Thursday, January 31, 2008

Reflections

Eolar is sitting on an old stump near the eastern gate of the gnome hamlet. The sun is just about to set and he is looking out over the fields surrounding the settlement. The gnomes are very grateful and their hospitality outstanding. Eolar hasn't met many gnomes before and takes this chance to study their culture and their religion with great interest. They don't seem to be a deeply religious race and only seem to follow the gods of nature from time to time. Despite this, they are simple farmers and should be susceptible to a more organized religion. It is worth a try.
He makes a last note about this and again looks out over the fields. It is almost dark now and the muffled sounds from yet another celebration float through the air. Just loud enough to hear another attempt of the newly declared bard Telfis to please his audience. A subtle smile crept over his face listening to the groaning from the nearby huts. The young bard still has much to learn.
Eolar picks up the bow they took from the captured orc. A fine piece of woodwork, way too intricately crafted for orcish hands. He wonders where they stole it from. Perhaps another elvish family they killed in a raid. Memories of his childhood surface in his mind. The wooden tree house, his mother getting fresh water from the small stream next to their place, the orc raiding party.......
It takes Eolar a few minutes to fight the anger that is rising again. After all these years of training, controlling these strong emotions still proves difficult. The gnomes expect another attack after the orc "foragers" didn't return to their camp. He draws the bow and aims into the night. He is going to get his revenge for what they did to his mother. This bow will be of good use.
He murmurs a few words to bless it and get's up to head back into the hamlet. It is time to speak to Rojo about his clan and their camp! Eolar prepares the 'Zone of Truth' spell in his mind. He is sure that Bodush is willing to help if the orc decides not to speak....

A Nice Surprise!

Early next morning, Eolar takes an hour to check his Mule ‘Meldo’s’ pack. He goes through the equipment and treasure recently acquired to make a precise inventory. Eolar always likes things to be in order.
As he lifts the jewelled box found in the Aranea's lair, he pauses. It seems heavier then it should be. The tiny key is in the lock, so he turns it and with a gentle ‘click’ it opens.
Inside sits a beautiful golden necklace supporting seven different sized rubies. One very large, two slightly smaller, two smaller still and two relatively small ones. Eolar stares at the beautiful piece of jewellery.
He’s positive it wasn’t there before.

No Place Like Gnome

The seven warrior Gnomes welcome the adventurers into their homes. Each of them gives hospitality to the adventurer they paired with during the battle.
Over the next few days, Petra; Gnome Head woman goes back and forth between her people and yours. Her faithful badger ‘Angel’ constantly at her side.
Her main advisor is Sokoloff. He’s probably around the same age as her and wears the scars of more than one battle. Despite his small stature, he was probably a decent fighter in his day. The other voices she listens to are: Sotero, Bissell and Hilario. The other Gnome elders. Surprisingly she also consults with Izzard, the recently reformed Gnome Wizard.
She is sure Calvera, the Orc War chief, will soon send a bigger and better prepared group to crush their resistance.
Perhaps a scouting mission to ascertain their numbers would be wise?

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Experience at Gnome Hamlet

Thesis: 10,180 xp (Goes up to 5th level!)
Eolar: 8,639 xp (4th level)
Telfis: 7,699 xp (4th level)
Bodush: 6,944 xp (Went up to 4th level)
Wer: 6,794 xp (Went up to 4th level)
Kruddo: 5,349 xp (3rd level)
Durin: 3,914 xp (Went up to 3rd level)

Bodush, Wer and and Durin gained a level during the adventure.
Thesis squeaks up to 5th!
Congratulations!
Only poor Eolar hasn’t risen during the last two sessions.
Better luck in two weeks!

Please send me Bodush’s, Thesis’ (and of course) WER’s revised character sheets.

Treasure (It’s not much but…)

Katipo:
28sp
39cp
6 good quality pearls (100gp value plus)

Orc scouts:
Chain shirt armour x3
Falchions x3
Heavy Crossbows x3
Bolts x27
42sp

Rojo:
ChainArmour
MWKs Composite Longbow(str14)
MWKs OrcAxe
Thunderstone x1
20xArrows and Quiver
Magical Arrows +2 (8)
199gp
1Gem

Orc warriors:
Chain shirt armour x10
Falchions x10
Heavy Crossbows x10
Bolts x92
987sp
12gp

Toriano (Ogre):
Great club
Javalin x3
Hide Armour
Potion:Barkskin+2
199gp
1Gem

Light Riding horses x2
Heavy cart horses x 2
Heavy carts x2

The Celebration Feast

The Gnome farmers carry away the bodies of the dead Orcs. Bodush making sure that none recover except the gravely injured leader; Rojo.
Rojo is dragged to an empty food store and tethered securely.
Eolar heals the few injuries that the party sustained, but only Durin was seriously wounded when he was struck twice by the huge Ogre’s greatclub.
After the victory, the Gnome elders, women and children rush out to thank the adventurers and a feast in their honour is quickly organised.
The villagers weren’t lying about their food shortages, but there’s enough to make a passable celebration. Coloured ribbons are strung around poles and draped from borrow to borrow. One of the older Gnomes brings out a mandolin and starts to play. Telfis gleefully pulls out his fife and joins in. Despite Telfis’ poor skill with it, everyone feels uplifted.
Ale and wine are brought forth as well as sweet breads and small candies for the children.
Two of Bernardo’s Children rush up to Durin.
“We’re happy that you managed to stay alive, even though that means we don’t get to look after your grave.” The smaller one pipes in, “Maybe even happier?”
The Gnomes who fought are all treated with the same regard as the adventures. Heroes to their people.
As the night draws on, Petra, the village elder and leader moves over to the party.
“We are all so grateful for your aid. We would be either dead or starving if your hearts weren’t so full of courage and kindness. I’m afraid that this isn’t the end though. The Orc war band is lead by a cunning brute called Calvera. When his men don’t return with our crops in the next few days, he’ll know something’s happened and he’ll send more warriors to find out what. We have possibly a week before that happens. Will you stay and help us fight? If you do I promise we'll teach Calvera something about the price of corn!”

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

HPs, Arrows and Bolts (Again.)

I'm still waiting for:
Telfis. Thanks for the revised character sheet. (I still need to know if any damage taken)
Kruddo: New hit points plus Arrows/Bolts and damage taken.
Wer. I need your character sheet. (Although I trust you completely, do one and send it over.)
Include: Damage taken and how many sling stones used.
Thanks to everyone else.

She Waits; That's What She Does.

From her hiding place, Katipo watches Telfis move alone out of the cave and to the Mule.
Her spells have faded but she still has her webs and poison.
She could kill him now.
But no. Better to stay out of sight and wait until morning.
Revenge will be sweeter on an empty stomach.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Directions

After the adrenaline of the fight has ebbed out of his system, Telfis slumps down next to a tree outside the cave. He suddenly feels drained and lost. Since he joined this bizarre group of adventurers a mild feeling of inadequacy has continued to creep up in the back of his mind. He always thought of himself as quite cunning and even wise. He was always confident in his assessment of right and wrong and his place in the world. His actions and reactions had always been immediate and resolute. For a street urchin this is the difference between freedom or a life of miserable servitude, or even death. Never hesitate, never look back. This is what his brother had drilled into him since even before he was able to speak. This is what he believed and lived all his life.
Now, increasingly often, he felt troubled by a previously unknown uncertainty. His reflexes did one thing and his second thoughts told him to do another. The first time he had unconsciously `disappeared' the precious scabbard before his conscious thought even had a chance to properly appraise it. But only shortly after that it felt wrong. He had felt like traitor. This had shocked him more than he cared to admit. For without trust there can be no betrayal. Since his brother had been killed he had never trusted anyone and no one had trusted him. He would take whatever he could. If he didn't someone else would without hesitation. No one expected him to be `fair'.

No betrayal without trust, Telfis thinks again.

I cannot betray anyone. Without him noticing his hand toys with the necklace he had secretly removed from the spider's lair. Then there was the matter of the girl. I am getting unfocused and soft, he thinks, I have trusted her and what did I get for it? Telfis can feel himself blush with embarrassment and anger. His brother would have given him a proper thrashing for such stupid gullibility. A pretty face and a desperate look was all it took to nearly get myself killed. Not only that but I also endangered my friends. Before he notices why, his anger flushes away from him, the blood in his cheeks stops pulsating. My friends.
Telfis sits there motionless for long moments, unseeingly staring into the woods. His hand reaches into his pocket, he takes out the ruby necklace and gently puts it back into the box.
Telfis blinks like he is awaking from a dream. He sighs and gets up. As he offloads the loot onto the priest's donkey he sees the fife. He puts everything else on the donkey and stares at this wondrous and beautiful little thing in his hands. It seems to be calling out to him. Telfis shrugs and gingerly lifts the instrument to his mouth.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Another Letter Home

Dear Father,
I have found a group of Barbarians who were willing to teach me some of their skills.
You would find them very uncouth but they are honest and noble in their own way.
I came here hoping to improve my ability with a sword, but mostly we’ve been running.
I thought I was fast, but I’m like a tortoise next to them. I am improving though.
Weirdly, they consider running ‘toward’ an enemy a great tactic!
I plan to meet up with my friends soon. I hope they don’t have any trouble on their return to Seawell.
Let the Gods protect you, my Mother, my Brothers and my Sister.
Your loving son,
Mendez.
P.S. Don’t get into an argument with a Barbarian. Their tempers are alarming!

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Plotting in the Dark

Outside in the darkness, the surviving Aranea seethes with anger.
How could those pathetic meat sacks have killed Steatoda; another of her brothers?
Katipo scuttles through the night, plotting her next move.
Should she try to attack them again?
Should she try to trick them? Human males are such fools for a pretty face.
In her spider form however, she is far less lovely than before. No normal man would be able to look at her without shuddering with revulsion.
Perhaps she could gather up more of the mindless undead to fight for her?
Certainly there are too many to face alone.
Still, thanks to the accursed Clerics of St Cuthbert, the undead are becoming scarcer.
Katipo waits in the cold, dark night.
Perhaps, at least, they won’t have found our treasure.

Experience!

Thesis: 9,030 xp (4th level)

Eolar: 7,489 xp (4th level)

Telfis: 6,499 xp (Goes up to 4th level!)

Bodush: 5,814 xp (3rd level)

Wer: 5,644 xp (3rd level)

Kruddo: 4,199 xp (Goes up to 3rd level!)

Durin: 2,714 xp (2nd level)

Telfis and Kruddo gain a level.
Congratulations!

Treasure

From the Clerics of St Cuthbert:

230gp (Amazingly your 'undead' count was correct!)

From the Lair of the Aranea:

MWKs Fife (Made of Pink ivory (hardwood) reinforced with silver bands.)
A complete Disguise kit
A small steel Mirror
An ornate wooden Jewell Box covered in gold inlay and precious gems.
412gp
70pp
2gems

Translations from Bodush' Infernal(Linguistically speaking) Journal

Excerpt:

Day 1:
Aahh.. I can't wait to go to sleep. Today was exhausting. Most of it was spent walking in circles, stopping only for a break when we encountered the undead. We met some zombies, we met some skeletons...we killed some zombies and we killed some skeletons. The undead were dispatched with ease, not even the donkey managed to get into the trouble! I might reconsider stealing some of Telfis' poison to put in its feed.

Still, the look on the the cleric's face as his donkey keels over and dies, would be worth the extra hassle of carting our own gold back to town. It's a good thing he can't read infernal. Come to think of it, it's a good thing none of them can.

My relaxing bouts of watching the stunties have a go at the zombies, were unfortunately interrupted by the halfling's dog. While I must confess that the druid has the right idea, after all one should take every opportunity to have a breather, I am not sure if resting in the path of rampaging skeleton hordes will ultimately be very comfortable. It wasn't for me, I had to actually summon up reserves of arcane energy to blast the skeletons for them. Don't they know I don't get out of bed for less than 500 gp?

Anyway, it is time to go to sleep. I have spent all my magical reserves(or so I am claiming) and need my rest. Let the fighters keep an eye on things...

Update Day 1:
Someone remind me why I am travelling with these guys! They woke me up! Apparently some undead things were approaching our camp. Now, call me dense, but to me it seems pretty obvious that the correct way to deal with undead approaching our camp is to fight them. Let's see, what are Thesis, Kraddo and Durin again? Yep, they are fighters. No need to wake me up for this. Undead are gone. I grumpily rained magic missiles at them before going back to sleep, grumbling something about instant toadhood for the next person to wake me up.


Day 2:
Today is not even over yet and still it is turning out to be the second worst day of my life. Met some hot elf chick on the road, claiming to be a hot elf slavegirl belonging to a spiderdemon of some sort. Apparently my incompetent travelling companions managed to slay one of them earlier this week and the she-elf thought that we could repeat the deed. Absolutely wonderful, we should rename our party 'The One Trick Pony Spiderkillers'. For reasons completely unknown to most of the party(We should have a look at group decision-making dynamics in more detail later), we agreed to help her. The dwarven contingent's attitude towards the fair elven maiden seemed to fluctuate between homocidal mania and more unspeakable sorts of mania, which completely destroyed their credibility when claiming she was an evil traitor who was leading us into a trap.

Because she did lead us into a trap. A trap consisting of one giant spider, several zombies, a dark cave and the most annoying spell in the world. Needless to say, thanks to my efforts, the party survived, and we vanquished the horrible nasty spider demon(again).

Unfortunately, while we were busy killing said horrible nasty spider demon, the hot elven slave girl decided to show her true colours, responding to Telfis' advances by transforming into a giant spider. I wonder what he did to cause that? Perhaps he took Kraddo’s initial suggestion, leading her to transform in self-defence?


Anyway, her general attractiveness much enhanced by the transformation, she seemed to consider eating us…very likely imagining how her mandibles would pierce through our tender flesh, rending our squirming limbs into tiny morsels before delicately inserting them into her dripping maw, slowly extracting every ounce of fluid from our helpless bodies as we begged for release, our muscles taut with…

Mental note: I have been out in the wilderness too long. I really need to get back to Seawell. I could use a recreational visit to Madame Grak’s house of orcish delights. I wonder if the halfling still has some spiders left in her spell component pouch...

HPs, Arrows and Bolts

Could everyone please let me know their current status in regard to the above.
As soon as I have this information, I'll give out experience and list the treasure.
(You're still in the Aranea's cave but no-one has slept yet.)

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

On Thesis the Reckless and Durin the Brabarian

When the party left the outpost nearly a week before to go off on some pointless religious mission with that self-righteous Cleric, the barbarian dwarf and the tatooed fighter hankered for a little more "action". They decided to take up the offer of an elven raiding party to join them in their mission to see off an orc warband from the elven lands south-west of the outpost.

It was just 2 days into the foray when they realised that the warband had not materialised. The ledgendary reconnisance intelligence of the woodland folk had somehow failed them. The elves decided to return to the outpost to replan, so Thesis and Durin, muscles bulging, sword and axe keen, begrudingly returned too having not so much as killed a squirrel.

Back at the outpost, not knowing what to do, Thesis practiced with an entirely new weapon, a huge Greatsowrd and became proficient and rather fond of his new "protector". He also gave himself a new moniker "Thesis the Reckless" - well that was how he felt! Durin, spent most of the time whoring and drinking, but seemed also to be strengthened for the experience.

When Elogyn and the St. Cuthbert crew passed again through the outpost on their way to catch up with Eolar, Thesis and Durin tagged along, assuming that, if their friends were still alive, might just be a lot more fun to be with rather than a bunch of clueless elves.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Revised Character Sheets

Could I have the updated character sheets for BODUSH, WER and DURIN please.
Even if you're not playing tomorrow.
Thanks.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Go Back to Start

You mill around by the still hot crater where the Temple once stood.
Dozens of Clerics of St Cuthbert have arrived and seem very upset. They ‘thank’ you for your help but the unspoken thought is that your group were somehow responsible for the destruction of the temple.
A few clusters of undead wander in occasionally, but although aggressive, they are mindless and directionless and the lower Clerics either destroy them or drive them away.
Eventually Eolar is summoned before one of the senior clerics and they rest of the group tag along.

“I just wanted to thank you for your assistance. As you now know, the temple of St Cuthbert was built upon an existing temple dedicated to Chaos and Evil. Our temple was built to prevent that chaos from spreading.
As you see though, we now have the situation under control. You are free to leave. One thing however, The Necromancer exploited the evil energy here to create legions of undead. Just wretched zombies and skeletons mostly, but enough to be a nuisance. Considering that they will wander around until destroyed, we feel it is our responsibility to seek them out and put an end to them. If you encounter any of these creatures on your return to Seawell, we will award you ten gold coins per undead you destroy.”
Bodush steps forward, “What proof will you require?”
The Cleric looks at Bodush as if seeing him for the first time.
“Proof? Eolar is a cleric of St Cuthbert and as such would never lie. The only proof we require from him is his spoken word!”

As the group moves away, Mendez turns and addresses the whole group. “My friends, I feel that my skills were not equal to protecting you. As you are heading back towards, for me at least, an unwelcoming Seawell, I will seek out a group of Barbarians spotted camping a few days ride from here. Perhaps they will help me toughen up. I’m sure our paths will cross again.”
With that, Mendez hugs Eolar and Bodush, takes his share of the treasure and leaves.

Hot food is available and you are each given 10 trail rations for the journey.
Some of the Clerics may trade for any equipment needed.

Next game

Just in case anyone didn't see the e-mail - Tuesday's game is postponed for a week (15th Jan)
Assif