing his character again.
The Hellknight encounter itself was weird. The Capt was something like a level 8-9 Inquisitor I think. With Father Lum ending up around level 13 based off some abilities. Combat was a drag for the most part, new characters meant that people needed more time to figure out their moves. Much of the session was wasted.
The push to team up and go to Magnimar was jarring. As I see it we would be getting 1,000 gold total to go to one of the most populous cities, commit mass murder against a well funded very dangerous organization and somehow also not attract the ire of the local constabulary.
Based off what I know here, there being a group in Magnimar that was allied with Foxglove, possibly pulling his strings. I think a better move would have been to team up the Oracle and Ranger, stick them in Sandpoint, fast track our travel back from the mansion, then have them arrived last night having lost an ally or two to "The Brothers" (I don't actually know their name only the Wizard read the note, she just summarized it's contents for us). So they are out for payback but need more muscle, we have the local rep as heavy hitters plus wanting to tidy up the loose end of Foxglove makes for a neater package than an Oracle who just wanders in and decides to hang out and a Ranger who is trying to kill some people who mean nothing to us. Coupled with a monstrously high level cleric severely underpaying for mass murder.
Not being able to sell anything is also getting annoying. I acknowledge that the 10.5k gold dagger might not be able to be sold in Sandpoint but I should be able to sell some mundane but masterwork weapons and armor. Instead I got, "the blacksmith only has 400 gold to buy anything". A small town should have a purchase limit of 5,000 gold that a shop can spend on just a single item.
Sunday 19 August 2018
The cost of victory - Rise of the Runelords campaign session 15
In attendance were;
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Tiberius Lionheart: Human Paladin of Sarenrae
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Cradling Susan protectively Kumak brings her to the library and lays her on a couch to recover. Thaddeus reappears and warns Kumak that she will need to be restrained until the Suggestion wears off. Tiberius remembering his previous experience in the library refuses to enter but elects to stand guard outside. With nothing left to do Kumak and Thaddeus build a pillow fort and rest for the next 5 hours. Dozing fitfully, Susan, Thaddeus and Kumak experience disturbing dreams. Susan that she is being chased by a malevolent being through the house unable to escape, while Kumak and Thaddeus feel themselves being crushed by an ever shrinking house. Thaddeus and Susan wake feeling troubled but nothing more, Kumak however takes the experience to heart, far too reminiscent of the thorn patch outside Thistletop the dreams weigh on his mind.
Using their wands to bring the group to fighting health the Redeemers return to explore the 3rd floor. The first rooms seem to be storage for linens and such. Thaddeus and Tiberius push ahead and find a sort of study at the end of the hallway, across from which soft sobbing can be heard. Kumak enters the 3rd floor windowed overlook and is filled with the unmistakable sense that he is on fire and the only salvation lays in leaping into the surf below. The half-orc manages to push the sensation aside before his body can react though and continues his search. Tiberius and Thaddeus open the door to the sobbing and see a bunched up blood stained sheet shaking ever so slightly along with the sobs. Getting closer Thaddeus spies an eye peeking out from underneath, not looking towards him but towards the full length mirror before it. Creeping along and careful not to move into its eyeline Thaddeus pulls the sheet back and sees that the woman underneath is clearly undead, drawing upon his bardic knowledge he feel certain that whomever she was in life she has become a Revenant in death, any violence she intends would only be towards herself or her murderer. Tiberius recognizes her from some of the visions he has been having in the mansion and upon seeing her undead nature wastes no time and just as Thaddeus shoves the mirror over the Paladin swings his sword into her flesh. Thaddeus moves away from the combat while the Revenant lets out an unearthly scream, sinks her nails into Tiberius's shoulder and with uncanny strength lifts the paladin off his feet and begins clawing into him. Kumak and Susan both chilled by the sound cower momentarily in another room while Tiberius finds himself in a losing battle. Kumak soon regains his limited wits and moves to join the fray, the undead woman soon put to rest.
With nothing further to be gleaned upstairs the group moves to the basement where Tiberius spends several minutes battering down a sturdy door while Kumak and Thaddeus search the remainder of the floor. Lending their shoulders Kumak and Thaddeus pop the door off its hinges and the Redeemers find themselves in a sort of workshop with more stairs leading down. Passing by the stained glass on this level Susan suddenly realizes what has been troubling her about the windows on each level. They are depicting a transformation into a lich. Thumbing through a few books that are so rotted that they crumble as she reads them Susan learns quite a few tips should she ever wish to make a similar transition.
The stairs down lead into a cavern branching off in 3 directions, Kumak takes the lead down one path, followed by Thaddeus. Then Tiberius charges down another with a reluctant Susan in tow. Kumak finds himself in a large cavern with a high ceiling. Looking around he finds a corpse in one corner and as he moves towards it notices something detach from the ceiling and come gliding down towards him and Thaddeus screaming. Thaddeus is overwhelmed and collapses, his body fighting against the paralysis but Kumak having gone into a rage shrugs it off. The battle is fierce, but with Kumak standing overtop the gnome the bat creature can not find easy fare. It lunges at Kumak and dropping his ranseur Kumak finishes it off with his bastard sword. Pulling Thaddeus up the 2 search the body and find an adamantine blade as well as some loose coins and particular ring. Thaddeus recognizes the ring and now knowing what he is looking for identifies the corpse as belonging to Red Shiv, supposedly called so for his blood stained blades but Thaddeus recalls that the name stuck after he was kicked in the bits by a woman and pissed blood for a week. During this time Tiberius and Susan had moved further into the caverns only to walk into a small nest of ghouls. Tiberius backs up to a choke point so all 4 cant surround him but then sees 3 more arrive and move past them down a side passage and appear at the 3rd, unexplored passage. Susan moves back to back with Tiberius and sends her owl down the passage Kumak and Thaddeus went to get help. Tiberius swings his sword taking chunks of flesh off the ghouls while his celestial dog rips pieces off. Susan is soon paralyzed by the ghouls behind who move in to finish her but Tiberius dog backs up to protect her as Kumak and Thaddeus arrives. The battle soon won, Susan and Tiberius heal themselves while Kumak and Thaddeus inspect the 3rd passageway to ensure there are no more surprises in store. Finding a small alcove in the rock and nothing else the 2 are about to leave when Kumak notices that one of the mining picks seems to have weathered the time surprisingly well. Prying the pick free from the patch of mold that has overgrown the area Kumak stirs up a cloud of yellow mold. Kumak has a brief coughing fit and is soon weakened but still in fighting form. Thaddeus however inhaled far too much for his smaller lungs and coughs for almost a full minute, phlegm, bile and some blood coming out the gnomes complexion having gone dangerously pale and gaunt, Thaddeus finds himself light headed and in need to real medical assistance.
Tiberius declares he will take the lead and marches forward but fails to see how slick the winding ramp ahead is and tumbles down crashing into walls as he slides ever further down the 60 foot drop to splash into a pool of water that 4 goblins were playing in. Only on closer look they are not just goblins, they are ghasts. Kumak from his vantage point above cant make the jump to aid Tiberius so he draws his bow and fires an arrow into one. Susan lets loose a single magic missile from her wand but it is all for naught. The 4 ghasts tear and rake at the paladin who under the onslaught finds that even the protection of Sarenrae can not hold up forever as his body seizes. One ghast tears an arm off while another rips his throat open. Between Kumak and Susan 3 of the 4 ghasts are finished, the final one leaping below the water as Tiberius corpse slides below as well. Without a moments pause a door suddenly opens halfway down the shaft and out steps what once was Aldern Foxglove. Now the man has succumbed to ghoul fever and has eyes only for Susan. Kumak retrieves his ranseur and gives Foxglove 2 hefty stabs but the man barely registers them as he makes his way unerringly to his prize only to collapse at her feet and beg her help. Kumak arches one eyebrow and hesitates for a moment before running Foxglove through again. Susan backs away and calling on arcane flames, tries to ignite the undead Foxglove but to no avail. Aldern seemingly retreats back into his undead nature and lunges at Susan cutting a deep gash along her arm. Kumak lets loose a roar and stabs Foxglove again, though the undead form is in tatters from the onslaught Foxglove is still standing, his eyes firmly fixed on Susan. As he is about to leap on Susan and finish her off she focuses her arcane fire and Aldern's body erupts in flames. Screaming her pulls himself free of Kumak's ranseur and plummets towards the pool in an effort to put out the flames. His broken and burning corpse shudders and falls still a few feet from the pools edge and the cavern falls quiet save for the crackling of burning flesh below.
Thoughts:
Was a bit of a rough session. The parties penchant for splitting up wasn't hurting us while exploring the house but really hurt us when we went below.
Apparently if Tiberius had waited one round before attacking the Revenant of Foxgloves wife she would have ran downstairs and fought him for us, which would have really helped with all the ghouls.
Unfortunately Tiberius was too far away to make the jump even ignoring the 60 feet of fall damage. The second round with Heroism from the bard would have needed a Nat 20 but by then it was too late. I realized later that there was a chance if instead of trying to make the jump in one move I could have tried to jump half way down, make the acrobatics to stay upright, then move again to jump the rest of the way down. But then I would have eaten the 10 or so attacks, prob 8 hitting and even with a now +12 to fort there would have been a good chance for 2 paralyzed characters, then a now 10 hp max (due to yellow mold) bard and a Wizard to fight against 4 ghouls plus Foxglove who took close to 100 damage before dying.
Doing the math there was a good chance we could have sold the loot from the house to bring Tiberius back since the healing fund didn't have enough in it he would have had to repay the rest of the party their share eventually. The player elected to instead let Tiberius die and is doing up a Ranger with another dog animal companion. There is also another player from his 5e game coming to try out. So we will be adding a Halfling Ranger and Human Oracle next session.
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Tiberius Lionheart: Human Paladin of Sarenrae
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Cradling Susan protectively Kumak brings her to the library and lays her on a couch to recover. Thaddeus reappears and warns Kumak that she will need to be restrained until the Suggestion wears off. Tiberius remembering his previous experience in the library refuses to enter but elects to stand guard outside. With nothing left to do Kumak and Thaddeus build a pillow fort and rest for the next 5 hours. Dozing fitfully, Susan, Thaddeus and Kumak experience disturbing dreams. Susan that she is being chased by a malevolent being through the house unable to escape, while Kumak and Thaddeus feel themselves being crushed by an ever shrinking house. Thaddeus and Susan wake feeling troubled but nothing more, Kumak however takes the experience to heart, far too reminiscent of the thorn patch outside Thistletop the dreams weigh on his mind.
Using their wands to bring the group to fighting health the Redeemers return to explore the 3rd floor. The first rooms seem to be storage for linens and such. Thaddeus and Tiberius push ahead and find a sort of study at the end of the hallway, across from which soft sobbing can be heard. Kumak enters the 3rd floor windowed overlook and is filled with the unmistakable sense that he is on fire and the only salvation lays in leaping into the surf below. The half-orc manages to push the sensation aside before his body can react though and continues his search. Tiberius and Thaddeus open the door to the sobbing and see a bunched up blood stained sheet shaking ever so slightly along with the sobs. Getting closer Thaddeus spies an eye peeking out from underneath, not looking towards him but towards the full length mirror before it. Creeping along and careful not to move into its eyeline Thaddeus pulls the sheet back and sees that the woman underneath is clearly undead, drawing upon his bardic knowledge he feel certain that whomever she was in life she has become a Revenant in death, any violence she intends would only be towards herself or her murderer. Tiberius recognizes her from some of the visions he has been having in the mansion and upon seeing her undead nature wastes no time and just as Thaddeus shoves the mirror over the Paladin swings his sword into her flesh. Thaddeus moves away from the combat while the Revenant lets out an unearthly scream, sinks her nails into Tiberius's shoulder and with uncanny strength lifts the paladin off his feet and begins clawing into him. Kumak and Susan both chilled by the sound cower momentarily in another room while Tiberius finds himself in a losing battle. Kumak soon regains his limited wits and moves to join the fray, the undead woman soon put to rest.
With nothing further to be gleaned upstairs the group moves to the basement where Tiberius spends several minutes battering down a sturdy door while Kumak and Thaddeus search the remainder of the floor. Lending their shoulders Kumak and Thaddeus pop the door off its hinges and the Redeemers find themselves in a sort of workshop with more stairs leading down. Passing by the stained glass on this level Susan suddenly realizes what has been troubling her about the windows on each level. They are depicting a transformation into a lich. Thumbing through a few books that are so rotted that they crumble as she reads them Susan learns quite a few tips should she ever wish to make a similar transition.
The stairs down lead into a cavern branching off in 3 directions, Kumak takes the lead down one path, followed by Thaddeus. Then Tiberius charges down another with a reluctant Susan in tow. Kumak finds himself in a large cavern with a high ceiling. Looking around he finds a corpse in one corner and as he moves towards it notices something detach from the ceiling and come gliding down towards him and Thaddeus screaming. Thaddeus is overwhelmed and collapses, his body fighting against the paralysis but Kumak having gone into a rage shrugs it off. The battle is fierce, but with Kumak standing overtop the gnome the bat creature can not find easy fare. It lunges at Kumak and dropping his ranseur Kumak finishes it off with his bastard sword. Pulling Thaddeus up the 2 search the body and find an adamantine blade as well as some loose coins and particular ring. Thaddeus recognizes the ring and now knowing what he is looking for identifies the corpse as belonging to Red Shiv, supposedly called so for his blood stained blades but Thaddeus recalls that the name stuck after he was kicked in the bits by a woman and pissed blood for a week. During this time Tiberius and Susan had moved further into the caverns only to walk into a small nest of ghouls. Tiberius backs up to a choke point so all 4 cant surround him but then sees 3 more arrive and move past them down a side passage and appear at the 3rd, unexplored passage. Susan moves back to back with Tiberius and sends her owl down the passage Kumak and Thaddeus went to get help. Tiberius swings his sword taking chunks of flesh off the ghouls while his celestial dog rips pieces off. Susan is soon paralyzed by the ghouls behind who move in to finish her but Tiberius dog backs up to protect her as Kumak and Thaddeus arrives. The battle soon won, Susan and Tiberius heal themselves while Kumak and Thaddeus inspect the 3rd passageway to ensure there are no more surprises in store. Finding a small alcove in the rock and nothing else the 2 are about to leave when Kumak notices that one of the mining picks seems to have weathered the time surprisingly well. Prying the pick free from the patch of mold that has overgrown the area Kumak stirs up a cloud of yellow mold. Kumak has a brief coughing fit and is soon weakened but still in fighting form. Thaddeus however inhaled far too much for his smaller lungs and coughs for almost a full minute, phlegm, bile and some blood coming out the gnomes complexion having gone dangerously pale and gaunt, Thaddeus finds himself light headed and in need to real medical assistance.
Tiberius declares he will take the lead and marches forward but fails to see how slick the winding ramp ahead is and tumbles down crashing into walls as he slides ever further down the 60 foot drop to splash into a pool of water that 4 goblins were playing in. Only on closer look they are not just goblins, they are ghasts. Kumak from his vantage point above cant make the jump to aid Tiberius so he draws his bow and fires an arrow into one. Susan lets loose a single magic missile from her wand but it is all for naught. The 4 ghasts tear and rake at the paladin who under the onslaught finds that even the protection of Sarenrae can not hold up forever as his body seizes. One ghast tears an arm off while another rips his throat open. Between Kumak and Susan 3 of the 4 ghasts are finished, the final one leaping below the water as Tiberius corpse slides below as well. Without a moments pause a door suddenly opens halfway down the shaft and out steps what once was Aldern Foxglove. Now the man has succumbed to ghoul fever and has eyes only for Susan. Kumak retrieves his ranseur and gives Foxglove 2 hefty stabs but the man barely registers them as he makes his way unerringly to his prize only to collapse at her feet and beg her help. Kumak arches one eyebrow and hesitates for a moment before running Foxglove through again. Susan backs away and calling on arcane flames, tries to ignite the undead Foxglove but to no avail. Aldern seemingly retreats back into his undead nature and lunges at Susan cutting a deep gash along her arm. Kumak lets loose a roar and stabs Foxglove again, though the undead form is in tatters from the onslaught Foxglove is still standing, his eyes firmly fixed on Susan. As he is about to leap on Susan and finish her off she focuses her arcane fire and Aldern's body erupts in flames. Screaming her pulls himself free of Kumak's ranseur and plummets towards the pool in an effort to put out the flames. His broken and burning corpse shudders and falls still a few feet from the pools edge and the cavern falls quiet save for the crackling of burning flesh below.
Thoughts:
Was a bit of a rough session. The parties penchant for splitting up wasn't hurting us while exploring the house but really hurt us when we went below.
Apparently if Tiberius had waited one round before attacking the Revenant of Foxgloves wife she would have ran downstairs and fought him for us, which would have really helped with all the ghouls.
Unfortunately Tiberius was too far away to make the jump even ignoring the 60 feet of fall damage. The second round with Heroism from the bard would have needed a Nat 20 but by then it was too late. I realized later that there was a chance if instead of trying to make the jump in one move I could have tried to jump half way down, make the acrobatics to stay upright, then move again to jump the rest of the way down. But then I would have eaten the 10 or so attacks, prob 8 hitting and even with a now +12 to fort there would have been a good chance for 2 paralyzed characters, then a now 10 hp max (due to yellow mold) bard and a Wizard to fight against 4 ghouls plus Foxglove who took close to 100 damage before dying.
Doing the math there was a good chance we could have sold the loot from the house to bring Tiberius back since the healing fund didn't have enough in it he would have had to repay the rest of the party their share eventually. The player elected to instead let Tiberius die and is doing up a Ranger with another dog animal companion. There is also another player from his 5e game coming to try out. So we will be adding a Halfling Ranger and Human Oracle next session.
Friday 10 August 2018
An unwelcome suitor - Rise of the Runelords Campaign Session 12-14
In attendance for these sessions were
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Tiberius Lionheart: Human Paladin of Sarenrae
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
7 days pass with little excitement. Susan busies herself with scribing and crafting. Tiberius asks Kumak to help him hunt goblins in the area to ensure the threat is over. Thaddeus talks around town, getting the lay of the land and making a few contacts. The morning of the 8th day Sheriff Hemlock arrives at the Rusty Dragon and asks that the group join him to take a look at a murder.
Taking the Redeemers to the nearby sawmill the group walks in to a grisly scene. Blood is everywhere, a young woman, Katrine Vinder, has been fed through the saw mill and a man, Banny Harker, has been partly carved up and hung up on a hook. The group finds foot prints and a rancid meat smell throughout the building. Some sharp eyes finds a solid foot print in the mud across the river, Susan recommends Hemlock find a Ranger that could use some magic to determine the suspect, while Thaddeus and Kumak volunteer to interrogate the 2 persons of interest, the girls father Ven Vinder, the same father to the young woman who had tired to seduce Kumak so many days ago, and the coworker of the dead man.
Thaddeus and Kumak start with Ibor Thorn, the coworker who claims to have discovered them. Thaddeus presses him while Kumak leans on him, the man is in distress, covered in blood and while he does finally relent that Harker had probably been stealing from the Scarnettis. Thaddeus advises Thorn to keep that last bit to himself and the two move to interrogate Ven. The man is built like a brick house and is looking for a problem to hit. Thaddeus begins to tear him down and as Ven comes to terms to what has happened to his daughter his powerful shoulders slump as his eyes take on a glazed look. Concluding that Ven probably wasn't responsible for the deaths Thaddeus tries to lessen the blow somewhat which draws an offer from Ven. Give him a few hours alone with whoever did this to his girl and he will pay thousands.
Tiberius and Susan confer with the Villister and father Zantus and determine that the stench of rotten meat was probably from a ghoul. Sheriff Hemlock tells them that the murder is reminiscent of another bloody scene they found a few days ago. There was one survivor who was babbling incoherently that was taken to a nearby asylum. Worried about potential ghoul fever Tiberus and Susan collect the Thaddeus and Kumak, mounting their horses the 4 ride for the asylum arriving near dusk. Tiberius begins banging the door with his fist demanding to be let in in the name of Sarenrae, that his station as a Paladin commands authority to enter. A mousy man named Habe hesitantly opens the door a crack and after a quick introduction and explanation he allows the Redeemers into the reception area but refuses to allow anyone into the asylum proper to visit the madman, Grast. The group counter that Grast be brought to them to determine if the man is indeed sick with the affliction and after a few minutes of waiting a clearly ill, both mentally and physically man is brought forth. He mumbles to himself until his eyes fall on Susan, then he stops all shaking and speech.
Giving a short speech about how she has been selected by his master Grast begins thrashing against his bonds and lunges at Susan. Kumak brings the butt end of his Ranseur up and jabs the man in the head knocking him unconscious. A cursory check confirms that Grast is suffering from ghoul fever and has only a short time left before he will succumb. Claiming the unconscious man against the protests of Habe the Redeemers take off for Sandpoint to find healing for Grast but with full dark out the trip is slower than before and soon Grast comes to consciousness and begins giggling from the back of Tiberius's horse. When asked whats so funny he replies.
"The pack, the pack, the pack is here. Here to take you away" and looks right at Susan, "Take you to him"
The group has a moment to take that in when 6 ghouls appear from the darkness and attack. None of the Redeemers are skilled in mounted combat, some dismount of their own volition, others forcibly so by their startled horses. Kumak accounts for one ghoul with each stab of his ranseur and thankfully the ghouls are made short work of. However the group finds themselves without their horses. Picking up Grast they try to reach Sandpoint while the man still has time but luck again fails them and they witness him expire shortly afterwards. Finding themselves about an hours walk from the asylum or about 6 hours hike to Sandpoint the group ensure Grast stays dead and return to Habes.
Habe is disappointed to see them again, more so without Grast and almost refuses to give them shelter for the night claiming the well being of his patients before finally relenting and offering to let them bunk in the reception area. With some pressure he "upgrades" his offer to just inside the building proper, they can sleep in the common room and are allowed to use a privy in another room but that is the extent of their leash. They find as cozy quarters as they can in the situation save Tiberius who stays up and patrols the area and immediate perimeter of the building. It is after one of his perimeter walks that he returns to find a door ajar in the common room leading downstairs. Waking Kumak and asking him to join the 2 descend to what appears to be an operating room with a black robed figure examining a body. Kumak asks what the man is doing, and suddenly both Kumak and Tiberius find themselves standing inside a foul smelling cloud. Flying into a rage Kumak moves to get in range but the man now has multiple copies of himself and even when a strike lands true it seems to hit nothing. The man fires spell after spell into Kumak but the half Orcs constitution is too great and he just shrugs them off. Tiberius finds himself tied up with several zombies. Kumak finally connects one hit against the robed figure who flees up the stairs. Susan, having been woken up by her owl Suzanne, has just finished waking Thaddeus. The two see the edge of a foul smelling cloud at the top of the stairs and a robed figure stumble out of it retching, between mouthfuls of vomit he claims that their friends are below and need their assistance. Thaddeus looks to Susan, then the man, the gnome doesn't quite know what it wrong but the story smells as bad as the cloud. Tapping into his magic Thaddeus suggests that the man go down below and help the two then. As the spell finishes Thaddeus feels the suggestion take hold, and with a mournful look he returns below where Kumak and Tiberius have finished off the undead save one, who the man commands to return to the closet. Kumak and Tiberius move to intercept the man but he is still near impossible to grasp and he pulls a potion and downs it, transforming into a cloud himself. Kumak braves the stinking cloud once more to close the door and tell the others to wedge some clothes under the cracks to prevent his escape then returns down. The cloud moves very slowly towards the far door in the basement and Tiberius lands a few blows causing drops of water to fall until the entire cloud suddenly turns to drops of liquid and falls to the floor. Habe and his two muscle men appear hearing the commotion, take one look towards the open door to the basement and make a run for it. Susan attempts to bar their exit with a magical web but they deftly dodge it and she only succeeds in trapping herself and Thaddeus. The robed mans body soon reforms from the liquid and a search of the building provides a spell book, some small money, 2 wands and a potion. There are 3 patients on the 3rd floor and in the morning Kumak ensures he leaves ample food and water in reach for the men and the group returns to Sandpoint.
Kumak enlists the sheriff and some deputies to return to the asylum and recover the patients. Susan spends time crafting for Thaddeus, while Thaddeus and Tiberius pursue their own agendas for the day. The following day Kumak provides security to Susan, who has been receiving unpleasant gifts like dead animals nailed to her bed frame while she is out. Once she finishes her crafting for Thaddeus, Kumak leaves her in the care of the rest of the Redeemers and catches some sleep, hoping to catch her erstwhile lover in the act during the night. Darkness falls and finds Kumak hidden outside Susans window at the Rusty Dragon. He catches a whiff of rotten meat before a scream rings out somewhere in town. A rustle above confirms what he suspects, ghouls. Flying into a rage Kumak engages 3 ghouls in the alleyway dispatching them all in quick succession however two manage to climb the wall and force their way into Susan's room. One is swiftly blasted back through the window landing in a heap with its neck at an impossible angle. The other is soon sent to its final rest but not before it gets a solid bite out of Susan's shoulder. The redeemers regroup and split off to secure the town. Tiberius and his new dog companion following tracks while Kumak, Susan and Thaddeus move towards the screams. Over the course of the next few hours they account for all the ghouls and find another disturbing note, this one carved into the flesh of one of the ghouls. All signs point towards Aldern Foxglove, the noble they had saved during the Swallowtail Festival, as being the one behind the ghouls and leaving these disturbing gifts for Susan.
Talking to the Mayor Thaddeus determines that there is Foxglove manor to the south where Aldern may have fled to, as well as an old caretaker that could provide clues at a nearby farm to the south. The Redeemers decide to investigate the farm on their way to the manor. Several hours on horseback bring the group to a branching path through a high corn field. Using Susan's owl to get a sense of the maze of trails the group moves through the maze of paths until they reach a cluster of scarecrows who start flailing against their bonds and launch themselves at the party revealing themselves as ghouls. Tiberius, his dog, and Kumak make short work of their attackers and prepared against such ambush tactics the group is able to dispatch several more ghouls before finding a still living girl infected with ghoul fever also strung up. She is far too weak to move and at deaths door but manages to weakly ask about her brother and father. Kumak is conflicted between rushing the girl to Sandpoint for aid and searching for any more survivors but deciding that the hour or so he will spend scouring the area could very well save more lives deems the risk to her life worth the risk. Finding the farmhouse and out building finally Kumak walks through the front door, and into 8 or so ghouls. Quickly surrounded Kumak begins slowly backing through the door, stabbing at the ghouls as he does so. The ones that cant quite reach the half orc smash through the windows where Tiberius and his dog meet them with teeth and blade. Finding what must be the half eaten remains of the father, as well as the manors old custodian the group searches the rest of the corn fields and luck is with them for now, the girls brother still lives, though also infected and in worse shape than she is. Riding as fast as they dare back to Sandpoint, during the nights ride the boy holds steady but the girls already shallow breathing takes on a dangerous raspy note to it. Riding hard into town Kumak dismounts at the temple and wakes Villister and father Zantus, explaining the situation to the clerics they explain they are tapped out but will be able to replenish their spells come dawn, and knowing the danger can prepare accordingly. Each casting a lesser restoration on the children then attempting to remove the disease leaves the children looking healthier but still infected for now. Villister assures them that he will devote a lesser restoration to each of them and will attempt to cure one of their diseases each day while providing care, which should given enough time be sufficient to save the kids. The Redeemers return to the inn to rest up and then depart for Foxglove Manor.
Foxglove manor sits surrounded by ocean cliffs on three sides, its massive size made all the more depressing by the state of the manor. A crumbling ruin sits 50 feet or so from the entrance. Tiberius and Susan with Thaddeus doubled up, move their horses to the ruin to tie their mounts while Kumak rides straight to the front door. A handful of crows dart away from the ruins and fly east. The 3 join Kumak at the door which he had just finished unlocking with a key from the old caretakers, and forcing open. The wood bulges and sags. The manor has a persistent creak, the smell of rot and mildew permeates the building. Kumak notices the scent of burnt hair but no one else makes any mention of it. Moving past the stuffed manticore statue the group fans out. It soon becomes apparent that Foxglove manor is haunted and each Redeemer begins to encounter things that the others don't see but still feels real enough to harm them. Clearing the first floor and second the Redeemers are preparing to move up to the 3rd floor where they have been hearing soft sobs from when an unfortunate haunt takes hold of Thaddeus's mind and convinces him that Susan must die. Since Thaddeus isn't much of a combatant he uses his magic wiles to convince Susan she must leap off the cliff to save herself. Tiberius is unable to reach her in time but Kumak manages to catch up and knock her unconscious just before she walks off the edge. However looking up Kumak sees what was previously a handful of crows is now hundreds upon thousands of them, all staring silently at them before swooping down and attacking them.
Thaddeus having regained his wits leaps out after Kumak, who has Susan's unconscious form in his arms and is battering at a side door to get her inside before the birds can finish her off. Thaddeus holds his torch above his head waving it and succeeds in drawing some of the crows attention but finds he is becoming nauseated by them. Kumak bursts through the door and running into a back room pours a healing potion down Susan's throat, she is in bad shape, but will live. Thaddeus manages to re-enter the manor and the birds disperse, their task of keeping the group in the house completed they show no interest in pursing the Redeemers into the manor.
Thoughts: Some small bickering from the Paladin towards the Bard, the player seemed to want to attack the bard for the perceived attempted murder, ignoring the fact that his own character had already acted against his will earlier in the house. I felt that it was well within reasonable assumptions to think that an ally, who up until that moment had never made any move against the party might have been under duress or mental control from an outside force before drawing their sword. But we will see. I rather enjoyed how the story of the house is playing out. As each character experiences a haunt a new piece of the history falls into place. I kind of wish the GM had the text preprinted on cards and when a character experienced something they read the card, rolled whatever check was required and acted accordingly all without the rest of the group knowing what happened but maybe that wouldn't work as well as I think it would.
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Tiberius Lionheart: Human Paladin of Sarenrae
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
7 days pass with little excitement. Susan busies herself with scribing and crafting. Tiberius asks Kumak to help him hunt goblins in the area to ensure the threat is over. Thaddeus talks around town, getting the lay of the land and making a few contacts. The morning of the 8th day Sheriff Hemlock arrives at the Rusty Dragon and asks that the group join him to take a look at a murder.
Taking the Redeemers to the nearby sawmill the group walks in to a grisly scene. Blood is everywhere, a young woman, Katrine Vinder, has been fed through the saw mill and a man, Banny Harker, has been partly carved up and hung up on a hook. The group finds foot prints and a rancid meat smell throughout the building. Some sharp eyes finds a solid foot print in the mud across the river, Susan recommends Hemlock find a Ranger that could use some magic to determine the suspect, while Thaddeus and Kumak volunteer to interrogate the 2 persons of interest, the girls father Ven Vinder, the same father to the young woman who had tired to seduce Kumak so many days ago, and the coworker of the dead man.
Thaddeus and Kumak start with Ibor Thorn, the coworker who claims to have discovered them. Thaddeus presses him while Kumak leans on him, the man is in distress, covered in blood and while he does finally relent that Harker had probably been stealing from the Scarnettis. Thaddeus advises Thorn to keep that last bit to himself and the two move to interrogate Ven. The man is built like a brick house and is looking for a problem to hit. Thaddeus begins to tear him down and as Ven comes to terms to what has happened to his daughter his powerful shoulders slump as his eyes take on a glazed look. Concluding that Ven probably wasn't responsible for the deaths Thaddeus tries to lessen the blow somewhat which draws an offer from Ven. Give him a few hours alone with whoever did this to his girl and he will pay thousands.
Tiberius and Susan confer with the Villister and father Zantus and determine that the stench of rotten meat was probably from a ghoul. Sheriff Hemlock tells them that the murder is reminiscent of another bloody scene they found a few days ago. There was one survivor who was babbling incoherently that was taken to a nearby asylum. Worried about potential ghoul fever Tiberus and Susan collect the Thaddeus and Kumak, mounting their horses the 4 ride for the asylum arriving near dusk. Tiberius begins banging the door with his fist demanding to be let in in the name of Sarenrae, that his station as a Paladin commands authority to enter. A mousy man named Habe hesitantly opens the door a crack and after a quick introduction and explanation he allows the Redeemers into the reception area but refuses to allow anyone into the asylum proper to visit the madman, Grast. The group counter that Grast be brought to them to determine if the man is indeed sick with the affliction and after a few minutes of waiting a clearly ill, both mentally and physically man is brought forth. He mumbles to himself until his eyes fall on Susan, then he stops all shaking and speech.
Giving a short speech about how she has been selected by his master Grast begins thrashing against his bonds and lunges at Susan. Kumak brings the butt end of his Ranseur up and jabs the man in the head knocking him unconscious. A cursory check confirms that Grast is suffering from ghoul fever and has only a short time left before he will succumb. Claiming the unconscious man against the protests of Habe the Redeemers take off for Sandpoint to find healing for Grast but with full dark out the trip is slower than before and soon Grast comes to consciousness and begins giggling from the back of Tiberius's horse. When asked whats so funny he replies.
"The pack, the pack, the pack is here. Here to take you away" and looks right at Susan, "Take you to him"
The group has a moment to take that in when 6 ghouls appear from the darkness and attack. None of the Redeemers are skilled in mounted combat, some dismount of their own volition, others forcibly so by their startled horses. Kumak accounts for one ghoul with each stab of his ranseur and thankfully the ghouls are made short work of. However the group finds themselves without their horses. Picking up Grast they try to reach Sandpoint while the man still has time but luck again fails them and they witness him expire shortly afterwards. Finding themselves about an hours walk from the asylum or about 6 hours hike to Sandpoint the group ensure Grast stays dead and return to Habes.
Habe is disappointed to see them again, more so without Grast and almost refuses to give them shelter for the night claiming the well being of his patients before finally relenting and offering to let them bunk in the reception area. With some pressure he "upgrades" his offer to just inside the building proper, they can sleep in the common room and are allowed to use a privy in another room but that is the extent of their leash. They find as cozy quarters as they can in the situation save Tiberius who stays up and patrols the area and immediate perimeter of the building. It is after one of his perimeter walks that he returns to find a door ajar in the common room leading downstairs. Waking Kumak and asking him to join the 2 descend to what appears to be an operating room with a black robed figure examining a body. Kumak asks what the man is doing, and suddenly both Kumak and Tiberius find themselves standing inside a foul smelling cloud. Flying into a rage Kumak moves to get in range but the man now has multiple copies of himself and even when a strike lands true it seems to hit nothing. The man fires spell after spell into Kumak but the half Orcs constitution is too great and he just shrugs them off. Tiberius finds himself tied up with several zombies. Kumak finally connects one hit against the robed figure who flees up the stairs. Susan, having been woken up by her owl Suzanne, has just finished waking Thaddeus. The two see the edge of a foul smelling cloud at the top of the stairs and a robed figure stumble out of it retching, between mouthfuls of vomit he claims that their friends are below and need their assistance. Thaddeus looks to Susan, then the man, the gnome doesn't quite know what it wrong but the story smells as bad as the cloud. Tapping into his magic Thaddeus suggests that the man go down below and help the two then. As the spell finishes Thaddeus feels the suggestion take hold, and with a mournful look he returns below where Kumak and Tiberius have finished off the undead save one, who the man commands to return to the closet. Kumak and Tiberius move to intercept the man but he is still near impossible to grasp and he pulls a potion and downs it, transforming into a cloud himself. Kumak braves the stinking cloud once more to close the door and tell the others to wedge some clothes under the cracks to prevent his escape then returns down. The cloud moves very slowly towards the far door in the basement and Tiberius lands a few blows causing drops of water to fall until the entire cloud suddenly turns to drops of liquid and falls to the floor. Habe and his two muscle men appear hearing the commotion, take one look towards the open door to the basement and make a run for it. Susan attempts to bar their exit with a magical web but they deftly dodge it and she only succeeds in trapping herself and Thaddeus. The robed mans body soon reforms from the liquid and a search of the building provides a spell book, some small money, 2 wands and a potion. There are 3 patients on the 3rd floor and in the morning Kumak ensures he leaves ample food and water in reach for the men and the group returns to Sandpoint.
Kumak enlists the sheriff and some deputies to return to the asylum and recover the patients. Susan spends time crafting for Thaddeus, while Thaddeus and Tiberius pursue their own agendas for the day. The following day Kumak provides security to Susan, who has been receiving unpleasant gifts like dead animals nailed to her bed frame while she is out. Once she finishes her crafting for Thaddeus, Kumak leaves her in the care of the rest of the Redeemers and catches some sleep, hoping to catch her erstwhile lover in the act during the night. Darkness falls and finds Kumak hidden outside Susans window at the Rusty Dragon. He catches a whiff of rotten meat before a scream rings out somewhere in town. A rustle above confirms what he suspects, ghouls. Flying into a rage Kumak engages 3 ghouls in the alleyway dispatching them all in quick succession however two manage to climb the wall and force their way into Susan's room. One is swiftly blasted back through the window landing in a heap with its neck at an impossible angle. The other is soon sent to its final rest but not before it gets a solid bite out of Susan's shoulder. The redeemers regroup and split off to secure the town. Tiberius and his new dog companion following tracks while Kumak, Susan and Thaddeus move towards the screams. Over the course of the next few hours they account for all the ghouls and find another disturbing note, this one carved into the flesh of one of the ghouls. All signs point towards Aldern Foxglove, the noble they had saved during the Swallowtail Festival, as being the one behind the ghouls and leaving these disturbing gifts for Susan.
Talking to the Mayor Thaddeus determines that there is Foxglove manor to the south where Aldern may have fled to, as well as an old caretaker that could provide clues at a nearby farm to the south. The Redeemers decide to investigate the farm on their way to the manor. Several hours on horseback bring the group to a branching path through a high corn field. Using Susan's owl to get a sense of the maze of trails the group moves through the maze of paths until they reach a cluster of scarecrows who start flailing against their bonds and launch themselves at the party revealing themselves as ghouls. Tiberius, his dog, and Kumak make short work of their attackers and prepared against such ambush tactics the group is able to dispatch several more ghouls before finding a still living girl infected with ghoul fever also strung up. She is far too weak to move and at deaths door but manages to weakly ask about her brother and father. Kumak is conflicted between rushing the girl to Sandpoint for aid and searching for any more survivors but deciding that the hour or so he will spend scouring the area could very well save more lives deems the risk to her life worth the risk. Finding the farmhouse and out building finally Kumak walks through the front door, and into 8 or so ghouls. Quickly surrounded Kumak begins slowly backing through the door, stabbing at the ghouls as he does so. The ones that cant quite reach the half orc smash through the windows where Tiberius and his dog meet them with teeth and blade. Finding what must be the half eaten remains of the father, as well as the manors old custodian the group searches the rest of the corn fields and luck is with them for now, the girls brother still lives, though also infected and in worse shape than she is. Riding as fast as they dare back to Sandpoint, during the nights ride the boy holds steady but the girls already shallow breathing takes on a dangerous raspy note to it. Riding hard into town Kumak dismounts at the temple and wakes Villister and father Zantus, explaining the situation to the clerics they explain they are tapped out but will be able to replenish their spells come dawn, and knowing the danger can prepare accordingly. Each casting a lesser restoration on the children then attempting to remove the disease leaves the children looking healthier but still infected for now. Villister assures them that he will devote a lesser restoration to each of them and will attempt to cure one of their diseases each day while providing care, which should given enough time be sufficient to save the kids. The Redeemers return to the inn to rest up and then depart for Foxglove Manor.
Foxglove manor sits surrounded by ocean cliffs on three sides, its massive size made all the more depressing by the state of the manor. A crumbling ruin sits 50 feet or so from the entrance. Tiberius and Susan with Thaddeus doubled up, move their horses to the ruin to tie their mounts while Kumak rides straight to the front door. A handful of crows dart away from the ruins and fly east. The 3 join Kumak at the door which he had just finished unlocking with a key from the old caretakers, and forcing open. The wood bulges and sags. The manor has a persistent creak, the smell of rot and mildew permeates the building. Kumak notices the scent of burnt hair but no one else makes any mention of it. Moving past the stuffed manticore statue the group fans out. It soon becomes apparent that Foxglove manor is haunted and each Redeemer begins to encounter things that the others don't see but still feels real enough to harm them. Clearing the first floor and second the Redeemers are preparing to move up to the 3rd floor where they have been hearing soft sobs from when an unfortunate haunt takes hold of Thaddeus's mind and convinces him that Susan must die. Since Thaddeus isn't much of a combatant he uses his magic wiles to convince Susan she must leap off the cliff to save herself. Tiberius is unable to reach her in time but Kumak manages to catch up and knock her unconscious just before she walks off the edge. However looking up Kumak sees what was previously a handful of crows is now hundreds upon thousands of them, all staring silently at them before swooping down and attacking them.
Thaddeus having regained his wits leaps out after Kumak, who has Susan's unconscious form in his arms and is battering at a side door to get her inside before the birds can finish her off. Thaddeus holds his torch above his head waving it and succeeds in drawing some of the crows attention but finds he is becoming nauseated by them. Kumak bursts through the door and running into a back room pours a healing potion down Susan's throat, she is in bad shape, but will live. Thaddeus manages to re-enter the manor and the birds disperse, their task of keeping the group in the house completed they show no interest in pursing the Redeemers into the manor.
Thoughts: Some small bickering from the Paladin towards the Bard, the player seemed to want to attack the bard for the perceived attempted murder, ignoring the fact that his own character had already acted against his will earlier in the house. I felt that it was well within reasonable assumptions to think that an ally, who up until that moment had never made any move against the party might have been under duress or mental control from an outside force before drawing their sword. But we will see. I rather enjoyed how the story of the house is playing out. As each character experiences a haunt a new piece of the history falls into place. I kind of wish the GM had the text preprinted on cards and when a character experienced something they read the card, rolled whatever check was required and acted accordingly all without the rest of the group knowing what happened but maybe that wouldn't work as well as I think it would.
Tuesday 10 July 2018
A name is earned - Rise of the Runelords Campaign Session 11
In attendance were;
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Tiberius Lionheart: Human Paladin of Sarenrae
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Cooking up a large portion of crab into a crab stew the party eats what they hope to be their final meal in Thistletop. Come the morning Shalelu elects to remain for a few days to pick off any goblins that return. Kumak leaves all the goblin arrows and his 5 days of trail rations with her to tide her over until they can return. Shalelu casts a spell transforming one end of the 200ft of rope into an arrow and shoots it across the gap. The arrow strikes true reforming itself into a rope and securing one end to the tree. Kumak lashes the large golden helmet to himself and prepares to swing across with the idea that he and Thaddeus would ensure the rope remains tied to the far end allowing the rest to corss safely. The swing to the base of the cliff goes well with Kumak casting a feather fall to ensure his descent is gentle enough but his weight, the 300 pound golden helmet strapped to his back and Thaddeus on his shoulders proves too much weight for the rope which snaps 30 feet from the top. Kumak climbs the cliff face with the reminder of rope around his waist and holding on to his end allows the rest of the party to cross before they secure the mainland end for Shalelu.
Moving through the burnt carnage of the remains of the brier patch Kumak looks down into the hole they had seen before, seeing many tracks leading into the pit he surmises that many goblins leapt into the pit to try and escape a fiery death from Susan's flaming sphere. Tiberius asks if he would like to go down there and fight whatever beast they heard roaring days ago to which Kumak raises an eye brow, hands off the rope still tied to him to Orik and jumps in. Descending about 60 feet down he stops himself and looking in the dark spies a large pool of water about 10 feet deep below him and to one side a shelf mad from the cliff on which a creature later identified as a Bunyip dozing. Tiberius grabs the rope to join him but slips at the lip of the hole and plummets into the water below waking the Bunyip. Kumak swings over to the ledge and thrusts his now repaired Ranseur into the Bunyip drawing significant blood and an ear piercing roar which threatens the resolve of the party but only Thaddeus's courage falters as the gnome moves away from the hole. The bunyip moves towards the water, either to make an escape or to attack Tiberius but Kumak gives it a parting stab which finishes off the creature. Searching the grotto finds a wand, some coins and gems and a few magical arrows, not a bad haul for few minutes work.
With that the party soon find themselves returning to Sandpoint, Kumak says he wishes to sell all the excess items he has been carrying around for the last few days and Tiberius announces he will be taking the religious iconography to the temple to be turned in for a bounty and destroyed. On their way to the market square the remainder find a crowd gathered and the Orc from before Gris is at the center of a celebration recounting his recent heroics single-handedly vanquishing the Licktoad Goblin tribe. Susan and Thaddeus wish to stay and listen, the event doesn't hold Kumak's attention long but the sticks of meat and cups of ale convince him to stay a while and listen. Soon some townsfolk's attention drifts to the newcomers and the large golden helmet, Gris noticing this yells out that this is his celebration and they need to leave. Kumak talking around a mouthful of meat calls back that Gris is welcome to the glory, he is in it for the challenge, and with that and a few magically generated heckling calls from Thaddeus, Gris jumps down and strides up the group challenging them all to a contest, that the winner is the true hero and the losers must slink away back to their rooms. Thaddeus and Susan are game, Kumak announces that he will gladly compete but since he doesn't care about the glory asks if Gris would like to make the competition interesting and wagers 150 gold to which Gris agrees. Calling out for a drinking, archery and running contest the party confer to see who will compete in which. Kumak allows the others to decide as he will take which ever they do not wish.
Thaddeus steps up to drink against the Orc but proposes a change. In one hand they will drink while the other will hold the burning end of a torch, stop drinking or remove your hand from the torch and you forfeit. Gris agrees and snatching a burning brand from a nearby fire pit does not seem to notice that the torch that Thaddeus presents does not seem to give off heat. Each grasping their torch they begin to drink, downing their first, second and third cups. Gris has a moment of weakness on his forth cup but powers through to the fifth and sixth, the crackle and smell of cooking meat coming from the Orc's torch. Thaddeus feels a touch woozy on the seventh cup but pushes through until finally on the ninth cup of ale Gris finishes consuming it, takes a moment, then heaves into the nearby fire pit. The crowd erupts in cheers and sighs depending on who they had backed, Gris angrily wipes his mouth and slurring only slightly points to Kumak "Double or Nothing!" and grabs a nearby bow. Looking around Gris declares that closest shot to the eye of the Dragon figure on the Rusty Dragon Inn wins, then fires a shot that goes wide but still in the direction of the inn. Remembering Susan's hunting prowess from earlier Kumak looks to her to see if she wishes to compete, while chanting quietly Susan grabs the bow and expertly puts an arrow just shy of the eye to the cheers of the crowd. Snapping his bow in half Gris calls out "Double Double or nothing" to which Kumak asks if he can even cover the now 600 gold bet. Gris throws a pouch filled with platinum down and a cursory inspection shows he can, so Kumak removes his armor and stretches while Gris drunkenly casts some magic on himself which Susan identifies as Longstrider. The course is determined and with a call Kumak rockets off at a startling speed, whether it is the drink, his own temper at being bested twice, or he was not expecting his half-orc opponent to be that fast Gris stumbles out the gate and lands face first just past the starting line. The race is swift and while Gris does make up significant ground that first few seconds tells the tale and Kumak wins. Collecting the money pouch Kumak pulls out 60 platinum then hands the remainder to Gris who angrily stalks out while the crowd cheers asking what to call the group. Looking around none seem to have an idea before Thaddeus steps up and introduces them as The Redeemers which the crowd eagerly takes up and begins chanting.
Shortly after their victory a shrill trumpet is heard and upon a carpet laden palanquin pulled by burly shirtless men a flamboyant stranger approaches. Calling himself Captain Creesy he takes in the newly minted Redeemers and invites them to his ship for dinner, drinks and tales of adventure. Thaddeus steps up and identifies himself as the leader of the group and accepts on their behalf, Creesy stands up on his carpet which now begins to move on its own towards the gnome and extends his hand out to Thaddeus who steps on and the 2 fly off towards the ship. Left with the now vacant palanquin Susan and Kumak look to each other, shrug and say OK. Kumak addresses Orik to find Tiberius and let him know then to wait for them at the Rusty Dragon. Susan finds the most dashing looking of Creesy's burly men and has him carry her in his arms to the ship while the strongest of the bunch approaches Kumak and after a short wrestle to see who ends up carrying whom Kumak finds himself slung over the mans shoulder eating the remainder of his meat on a stick. Creesy and Thaddeus discuss their respective exploits while they wait for the rest of the party and Creesy asks Thaddeus to choose what kind of fare they should have, to which he asks for some far off delicacy that he had barely even heard of. Creesy laughs in approval and claps his hands as more burly men move about the ship and swiftly construct a sizable table with chairs and place some aperitifs out for the now arriving Susan and Kumak. The 4 are seated and begin with conversation and feasting while Tiberius joins them by the second course. Kumak and Tiberius soon find themselves well into their cups and while Tiberius demands he be returned to the Rusty Dragon, Kumak accepts the offer to sleep the night aboard the ship. Susan and Thaddeus nurse their drinks as such keep a level head when suddenly Creesy turns the subject to business. A collector of antiquities and merchant Creesy declares himself willing to purchase their plunder and sell them whatever they desire but first wishes to hear the tale of the daring adventure. Thaddeus deftly cleans the rough edges of the journey and leaving out the discovery of the Barghest Malfeshkenor suitably impresses the Captain enough that Creesy claps his hands and declares that in celebration of this grand new arrangement he will provide a one time 5% discount to them. In the morning the accounts are settled and the Redeemers find themselves with just over 11 thousand gold. Setting aside a share for the group expenses each member makes their purchase requests known. Kumak reasonably happy with his weapons, armor, ring and amulet hands his share plus winnings from Gris to Susan to help outfit herself. Susan purchases 500 gold of inks for scribing spells into her book while the remainder of the 5,500 is put towards reagents she can use to craft magical items. Tiberius requests a suit of Full-Plate, and a Masterwork shield. The remainder of his money he had pledged to Orik and Lyrie to repay the items they had lost. Thaddeus buys some magical reagents and asks Susan to make him a headband and enchant his well made cloak.
In the morning the Redeemers look ahead to their tasks,
Susan has 10 days of crafting ahead of herself. While Shalelu was left with at least 5 days food Tiberius wishes to return to her soon and after comparing notes the Redeemers feel they have a solid plan to finish Malfeshnekor off and finally close the chapter on Thistletop. Ameiko wishing to see her friend also asks to check out Thistletop as she feels the real estate could be put to use.
Kumak introduces Sheriff Hemlock to Orik and Lyrie and ensures he understands how they came to be with the Redeemers. Kumak recommends that Orik be taken on as a deputy for a while and Hemlock see if the man is a good fit. Kumak also reccomends that Lyrie function under a sort of house arrest for a while, which spells she prepares each day is monitored and that her book remains in a secure place when not in use.
Thoughts:
A better session, there was considerably less biting back and forth though a few still did happen, the paladins player complained a bit about not having much money but I pointed out again that he was the one who wanted to pay back the people for the scrolls and wands we took. That giving them their lives was mercy enough and the loss of items would be the tax they pay for siding with Nualia and the goblins.
At the end of this Susan has crafting for 10 days and 3.5 of which she will also be scribing spells into her book. At the end she will have;
Headband of Int +2
2x Pearl of Power level 1
Pearl of Power level 2
Cloak of Resistance +1 for Kumak
Cloak of Resistance +1 for Thaddeus
Headband of Cha +2 for Thaddeus
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Tiberius Lionheart: Human Paladin of Sarenrae
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Cooking up a large portion of crab into a crab stew the party eats what they hope to be their final meal in Thistletop. Come the morning Shalelu elects to remain for a few days to pick off any goblins that return. Kumak leaves all the goblin arrows and his 5 days of trail rations with her to tide her over until they can return. Shalelu casts a spell transforming one end of the 200ft of rope into an arrow and shoots it across the gap. The arrow strikes true reforming itself into a rope and securing one end to the tree. Kumak lashes the large golden helmet to himself and prepares to swing across with the idea that he and Thaddeus would ensure the rope remains tied to the far end allowing the rest to corss safely. The swing to the base of the cliff goes well with Kumak casting a feather fall to ensure his descent is gentle enough but his weight, the 300 pound golden helmet strapped to his back and Thaddeus on his shoulders proves too much weight for the rope which snaps 30 feet from the top. Kumak climbs the cliff face with the reminder of rope around his waist and holding on to his end allows the rest of the party to cross before they secure the mainland end for Shalelu.
Moving through the burnt carnage of the remains of the brier patch Kumak looks down into the hole they had seen before, seeing many tracks leading into the pit he surmises that many goblins leapt into the pit to try and escape a fiery death from Susan's flaming sphere. Tiberius asks if he would like to go down there and fight whatever beast they heard roaring days ago to which Kumak raises an eye brow, hands off the rope still tied to him to Orik and jumps in. Descending about 60 feet down he stops himself and looking in the dark spies a large pool of water about 10 feet deep below him and to one side a shelf mad from the cliff on which a creature later identified as a Bunyip dozing. Tiberius grabs the rope to join him but slips at the lip of the hole and plummets into the water below waking the Bunyip. Kumak swings over to the ledge and thrusts his now repaired Ranseur into the Bunyip drawing significant blood and an ear piercing roar which threatens the resolve of the party but only Thaddeus's courage falters as the gnome moves away from the hole. The bunyip moves towards the water, either to make an escape or to attack Tiberius but Kumak gives it a parting stab which finishes off the creature. Searching the grotto finds a wand, some coins and gems and a few magical arrows, not a bad haul for few minutes work.
With that the party soon find themselves returning to Sandpoint, Kumak says he wishes to sell all the excess items he has been carrying around for the last few days and Tiberius announces he will be taking the religious iconography to the temple to be turned in for a bounty and destroyed. On their way to the market square the remainder find a crowd gathered and the Orc from before Gris is at the center of a celebration recounting his recent heroics single-handedly vanquishing the Licktoad Goblin tribe. Susan and Thaddeus wish to stay and listen, the event doesn't hold Kumak's attention long but the sticks of meat and cups of ale convince him to stay a while and listen. Soon some townsfolk's attention drifts to the newcomers and the large golden helmet, Gris noticing this yells out that this is his celebration and they need to leave. Kumak talking around a mouthful of meat calls back that Gris is welcome to the glory, he is in it for the challenge, and with that and a few magically generated heckling calls from Thaddeus, Gris jumps down and strides up the group challenging them all to a contest, that the winner is the true hero and the losers must slink away back to their rooms. Thaddeus and Susan are game, Kumak announces that he will gladly compete but since he doesn't care about the glory asks if Gris would like to make the competition interesting and wagers 150 gold to which Gris agrees. Calling out for a drinking, archery and running contest the party confer to see who will compete in which. Kumak allows the others to decide as he will take which ever they do not wish.
Thaddeus steps up to drink against the Orc but proposes a change. In one hand they will drink while the other will hold the burning end of a torch, stop drinking or remove your hand from the torch and you forfeit. Gris agrees and snatching a burning brand from a nearby fire pit does not seem to notice that the torch that Thaddeus presents does not seem to give off heat. Each grasping their torch they begin to drink, downing their first, second and third cups. Gris has a moment of weakness on his forth cup but powers through to the fifth and sixth, the crackle and smell of cooking meat coming from the Orc's torch. Thaddeus feels a touch woozy on the seventh cup but pushes through until finally on the ninth cup of ale Gris finishes consuming it, takes a moment, then heaves into the nearby fire pit. The crowd erupts in cheers and sighs depending on who they had backed, Gris angrily wipes his mouth and slurring only slightly points to Kumak "Double or Nothing!" and grabs a nearby bow. Looking around Gris declares that closest shot to the eye of the Dragon figure on the Rusty Dragon Inn wins, then fires a shot that goes wide but still in the direction of the inn. Remembering Susan's hunting prowess from earlier Kumak looks to her to see if she wishes to compete, while chanting quietly Susan grabs the bow and expertly puts an arrow just shy of the eye to the cheers of the crowd. Snapping his bow in half Gris calls out "Double Double or nothing" to which Kumak asks if he can even cover the now 600 gold bet. Gris throws a pouch filled with platinum down and a cursory inspection shows he can, so Kumak removes his armor and stretches while Gris drunkenly casts some magic on himself which Susan identifies as Longstrider. The course is determined and with a call Kumak rockets off at a startling speed, whether it is the drink, his own temper at being bested twice, or he was not expecting his half-orc opponent to be that fast Gris stumbles out the gate and lands face first just past the starting line. The race is swift and while Gris does make up significant ground that first few seconds tells the tale and Kumak wins. Collecting the money pouch Kumak pulls out 60 platinum then hands the remainder to Gris who angrily stalks out while the crowd cheers asking what to call the group. Looking around none seem to have an idea before Thaddeus steps up and introduces them as The Redeemers which the crowd eagerly takes up and begins chanting.
Shortly after their victory a shrill trumpet is heard and upon a carpet laden palanquin pulled by burly shirtless men a flamboyant stranger approaches. Calling himself Captain Creesy he takes in the newly minted Redeemers and invites them to his ship for dinner, drinks and tales of adventure. Thaddeus steps up and identifies himself as the leader of the group and accepts on their behalf, Creesy stands up on his carpet which now begins to move on its own towards the gnome and extends his hand out to Thaddeus who steps on and the 2 fly off towards the ship. Left with the now vacant palanquin Susan and Kumak look to each other, shrug and say OK. Kumak addresses Orik to find Tiberius and let him know then to wait for them at the Rusty Dragon. Susan finds the most dashing looking of Creesy's burly men and has him carry her in his arms to the ship while the strongest of the bunch approaches Kumak and after a short wrestle to see who ends up carrying whom Kumak finds himself slung over the mans shoulder eating the remainder of his meat on a stick. Creesy and Thaddeus discuss their respective exploits while they wait for the rest of the party and Creesy asks Thaddeus to choose what kind of fare they should have, to which he asks for some far off delicacy that he had barely even heard of. Creesy laughs in approval and claps his hands as more burly men move about the ship and swiftly construct a sizable table with chairs and place some aperitifs out for the now arriving Susan and Kumak. The 4 are seated and begin with conversation and feasting while Tiberius joins them by the second course. Kumak and Tiberius soon find themselves well into their cups and while Tiberius demands he be returned to the Rusty Dragon, Kumak accepts the offer to sleep the night aboard the ship. Susan and Thaddeus nurse their drinks as such keep a level head when suddenly Creesy turns the subject to business. A collector of antiquities and merchant Creesy declares himself willing to purchase their plunder and sell them whatever they desire but first wishes to hear the tale of the daring adventure. Thaddeus deftly cleans the rough edges of the journey and leaving out the discovery of the Barghest Malfeshkenor suitably impresses the Captain enough that Creesy claps his hands and declares that in celebration of this grand new arrangement he will provide a one time 5% discount to them. In the morning the accounts are settled and the Redeemers find themselves with just over 11 thousand gold. Setting aside a share for the group expenses each member makes their purchase requests known. Kumak reasonably happy with his weapons, armor, ring and amulet hands his share plus winnings from Gris to Susan to help outfit herself. Susan purchases 500 gold of inks for scribing spells into her book while the remainder of the 5,500 is put towards reagents she can use to craft magical items. Tiberius requests a suit of Full-Plate, and a Masterwork shield. The remainder of his money he had pledged to Orik and Lyrie to repay the items they had lost. Thaddeus buys some magical reagents and asks Susan to make him a headband and enchant his well made cloak.
In the morning the Redeemers look ahead to their tasks,
Susan has 10 days of crafting ahead of herself. While Shalelu was left with at least 5 days food Tiberius wishes to return to her soon and after comparing notes the Redeemers feel they have a solid plan to finish Malfeshnekor off and finally close the chapter on Thistletop. Ameiko wishing to see her friend also asks to check out Thistletop as she feels the real estate could be put to use.
Kumak introduces Sheriff Hemlock to Orik and Lyrie and ensures he understands how they came to be with the Redeemers. Kumak recommends that Orik be taken on as a deputy for a while and Hemlock see if the man is a good fit. Kumak also reccomends that Lyrie function under a sort of house arrest for a while, which spells she prepares each day is monitored and that her book remains in a secure place when not in use.
Thoughts:
A better session, there was considerably less biting back and forth though a few still did happen, the paladins player complained a bit about not having much money but I pointed out again that he was the one who wanted to pay back the people for the scrolls and wands we took. That giving them their lives was mercy enough and the loss of items would be the tax they pay for siding with Nualia and the goblins.
At the end of this Susan has crafting for 10 days and 3.5 of which she will also be scribing spells into her book. At the end she will have;
Headband of Int +2
2x Pearl of Power level 1
Pearl of Power level 2
Cloak of Resistance +1 for Kumak
Cloak of Resistance +1 for Thaddeus
Headband of Cha +2 for Thaddeus
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