Campaign Journal: When Darkness Comes

[Jeffrey]

10-03-2008

Hello all.

I have not been here that long but I wanted to post our journals of our home grown campaign world that I am DMing a group in. I am not much of a story teller so please forgive me if I totally blunder this haha. The world itself is far from finished but we have enough to start an adventure. Things will start out slow and pick up as we get to playing. The first few sessions are already finished but I will post them slowly to allow everyone who wants to read them to do so without there being 50 entries needing to be read at once and to also pull out any entries that would refer to 2nd edition rules so as to not violate rules on this forum.

We are running three core members from the last group with two newcomers. I think they will work out just fine. Please excuse my spelling and story telling skills. I will do my best not to put you nice folks to sleep. Feel free to post on this thread as the adventure goes on, I would love to hear comments and also if people find errors I have made to point them out so please feel free to post as you please as this adventure goes on. Maybe you guys will enjoy this journal.

DM: Jeffrey Thorpe - a DM for the last 10-12 years.

Our Party: Each of the five players range from 18-41 years of age with me (the DM) DM being a ripe ole 46 years old.
Gaming Rules: We will be using everything up to 2nd edition rules but seeing this is a 1st edition forum, I will try to have these journals rewritten so the rules do not show and you can just read the adventure itself.

How I am coming by the info needed for this journal: Our sessions are recorded and alot of notes are taken as well. I pool from both sources to bring you our story. I hope you enjoy it.


The Cast:
Listed as the marching order is ...

Brutus Nantray - Brutus is a level 1 human Fighter and is Neutral Good. He is very strong (18/00) ... ok so I figured the main fighter should hit hard haha. Brutus prides himself on his swordsmanship and fighting skills and of course knowing what he knows, he wants everyone else to know this as well so he tends to be a showoff when beating back the beasts of hell. Brutus loves a good fight, he has been known to be thrown out of many a tavern in his years. He is very well liked and easy to get along with, especially when he has had one to many drinks (he is a happy drunk). Brutus has a sister who also will be in the group and he is "very" protective of her and tends to introduce himself to young men that show her attention that he feels should not be shown (of course Clara never hears of these secret introductions). Brutus does not care much for the groups wizard "Necroth". (Brutus & Clara are Brother and Sister in real life as well)

Thael Shadowcloak - Thael is a level 1 human Thief and is Neutral Good. Thael has a problem of always being into some kind of trouble, although he is not totally sure why and he swears it is never his fault and he always tried to blame it on him being in the wrong place at the wrong time (which no one actually believes). His is a person who always seems to get along with anyone he meets which is probably why is has not landed himself in prison by now. Thael loves the unknown and loves to explore although his luck with traps has not went well which is why he gets the shivers when he sees a trap of some sort.

Clara Nantray - Clara is a level 1 human Cleric and is Chaotic Good. She is a sweetheart, very beautiful and has a great personality. She does not have very good luck with men due to a very jealous brother ... Many a boyfriend has met with serious bodily injury due to showing to much attention to Clara which of course Clara never hears of. She simply thinks she just has horrid luck with men. She is dedicated to her profession and takes it very serious and her main concern is her companions and keeping them alive. (Brutus & CLara are Brother and Sister in real life as well)

Necroth Nightshade - Necroth is a level 1 human Wizard and is Chaotic Neutral. Necroth is an unusual sort, his eyelids and just below each eye is pierced by silver pins holding his eyelids open (He can still blink of course). This is part of the order of Wizards he is in which are called Nocturne Mages. He is constantly studying his spellbooks even on the move but is very aware of everything going on around him at all times. Necroth prefers to be left alone and is not very socialable and becomes very irritated when bothered with minor issues. He wants more than anything to become a powerful wizard but not to the extent that it becomes an obsession.

Falcore Falconhand - Falcore is a level 1/1 Half Elf Ranger/Cleric and is Chaotic Good. Falcore is the odd ball of the companions ... he is a half elf. He has no place to call home. He left his homeland when he was very young. His human heritage made him not as popular as he would have liked to be with his kinfolk and he was typically shunned by them. This in turn has made him a wanderer never calling any one place home. He tends to use his fighting skills more often than his clerical side but never neglects his Cleric abilities. Falcore is a good natured person at heart. His life has not been easy due to his heritage but he always seems to be in a good mood and makes a very loyal friend.

Campaign World: "We are in a Homegrown campaign" Known simply as: "The Realms" - Some names of places may seem familiar but if they do, they have no relations to whatever you may have heard. My adventures work out really well since anything I DM can easily be added to any campaign. I tend to like to run generic campaigns not set to one specific world.

Getting Started: The players start out in Portown, a small fishing village just north of Woolly Bay. Clara, Thael and Brutus grew up in or around Portown and have called it home there entire lives. Necroth lives nearby outside of town for the time being and he is not native to this region and Falcore is also not a native of this region, he has taken up residence for a short time just north of town but had planned on moving on in the near future.

The Company was brought together by the Portown "Captain of the Guard" who needed a group of adventures to escort a caravan of three merchant wagons south along the coast to a town called Ravens Bluff. The town getting its name from a legendary group of adventurers years past called the Company of the Raven. There have been increasing attacks on caravans traveling this route in the recent past. Merchants came together and hired people to clear the trade routes. After a month or so most of the lands had been cleared between Portown and Ravens Bluff, but the merchants were still afraid to risk there cargo on someones word that the way had been cleared, so The Company agreed to escort the caravans to Ravens Bluff. The caravan leader "Malik" was given 1,250 gold by the Captain to pay The Company once the caravan arrived safely in Ravens Bluff.

The Caravan NPC's:

Malik "Caravan Leader" - Middle Aged man, weighs 40 pounds over what he should be weighing. He has a full beard and mustache and his black hair is starting to gray. He tends to over drink but when he is dealing with his goods he as cutthroat a merchant as they come.

Emerald - She is a beautiful, half elven female standing only 5 foot high and weighs a mere 95 pounds. She has flowing silver hair and blue eyes and is only 25 years old. She has traveled with Malik extensively and she looks at Malik more as a father figure.

Jasmal - he is a human in his late 50's standing a full 6 foot 2 inches but weighs only 150 pounds giving him a frail and tired look. His solid white hair tapers into a nicely trimmed beard and mustache. He is Maliks Partner but leaves the decision making to Malik.

"The adventurers as a whole are known simply as "The Company" seeing as how they could not decide on a better traveling name for there ragged band. They decided as a whole that they may rename there group in the future if the need came up."

After the details are settled, Brutus instructs Malik "The caravan leader" that they would all meet in front of the Red Dragon Inn at dawn tomorrow morning.The Captain of the Guard put the group up with lodgings within the inn as well. Brutus turns to the group and starts to go over the plans for the next day, Necroth turns and walks away going up to his room "muttering as he walked away "planning is best left for others to do". Falcore also excuses himself with consent from Brutus so he could return and secure is belongings. With the three left to plan tomorrows trip ... Brutus makes a comment "I may have to kill the wizard" the group chuckles and soon after the rest retire to there rooms.


The players are told the beginning of this adventure will be them gaining some starting xp and maybe a few magical items to help them once the real adventure begins.


The Adventure Begins soon .....



edits x4: correcting spelling

[Jeffrey]

10-06-2008
We plan to play for several hours this morning, Thael has to go into work for 5 or 6 hours after lunch.


Getting Started:

The party wakes up early the next morning, grabs a quick meal downstairs .... some new "cute" serving lady is working the early shift and of course Brutus has to try his luck before leaving (failing miserably). As the party steps outside the inn, three wagons pull up in front of the inn with five riding horses tied to the rear wagon ... compliments of the Captain. Each of the three wagons is covered by a heavy tarp. Once mounted the party heads out. The roads appear to have grown over with weeds due to not being used in some time by the merchants but the group is still able to make pretty good time.

Day 1: No problems the entire day, other than the middle wagon constantly getting stuck in the mud due to heavy rains falling throughout the day. The group decides to make camp early because the rain was not slacking up and traveling was getting rough. Each took turns taking a watch over the camp while the others slept, Brutus pulled a double shift due to him not trusting Necroth at all.

Day 2: After an uneventful night the caravan struck out again. Maybe 3 hours into the journey The Company see horses ahead in the distance. They ride to the front of the caravan, well all except Necroth who refused to ride a horse in the fist place and made it known he would ride in the front wagon so he could study his spell book. As the caravan waits, the strangers ride up .... nine total. The man in front rides up close to Brutus and greets everyone warmly. Questions pass between the two groups ... Where are you headed? Whats the road look like ahead? etc etc. Clara kept watching several of the strangers look like they were checking the groups strength out. Several minutes into the conversation the strangers draw weapons and attack. After the second exchange of blows and minus 3 bandits, Brutus notices Necroth still sitting in the wagon and yells (you plan on helping or what?) ... Necroth stands up and begins casting a spell, soon after 5 bandits lay on the ground and Thael dispatches the final enemy. Necroth quietly sits back down in the wagon and goes back to reading his spell book. The party sees that the remaining bandits were put to sleep, so weapons were taken and the Bandits were left behind (Brutus not having the heart to put them out of there misery).

Day 3: See day 1, and add Brutus being a little miffed at Necroth.

Day 4: See day 1.

Day 5: The caravan sees smoke ahead on the road, so the pace was increased so the group could see if anyone needed there help. Upon arriving, the scene showed a wagon all but burned to the ground still smoldering with 2 men and a woman laying around the burning wagon dead. Appears the attack took place within the last 10 hours. They appear like they were farmers with the only weapon being carried was by one of the men ... a dagger. Brutus, Thael and Falcore took to burying the bodies before they continued on, more cautious than ever. The overnight camp went without problems.

Day 6: The small town of Tantra can be seen ahead, everyone is glad to be off the road if only for a few hours. Once town is reached, everyone stops for a hot meal which is eaten on the wagons, the merchants refusing to leave there wagons. So the adventurers set out again on the last half of there trip which is supposed to take 8 days.


Day 1: No problems throughout the day except maybe 2 hours before they meant to set up camp, the middle wagon throws a wheel which took Brutus nearly 5 hours to fix seeing as how he had no clue what the hell he was doing. The night watches go uneventful except Brutus remaining on watch with Necroth (no trust in the mages abilities to guard the wagons of course) Necroth never minded this because it gave him more free time to study his spells.

Day 2: Late in the evening the group sees more smoke ahead on the road, this time it appears as if something is still burning so they double time it to get close enough to see whats going on. Three wagons lay turned on there sides in the road, virtually demolished and still smoking from fire heavily. They see blood everywhere, on the ground, and on the wagons so they draw weapons and start checking the area. One of the 9 dead bodies laying around the area is one Thael recognizes from Portown. He remembers seeing him in the inn on there first night in town. This gentlemen still has a dagger stuck in his back, the hilt of the dagger has a small emblem on it, "a picture of an open eye" which noone recognizes. The burial is as before with Brutus, Thael and Falcore burying the dead.

Clara hears a twig snap off the road in the trees. The party notices orcs running out of the treeline towards them, twelve of them to be exact. Necroth stands and begins casting while the group attacks the orcs. Necroth making the statement he might as well save the companions before Brutus gets his panties in a bunch. (Sleep being cast again ..... a ridiculous roll .... 11 orcs drop in there tracks with Falcore taking the final one down. Necroth chuckles quietly to himself shaking his head at Brutus and sits back down. The orcs are finished off in short order and everyone except Brutus is happy with how Necroth handled himself. (everyone is expecting Brutus and Necroth to have it out before they even get to Ravens Bluff haha).

Day 3-8: Oddly enough the rest of the trip to Ravens Bluff went surprisingly well, of course this was not due to lack of trying by me, I was pissed the entire time on failing my rolls for wandering encounters lol and I refuse to fudge on my dice rolls. The Partys luck has been top notch, they are expecting something horrid to happen soon. Small problems over these 5 days, wagons getting stuck, changing out wheels (Brutus is actually getting the hang of it now) Rain forced them to camp early on day 6, other than that all went well.

Upon arriving at Ravens Bluff the group sees a small quiet town with a wooden wall around it. They notice a bridge crossing the river on the far side of the town. Arriving at the gate they are greeted by gate guards who question them lightly and allow them to proceed into town. Everyone is tired and hungry so they set out for the inn to grab a hot meal and some lodgings for the night.


Todays fun ends: I hope I am not boring everyone to death, They are just doing some run time, they need to gain a level maybe two before I start taking them into the depths of hell (I like to be over dramatic). I am sure it will get more exciting as the adventure progress, of course they have had a great time so far just with this little bit. Currently I am just running them through a module that I have sorta changed over to be generic hehe.

PS: Something else everyone wanted me to express, the issues between characters are by the characters not the players, everyone is simply playing there characters personae. We are having a good time watching Necroth and Brutus damned near come to blows every night haha

They just wanted me to let everyone know this.

See you next time!

[Jeffrey]

Well, as I said in PM's with DD, this adventure not getting any comments had me a little worried ... maybe I stink at story telling lol I would appreciate any comments, good or bad ... at least I know if you guys are enjoying this story or not hehe.


10-13-2008

They resume there adventure .....

The Attack:

Everyone had had a good meal and went to there rooms and was sound asleep when around 3am they heard a loud "BOOM" coming from outside, soon after a bell begins ringing and the entire town goes into motion. The party gets dressed and runs outside to find the town being attacked. Part of the east wall is under attack and the two towers on each side of the front gate are being attacked the heaviest in an attempt to break through the gates.

The adventurers run to the gates towers to see what they can do to help defend the town against whatever it was that was attacking. They begin scanning out from the walls and see .....

Orcs

lots of orcs


There was an estimate of around 60 orcs attacking. There were at least 20 bandits also in the raid and one Ogre at least. Ravens Bluff might have had 30 militia defending at the most. So they figure that there help is going to be needed. They find the Captain of the Guard and assist him defending the right gate tower. The bandits move up to the gate with a covered battering ram which made it rough to get any kind of target on them. The fight rages on for a bit until they finally break through the main gates so the group moves down to the ground right before the gates fall to try to stop the rush.


The gates splinter and Necroth casts his final sleep spell and Falcore was steadily pumping arrows into the front ranks while Brutus was taking the force of the advance. Thael was off somewhere backstabbing orcs and Clara was behind Necroth dishing out what heals she could. Falcore stayed on top of the tower raining arrows down on those he could see.

The end result was over half of the militia was dead, the enemies were defeated and pushed out of the town. The Captain survived and even killed the Ogre that was leading the enemy forces. The fires were put out on the walls before serious damage could be done but the gates would have to be rebuilt.

Brutus: Took some serious damage but Clara kept him on his feat.
Clara: Stood with her brother throughout the fight sustaining only minor injuries.
Necroth: Didn't take a single point of damage (go figure) and managed to put close to 40% of the enemies to sleep (gogo sleep spell)
Thael: The party found Thael unconcious near the east wall with some ugly wounds which would take many moons to heal. He will live though.
Falcore: Gained much respect for his bow skills, dropping many orcs during the fight. He played a serious roll in the battle.


I tried to keep this one short and sweet but in reality the battle took over four hours of real time. This was a very fun night indeed. Later after the battle was over, the Captain took the money that was sent with the caravan and payed each party member there reward that was promised in gold which the group basically gave back to the town by buying everyone in town multiple rounds of ale.

Magical Items & Coin Looted:
Necroth: +1 Ring of Protection
Brutus: +1 Longsword
Clara: 3 Potions of Healing

Coins: was not much, I think they sunk it all into food and drinks that night.

Close to the end of the nights partying the Captain approaches Brutus with the Lord of the town and says if the group was planning to stay for a while or needed some work he had a proposition for them. Brutus said sure and the towns Lord stated everyone would meet that next morning to discuss everything. So not long after the adventurers call it a night in AD&D land and in real life. The Company retired to there rooms for what they hope ... a peaceful nights sleep.

It surprised me they all lived through that, I got some bad rolls throughout the fight and they seemed to roll more than there usual natural 20's "grrr" gotta go find my weighted DM's dice haha. Was well played and well fought. Overall had a great time.


See you next time

[Jeffrey]

10-17-2008 - Part One

Here we go again ....

Well we wanted to get back to the adventure the next day, things happen and I get called into work so here it is Friday, five days later and the group is biting at the bits to get started once again, although I will not have alot of time this session to run them through anything serious. Necroth has his evil little grin on his face while Brutus eyes him wondering what point of tonight's adventure will he put a knife in his back haha ... good times indeed.

The mighty adventurers actually get a good nights rest and well into the morning since they were up most of the night fighting bad guys and saving the world. Dawn was just peaking its head out when they went to sleep and woke up shortly before noon. Thael remains in bed recovering from his brutal injuries he received the night before. The towns lord, Lord Grendal and the captain of the guard were downstairs sipping on wine quietly talking when the group started downstairs. The players (even Necroth surprisingly) went and sat down at the two tables that were put together so everyone could be seated.

Lord Grendal tells the group of a startling discovery they made not even a week ago, about some tunnels that were uncovered beneath this very town. He goes on to say how several towns folks have simply vanished without a trace and three nights ago, something went to killing animals in the stable house and damned near killed every horse in the stable. By time help could get there the beast was gone. Lord Grendal thinks the beast may have come from the tunnels below.

Brutus asks: and exactly where is the entrance point to these tunnels?
Grendal replies: it's in the back of this very inn, in the store room. We stumbled upon it by accident actually. The inn keepers cook was fetching more salted beef from the back when he fell through the floor, he was able to be pulled out and suffered a broken leg from the fall.

The Captain begins to say: I was then summoned and upon arriving myself and a couple of my men went into the hole in the floor and found tunnels leading off into darkness.

Grendal states: since then the hold has been sealed with a reinforced door that we have double locked. Good folks, we are looking for a band of adventurers such as yourself to explore these tunnels. We need to find out if this town is safe or not and without knowing whats beneath it, we are in danger every day. Would you agree to undertake this quest for us? Depending on whats found down there and if there is actually a threat, your actions could bring you a very large reward from us.

Brutus looks around at the group in silence and each nods there consent .... even Necroth (unusually serious)

We accept Brutus tells Lord Grendal. We will need time to resupply and rest our wounds more of course. Grendal tells the party ... take all the time that you need, we will even see if our Church can assist in healing Thael's wounds even more. Brutus thanks both men and the party is left alone as Grendal and the captain take there leave.

Necroth tells the group he needs to rest, and study his spells to prepare for this journey, Brutus nods and the gathering breaks up so each may prepare for the quest.

Three days pass and Thael is feeling up to the journey so Brutus seeks out Lord Grendal and lets him know, the group is ready to go. An hour later the party was standing over the hole in the floor. Necroth takes out a small crystal ball that has continual light cast on it permanently (which he tells the group was a gift from an friend) which negates the need for torches. He tells the party it is time to go and they decend into the hole with Brutus taking the lead.


The Dungeon:

The group is lowered down into the hole, once inside they see (with the light from Necroths light crystal) a small area with nothing out of the ordinary, and the floor was very sandy. The group sees a tunnel going north and one going south. Brutus looks at the part as if questioning them on the direction they should take. When no answer came, Brutus decides south ......


until tonight .....

Thael got a call on his cell, something about someone needing help moving furniture haha



I let everyone know we will pick the game back up tonight which is fine with everyone. Also I refer to the guys playing in the group by there characters name just so I do not confuse any readers as to who I am talking about at any given time.

See you tonight!

[Jeffrey]

10-17-2008 P2

the beginning ...

ahhh so at last we return for my chance to kill the party ... errr I mean to give the party a grand time (grins evily) We pick up where we left off ... the group decides to take the southern tunnel from the hole they were lowered into from the inn.

The tunnel (lit by Necroths continual light crystal) turns left then right and after maybe 90-100 feet the tunnel opens into a chamber with a forest of pillars lining each side of the chamber. There is a tunnel on the left and right side of this room and a long sub room in front of the group on the other side of the room. On the diagonal wall, the party sees "GO THIS WAY AND DIE!" written on the wall ... with a spear that is embedded into the wall pointing across the sub-room to the other side.

The party continues to make its way through the room moving into the sub-room. Many small alcoves line each side of the room with a large mirror hanging in each of them. (Necroth tells the party to not look directly into the mirrors due to them probably being traps of some sort) The mirrors were thoroughly checked (without being looked into directly haha .... so the party is cautious afterall) with the party finding nothing. Thael does however find a skeleton laying on the ground, appears it has been there many years and once was a human. There is a rotting backpack half behind the mirror closest to the skeleton ... which Thael checks and finds after some selective sampling ... two potions. One is a Potion of Healing and the other is a Potion of extra Healing. These were left with Thael, figuring with his expert thieving skills he would probably be needing them both very soon haha. There is also 40 gold pieces in the backpack as well which Thael sneaks into one of his many pouches.

The group finally decides to move on and start working there way down the tunnel on the other side of the room. After walking for a half hour (give or take) with a few minor tunnel direction changes Falcore feels a faint brease coming from a small crack in the wall. Appears he found an unlocked secret door which opens easily without making any major noise. On the other side of the door is a small room which seems to not want to light up from Necroths Crystal like the other rooms have, as if something was keeping the light held in check. As the group enters the room, two ghouls attack out of nowhere. Brutus strikes one down in a single blow (damned natural 20's) and Clara and Falcore finish off the second. Nothing else was found in the room.

The party enters the threshold of a large chamber that is lit by an eerie purplish-blue radiance emanating from the eyes of a huge black stone spider idol which appears to emerge from the center of the eastern wall. a dark stained idol sits before the Spider altar. Two of the spiders legs are outstretched in front of the altar and two other legs are raised high above with unlit brasiers hanging from them. The rest of the legs are down on the ground to support the spider idol.

Brutus says: oh shit
Clara follows up with an: oh shit is correct.
Thael murmurs: Drow? ......

as if on queue the group sees .... a female Moon Elf chained to the floor at the base of the idol, the Elf does not appear to be moving. Two elves with skin as black as midnight enter the room from a doorway on the war side of the room, the spot the party right away.


Thael mutters: damn I hate it when I am right

DIE!!! Brutus yells and charges the Drow with his weapons drawn. As the party follows, they hear chanting to there right. Turning to see .... two more Drow Elves are spotted running towards them with a third Drow Elf behind them chanting strange words.

Brutus charges the Drow in front from the initial Drow that were spotted with Falcore twinging off arrows at the second. Thael intercepts one of the Drow on the right along with Clara to his right and Necroth begins casting a spell at the Caster in the back. Brutus was taking a beating from two of the Drow and Falcore was having little luck picking the Drow off with Brutus all in there face but managed to catch one twice in the shoulder. Brutus struggling with the other managed to drop him after taking several wounds himself. Clara attempts to back off to heal Brutus as he engaged the second Drow but another Drow was attacking her. Thael manages to somehow get off an incredible backstab and drops the Drow in a single attack (*&%^ natural 20's)

The rear Drow finishes casting and dark bolts slam into Clara's back and she drops to the ground stunned. Necroth fires off two bolts into the Caster which seemed to just shrug them off. Finally the two remaining Drow, the fighter and what the group assumes a Cleric begin backing out the room, both pull small hand crossbows and fire them ... Brutus and Thael fall to the ground with small darts protruding from the chests. The Drow priest turns and flees through the door while the other Drow stands to cover her escape and fires another bolt at Falcore. He does not fall but can tell the darts have some type of coating on them. Finally the last Drow is slain ... but the Priestess escapes (This does not sit well with the group especially Brutus) The fallen comrades are checked on and are found to only have been put to sleep. Clara regains her feet recovering from the stun. The group moves to the Moon Elf female chained to the floor and see that she is unconscious and after a short time she wakes up. She is terrified and asks to be taken back to the surface so she can return to her homeland. The group agrees quickly, wanting to return to town themselves. The Drow were searched finding nothing of value. After a couple of heals the party attempts to backtrack the way they came which proves somewhat difficult, but with work it was managed.

Surprisingly they ran into no problems on there return trip. Necroth commented several times about how Brutus took the worst time possible to take a nap. They finally reach the entry point under the hole and begin banging on the bottom of the trap door in the inn. The inn keeper and two other people open the floor panel with weapons drawn and upon seeing it was the party drop a rope down to the them and assist them in getting up into the room. Once inside the inn, the party tells the innkeeper of how they found the Elf girl who's name was Miriam and how she wishes to return home. The inn keeper lets them know he will take care of it and the party decides to rest for the night before re-entering the dungeon.

After a restful nights sleep, the group gathers there gear and finishes a hot meal before setting off once again. The group decides to go back to the Spider altar room and investigate the room a little more. Returning to the room went uneventful, accept for a few faint noises off in the distance that seemed to spook Brutus pretty bad. Clara thinks the Drow have him shook up, of course if bets were placed they believed that Thael would take the lead in nervousness about returning to the spider room haha.

As the main door is entered the party sees the Female Drow priestess kneeling in front of the altar praying. Necroths light alerted her of the groups arrival right away and she immediately jumped to her feet and fired a dart from her small hand crossbow dropping Thael to the ground. The Drow calmly draws her two maces and stands before the party smiling. Brutus charges! The Drow shoots straight up into the air leaving Brutus below cursing. Necroth casts Magic Missle while Falcore begins pumping out arrows. The missles slam into the Drows chest with little to no affect but Falcores arrows seemed to be having better luck. Two arrows find there mark but the Drow places a hand over the wounds and the wounds vanished and she moves around behind the altar to prevent arrows from finding her.

Necroth begins throwing daggers, cursing himself for rememorizing the damned sleep spells while Falcore continues to fire arrows at the Drow missing the next two shots. The Drow casts a spell which turns a large area around Falcore pitch black. Clara backs away being unable to help due to her not having any offensive spells, also Thael is useless having not bought any throwing daggers himself (some Thief they have). Brutus of course stands defiant hurling the most foul language ever heard at the Drow. Finally the Drow begins to float towards the ground staring directly at Brutus. Falcore having dove out of the darkness moves into position to try to fire off more arrows. Brutus and the Drow engage with the Drow striking the first blow hurting Brutus but Brutus maintained his composer and attacks. Falcore finally is able to get his bow working again and Thael attacks from the side. After several serious minutes of heavy fighting, the Drow finally drops dead. It was apparent to everyone especially Brutus that one on one with the Drow bitch she would have killed him.

DM NOTE: It is amazing how a simple levitate spell can render half the group useless haha I am sure the guys are making little notes to remember to buy ranged weapons next time there in town lol

The room is searched ... finding nothing worth mentioning. Brutus is pissed. He states "All that and the bitch didn't even have a gold piece on her?"


Finally after calming Brutus the group decides to take the door on the far wall and do some more exploring. The tunnel went for 70 feet and turned right for another 80 feet until entering another room that had no door. In this room stands a circular table with a single (human in appearance) skull sitting on it. As the group nears the table the skulls says ...

Greetings!
DIE "Brutus Yells"
WAIT! Clara yells
wtf? Necroth says as he looks up from his spellbook
/sigh "sighs Thael" here we go again ....

Brutus turns to Clara "WHAT?"
Don't kill it Clara tells Brutus, see what it has to say you idiot
Brutus puts away his weapons and tells Clara "FINE" talk to the damned thing, then I'm gonna kill it ok?
Clara shakes her head and walks closer to the skull .... hello lil fella, who are you?

Well Met, I do believe, Adventures bold are ye? I am Muragh, and who might you be if I may be so bold? Clara replies, just adventures from Ravens Bluff, exploring the tunnels.

Muragh begins clattering on ... oh my I have been down here seems like forever!!! I am scared to death .... well that was a bad choice of words, but you get the picture I am sure. Anyways as I was saying I have been here for ever left behind and forgotten. You have no idea how horrid that can be for a skull like me, I mean the madness of it all, no sound, nothing, its enough to drive a skull ..... Brutus knocks the skull off the table stating he had no time to talk to dead people but instead of falling, the skull floated slowly to the ground snickering at Brutus. You sure are strong arent you big fella? I bet you can kill people with your hands without thinking eh? that just amazes me to no end you have no idea.... SHUT UP!!!!!!!! Brutus yells my god do you ever shut up? How rude the skull replied. I will have you know that I am a very intellengent fellow, might be I could teach you a few things. The entire time Brutus is slowly drawing his swords from there sheaths when Necroth steps in. The skull immdeiately stops chattering and stars at Necroths eyes .... well your one spooky fella I must say.

Necroth tells Muragh ... you do realise that big fella over there is about to see just how many small pieces he can make out of you. Muragh spins around to stare at Brutus. He then spins around to Necroth, he does not look to bright does he, no he doesn't Necroth replied, but he makes a great meat shield and they both had a good chuckle at that comment. I would let you come with me if it wern't for your constant jabbering. oh don't worry I will be good, you will take me? hmmm? hrrm? Yes, I may give you to Brutus if you start back with that jabbering. Muragh spins and looks at Brutus and quickly agrees. Necroth telling the skull that it could come with him damned near caused Brutus to kill them both on the spot. Clara places her hand on Brutus shoulder "now now big brother, be calm, he may prove useful yet" Brutus huffs and walks away muttered to himself.

Clara seemed to like the idea saying it would make a great watchdog or as she should have said "watchskull". The room was searched, but nothing was found of interest. The party decides this room would make a good spot for camp, Necroth was itching to try out his new watchdog as Clara called it. By this time, Brutus was on the verge of strangling Necroth.


Time to call it a night folks
We should be playing again tomorrow afternoon. At least we hope we get to play.
I can't wait to see just how insane Necroth and his new buddy can drive Brutus lol


DM Notes:
Thael: Potion of Healing & Potion of Extra Healing
Necroth: Muragh "the skull"

abilities:
Detect Magic
True Seeing
He has a permanent feather fall on him as well.

Muragh can turn itself around when on a flat surface and move his jaws when speaking. It cannot fly however, but does have a permanent feather fall placed on it (apparently this comes in quite handy when people randomly ty to throw him against the wall) It has no spell casting abilities but is immune to all forms of undead turning. He is immune to fire and cold and lightning adds to its hitpoints ... (d8) for 2 rounds until returning to normal. He is very lonely and makes an irritating companion. He is constantly making sarcastic, cynical observations, pointing out mistakes, faults, and things folk nearby would rather leave unmentioned. However his two innate abilities make him a valuable companion if the owner can put up with his irritating company. He is apt to be moody and sulk when he feels insulted.

Muragh: Cursed Skull
INT: Normal
AL: NG
AC: 7
MV: o
HP: 9
THACO: 20
#AT: 1
DMG: 1 (bite)
SA: None
SD: Special
SZ: s

In life, the skull belonged to a gossipy, touchy, opinionated 5th level cleric. Muragh was cursed by an evil wizard who Muragh regularly irritated with moral lectures. The curse sentenced Muragh's intellect to remain behind when he was slain in a tavern brawl (his body lay in an alley for almost a week).

The curse was intended to drive the cleric mad, but it had no such effect. A frightened soldier severed the still talkative head from the rotting obviously dead body, and booted it into the harbor. It soon lost its flesh to the fishes and the water, but still chatted away to all who came near. Later mermen (who were agitated by this chattering skull hastily netted the the thing and took it to a duty-wizard of the watch.

The wizard investigated the skulls properties carefully, and decided it was harmless enough, and set it as a table ornament in the spell library that was housed in the lords meeting hall.

Muragh proved to be an excellent watch skull, fussy, and diligent to a fault. He was promptly stolen by thieves when he tongue lashed them in the dark; they thought he might be powerful magic and hence thinking they had found a valuable item.

The thieves fled into the dungeon to examine the skull and hide there prize. Something ill befell them, for they left Muragh on a table and never returned.


yes yes .... some may notice I have pulled some encounters and rooms from a certain box set that we will not mention here hehe but this is all just me preparing them for the main adventure.

Till next time .....
Hope everyone enjoyed the story this week

[Jeffrey]

10-18-2008

At this stage of the adventure, the levels are as follows:

Brutus:2
Necroth:2
Thael:3
Falcore:1/1
Clara:2


Last we left our group of heroes, they had just found there newest addition to there group ... Muragh - the talking skull. Clara is sure a fatality in the group will come from the discovery, but Clara has high hopes.

The group decides to move on seeing as the skull was with the group for better or worst. The group takes the tunnel on the far side of the room which goes for 100 feet at least before turning north for another 75 feet and coming to a locked door. Thael steps up, spits on his hands and goes to work, after 15 minutes of the door remaining lock, Muragh asks Necroth ... "he is a thief right?" Thael glares back at the skull .... turning back to his work his goes at it again. 5 minutes later Brutus tells Thael out of aggrevation "FOR GODS SAKE ... just knocking on the fucking door, maybe someone will just open the damned thing" Finally after what seemed an eternity the door clicks open. As they enter the room Thael can hear Brutus mumbling "don't quit your day job".

As soon as Brutus clears the doorway and Ettercap jumps him from the side and attacks, Brutus was ready for the attack and fights back ... noone could get into the room due to the two blocking the doorway. Brutus was actually doing pretty well but gets slammed by the Ettercap and falls backward to the ground at which time Necroth fires off a magic missle spell and finishes the beast off.

The group proceeds into the room and looks around seeing mostly trash, garbage and muck scattered around the room but in the far right corner they do find a locked chest.

Yes I said locked ...

Brutus looks at Thael, Thael looks at Brutus. Thael cracks his knuckles and starts working on the chests lock which actually opens right up on the first try. Of course Thael shoots Brutus a triumphant look before slowly opening the chest. Muragh says "oooh goodie, there be magic in that there chest!"

(I was feeling generous so I tell em what they found, I figured there day had been rough enough)

Listed with who the item went to:
Necroth: Bracers of Defense AC7
Thael: Boots of Elven Kind
Necroth: Crystal Ball
Thael: +2 Longtooth Dagger

This helped cheer the mood up somewhat until Muragh went to jabbering at Brutus about "aren't you glad you had me here to tell you that all that was magical? I mean you would have had no idea if it wern't for me, I told you I would be helpful but nooooo you wouldn't list .... Brutus turns and sends Muragh the glare from hell and Muragh catchs the hint.

The group finishes the room search and decides to use this room to make camp in. Muragh pipes up "hey I can watch the room and everyone can sleep" Brutus quietly yells "HELL NO YOU AIN'T EITHER" Muragh chimes in defensively "why not? I never sleep and can wake the group up at the first sign of trouble" Necroth and Clara both add ... let him stand and watch for us, we could all use the sleep, I am sure we will be fine, Brutus says, well for tonight till we see if he works, we will take shifts and let him watch as well. The group agrees ... but the night passes uneventfully by accept for a few strange noises from down the hall they just came from earlier in the night.

The party wakes and eats a short meal and heads out once again. Brutus actually had nothing bad to say about Muragh seeing as how he did exactly what he said he would do, he figured he would give him a chance at watch the next camp they made. So .... they head to the far side of the room, open the door and as soon as the door opens a Skeleton jumps all over Brutus. Brutus backs back into the room with the group spreading out to get better angles. Necroth fires Magic Missile at it which seemed to not slow it down any, Brutus attacks, doing minimal damage. Clara attacks with her mace along with Thael while Falcore fires arrows into it which do nothing to it at all. Seems the attacks the party does to this creature are doing very little damage to it and Brutus is starting to feel the hits but trusty ole Clara is right on time with the heals. This was a VERY hard fight (the group is amazed as the creature took over 70 points of damage before falling) After the fight a search of the area reveals nothing of importance. The group heads down the tunnel.

The tunnel goes for 150 feet at least and turns right. This is when the party hears fighting ahead somewhere so they pick the pace up. The tunnel goes for another 80 feet and turns right again and 30 feet more is a large double door that is wide open and the group can see figures fighting inside the room. They move towards the room and see some people fighting many kobolds. The room is huge, at least 100 feet long and half that across. There are three humans laying dead on the floor along with 25-30 kobolds. 15 or so kobolds remain standing and 1 human with another human laying on the ground being clubbed by three kobolds.

Brutus charges into the room attacking the nearest kobold while Necroth casts sleep on the 5 kobolds on the far left side of the room firing there crossbows, 4 kobolds drop while the 5th turns and fires the crossbow at Necroth and scores a deep hit. Necroth drops to a knee gasping for breath, nearly unconscious (yay I finally got a natural 20) Clara runs to help Necroth with a heal and Falcore fires an arrow into the kobold killing it. Thael also takes out a couple of the kobolds attacking the downed man but it was not in time to save him. The last human is struck down by a kobold and Brutus kills it before it can get the killing blow. The rest of the kobolds are slain and Clara tries to heal the man before he dies but is not in time to save him and the man dies ... bleeding to death from his wounds.

Brutus took this hard, he felt he should have been able to save these people. Clara comforts him and the group begins checking the corpses for anything that can be used and finds nothing on the kobolds but finds several things on the other group of adventurers. The one who appeared to be the wizard of the group has several books in his backpack which Necroth started looking through and finding there were spells scribed in the books.

Book 1:
Level 1 - Detect Magic, Enlarge, Feather Fall, Spider Climb, Write
Level 2 - Invisibility, Knock, Detect Evil, Levitate

Book 2:
Level 3 - Dispel Magic, Fireball, Water Breathing, Fly, Invisibility 10 foot Radius
Level 4 - Remove Curse, Ice Storm
Level 5 - Wall of Iron, Teleport, Cone of Cold

These spells were emailed to Necroth since he chose to not share what the spells were with the group, telling them ahhh a few useful ones, nothing major. He is very excited about the Teleport spell for some reason ... (hmmm I wonder). (the rest of the group does not read these forums, this is why I posted the spells he gained from the books)

Falcore finds himself a +1 Longbow, well once Necroth identified it for him. The group decides to continue on, even knowing they were a little low on wizard and clerical spells. The proceed through the room and open the far door. Ahead was a tunnel that traveled 75 feet or so and turned left for another 90 feet until it came to another double door. Brutus decides he hates double doors almost as much as he hates that damned talking skull which continues to jabber on about random things. Brutus wonders if the skull will ever run out of things to talk about, he talks even when everyone ignores him, Brutus thinks it talks just to be talking.

The doors are opened and the group sees an empty room, 20 by 20 feet with scattered furniture and a few chairs. The room is searched and after finding nothing of value the group decides this would be a great spot to set up camp, using the furniture to barricade the doors. Finally Brutus agrees to let the talking skull stand watch figuring if anything comes through the doors, the furniture would wake the group up. (What made Brutus the most curious was .... how in the hell the Skull could keep quiet standing watch but throughout there waking hours talk them to death) The group sleeps .....

Until next time .......


PS: no comments has me worried lol least someone let me know if this journal is worth reading. I have been worried from the start that my story telling skills are not good enough to bother posting this journal haha so please let me know if its ok.

[Jeffrey]

10-19-2008 Happy Birthday to Me!!!!
Getting in one more weekend session

At this stage of the adventure, the levels are as follows:

Brutus:2
Necroth:3
Thael:4
Falcore:2/1 (Cleric Half +1)
Clara:3

DM's Note: One thing I want to make perfectly clear .... Muragh has been VERY annoying, I may not be telling this to everyone as much as I should (hell, if I did, you would have 40 pages just on Muragh to read about each session ... so lets just say for humors sake, Muragh is closer to being a door stop than he realises, Brutus cannot take much more of him ... of course as Necroth has told him several times ... touch my buddy ... pay the price (grinning sadistically). To bad the DM is the one who gets to play the part of Muragh ... (innocent smile from me of course)


We last left our heroes barricaded in a small room with the ever faithful Muragh standing watch the entire night. Brutus wakes up with the Skull staring at him. Just what Brutus needed to start the day off with lol. Clara wakes up cheerful as ever ... good morning everyone, come .... have some breakfast .... which consisted of dried meat from the inn, stale biscuits and water yum yum. Once the group had packed up, they decided to head out, removing the furniture from the far door, they open it and head into the hallway.

The group follows the tunnel 90 feet until it opens up into a 50 by 50 room. On the far side of the room is an archway with two suits of full plat standing on each side of the archway as if guarding it. Brutus grins with a wide smile (guess my AC gonna be dropping today boys) while Thael mumbles ... something bad is bout to happen. Brutus walks into the room with the party follow him. As soon as the room is entered the suits of armor snap to attention and begin moving towards the group.

Thael says: told ya!
Brutus replies: oh shut up!!

Weapons are drawn and Brutus charges. A fierce fight commences with Brutus getting his ass whipped basically, if not for Clara's on the spot heals he would have died inside two rounds. The entire time Muragh yells at Brutus ...

"Get em" "Get em"

No serious injuries were taken (after heals were passed out of course) and the guardians were killed. The creatures were searched but nothing was found, and to Brutus's sadness he found the Armor could not be removed from the creatures. "Just my luck says Brutus" so the party continues on through the archway which connects to another passageway. The group walks for maybe 75 feet when Brutus falls through the floor but manages to grab the edge to keep from falling in (lucky ass dex rolls) Falcore and Thael pull him back up. The hole is about ten feet across but the edges of the hole by the walls has a narrow walk way that can be walked across (dex checks with a +5 bonus will need to be made) Everyone makes there checks, Thael being only made his by 1 haha .... Thieves.

The party continues on, more carefully this time and follows the tunnel for another 100 feet, till it turns right for another 150 feet and they see a door ahead. The group can hear voices from what appears to be a room. They ease up to the door to listen and Necroth recognizes the language ..... orc. Brutus snorts "orcs? "snickers" and were worried about this? "Screw this, lets have at it" and he kicks the door open. Standing before the group is what appears to be 50 orcs throughout the room. 10 were on the left side of the room rolling dice, some were in bunks on the right side of the room and 15-20 were in the center of the room sitting at a long table eating.

Thinking fast ... Necroth casts a sleep spell on the ones rolling dice, eight fall to the floor and Brutus, Thael and Falcore attack. Muragh yelling "woo hoo". The fight itself was not really that bad .... it just took forever to kill that many Orcs. Necroth scolding Brutus for being an idiot once the fight was over which was all Brutus needed to fire back a few choice words of his own at Necroth. Necroth stood calmly and said .....

Don't make me do it

Brutus curses and replies one day spook, one day its gonna be me and you. Necroth replies ... "have your insurance payed up when that time comes" Clara and the others burst out laughing and Brutus sighs and returns to checking the corpses. Nothing worth keeping was found in the room.


At this stage of the adventure, the levels are as follows:

Brutus:3 - Ding!
Necroth:3
Thael:4
Falcore:2/2 (Ranger Half +1)
Clara:3

All seems to be going well so far, Brutus seems to be getting a few gray hairs but other than that they are doing pretty good. I even think there starting to get used to Muragh and his constant chattering, well everyone except Brutus but everything bothers him so he does not count.

Not totally sure what our next sessions going to be, I figure we will do a few more at the end of the week.

Till next time .....

[Jeffrey]

10-20-2008

Here we go again ...

The group decides to get together and sit down for another dungeon crawl. Thael, somehow (the group is unsure exactly how he did this) found a secret panel in the floor in the far north corner. They had all long ago given up on the idea that he was a Thief and had come to the conclusion that he was just a sorry excuse for a backup fighter, but somehow Thael has proven the party wrong lol.

They gather round to examine the panel and see it lifts by a small latch in the center. Brutus pulls and it opens without a sound. The air is musky indicating this access way has not been used in many years. Necroth shines his light into the hole lighting up what appears to be a staircase leading down in a spiral. Brutus shrugs and starts to go down with the party following.

As the party works there way down the spiral stair case they see a wooden log ahead stretching cross the stairs, this is easily climbed over but as Brutus gets maybe halfway across the log, it comes to life and in a flash 6 tentacles spring from its body and attack Brutus. he is struck three times hard and falls limp to the stairs, The group springs into motion, Falcore firing off arrows with Necroth firing Magic Missles into the beast ... Thael and Clara attack with weapons drawn (Thael getting off a natural 20 in the process (lucky bastard) The beast attacks again, only this time it attacks Thael who seems to feel some type of poison trying to take hold (saving throw made) Necroth fires another Magic Missle with Falcore continuing to pump arrows into it. Brutus is being drawn into the beasts mouth but the beast is trying to back down the stairs to get away from the groups stinging weapons (the group knows it is about dead) Thael and Clara attack one last time trying to save Brutus and with a final volley of arrows the beast drops.

Brutus is pulled free and a few minutes later recovers from his ill effects stating "what in the hell was that thing" (intelligence checks were made" Necroth speaks up "that was a Roper" its able to change into objects to hide its appearance, like it did with us. The beast was searched and 22 plat and a 50 gold piece moonstone was found. The party leaves it laying on the stairs and moves past it quickly, Thael saying something about it giving him the creeps, Muragh was upset that they didn't stay to look at its insides more.

As the group gets to the bottom of the staircase they see a dozen orcs at the bottom of the stairs looking up (probably looking to see what all the noise was about) and upon spotting the group they attack. Necroth casts a sleep spell at the center of the cluster standing at the base of the stairs, dropping nine of the the remaining 3 attempt to run but trying to climb over there stairs and bodies to escape gave Falcore time to pick each of them off. Brutus proudly proclaiming that if this was the best this place had to offer, the rest of the beasts in here should just give up while they had the chance.

Necroth says: I am sure everyone appreciates you jinxing us
Brutus snorts in aggravation

The orcs were searched, a few copper pieces was about all they had so the Party finished off the sleeping Orcs and moved past the scattered bodies. Necroth and Clara both requested a place to rest due to them both being low on available spells since they did not camp for the night in there previous session. Brutus agrees feeling somewhat drained from the effects of the Roper. They move down the tunnel and it opens into an open area. Support beams for the ceiling have fallen and the area is a mess. On the far end of the room is a door that's closed. The group begins checking the area when Brutus cries out "YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" another Roper mimicking one of the fallen support beams looms overhead and attacks Brutus.

Somehow Brutus avoids all six attacks

(don't ask me how he evaded 6 attacks from a 7 hit-dice creature and him being level 3)

Brutus swings and misses. Necroth fires his last remaining Magic Missle at the Roper with Falcore firing arrow after arrow into it. The fight lasts for several rounds, Clara taking a couple of hits that had her strength negated which dropped her to the floor weakened. Other than that, some pretty good wounds on the party was inflicted but the beast was slain.

Brutus complains: I've just about had enough of these damned mobile logs we keep running into.
Muragh commences to laughing hysterically
Necroth makes a comment about Brutus starting to pay closer attention to what he is doing, maybe he would not keep drawing this type of aggro onto himself.

Everyone has a good laugh (cept for Brutus) and checks the area VERY carefully and finds nothing of value. The center of the room was cleared, the far door was reinforced and the party beds down for the night with there trusty watchskull keeping an eye out for danger.


At this stage of the adventure, the levels are as follows:

Brutus:3 - Ding!
Necroth:4 - Ding!
Thael:4
Falcore:2/3 (Cleric Half +1)
Clara:4 - Ding!

until next time ...

[Jeffrey]

10-21-2008



We last left off with our adventurers camped in a room with Muragh standing watch over them. (Not sure if I could put that much trust in a talking skull ... but what do I know ... I am just the DM) (Grins sadistically) The companions wake up early and decide that its time to explore some more. Before heading out Necroth tells Brutus to return and check the dead Ropers and see if they had anything they might have munched down in there belly's. Brutus actually went and complied with this since he was hoping for something to turn up, of course I dont hand out free stuff that easy lol but good try They should have checked when the fight ended haha.


The wood is removed from the doorway and the party sets off once again into the blackness of the underworld. The tunnel goes on for about 100 feet and branches into two different tunnels. Brutus comments" Well, this is different" so Brutus flips a gold piece seeing as how both tunnels looked and sounded the same and they end up taking the right tunnel.

The party comes to the end of the tunnel when it opens up into a very large room. No doors appear to be leading out of this room and from where the group stands, on the far side of the room is a very expensive looking stone throne and leading up to the throne is two rows of Stones statues, 10 in each row kneeling down facing each other. The party slowly enters the room and makes there way to the throne. An extensive search is done of the room and the throne as well as the statues and nothing unusual is found.

Brutus says: "You know I got to sit on it"
Thael replies "and something horrid is going to happen to you"
Brutus states "Not hardly, the throne does not detect magic according to Muragh so what could possibly happen"
Necroth tells Brutus "Knock yourself out big guy"


Brutus moves over slowly and sits on the throne ..... and disappears

Thael pipes in "SEE??? I TOLD YOU THIS WOULD HAPPEN" ... Noone ever listens to me, oh noooo we would not want that now would we?
Clara says "So ... now what?"
Muragh says "I say we leave the room and cut our losses, I never liked him anyways"
Clara scolds "We can't just let him vanish like that"
Thael says "Then exactly what do you propose we do?"

Clara moves and sits on the throne before anyone could even say a word. "poof" she disappears as well.

Muragh pipes in: Well, she was rather annoying as well, lets go!

Falcore follows commenting "what the hell ... lets go and see what happens then" Necroth mumbles as he moves to the throne .... "if I die, I'm killing Brutus" and the party one by one sits on the throne and vanishes without a trace.

As Necroth sits himself down on the throne, Muragh makes the comment ... noone ever listens to me and then they both vanish!

I tell the group: Well, you are all dead. I can't believe you idiots sat on the throne lol what would possess you to do that especially after Brutus vanished? Everyone kinda sits wordless .......


















Nah, I'm just kidding lol
There alive .... least for now.


The first thing out of Brutus's mouth was "DON'T SAY A WORD!"
Well of course Necroth had to pipe in "What kinda retard sits on a strange throne in a freakin dungeon?"
Muragh had not stopped laughing since they reappeared.

Clara yells "GUYS GUYS" Can we PLEASE address the situation at hand? Where the hell are we?

Looking around, the adventurers see that they are standing in the center of a large room, egg shaped ... about 100 feet across and twice that long. Standing around the group, the group sees .... themselves. Well kinda like themselves, they look sorta devilishly if you catch my drift. Brutus steps forward, "hail! we come in peace" Bad Falcore shoots Brutus with an arrow. Brutus yells at the Bad Falcore "What the hell?" Bad Falcore states "I never liked you anyways" and then the fight is on.

Brutus attacks Bad Falcore when all of a sudden Bad Thael stabs Brutus in the back. As he pulls the blade out of Brutus's back he whispers into Brutus's ear ... "I never cared for you much either" Brutus is enraged at this point and attacks bad Thael with a Vengeance but then bad Falcore pulls his blades out and begins wearing Brutus's ass out.


This is going to get very confusing so I will edit this down into a quickie -

Brutus ends up scoring a natural 20 on Bad Thael killing him in a single blow, well knocking him to -6 and he bled to death soon after lol. Muragh knowing his companions were in serious trouble keeps his mouth shut the entire fight, to bad the bad Necroth's Muragh didn't haha. Falcore had went searching for the Bad Necroth after he went invisible and he tracked him down by listening to the bad Muragh gloating about how his Necroth was going to finally get the chance to kill brutus. Clara killed Clara and Necroth kills bad Brutus which bothered Brutus to no end. Anyways the fight was sorta weird with the good party defeating the bad party. It was a very good fight, cept for Thael getting one shotted by Brutus. Anyways there is the quick rundown, trust me, this fight was confusing enough in real life, do not expect me to be able to put it into words without making everyone elses eyes bleed lol.

To Necroths disappointment, as each bad duplicate died, they vanished taking all of there gear with them. As the last bad guy dies, the room begins to fall apart with huge chunks of the ceiling falling to the ground forcing the party to make dex checks and a quick exit. All made there rolls on there checks, lucky for them ... if one would have failed there roll, a large part of the ceiling would have falling on them having a very good chance of killing the person. (4d10 would have been rolled for damage)

The group escapes into the hallway on the other side of the room taking minor damage with Brutus having to listen to Muragh asking Necroth why the big guy had to always get them into trouble. The party decides to move on down the tunnel before Brutus did something he would regret later. The party taking maybe 30 steps when the floor simply vanished out from beneath them. Brutus yelling as they fell "IT's NOT MY FAULT!" everyone takes 2d8 damage from the fall, well everyone except Necroth who cast Feather Fall upon himself and floats to the bottom.

At the bottom of the pit, there is a hole in the North and South walls 5 feet in height and 3 feet in width. The group cannot see into the holes. Thael pipes in ... "here we go again" Brutus asks the group, which way do we go? Necroth replies "doesn't matter to me, your going first so I am not worried" Brutus replies "when we get back to town, me and you are going to finish this" of course Necroth seems unconcerned. Brutus turns and steps into the South walls hole.

yep ... you guessed it, "poof" he vanishes. Thael steps through the hole saying out of character (oh well, I need to do my laundry anyways) and the rest of the party shrugs and follows. The next thing the group knows, there standing in a huge room, natural in appearance with small trees growing and a dim light source of some type coming from the ceiling, there is a metal tower in the center of the chamber. The group decided to go do some investigating.

As the party nears the tower a robed man steps out. The man appears to be in his early 50's, sandy gray hair carrying a staff that he seems to use more as a walking stick. The man steps forward smiling and says "greetings travelers, what brings you to my home?" The group explains how they ended up in this area and asked where they were. The wizard who calls himself Grentha tells the party how he was with a band of adventurers years ago and how his group had fallen, he was able to escape and fled into the dungeon trying to escape the beasts chasing him. He stumbled across this cavern by accident and decided to make it his home. He says he has been here for the last 2 years and is doing well, exploring the dungeon and conducting experiments.

Grentha tells the group, please come inside, at this hour it is not wise to remain outside in the open as we are now. Its alright, you have no need for fear of me, I am harmless. The group decides to take him up on his offer, they were all tired and from the smell that was coming from the tower through the front door, there was some hot food to be had inside.

Once inside the tower, the party was amazed at how comfortable it appeared to be, lavish furnishings ranging from plush furniture, paintings on the wall with a staircase on the far side of the room going up in a spiral. Grentha motioned for the party to be seated at the table which was full of food. Necroth becomes suspicious wondering why so much food was on this table for a single man, so he asked Grentha ... "expecting someone?" Grentha chuckles softly "actually, yes ... I was. I was expecting you" Me? replied Necroth. You as in ME? or you as in you the party? Grentha replies "you as in you the party of course" Why were you expecting us? All in due time, all in due time ... please eat. The party is nervous at this point, which they should be but they also had not eaten a hot meal in some time so they eat, Necroth nibbles on his food as he studies Grentha for anything out of the ordinary .... he finds nothing that catches his attention.

After they had finished there meal, Brutus tells Grentha that everyone appreciated the meal and his hospitality but they really needed to get going. Grentha stood as if hurt "no, please ... stay the night, I insist ... it has been a long time since I had visitors and I would very much enjoy your company" Brutus replies saying how sorry he is but they really must be going" The party begins to gather there things when Grentha speaks "It appears that things must be pushed ahead of schedule it seems" The party turns to see what he meant by that.

Grentha: You five seem to have made a few enemies since you arrived in these tunnels.
Brutus: Excuse me?
Grentha: Enemies that have payed well for your capture.
Brutus: I am not sure what you are talking about but I don't see us as being captured.

Behind the party, the towers door opens and in steps five Drow Elves. A female dressed in black chain with 4 male Drow flanking her wearing black leather. Each of the males carried two short swords and a small hand crossbow which they had drawn. The female had a whip with several snakes heads hanging from it.

Grentha: as I was saying ... you have made a few people angry.

The party springs into action. Brutus leaping at the Wizard while the 4 male Drow fire there hand crossbows at the party with the female Drow floating towards the ceiling over just out of hands reach. Brutus leaping at the Wizard without taking the time to draw his weapons caught the Wizard totally by surprise. Thael leaps towards the Drow female and catches a leg which he promptly stabs twice. The Drow screamed in pain lashing out with her whip at Thael catching him twice with 2 of the 3 snake heads. Thael can feel some sort of evil magic trying to take hold but failing. Falcore begins shooting his bow at the male Drow dropping one who then begins to crawl back out the door, but then 3 darts catch him in the chest. Falcore falls.

Clara assists Brutus in immobilizing the Wizard, of course her version of immobilizing his a strike to the face with her Mace. Right before she makes contact with Grentha, he vanishes. A quick survey of the room shows Grentha to be nowhere around so Brutus and Clara turn there attention to the Drow female and see her pull a wand from a pouch on her side and point it at Thael. Thael is covered in webs and falls to the floor releasing the Drow. Necroth is firing Magic Missles as fast as he can at the Drow floating in the air, trying to keep her halfway busy to possibly prevent her from casting spells.

Brutus runs up the stairs while Clara attacks the male Drow that are reloading crossbows. The fight ends a few rounds later with Brutus leaping off of the staircase onto the hovering Drow pulling her to the ground. The Drow lashes out at Brutus with her whip and speaks an unknown word and vanishes. Necroth spots her just outside the tower, and she yells in the common tongue "Grow eyes in the back of your head light dwellers. We will meet again soon" The remaining male Drow, the Drow that was still alive (with the help of one of the male Drow) along with herself step into a purplish portal and disappear along with the portal.

Clara says: We've got serious problems"
Falcore slowly regains his footing and the group starts to untangle Thael.

Brutus asks: Why are the Drow interested in us?
Necroth replies: I would imagine it has something to do with you killing that Drow in the temple a few days ago.
Brutus snorts: stupid bitch should not have attacked us.
Necroth says: Well now we've pissed off some very powerful people.
Thael says: Maybe we should start heading back to town? Maybe? hmmm? You think?
Necroth points out: and how will that happen since weve fell through floors and walked through walls to get here.

Noone was really interested in seeing what the Drow had in store for them and it was agreed that in the morning they would head back to town, or at least try to find there way back to town.

Necroth says: But first we must investigate this tower.
Brutus replies angrily: agreed!
Brutus says: Lemme go have a look around.
Necroth replies: You know? You are right Brutus, go ahead, starting plundering through things in the tower, when the 50 magical wards explode in your face and you die, then us lower life forms can start searching it the correct way.
Brutus says: FINE!!! But we divide the loot evenly then.
Necroth smiles: of course, right down the middle.

Necroth then tells everyone to not touch anything and pulls Muragh out telling him "I need you to tell me everything that gives off a magical aura"

Muragh replies: everything? You do realize this will take time if you plan to do a thorough search of this place.
Necroth orders Muragh to get started. The party begins to secure the tower door so nothing comes in while there on the upper levels.

The bottom floor consisted of mostly of the furniture, with some bookshelves along the walls containing no major books of importance, mostly general reading. The group decides to move upstairs and see what the Wizard had there. Clearing the stairs on the second floor the group sees the room set up as a laboratory with vials and books laying on tables. Two vials full of green liquid (looking like Clara's potion of healing) sitting on the far table. After sampling them, she finds that they are indeed potions of extra healing which she secures in her belt pouch. Muragh finds nothing else magical on this level so they work there way to the top floor which appears to be the Wizards sleeping chambers.


As they reach the top of the stairs Muragh chimes in "oooooh there be magic here" Necroth replying "where?" Muragh begins directing the groups attention to the set of Field Plate mounted on a stand, a dresser beside the bed and the closet which is nothing more than a wooden box with two doors on it standing maybe 5 feet high. Checking the plate armor Necroth finds no traps and Brutus starts checking his new prize out. Necroth moves to the Dresser and the closet and both had strong magical auras. Necroth decides it would be best to spend the night here and allow him to memorize spells needed to get rid of what he thought were magical wards protecting the dresser and the closet. The party agrees and moves downstairs to barricade the door with the furniture all the while having to listen to Necroth telling the group to not damage his new furniture.

Brutus shakes his head in aggravation as Muragh chimes in as if right on queue "Home sweet home eh Necroth?" The two seemed to be having a grand time aggravating Brutus. The night passes by without problems with the group expecting to see the towers owner any second. The group wakes up the next morning and Necroth tells the group once he disarms the wards he will need to rest again to memorize needed spells for the trip back to town. Understanding, the party agrees and they head back upstairs. Necroth begins dispelling the ward on the dresser and soon after slowly opens the drawer. Inside he finds a thick book with some loose paper with writing on them.

Before investigating the book and the papers he moves to the closet and repeats the spell cast on the dresser. After finishing the spell, he opens the front doors to the closet seeing clothing inside which Muragh also states was giving off a magical aura. Having memorized Identify Necroth begins checking to see what they had found. Brutus was excited to find out he had a new set of +2 Field Plate which soon after Clara pointed out by the two protrusions in the front that this armor was crafted for a female.

Yes Brutus acts like a 2 year old but soon after gets over it and hands the armor over to Clara and helps her strap it all on. Necroth pulls out a stark black robe stating he had found the Wizards robes. Clara prompted him to put it on, which he did and soon after Necroth stating that he could not wear it (taking the robe off) due to it feeling evil in nature somehow and he would pack it away to be studied at a later time. Necroth begins scrolling through the books realizing it was a spell book and he read the loose papers. Finishing the search of the tower the group decides after Necroth finished with memorizing his spells that they would head out later than afternoon, noone wanting to stay in the Wizards tower any longer than needed.

The time came and they left the tower after making sure the outside was clear which it was. As soon as the group steps out of the tower everyone hears Necroth say "Mentra" and they turn just in time to see the tower vanish, or at least they thought it vanished until Necroth reached down and picked a miniature tower up placing it in his belt pouch. Brutus fires off a (OH HELL NO WE AIN'T TAKING THAT DAMNED WIZARDS TOWER WITH US) Necroth responds saying "Brutus, the spellbook alone is enough to make him hunt us down, the tower makes no difference ... besides it gives us a secure place to rest now so stop complaining" Clara asked "How did you know the command word for the tower?" Necroth replies "I found it among the loose papers in the top floor in the bedroom"

Reluctantly the party heads out the way they came to see if the can use a rope with a hook to climb back up through the floor trap they fell through to get down here.


Until next time ......


Brutus:4 - Ding!
Necroth:4
Thael:5 - Ding!
Falcore:3/3 (Cleric Half +1)
Clara:4

[Jeffrey]

10-23-2008


Last we left our brave group of adventurers, and Brutus ....

They had just left the Wizards tower, or should I say .... exited the tower and took the tower with them. The actually had no idea which way to go since they were teleported down to where they are. (In reality, the group actually told me if they find there way to town again, they did not want to return to these tunnels lol) Falcore stating something about how he missed the trees. Brutus saying something about how the time was soon that he needed to kill Necroth. Necroth saying something about Making Brutus vanish along the way and then once reaching the surface, setting his new home up.

Not totally sure as to what they were searching for, knowing they were ported down to where they were now, they were not expecting to find anything to point them in the right direction. After searching the area where they originally ported into the large chamber and finding nothing, Brutus decides that the group heads back out of the chamber looking for anything that could lead them to the surface. Necroth telling Muragh, now that made perfect sense, wondering if Brutus would even know he found something simply by looking at it to lead them to safety, but ... Brutus was the group leader and he would humor him .... for the time being.

Brutus throws up a hand ordering a hault, motioning for Thael to move up to the front, everyone notices a sign on the wall that reads ....

"THIS WAY TO THE SURFACE"


Well of course the first thing everyone does is laugh at me (The DM) for what they think is my humor.
I was not smiling ...... saying "it reads what it reads"

Brutus sees the tunnel moving upwards, which makes him wonder if this was a joke or a serious sign. They follow the path for maybe hundred feet and then it opens into a wide chamber 100 feet across and wide. Inside the chamber the group sees 7 people laying dead on the ground, blood was everywhere but the fight appeared to be several days old, the smell was awful. The bodies were checked and they appeared to have been thoroughly looted already. The group sees a door to the far side of the room standing open and they make there way to it seeing it move into a long tunnel.

The group hears nothing abnormal, so they keep moving and follow the tunnel for another 150 feet before it turns right for another 150 feet. As the group moves through the tunnel they hear voices ahead. Thael moves forward to see what can be seen. Thael returns motioning for the group to move up. The group see a small room, with the door cracked open, noone can be seen inside the room and as they move up towards the door, they can see a light coming from the right side of the room. The voice is of Grentha, Necroth is sure of it, the other voice was a female voice, both speaking in the common tongue. They could hear the following ....

Female: You are not giving me much to work with Grentha, these people are dangerous.
Grentha: I have payed you well and you will do as you agreed upon.
Grentha: I will assist you with this matter, have no doubt.
Female: Even with you, this will not be easy. You must increase my reward
Grentha: .... and if I dont?
Female: then I walk away ...


Silence for a moment .......

Grentha: FINE! I will double the bounty. You may take whatever valuables they have but the Wizards spell books, along with my own and my damned Tower will be returned to me, understood?
Female: Understood
Grentha: Once the adventurers are dead, you and I will both use the portal and go to Ravens Bluff and seal the damned entrance that keeps allowing these blasted people to come down here.
Grentha: Now, if you will .... I will begin casting several enchantments on you to help protect you for this fight.

Knowing that if they were going to attack, it needed to be now before Grentha could begin buffing this female up ... whatever she was. Brutus motions for Thael to head in undercover the best he can while the group prepares to rush in and surprise them. Thael moves in and sees Grentha standing beside a table with vials and beakers on it, with a female standing next to him. The female was dressed in all black leather with two wicked looking blades in scabbards hanging from her side.

All of a sudden three explosions rock the room and Thael lets out a horrid scream. The group takes cover and they hear Grentha inside yelling .....

Grentha: Someones Here!!!!

The group hears the door slam shut to where the Female and Grentha are at, they move in to check on Thael who they find laying motionless in the small room. He is near death (-8) His wounds are bound and Clara begins healing him ... Thael regains consciousness but is very weak. Falcore checks the door to find it locked, the door is made of iron and appears to be reinforced from the inside, so kicking it down will not work. Necroth tells the group "I can open the door" Brutus replies "how?" Necroth tells him its a secret wizard trick and that he should not concern himself with matters such as this due to he would never understand it. Brutus glares at Necroth but agrees with the wizard and turns his attention to the group. How does everyone want to handle this?

Clara: Thael is seriously wounded and will not be of any use in this fight. I heard Grentha mention of a portal to Ravens Bluff, we must move forward to try to gain access to this portal.
Falcore: This will probably mean we fight this Grentha fella and his woman.
Clara: You have a better idea? If so Please share.

Falcore is silent ...

Clara: Fine, are we in agreement then?

The party nods in agreement.

Clara: Necroth needs to open that door, as soon as he does we need to rush in and hope we gain the advantage on whatever is in the room. Necroth stands and moves to the door.

Necroth: I can hear chanting on the other side, its a safe bet Grentha is warding this door.
Brutus: Then sis, be ready on those heals

Everyone got into position and for the first time Falcore put his bow away and pulled his blades. This action got several "oh shits" from the group due to this being the first time Falcore ever swung a blade with the companions haha.

Thael was moved over to the side of the room out of the way of where the fighting would be and Necroth begins chanting and seconds later the Door clicks! At the same moment Brutus flings the door open, Clara screams. The group turns seeing a female (Rogue they assumed) attacking her from behind. Clara flings herself to the side to prevent further attacks, Falcore rushes in and attacks with his weapons. Grentha finishes a spell he was casting at the group and the group is slowed from a slow spell. As Falcore attacked the Assassin sips on a waterskin and vanishes leaving Falcore confused.

Falcore moves up behind Brutus to assist him, but with them all being slowed Grentha is able to remain one step ahead of the group and Grentha gets off a Fireball that is aimed at the far door. A huge explosion rocks the room, Necroth taking it harder than the rest (making his saving throw, his hitpoints are so low it still damned near knocked him unconscious) (Leaving him at 2 hitpoints) Clara hands Necroth an Extra Healing potion while she drinks one herself. (Thael being fully healed before was nearly brought into the negative hitpoints once again.

Brutus still trying to catch up to Grentha but cannot seem to catch him due to Grentha staying on the opposite side of the table, Falcore moving into the room tries to move around the opposite side of the table as Brutus. Brutus feels a sharp pain in his back, turning he sees the Assassin stabbing him in the back doing serious damage, Falcore continues towards the Wizard, Grentha casts a hold spell on Falcore and Falcore of course fails his saving throw.

Clara casts silence 15 foot radius into the room with the Wizard in it. Grentha at that point turns and opens a secret door directly behind him and walks through, Brutus attacks the Assassin with a vengeance. Falcore still remains under the hold spell. Necroth casts Magic Missle at the Assassin and Brutus gets a clean attack connecting on the Assassin. Clara tends to Thaels wounds with a lesser heal spell to give him a few more hitpoints. The Assassin tries to escape but Brutus strikes her down. Falcore finally releases from the hold spell.

Brutus and Falcore both sprint through the secret door to try to catch the Wizard, figuring he had only went through last turn they should see him. As they step through the door, they enter another room and see Grentha standing calmly on the other side of the room, 4 animated suits or full plate begin marching towards the group. Thael moves out the way and the group moves in the room so each could attack. Clara casts another silence spell on the far side of the room to negate the Wizards casting. Brutus and Falcore attack the nearest guardian and Necroth casts Magic Missle at Grentha scoring a clean hit. Clara assists Falcore with an attack on the guardian. Falcore decides to get brave for once and charges the Wizard with Necroth casting his last Magic Missle spell at him.

Grentha steps backwards into the wall and disappears once again. CHRIST!!! Cried Brutus, will someone kill that damned wizard PLEASE!!!! But first things first, the guardians first must be stopped. (shortening the fight with the guardians due to my fingers starting to hurt typing all of this haha) the guardian fight was pretty ugly, Brutus going down to one hit point before the last guardian was slain.

Necroth is out of offensive spells
Clara has one heal left with no potions
Falcore still has 3 healing spells and a potion
Brutus is as grumpy as ever
Thael is able to follow the party, but is in no shape to fight.
Muragh is as talkative as ever!

Brutus tells the group they must follow through the wall, not wanting to let Grentha escape for a second time. Necroth adjusts is throwing dagger belt knowing his spells are now gone and the group moves through the wall. The room they are in is a 30x30 room. On the far side of the room is a mirror looking devise, about 6 feet in height but where the glass should be there was only a cloudy substance as though a mist was covering the glass. Grentha stood on the far side of the room looking at the group.

Grentha: You have proven to be a challenge afterall.
Brutus: Surrender now wizard and we will spare your life.
Grentha laughs deeply: Surrender? Why would I do such a thing when I have just got started good?
Brutus: Surrender or we will kill you!
Grentha: So little you seem to know

(With a laugh, the Wizards form begins to change)
In seconds Grentha transforms into a Drow Elf. My Matron Mother is deeply upset by what you have done, killing her youngest daughter, my sister (he said his sister with a smirk) actually ... my sister was a valuable member of my house, but I never cared for the bitch personally. Seems you have won this day, but know this! We are coming for you. Grentha begins to turn towards the Mirror and Brutus charges!!! Slamming hard into an invisible wall. Grentha looks back just long enough to chuckle, turns to the mirror speaking the word (home) and a picture of a city appears, one the party has never seen and Grentha steps through disappearing. The portal returns to its original state.

Brutus: Appears that is a portal of some kind.
Necroth: My you are unusually observant today (smirking)

Thael eased over and searched the dead Assassin retrieving the Longsword and Dagger from her and the black leather Armor. All three items Muragh informs Thael of them being magical. Eventually after much waiting and after a failed dispel magic, the Invisible wall fades away. The party moves over to the mirror and discusses how to make it work, Falcore says "I heard the wizard say home" Falcore says "home" and the mirror clears and a picture of his homeland appears. The group ponders for a moment, worst things come to pass we simply go to the Elven lands haha.

Brutus moves forward, let me try and he repeats the word home and the view changes to the river just outside Ravens Bluff. Necroth pipes in "this is wrong lol nothing is this easy" Well there is only one way to find out and Clara steps through telling Brutus to go last so the portal does not change destinations. Shortly after all 5 stand near the river outside of Ravens Bluff.

DM's Note: Well they guys said they hated the dungeon, so I helped them out a little. They say they refuse to return to the dungeon ...... we will see (grins evily) we will see.

Helping Thael, the party heads to Ravens Bluff. Appears some construction on the small town has took place and still is going on inside the walls, the group heads through the front gate after another short session with the guards and arrives at the Inn once more. The innkeeper greets them warmly and offers them a table and summons the serving lady to bring food and wine. The Captain of the Guard is summoned along with the towns Lord. Brutus tells them both everything that happened and there dealings with the Drow. This in turn troubled the Lord to no end.

Lord: We can't have Drow at our doorstep. We need to stop this from being a threat.
Captain: How do you plan to do this?
Lord: I don't know, maybe we need to seal the tunnels entrance for the time being until we figure out how to handle this.
Captain: agreed
Brutus: Well, we do not plan to be returning to the tunnels again. We were fortunate to have escaped with our lives. Poor Thael nearly died down there.
Lord: Well, we are glad for your safe return. We have you set up with Lodgings for as long as you wish to stay.

The meeting ends and the group retires to there rooms after there meals.


Until next time ......


Magic from the Assassin: The group figured since Thael almost died they would give it all to him.

+1 Longsword
+1 Dagger
+1 Leather armor

Brutus:4
Necroth:4
Thael:5
Falcore:3/3
Clara:5 - Ding!

[Jeffrey]

This is the end of the adventure, at least for now. Necroth's job has him tied up for several weeks, if not a month+ so I will run the remaining group on a seperate adventure with new characters, nothing major, no journal will be kept until Necroth can get back to his normal routine. I do not believe in running an adventure session and not have all my players so we will wait.

When we do restart, I may do another journal if there are requests. Not sure how this one was taken since I never got any comments hehe so if anyone wants another journal, let me know. I may suck at story telling .... so I will do others if its requested. I do not want to post journals if mine are not worth reading

[thedungeondelver]

Well hey you've got 120 reads and I think it's good (you haven't seen me delete any) so, I say, good job!

[Matthew]

It was actually quite an entertaining read. I particularly enjoyed the talking skull (which I surmise was inspired by the Planescape CRPG) and its reaction to Brutus and then Clara sitting on the throne... I am very much in favour of the "patchwork" approach you have taken towards the campaign setting, firmly in the nebulous tradition of traditional swords & sorcery adventure. It certainly showcased the potential power of the sleep spell!

On the downside, it seemed pretty heavy on the hack and slash, the monsters sometimes retreating without much cause, and the adventurers never considering actually running away or being cautious, but that might simply be a product of the way the account was written. I was somewhat alarmed at the rapid rate of level advancement, but different strokes for different folks! I also could probably do without the blow by blow combat accounts, though some of the commentary was amusing in that regard.

I look forward to future installments!

[Jeffrey]

Well actually the stories are not 100% to what the group done, I award xperience from magical items and monsters killed (only) They actually did not go up all that fast ... it just seems that way with this story. As for the group never retreating, it was an unwritten rule that unless Brutus gave the word to back off the party moved forward, kinda like an honor thing with brutus, he hated to flee a fight hehe.

The hack and slash part, yea I kinda agree on this and plan to do some changing in there play styles, but I needed them around level 4 before they got to the primary adventure.

We have actually sat down and the group is wanting to take this in a different direction. They want to play Dragonlance instead of a home grown world so I am not sure where we all stand at this time on that idea. So I told them, if we go to Krynn we either reroll new characters and start at level 1 or they can take there existing characters, lose everything they have (even Necroths skull lol) and restart level 1 in Krynn. So there currently deciding on what they want to do. I akm fine either way, I hope they decide to keep these characters and drop them to level 1 and strip there new gear because I am having a blast DMing these guys with those characters, there really working well together, even ole Necroth and his dark side.


Brutus not being afraid of anything really made this adventure fun. Not even thinking, just sitting on chairs, stepping through portals lol so many things could have gone wrong but they lived.


PS: The talking skull was actually inspired by the Forgotten Realms boxed set (Undermountain) I even kept the same name with the skull, I just made it a tad more annoying and yes the sleep spell is so underrated but Necroth really showed the group just how powerful it really is at lower levels. I hope to do better on my short comings as a story teller if I do another story.

[Matthew]

I think it probably depends on your definition of "fast" and "normal"; the last full on campaign I played, it took over ninety sessions and three years for the characters to reach sixth level, which is close to what I consider normal.

Never owned Undermountain myself, but it is interesting to know there is a talking skull in there.

[Jeffrey]

Well the early levels maybe up to around 4ish come sorta fast if the adventure is more hack and slash, BUT as I said, I only give out xp for magical items and creatures killed so the xp gain was normal, I didnt hand out bonus xp to any of the guys so I dunno. But anyways glad you "sorta" liked it hehe and as soon as my group figures out where they want to be I will see what can be done about more Journals.

Journal writing is actually aggrevating as hell lol
... and I am not the best story teller in the world either.



PS: One thing was said by Necroth was if the group redid there characters over to Dragonlance and reversed there levels to level 1 he was bucking on giving up Muragh the talking skull. I am actually considering letting him keep it, it really added to the adventure group and watching Brutus almost blow a fuse makes it worth allowing him to retain it. The talking skull in my opinion was the best thing I did to add to the group, it has really added to the groups enjoyment.

[Jeffrey]

Well, we have done alot of discussing, and we have pretty much decided to do away with the hime grown campaign world. The one working on it just do not have the time to put into getting it finished so ......

We have decided to return to where we should never have left in the first place - Greyhawk. It will still be 1E, 1.5E, 2E rules. It will begin during the timeline of around the year 572-573. Shortly before the time when the Prince of Furyondy was kidnapped. Our first adventure will more than likely be The Temple of Elemental Evil. *as if it hasn't been played enough as it is*

We are deciding if we plan for the group to reroll all new characters or take the characters from this adventure and simply reset them to level 1. We have kinda gotten attached to this group so more than likely we will reset these existing characters back to level 1 and strip them back down to basic starting gear. Necroth has been whining about loosing Muragh lol I might have to let him keep the skull and *maybe* remove the two abilities it has ... not sure on this yet.

We also will have a new addition to the group. A Dwarven Warrior - name unknown at this time but it should be fun adding him to the group.

Not sure if anyone reads this journal but I thought I would add this information. We want to try to get this thing going in December and make it our christmas campaign hehe

[Damaja]

We sat down today ... myself and jeff (the DM) and decided that I will be the one posting the campaign/adventure journals since he is PC-less and has to come hog my PC to do it, he has his laptop but doesnt have internet, where he lives he has dial-up so he will type em all up and save them to floppy and I will upload the journals to the forums.

Just letting those interested know.

Were shooting for mid December to kick off the Greyhawk campaign

[Jeffrey]

Well its been a while, we have not played any since the last campaign journal entries. We are in the process of reforming a group, I think all of our schedules have slowed down some and Jeff has started workin on something all new.

Brutus and Clara will be the only two in the group from the last adventure. Currently the group is looking like the following.

Brutus on another Warrior
Clara playing her favorite class .... Cleric "of course"

2 new comers:

Gimble the Dwarven Warrior
Tallon the Elven Ranger
Necroth says he may be able to get back into the game with us so crossing fingers on this one.

Regardless, since the group is reforming basically new again, everyone has decided to just retire off there characters they played here and roll up new ones, Clara and Brutus refused to let go of there two names lol so we will just say that was just some random adventure played elsewhere.

Anyways maybe something gets fired up real soon for us.

[thedungeondelver]

Be sure to keep us posted, Jeffrey, these are good reads.

[Damaja]

Still nothing as of yet

I will be posting the Journals under my account this time, it is less confusing hehe since I was logging his acct on and doing it for him in the first place. Weve had a few setbacks though, Jeff has a brother who has Lou Gehrig's Disease (not sure if thats spelled right) and he is not doing well at all. I try not to pry into this matter with him because this brother is very close to him and I would only make it worst.

Were discussing working up a side adventure while we wait on Jeff to take care of his personal life. Jeff has stated he was very willing to DM the group but we as a group felt he should spend this time his brother has left with him. So I will post updates here as they come and the next journals will start in a new thread.