This is a short summary of the exciting events of session 3, in which the party searched out the deed to an abandoned warehouse, and additionally was almost killed by a druid and 3 baboons. No doubt this post will need to be rewritten as this is a grossly abbreviated recollection.

In this episode:

- The group went to see Assistant Constable Garack to establish a reward for any further information on the kobold threat. He was not at the station, because he was promoted in recognition of his valor. Constable Garack was now stationed at the construction site for a new stockade to separate the Noble quarter from the Merchant quarter. Garack informed the party that matters outside the walls were not in the jurisdiction of the city watch, but he did arrange for a bounty for each kobold killed or woman returned. He also mentioned that the Merchant quarter has a zero lean-to policy.

- Brother Meriam informed Apical that some sort of trouble was brewing in the Eastern section of the Merchant quarter, but that he did not know what it was. The team decided to investigate.

- Skon, a cheerful guy who claims to open a few doors and be from Lordshome, offered to accompany the party after Garack told him that the party was looking for help.

- Big Jim and Apical intervened to prevent a mob from stoning an old man who was claiming that there are realms outside of Vestibule. This was clear blasphemy and Apical advised him not to just start shouting whatever he dreamt up.

- The party learned that Sengazia’s borders extend only 1 mile to the east, and few know or care what lies east of the city towards the mountains. The map to the kobold lair indicates that it is 2 miles east of Sengazia.

- Upon investigating the issues in the Eastern section of the city, the party interrogated a baker, a blacksmith, and a cattle foreman. While interrogating the baker, Apical offered to “buy some bread” as a bribe. There was an overgrown warehouse which had some suspicious activity going on for years. The group decided to try and investigate who owned the warehouse. This required a trip to the noble quarter.

- The party went to the records building, where Sreepal (a half-elf clerk) copied a document for them. Notable here was that the payment records were written in cow’s blood. In order to try and resolve the pending legal matters around the building, the party tried to see Magistrate Garth. Unfortunately, to see Magistrate Garth they needed a lawyer, so they hired Gagang.

- Gagang is an elderly gnomish lawyer who had few clients. His normal cases are murder cases, and he even won an acquittal once. Of course the rest of his clients ended up dead.

- In the end after much merriment the party entered the abandoned warehouse and was attacked by a crazed druid and his 3 baboons. Both characters ended up with 1 or 2 hp left before taking out the enemies and being rewarded with very little loot; 2 broadswords were the biggest take.

- The party met Jernix, a dwarven cleric of the Waiting who offered to help kill kobolds. He does not like liver.

For session 2, a real battle map and encounter statistics were prepared in advance – a rarity indeed. We got together via MapTool and Skype to play out the impeding raid on the mysterious warehouse in the slums. Much hilarity ensued as the PCs attempted to select their icons for play, and opinions were rendered on the sexual orientation of the images. Apical and Big Jim were accompanied to the nefarious site by Assistant Constable Garack (wearing a golden colored helmet and wielding a long sword) and 5 men-at-arms in the employ of the City Watch. Naturally, it was determined that the men-at-arms should storm the door of the warehouse first. Since there was no other entrance, the “plan” consisted of piling through the front door and crushing all resistance through force of arms.

The plan quickly bogged down when the first two men-at-arms through the door stopped to fight a thug that was just inside the doorway. Since the men-at-arms would not get out of the way, the group was forced to very slowly push forward as thugs were cut down left and right. One of the men-at-arms was grievously wounded during the battle, but eventually two ruffians were put to the sword and the party marched into the darkened warehouse. After a quick looting of bodies, the posse moved forward into a narrow hallway and was confronted by a guy throwing clubs, who put another man-at-arms down. Between the man-at-arms and Big Jim, the club thrower was soon slain. Beyond the narrow hallway was a common room with stairs leading up and down. At this point the group had a choice: Up, Down, or search for treasure. Naturally a search commenced, turning up a few decent items and many low quality household goods as well. Since the door to the basement was locked, the team of men-at-arms proceeded up the stairwell.

Upstairs, another man-at-arms nearly went down as he was surprised by a vicious dog while the group tried to open a chest, but Big Jim dispatched the snarling canine with the aid of another man-at-arms. Unfortunately, a barbarian was in the room from which the dog emerged, and a pitched battle ensued. At this point Apical laid into the barbarian with a powerful stunning blow, and Big Jim dispatched Brackshar with a mighty swing, saving the life of the half-dead man-at-arms. More searching revealed a note indicating that the basement door should always be kept locked, and a key to the door. The locked chest however turned out to be empty.

The group, now consisting of 3 men-at-arms (2 badly wounded), Apical, Big Jim, and Assistant Constable Garack (who hadn’t even made it upstairs), now proceeded to the basement to see if the women that had been kidnapped could be found below. However, as Apical descended the stairs, a tripwire opened up two crates to reveal horrible undead skeletons. The skeletons promptly attacked and began trying to tear the novice monk apart. Some quick action by Apical and Big Jim defeated the monstrosities, as they were assisted by some rocks thrown by a man-at-arms.

In the basement was nothing but trash, although Big Jim found some dirty rags and old clothing that looked like they might fetch a few coppers. There was a hole leading down into some sort of cave, and a discussion ensued. Garack tried to back out of accompanying the heroes into this cavern, but some fast talking by the PCs convinced him and the staggering men-at-arms to press onward. Upon descending a rope into the cave, there was quite a bit of laughter because the map of the cave looked somewhat similar to a phallus. After this bit of juvenile levity subsided, Big Jim took the lead down the passageway. Climbing over a mound of dirt, the group encountered a few giant ants; the ants took out yet another man-at-arms before being slain by a combination of Big Jim’s sword and rocks thrown by the city watch. Big Jim suffered an acidic bite which required some healing, but the party pressed onward after finding a couple of gold pieces on a corpse.

Pressing onward into the cave, the group encountered four kobolds, two of whom were dart throwers. Apical wisely chose to utilize his bow while Big Jim and the men-at-arms engaged in melee. After defeating three of the four kobolds at the cost of yet another man-at-arms, one of the darters fled into the  darkness and the party gave chase. Apical and Big Jim rounded a corner in hot pursuit, only to find that eight more kobolds, half with darts, awaited them in the cavern beyond. A desperate battle ensued, in which darts and short swords faced off against Big Jim’s brute strength, Apical’s archery, and Garack’s rock throwing prowess. Somehow, the players and Garack survived (curiously as rear guard, Garack was untouched). Despite their weakened condition, the indomitable heroes pressed forward and located the kobold subchief and his guards in the final chamber. The kobold subchief was a dangerous opponent, armed with a stone battleaxe instead of a stone dagger, and Assistant Constable Garack finally deigned to engage in actual melee against him. Through the combined efforts of the three, victory was won by a narrow margin; even Garack sustained a wound. Searching revealed some additional equipment, a map from the exit tunnel to a kobold lair near the mountains, and two captive women (a halfling and a gnome; both fat and unattractive peasant types).  These women had apparently been subject to some type of heinous involuntary breeding experiment by the kobolds. They explained that other women were hauled off presumably to the main kobold lair.

With the rescue mission complete and the evidence in hand, the party returned to claim their reward (10GP) from the city guard. Brother Meriam at the shrine of the Self-Reliant provided some modest healing in the form of cure light wounds spells, and Big Jim planned to sell the party’s hard won gains the next day. Because it was late, the duo decided to bed down at the Horse’s Head Inn (after all, Big Jim had prepaid a week in the basement). As he settled down to sleep, Big Jim was annoyed by the sounds of another bum repeatedly getting ill (vomiting, moaning over his chamber pot, etc.) After repeated admonitions to “shut up over there”, Big Jim stealthily drew out one of the crude  darts he had taken from the kobolds and flung it towards the afflicted hobo in the darkness. Jim scored a direct hit and the man began convulsing due to a punctured lung, causing a great commotion as some of the other bums rushed over to help, carrying him up for medical treatment, etc. Jim settled down to try and get some sleep, but shortly thereafter the Inn was woken up by a large contingent of the Merchant Watch planning to search the basement. Everyone, including Big Jim, was evicted from the basement and tossed out into the street. In the confusion, Jim left his bag of crude darts under his “pillow”. He slept the rest of the night in nearby Gruntor’s stable (good thing he grew up on a farm).

In the morning, Apical joined back up with Big Jim and the party proceeded to sell their goods. Suits of leather armor and some cuir boille were flogged to Rohan’s Medium Armory, various weapons were sold at Valerie’s Flails and Sundries, and then it came time to sell an amber and copper ring found in the hideout. Big Jim took this item to Dankesh’s Gems and Jewelry and proclaimed that his grandmother had just died, and they needed to sell this ring which was a precious family heirloom to help pay for her burial expenses. He reckoned this valuable item was worth no less than 100GP. Dankesh snorted and offered a much smaller sum, less than 10GP, for the ring. At this Big Jim was greatly incensed and proclaimed “you are disrespecting my dead grandmother! Why, you might as well dig up her dead body and crap down her throat!” Dankesh immediately asked the players to leave, which they did but not without some protests from Big Jim. Following this Big Jim took a slightly less confrontational tone with Dor Ismail, gnomish jeweler at the Gnomish Gemcutters Guild, and was able to get a fair price for the ring (about 10GP) – but not without some intense negotiations and a few insulting statements by both parties.

Finally there was the matter of the stone daggers, crude flatware, and other miscellaneous goods such as belt pouches obtained from the adventure. Apical and Big Jim returned to the slums and began selling the stone daggers to anyone who would pay – no questions asked. Several malcontents and persons of questionable mental state walked away with a fair deal on an untraceable stone dagger, and the party walked away with cold hard silver pieces. The filthy household goods were sold to poor peasantry and brought in a few coppers. During this day of mercantile success, Big Jim and Apical once again met up with Will the ex-Wagonmaker; he had started re-training due to a city program for ex-wagon industry workers, and was now running  a stall in the flea market selling belt pouches. Satisfied with their take, the party resolved to look for more adventure after they had healed from their wounds.

After the shocking discovery that kobolds might be involved in the disappearances, the party proceeded to the residential district to investigate. There they met up with Juniper, the proprietor of the local stables. Juniper knew very little about the possible cause of the disappearances but mentioned that the entire district was on edge. It seemed that there was little pattern to the disappearances, but houses were being broken into at night and women of relatively young age were being removed by force. Other family members were sometimes killed by the mystery intruders. Juniper offered to get a group together to help patrol the district, since Apical and Big Jim were hardly a large enough group to cover a lot of terrain at night. Juniper approached the town crier about broadcasting an invitation to the night time event, but the town crier was reluctant to “stir up trouble” for some reason. While the local folk prepared to gather at night, the party investigated one of the recent crime scenes. Evidence indicated that men with axes broke into the home and slew the occupants, but there was no trace of the daughter, Cecilia Smith, inside.

That night, the team returned to find that a large group of peasantry and local merchants had gathered by torchlight to volunteer for patrol duty. Just as discussion of tactics was beginning, an armed wagonload of men arrived wearing masks. This was a delegation from the local shrine of the Keepers sect; they informed everyone that they were here to observe the proceedings, nothing more. This strange intrusion seemed to cast a pall on the proceedings but it was agreed that the patrols would work in teams; no one was to set off alone. Patrols throughout the first night were uneventful. The next day after sleeping in, Apical and Big Jim decided to head towards the hills outside of town and investigate the area. On the way out of town they encountered a bum being shaken down by a member of the Thieves’ Guild. Through some bold threats, the thug was encouraged to move on. Then, the party asked the bum what that was about, at which point he began to respond “two coppers a week… need two coppers a week… two coppers… just two coppers…” as he rocked back and forth. At which point Aaron realized they had once again been sucked into talking to a mentally ill wretch, cursed the DM, and immediately left for the town gates. Upon arriving in the hills the party had a fortunate encounter with the Brotherhood of the Barbed Bolt, a team of adventurers led by Mogfor the Ranger. Mogfor informed them that there were plenty of caves in these hills, which might contain bears, ogres, or trolls. He advised the party never to leave home without their wizard, his was named Josepho and he threw a mean fireball. Upon hearing this information the pair agreed to return back to Sengazia with the Brotherhood.

After returning to the city, the party interrogated Seneck, the merchant watchman who was in the process of recovering from his injuries. He had little useful information to share, so the characters decided to see if the Thieves’ Guild knew anything about the attacks. Apical and Big Jim proceeded to a known gambling hall in the slums, where Grindek the half-orc bouncer stood outside. Despite Big Jim’s attempts to insult Grindek, Apical bribed him with a gold piece. Grindek told them the Thieves’ Guild was not involved in the disappearances, but to return in two days and he might have information for them. The party left, not knowing if they had been screwed out of a gold piece or not.

On the second night of patrols, one of the locals was shot through the eye with a crossbow. Despite careful instructions to stick together, he had apparently looked down an alley without escort and been instantly slain. Morale of the makeshift militia dropped, but word of a new attack steeled their resolve. The attackers had struck again, but apparently one of the intruders lost a hand in the process as the homeowner had tried to defend himself with a meat cleaver. The following night, the Keepers joined in the patrols, sending out armed mercenaries to escort the locals as a goodwill gesture to the local populace. However, some felt that this was an attempt by the Keepers to spy on the group.

Eventually, the party returned to speak with Grindek. For the cost of another gold piece, he revealed the location of a suspicious building in the slums where it was believed that the attackers/kidnappers might have returned after the most recent skirmish. Apical and Big Jim headed to the filthy slums to check out this converted warehouse. It seemed that the entire place was boarded up or covered with curtains from the inside, and there was only one entrance. Multiple bums had constructed lean-tos against the side of the building. One of them had even received some good wood from Will the Wagonmaker to construct a relatively sturdy shelter. The group asked about the condition of the bums; apparently 2 were drunks, 2 were insane, and the other 2 in back were simply down on their luck hoboes. The party interrogated the coherent bum and found out that the house had activity only at night, with the exception of one or two people leaving per day to get food at the market. Unfortunately, most of the lean-tos were not in view of the front door so the team faced a dilemma: how to stake out this hideout? Options included taking over one of two shanties across the street by displacing their owners by force; digging a hole underneath one of the shanties and living under there with the rats; or producing a makeshift bunker out of the piled trash between the two homes, digging a bit of a trench and lying quietly among the filth while watching the front door. At this point Dan stated “Alright Louis, we completely degrade ourselves AGAIN and lie down in the filthy garbage.” The smell was severe but fortunately both characters were ex-farmers and did not have sensitive noses (or stomachs).

Observation of the hideout showed the following: Some sort of bandit-looking guy bringing a prostitute in at night; a pair of guys coming out occasionally and probing/hassling the bums in the lean-tos around the building before going back inside; then a single guard type leaving the door and heading to the market for food. There was no other apparent way in, so the team decided to whack the guard heading for food in hopes of gaining useful information. From behind, Apical stunned the hapless dude with his stunning fist while Big Jim smacked him in the head. They dragged the poor fool into a nearby dark alley and bound and gagged him. Interrogation then proceeded smoothly, as the bandit sang like a canary. He informed the team that a group of about 6 was being led by a barbarian named Brackshar. From time to time, a group of kobolds would emerge from the basement (which was not to be entered at any time) and lead a nighttime raid to capture women. The women would be taken into the basement and not seen again. His job was to guard the outside door and make occasional food runs. Armed with this information and captive, Apical and Big Jim returned to Constable Gorto to get help in taking down the warehouse. The constable agreed to send a team consisting of five men-at-arms and Assistant Constable Garack to take down the criminal element at this mysterious warehouse. The session ended for the night, before the big raid could commence.

Originally we had Aaron, Dan, and Matt signed up to play, but due to an alleged schedule conflict Matt had to skip this session. Due to the fact that it was about 5.5 hours I am breaking this into multiple posts. For background see the previous post.

The Adventure Begins

Our tale begins with the two main characters, Big Jim Umbrage and Apical Meristem. Big Jim Umbrage (Dan) grew up on a farm outside Senkazia and is now seeking a life of adventure in the “big city”. Apical Meristem (Aaron) is a former halfling farmer who spent the last 10 years in a monastery following the path of the Self-Reliant. Apical was sent to Senkazia to investigate some recent mysterious disappearances.

Upon arrival to the city, both characters found their way to the Horse’s Head Inn, in the Merchant district. Apical made a pit stop at the local shrine of the Self-Reliant, making contact with Brother Meriam (the cleric in charge of public outreach and ministry). Big Jim Umbrage proceeded to get into a debate with Lister the Limner, prompting Aaron to accuse me of always including limners in the campaign because I like to say “limner”. Strong words for a guy whose character name is so hard to pronounce that one always takes a drink before saying it! I maintain that the limners just ground the game in the original works of E. Gary Gygax. Whatever.

In any case, the argument attracted the attention of Apical who quickly befriended Big Jim since they found each other strangely interactive and having more depth than the people around them. However it was getting late and time to find out what accommodations the inn could offer. Apical chose the common room at a rate of 1CP per 2 nights, finding a prized cot in the corner that was actually 4 feet from the next bed. Instead of these princely accommodations, Big Jim chose the basement, at a rate of 1CP per week. Unfortunately the promise from the innkeeper of a “fence you can put around your area of the floor” turned out to refer to various nettles and tumbleweeds which could be stacked/wrangled to put a barrier between you and the nearest three “pathetic hoboes” sharing your quarters. In excruciating detail we discussed how Big Jim had to travel across most of the basement to get to his spot, how he fenced himself in with the dried tumbleweeds, and how he threw the lice-ridden bedding into another part of the floor. Also, how he emptied the chamber pot onto the ground outside his space rather than into the cesspool. On his way out he witnessed two filthy male bums groping each other, one of whom was a gnome. Aaron informed us that in none of the podcasts he listens to is this type of detail ever roleplayed, and additionally not every NPC is a “cock”. I bet they don’t have many limners either; but Dan and I both agreed that is just an indicator of poor roleplaying.

The intrepid adventurers then reconvened in the inn to listen to the minstrel play and pass the time between “eye close” (sunset) and last call. However, later that evening there was some type of disturbance and a member of the Merchant Watch stumbled in wounded, collapsing in front of the PCs. Apical’s quick thinking kept him from dying of his wounds, and the party then moved outside to investigate. Apparently a group of merchant watchmen were escorting the “ale wagon” (which actually carried grog) when one of the guards stepped into an alley to take a leak. Unfortunately there was some type of mysterious attack and he suffered wounds to his buttocks and head. Speculation ensued as to whether he was a victim of the rumored “flying undead”, an alleged cross between a ghast and a gargoyle, or whether his wounds were related to the mysterious disappearance of multiple women of childbearing age recently. The characters investigated the alley and determined that he had been stabbed in the ass, then clawed in the head. Additionally, they found a scale belonging to an unknown creature. As a violent thunderstorm was whipping up, the group retreated inside the inn and headed to bed. Big Jim noted that the basement smelled better because of the rain outside, unfortunately the dirt floor also turned to mud during the night and soiled his bedroll.

The next day, investigation of the attacks and the city of Sengazia ensued. Bright and early of course, because at ”eye open” (sunrise), the inn banged pots and pans at the top of the basement steps to ensure all of the bums left for the day. The party then enjoyed bacon, eggs, and ale (?) for breakfast. Then followed Big Jim’s conversation with Will the Wagonmaker, a bum who lost his job when his wagon making company went out of business. Apparently cheap imported wagons had driven them under and Will was reduced to beggarhood. Out of the goodness of his heart (ha) Big Jim relented and gave Will 1 foot of catgut. The team proceeded to the constable’s office to find out more about the attacks and disappearances. Garack, the assistant constable, interrupted his spear training to speak with the adventurers. In an offhanded manner he informed them that this was a “burning issue” but also that he lacked the manpower to deal with the situation. The party offered to help, in exchange for the promised reward: approximately 25 gold plus 5 gold per missing woman found alive. In order to identify that the party was helping with the matter, each was issued a hand axe suitable for use by members of the Merchant Watch. This led Big Jim to remark that he could stay in the basement for months just by hocking this hand axe.

Following their official enlistment in the investigation, the group decided to head to the noble quarter in an attempt to find a ranger. At the Red Wyvern they were informed that this was a fine establishment, and loitering was not permitted; so they hung out in the street until they saw a rangerly-looking fellow emerge. It turned out that Mogfor, “Ranger Extraordinaire”, was willing to help them and identify the scale as the nose scale of a kobold. This information was interesting but did not lead to anything, so the party resolved to search around the residential area of the city, near where attacks had taken place. More on this will be told in the next post.

Well, after a long hiatus it finally happened; we got back together for some actual roleplaying (instead of the still fun but not as fulfilling NwN sessions). This campaign is using the “Castles & Crusades” rules which are basically a set of 1st edition rules adapted to a simplified d20 system. We’ll see how that works out over time; as will be noted we didn’t even get to much rules use for this introductory session. We’re using Skype and MapTool to facilitate play. Before posting how the actual session went, I am going to post the introductory material which sets up the adventure.

Welcome to Vestibule

First things first, the campaign is set in an oddly shaped world named “Vestibule”. The background on Vestibule is as follows. Vestibule is shaped roughly like a triangle, with the Sun at one end and a curtain of blue fire at the other, and boundary mountains on either side. (See the map here). The boundary mountains on either side are considered unclimbable, or at least the tops are unreachable; anyone attempting to climb them gets higher and higher but never reaches the summits. To the North is the Sun; the Sun is a flaming eye, high in the northern sky, which opens and closes it’s “lids” every 12 hours. The farthest northern point of the land is closed off by another (un-scalable) volcano.There is no twilight period in Vestibule; either it is night or day with nothing in between. At night the dim illumination is not from the starless, often cloudy sky, but instead from the strange curtain of blue fire which borders the southern sea. No one is known to have ever crossed this curtain and returned; it appears to rise up into the sky forever. The climate grows mostly cooler as one moves from north to south, farther from the sun. Prevailing winds are generally out of the north.

The land is bisected by the Ridge of the Heart; west of these mountains are the civilized lands inhabited primarily by the goodly races and to the east are wild lands where survival of the fittest is the only law outside of the cities of the orcs and other humanoids. Naturally many invasions have been mounted in both directions over time. Currently an uneasy truce exists and only the foolhardy seek their fortunes in the east.

Slight earthquakes are common in Vestibule; these rarely cause damage but are often followed by strange, mystical events or the unheralded arrival of heinous monsters in otherwise civilized areas. The reason for these disturbances is not known.

All divine powers flow from the Master of All, Acen. The exact philosophy of Acen is not well understood, as Acen does not respond to any attempts at communication unless “he” initiates it. However, Acen grants devout followers clerical powers; what is odd is that this occurs regardless of their interpretation of Acen’s views. Major factions of the Acen faith include (but are not limited to):

- The Lightbringers: “Acen is the source of all life and the sun is his eye. When we die, we return to Acen. Value all life for it is his gift.”
- The Naturals: “Acen has created this world and we are to respect his wishes. Do not tarnish the holy creation of his majesty”.
- The Waiting: “Acen has not yet revealed his will unto us. We await his great revelation with the utmost faith. Until then, we exist to serve.”
- The Keepers: “Acen wishes his nature to be secret. Whom are we to question his wisdom? Seekers of knowledge defy his will.”
- The Self-Reliant: “Life is a test, given to us by Acen. It is up to us to forge our own destiny and await his judgement.”

Other, darker and evil factions have arisen over time but do not hold sway in the civilized lands; all records of their faith have been eradicated by the Lightbringers (who view these sects as blasphemous) and the Keepers (who do not wish anyone to know of Acen’s will).

There is no king in the western lands. Each town or city holds sway over a local region only, and the various city-states have a mutual defense pact against invasions from the east. A typical city or town is governed by a council of influential lords. Strangely, in most towns the rulers usually appear with masks and use pseudonyms to conceal their true identities; these rulers use spokespersons to decree their rulings. The ways of the eastern (humanoid) cities are not well known in the west, but tales tell of the sheer brutality of the orcish warlords that run these places.

Great events in Vestibule history:
800 years ago – The beginning of recorded history.
50 years ago – The last king over the western lands, Napish III, disappeared while on a stag hunt and the band of lords fell into conflict. This resulted in the city-states of today.
30 years ago – A great invasion of goblins, launched from the southern marshes, slaughtered the inhabitants of several towns. These areas lie in ruins to this day.
10 years ago – The great library of Senkazia was burned to the ground and its workers killed in the night. The attackers were never found.
3 years ago – Brigands begin stalking the roads in the north. With no central government to raise an army, travel is becoming increasingly dangerous.
1 year ago – A large band of ogres was defeated by brave adventurers just north of Senkazia.

The Characters

Big Jim Umbrage (Dan) – A cattle farmer from outside the city of Sengazia who has decided to seek adventure in the “big city” following the death of his father from tertiary syphillis, which caused his older brother Large Steve Umbrage to take over the family farm. Big Jim Umbrage is a trained fighter.

Apical Meristem (Aaron) – A former halfling turnip farmer who spent the last 10 years in a monastery of the Self-Reliant faction, Apical is a monk who was sent to Sengazia to investigate some recent disappearances. This will allow Apical to experience the “real world” after a long period of isolation.

I disputed for a while whether to post this, but since this blog is pretty dead, I figured I’d go ahead and do it. After all if House of Pain and NwN sessions can get posted, why not an Engage playtest? Aaron and I tried out some Battlelords space combat with Aaron taking the role of bounty hunters in a Bohemian Mk. 2 Star Cruiser and I playing the NPCs – an Aeodronian Skirmisher and its bigger brother the Stiletto Star Cruiser. Aaron immediately took on the tactic of hurtling towards the enemies pitching forward at 30rpm, allowing him to fire both his front and back weapons at the opponent. All in all a good session although we were not able to finish in a few hours, but that is due in large part to explaining rules and working through them. We may complete this session in the near future. MapTool worked really well to assist with this type of play.

I am going to take the liberty of posting this before Aaron can do it. We got together after a long hiatus and resumed play with “U3: The Final Enemy”. I was looking forward to storming the Sahuagin Lair and some rocking combat. Unfortunately, my expectations were dashed as this was a very slow-playing module. First Spathi (me) and Thade (Aaron) arrived alone in Saltmarsh. No one was present in any of the buildings and although we were told to find the mayor, we could not. So we went to the marshes. There we found a lizard Oracle who promised us a magical reward if we answered 3 “riddles”. Unfortunately the “riddles” consisted of a number sequence and two algebra questions. Out of character for the less-than-genius Spathi and Thade, we were mysteriously able to calculate all of the answers. For our troubles a Ring of Invisibility was awarded. After this we were notified that a young adult black dragon was terrorizing some farmhouses to the west. We trudged over there and dispatched the beast, although we were not able to do much until Thade unleashed his rage upon the wyrm. That left only the Sahuagin lair at the south end of the marsh, so we entered and fought some warriors. Then we confronted 5 or 6 of them locked behind a portcullis, unwisely engaging Spathi in an archery duel. This continued slowly for a while until Spathi changed to acid arrows out of frustration and boredom. After killing the beasts, there was no way through the portcullis! After a lot of searching for a secret door we returned to the ship to see if there was any clue we missed in Saltmarsh. Unfortunately we were again ambushed by warriors on the way to the ship, but they were easily dispatched despite a 5 to 1 numerical advantage. While travelling back to town, some mystical knowledge was bestowed on the party via a look at the DM readme file; we discovered that we were supposed to find the town hiding out in the sewers. Sure enough the mayor and all of the usual shops were open in the grimy green sewer which featured toilet flushing noises (if everyone is in the sewers, who uses the toilets?) In any case the mayor did not have any way of opening the portcullis. More out-of-character knowledge seeking led to the fact that the portcullis had to be opened by damaging a lever on the other side (strange). Trudge, trudge, trudge back to the lair. Spathi opened up on the lever only to find it resisted normal damage. An acid arr0w quickly took care of that and we gained entrance … to a very empty lair. A huge dungeon filled with hundreds of empty chests awaited us. The thrill of searching this area knew no bounds. We also found a very large number of javelins and “hooked nets”, which looked suspiciously like clubs capable of casting the web spell once. Ever persistent, Spathi and Thade finally located the way down into the watery Sahuagin lair. Breathing did not prove to be much of a problem thanks to the large number of water breathing magic items, but upon entering the water we found that slashing weapons, shields, and armor were not allowed. Oops! Now the waves of Sahuagin, frequently encountered in packs of 10-16 (!) became a deadly threat. Gruesome deaths ensued when we tried to plumb the depths, although we did manage to clean out the hatchery with all of its females and hatchlings. Spathi fell several times and required divine intervention, while Thade was struck down but healed on several occasions by Spathi’s quick thinking. Eventually it became apparent that the party was too small to storm this fortress, and also too slow and too tired. On the way out, Spathi and Thade talked to a prisoner who revealed the location of a secret cache of magic items. The party searched it out (it was hidden by a secret door); unfortunately it was protected by a strong electrical trap which instantly killed Spathi again. This was a small price to pay as the loot inside proved extremely valuable. Thade and Spathi became heavily overburdened with treasure. They decided to make one more attempt to storm the lair and dropped the goods on top of the stairs, then headed down. This proved to be a mistake as a swarm of angry Sahuagin attacked the naked party members with great ferocity. Retreat was the only option and it was a slow one. The intrepid adventurers picked up their large and heavy haul and began a slow trek northward to home. Thade was carrying several suits of armor and had to rage just to move faster than a snail; he alternately raged, jogged with his load, and rested along the way. Once again an ambush was prepared at the boat, but Spathi was expecting this and dropped his burden before engaging in yet another archery duel. This was disrupted by the appearance of several Sahuagin warriors (all of whom had a nasty habit of appearing out of thin air and launching sneak attacks). Thade finally arrived at just the right moment and shed his pack of armor, allowing the pair to kill the enemies and slowly continue onward to the safety and relief of the sewers. All unnecessary goods were sold in favor of a few choice items, after which Spathi and Thade quickly left town before the mayor realized that the adventurers were not going to save them from the Sahuagin menace.

Overall, this was one of the slowest and least enjoyable module experiences yet; we hope to do better next time.

After two months the adventure continued.  This time Spathi the Eluder and Thade were joined by Chairman Kaga, the nipple showing monk with a cape that looks liek a super hero with his round-house kicks, and uppercuts.  The group tackled the second module in the series, (U2).  The story took the party out of Saltmarsh to investigate the Lizardman laird nearby that was stockpiling weapons.  In the middle of this investigation the party took the time to help a farmer associated with organized crime, which asked a “favor”; can you “take care of” the nearby Orge.  The Ogre was “rubbed out” by was under the mind control of a Young Dragon.  What the crap was that!  Despite the fear of a giant avatar for the dragon, we the party killed the dragon.  The feeble NPC Oceanis died here for the 2nd time.

The middle of the night encountered a server problem, that when resolved left the Chairman with no XP or equipment.   Suddenly Spathi disappeared, and from behind a small rock appeared Dung Onmaster, who created various items in the likeness of each item Chairman lost.  The Chairman and Thade where spooked by the sudden appearance of Mr. Dung and attacked him.  They had him on the ropes until he summoned a massive dragon.

Over the adventure the party found it’s own identity, and they found great comrodery in bashing everything could find.  After conversing with the Lizardman Minister and Lizardman Chief and killing many Lizardmen the party discovered the Lizardmen where fighting with some other group.  The party completed the adventure, but before signing off dabbled in Evil by cuting down all the town.  This had almost no benefit, but was joyful until they ran into the Indestructible Mayor.  Eventually we lost him in the Law Offices, but with no benefit to the otherwise slaughter the party reverted.  Spathi and Thade have reached 5th level, and Chariman Kaga attained 4th level.

Next time wil be U3.

As Sir William and Cloaked One retired from adventuring in Stone Leigh, the story now turned to two intrepid newbies: Thade the elven barbarian and Spathi, The Eluder, a human fighter specializing in running away. These two characters of questionable repute found themselves in Saltmarsh, a seaside community of little interest were it not for rumors of a haunted house nearby. The local town proved relatively uninteresting aside from a find of full plate mail in someone’s apartment, which Spathi purloined for his own use. The duo set off to the east down Old Coast road, coming upon a decrepit structure which was allegedly haunted. Inside were all manner of goblins, rats, spiders, and such. Eventually some dude named Ned was found naked and bound in a corner, and offered to follow the party. Naturally we were suspicious and these suspicions proved well founded as he attempted to assassinate us when we approached the cellar. Upon entering the cellar we encountered rot grubs, which burrowed into Spathi’s heart and killed him. Fortunately after some divine intervention he recovered slightly less experienced. The remainder of the night consisted of pillaging the house which turned out to be a smuggler’s base (this was a very sinister secret apparently) and returning to Saltmarsh to pawn all of the loot for a good load of gold. The mayor also asked us to wipe out the smuggler’s vessel the Sea Ghost which was done with ruthless efficiency. Hints of a lizardman stronghold were found on the vessel. Returning to town for our reward, we were also asked to retrieve a sextant from the vaults below the town bank. Thade and Spathi took the liberty of cleaning out the entire town vault before departing. All in all a profitable venture in preparation for some sort of danger at Dunwater.

A disappointing turnout as no one else showed up but Cloaked One and Sir William were accompanied by 3 Silver Knights and Ellefrin the Sith Lord/daughter of Strahd. After some foolishness with the enchanting anvil, the small team slew Dal’ Goraki the demon with little trouble. With great cockiness we proceeded on to Silktong in Stone Leigh. Unfortunately, she had resurrected the entire coven of witches, who began with many a time stop spell. Over and over time stopped as we watched the witches rain down death on the party. By happy coincidence however it turned out that the Silver Knights were invincible! One by one the witches were slain in a war of attrition. Unfortunately Silktong was not to go down so easily, as she could only be struck on a “20″ and regenerated all damage quickly. A plan was put into place whereby Cloaked One would leave the area, memorize 6 Searing Light spells, and return to blast her with touch spells. Unfortunately, her regeneration proved too much for even this plan, and the invincible Silver Knights were all that contained her from slaying the party. Finally in a moment of inspiration Cloaked One gated in a Balor. In a great, improbable stroke of luck, the Balor rolled a critical hit. How this happened is beyond me as it appeared that it rolled 2 consecutive 20s. Lo and behold, the Balor also wielded a Vorpal Blade, and in yet another shocking development Silktong failed her save against DC 14 and was rudely decapitated. Had this not occurred it would have been a close thing as it was apparent that Cloaked One’s arsenal of spells was not quite enough to take her down, and all other melee attacks were worthless. As a result, Stone Leigh was saved from Ravenloft, Sir William and Cloaked One were proclaimed Governors of Stone Leigh, and both retired from adventuring henceforth.