Monthly Archives: February 2010

Date:

20 February 2010 / 11 – 12 Haar’Kiev, 174

Characters (Players) in attendance:

Æruestan “Rue” Beleg (Sam) – Sylvan Elf Fighter / 1
(Dumbarton Oaks (Chris) – Pixie-Fairy Magic-User / 1)
Fletch (Mel) – Human Fighter / 1
Kailan Morgause (Victoria) – Half-Elf “Art connoisseur” / 1
Liam Fishfinge-r (Adam – as NPC) – Gnome Thief / 1
Nyneva Parsay (Francine) – Half-Elf Cleric of Benyar / 1
Rolando (Paul – as played by Chris) – Human Fighter / 1
Sondra (Julia) – Human Fighter / 1

Voted Most Valuable Player:

Nyneva

GM notes:

The characters plundered the diggings of the orkin bandits, then headed back to Frandor’s Keep to heal up and divest themselves of some of the loot. They also uncovered some more information that may or may not be related to the counterfeiting crisis at Frandor.

In the keep, they contracted with the High Cleric Relgus Banthor to raise Dumbarton Oaks from the dead. This he did, though at what cost?

Players, when you post, be sure to choose the category “Adventure Reports”. Also, please be sure to put your character’s name at the top, so we know who’s writing!

Experience Points

Remember that thieves get EPs for using their thief skills, clerics get EPs for being religious, and fighters… well, you’ve got that part down. Players who post session reports will receive 100 EPs, which is quite a boost in sessions like this!

Dumbarton Oaks (mostly deceased) – 100
Fletch – 62
Kailan – 112
Liam – 162
Nyneva – 712
Rolando – 62
Rue – 62
Sondra – 212

May all your hits be crits!

Remember, we won’t be meeting next Saturday (the 27th), but we will have a long session on Saturday the 6th of March, from 1pm to 8pm. Bring some food and drink to share! If it’s nice, we might even be able to fire up the barbecue.

by Nyneva

In prayer the cleric knelt after having taken up the body of her fallen friend. She had pulled her hair away from her face, revealing the lost ear and scar; the tale of which only few knew.  Taking out the religious symbol she kept close to her heart she began to pray.

What Nyneva drew upon the ground.

“Oh Great Benyar, my god and deliverer. Praise be unto thee for the saving of this party less one, poor wretch. In your wisdom, we beseech thee to deliver Dumbarton Oakes into your hands and to his god so that he may once again favor us with his magic. While he did not worship you this tiny fairy’s death honors thee as it was brave, selfless, and favored a pointy object which you claim for thine. In his selflessness, he saved those which worship you or will… eventually. For they will see the right of your might as Sondra led them to honor you… If I could only convince her of that. Please continue to watch over us as is your will.  Amen.”

Dusting the dirt from her tunic, she placed the holy symbol back under her tunic and looked upon the flayed body of Dumbarton Oakes. Hand flat to the earth she took a fistful. Blood, gore and dust covered her bare hand. As she spoke she drew upon the ground three grouped and intertwined triangles, “We are naught but dust if not for Benyar.” The cleric became quiet as she began her internal reflection.

Dead but not forgotten… Doakes, except by Sondra who has been singing about herself all damn day. Thanks to the Bard in her head… ‘warrior and beauty’ and a few other rhymes are tumbling from her mouth. Whilst she forgets, as usual, that she was only one of the party that ran up that hill. If not for her, Doakes, the beautiful, would be alive. Inevitably, she’ll find a bard in town and throw gold at it to sing of her honor. Hopefully, she’ll include me in it, I’m the cleric after all, I represent HER god and without Benyar she’d just be a hair-twirling-sword-flailing maniac. I’d like a bit of honor, too. Would it hurt to recognize that?  Benyar himself took my arrow in hand and led it to the face of that disgusting and godless creature. By his hand, I was able to deliver that shot and more and than heal, heal by HIS great gifts. It was all for Benyar, all for him… and yet there she goes, prancing off and twirling her hair again – flapping gums. It is only because I trust you, Benyar, that I continue to be near her. She is, after all, guided by your hand. I won’t tell her, I promise.”

As the cleric glided in her thoughts through the next moments she heard a small voice from without, breaking into internal prayer, “Ninny… which part is the pixie and which is the fairie?”

“Benyar, give me strength.”

by Sondra

After returning to the town after triumphantly leading her party to battle against the Orcs, the party rests up. To her shock and amazement, one evening she walks down to the common room and is greeted by Birgitta the Bard, on her dulcimer, singing of their adventures!

click here to listen—-> 0216M003 <—-click here to listen!

Oh hear you, all you common folk
Gather round to hear the tale
Of the greatest warrior ’round
Sondra the Great! All hail!

She lead her party into battle
The peril she did savor
Overwhelmed by the enemy
Not once did she e’er waver

Though orcs and arrows came her way
Her path was true as water
And soon behind her were her folk
Who followed her to slaughter.

Our poor small town was ravaged by
A band of evil doers
Great Sondra tracked them to their cave
And put their heads on skewers

Sondra could do anything
Great beauty was upon her
Her sword skill like no other maid
And bright as a wizard scholar

Yet Sondra knew of the poor poor folk
Whose hero was a goner
So she found a party of adventurers
And went to defend their honor

The battle raged for many a day
The hills were bathed in blood
Poor Sondra and her men laid slain
Midst the bodies and the mud

But Great Sondra knew her end may come
So in her wisdom chose
A cleric and some other folk
Who could lead her from death’s close

Great Sondra rose like the sun midst the darkness
Like a Phoenix bird
Raised from the dead like a myth of old
No death could bar her ownward

So hail all ye, to Sondra the great
The warrior and the beauty
No orcs, nor arrows nor her very own death
Could keep her from her duty

So shout from your mouths a cry of thanks
To Great Sondra and her party
They saved our small but grateful town
All in the name of honor.

Sondra bows after the song, grateful to all the poor poor townfolk here who are unable to defend themselves.

“Had I but more than one life to give for you, I would,” she exclaims truthfully. Though she knows she didn’t do all the work in the battle, she knows that her leadership skills were why they defeated their enemies and she cannot wait to lead them to more victory. Sondra buy a bowl of soup and a hunk of bread and heads upstairs, proud of her work, but not wanting to cause a riot. The last thing she hears as she closes her door is “Hail, Sondra, our protector, HAIL!”

She eats with a smile on her face, wondering what adventures will come their way in the morn.

by Liam

Wow, it hurts to get shot with an arrow. Is that what I’ve been doing to the kobolds? I should probably feel guilty- but I really don’t. I’m thinking of keeping that arrow as a souvenir. Maybe my Mom would like it.

So things didn’t go so well this time out. In fact, it’s all so hazy it seems almost like I wasn’t really there… But the goblins were there; five of them. These guys had bows, but they just can’t shoot as well as we do (except for that lucky hou zi de pi gu who shot me). I hadn’t realized just how BIG orcs are, though. Big and scary, but they bleed just as well as kobolds when they get cut. And wouldn’t you just know it, the new guy (Fletch) stole my gag – he shot one of our guys!!!

We limped back to town to get fixed up. After a few days, we headed back out to look for the lock that fits the key we found, which seems a little bass-ackward. Nobody asked me for advice, so I decided to leave the heavy thinking to the biggers and just follow Ninny’s instructions. The biggers went running (uphill??) to attack this mine we found. It went surprisingly well, and we managed not to shoot any of our own party, but this one big ugly half-orc mudsucker just kicked our collective butts. Then he stopped to take a pee- biggers are just NUTS, no matter what species. And then… DumbO went monkey-poo!! He picks up this axe about half his own size, and used the spiky bit to stab the halfbreed right in the twig-and-berries! It was like watching an ox getting savaged by a kitten. Funniest thing I’d ever seen, but only for a few seconds. Then the Mountain of Ugly swings his weapon around and cuts DumbO into two pieces. Like a gorram apple!

That seemed to annoy everybody who was still upright, so (without even discussing it) we gave the halfbreed a new nickname- Arrow-Boy. Eventually we finished him off.

Lucky for us the dead guy is the smallest one in the party- I’d hate to have to carry a bigger’s corpse all the way back to town. Oh, and I need to remember to ask Ninny – which half is the “pixie” and which half is the “fairy”?

[Delivered by a halfling, who sighs in relief to be unburdened of this dread task.]

Dear friends,

If you are reading this, it is likely you have done something flamboyantly stupid. It is quite possible, knowing you as I do, that you have done several flamboyantly stupid things in a row. Now I am dead, and you are without Dumbarton Oaks.

Never fear, however. It is llittle problem, a pixie-fairy like me has no trouble obtaining a birth mother for reincarnation. This is a key aspect in determining how a pixie-fairy can… But, wait, you’re skimming by this point, so I’ll skip ahead.

I’ll be back in about four months, tops. Having died and risen again as a magician, I’ll probably be a legitimate necromancer. That’ll be cool.

‘Til then:

1) Save the book. The book has all kinds of important spellcasting information that I would rather not relearn. Trust me, I’ll be more effective if you do.

2) Do not eat the goat.

I’ll see you soon. Don’t feel too bad. You guys are my friends. Oh, and I want some money this time. Give the halfling a silver.

Sincerely,

Dumbarton Oaks

Date:

13 February 2010 / 08 – 11 Haar’Kiev, 174

Characters (Players) in attendance:

Æruestan “Rue” Beleg (Sam) – Sylvan Elf Fighter / 1
Dumbarton Oaks (Chris) – Pixie-Fairy Magic-User / 1
Fletch (Mel) – Human Fighter / 1
Kailan Morgause (Victoria) – Half-Elf “Art connoisseur” / 1
Liam Fishfinge-r (Adam – as NPC) – Gnome Thief / 1
Nyneva Parsay (Francine) – Half-Elf Cleric of Benyar / 1
Rolando (Paul) – Human Fighter / 1
Sondra (Julia) – Human Fighter / 1

Voted Most Valuable Player:

The late Dumbarton Oaks

GM notes:

The characters fought an organized (!) goblin patrol, commanded by an orc, and did pretty well. Serious injuries to the fighters required some days rest at Frandor Keep. Gronger Fest began at the keep.

In the special, extended second part of the session, the characters (except Fletch, for mysterious reasons that I will discuss with Mel later) went back down the road they were exploring, to find an abandoned mine high on a hillside. Following Sondra’s advice, they charged up the hill at a company of well-organized orcs. This nearly resulted in our first total party kill.

Of the heroism of the pixie-fairy Dumbarton Oaks, I will let others tell.

Eventually, with all the fighters bleeding out and Dumbarton Oaks cut neatly in twain, their vicious half-orc leader Hezbuluch was finally brought down by a combination of a cleric and a pair of thieves.

On further reading after the fact, I believe we might have had a few more character deaths. A single hit that takes a character from conscious to -4 kills them instantly; no bleeding-out is required. We will know this for next time (cue sinister laughter).

I also did not handle fumbles and mishaps correctly. This will be fixed in future sessions.

Temporal honor adjustments are now being handled in-game. We will adjust permanent Honor (and discuss Honor dice) at the start of the next session.

Players have now been given log-in information (check your e-mail). When you post, be sure to choose the category “Adventure Reports”. Also, please be sure to put your character’s name at the top, so we know who’s writing!

Experience Points

Remember that thieves get EPs for using their thief skills, clerics get EPs for being religious, and fighters… well, you’ve got that part down. Players who post session reports will receive 100 EPs, which is more than you get for killing those kobolds!

Some really bad rolls affected the ultimate EPs of most of the fighters

Dumbarton Oaks (deceased) – 1,902
Fletch – 363
Kailan – 367
Liam – 417
Nyneva – 663
Rolando – 419
Rue – 377
Sondra – 967

May all your hits be crits!

Well, this is a first. I have never written an entry during combat.

It’s not precisely during combat, mind you. We are in a lull. We have recently dispatched a unit of kobold warriors and our next enemy is approaching, down the road. In minutes, combat will resume.

That is my problem and the spur to this entry.

Our first round of combat was highly satisfactory. The kobolds were laying in wait for us, having set an ambush. They clearly did not expect to be confronted by the wonders of a pixie fairy — the eldritch tatto emblazoned on my skin functions as a spell to detect living creatures. I cannot be taken by surprise. So we found ourselves in an odd marching order, with the pixie fairy magic-user taking point. I am not thrilled by this development but, as always, I adapt.

The kobolds had rigged a complex trap by hoisting a log into the treetops, to drop upon the unwary. A good enough plan, unless you turn out to be the unwary. My cousins and I slit enough of the lines to drop the log on the kobold entrusted with triggering the traps, instead of my party.

The cousins proved themselve a useful distraction today. They sowed enough confusion that the kobold officer could not effectively rally his troops. My team handily defeated them in combat. Rollie, protected by my armor spell, wielded his axes fearsomely. Which was handy, as Sondra’s plan seemed to be to distract them by talking big. It was funny, though.

However, just as we finished off the kobolds, Liam spied an orc coming down the road. The orc plunged into the bushes but Liam impressed me by hitting the orc with an arrow nonetheless. I flew after the orc, into the brush, in the hopes of stopping him before he could alert any compatriots. Building off of Liam’s masterful shot, I created an illusory rain of arrows to strike the orc down. But too late. The orc sounded a horn and, in the distance, I saw the dust stirred up upon the road by some new foes, advancing to meet us.

Under normal circumstances, I would not be concerned. But we have sustained some wounds. And I am out of magic. I used all the spells I memorized last night. That is an inauspicious fact.

Once, in a training session under Master Tam, the old magician taught me a valuable lesson. I had confused and disoriented the old man with a dazzling array of illusions and thought that I had our duel won. Until Master Tam took a simpler approach — he simply swung his staff, knocking me oput of the air, defeating me.

“Oaks,” he told me, “Magic is not simply the weaving of eldritch energies. Magic is making what you want into reality, no matter how you do it.”

I am still invisible. I can still fly. And I am limited only by my imagination..

Think, Dumbarton! Think!

by Liam

  We went back out again, this time using the map that the nice man would have given me for free if he’d remembered to. Nobody really expects that it shows where any ‘treasure’ is, but even a complete prat should be able to get the mountains and river right (more or less). My new armour is still with the armourer; he says he can get it cleaned up for me. I sure hope so- it smells like a kobold, which is every bit as nice as it sounds. 😛

 Guess what? We found more kobolds! I start to wonder why the biggers at the Keep let them get so close. These were setting up an ambush, but little did they reckon with an invisible flying wizard like DumbO. He triggered their log trap (which resulted in a nifty ‘splat’), then we jumped them. Ha! Take that, kobolds! As before, I hung back and lobbed arrows at them. I hope nobody thinks less of me for that, but I’m not much of a fighter close-in. Mostly I like to be more subtle and deal with things like locks and coin purses; not too much opportunity for that so far.

So- the battle was joined. At least, we joined the battle. I’m not sure if the battle really joined anything…   A little reminder to myself- try not to accidentally shoot Rollie anymore. His fighting skills are scary, and he hacked up those kobolds like he had a personal grudge. It was cool (but a little gross). Lots and lots of hacking, and the new girl, Sondra, seems pretty fierce. I’ll have to think up a good nickname for her. Maybe “Sonny”- she might like that.

While the biggers were finishing off the kobolds, I was looking around for something else to shoot (now that Rollie’s arse is off-limits). Up the road, I saw an orc coming, and he saw me at the same time. He dove into the bushes, but I still nailed him with an arrow. I’m pretty good! I guess it didn’t kill him outright, since he blew a hunting-horn. Turns out he has a few friends behind him on the road and they’re coming toward us pretty quick. Maybe we can use the kobold’s ambush-pit to turn the tables on the orcs; maybe we’ll run for the keep and tell the biggers; maybe we could just hide in the woods and watch them go by….it would be funny to see them fall into the pit. There are spikes!

Date:

30 January 2010 / 07 – 08 Haar’Kiev, 174

Characters (Players) in attendance:

Æruestan “Rue” Beleg (Sam) – Sylvan Elf Fighter / 1
Dumbarton Oaks (Chris) – Pixie-Fairy Magic-User / 1
Kailan Morgause (Victoria) – Half-Elf “Art connoisseur” / 1
Liam Fishfinge-r (Adam) – Gnome Thief / 1
Nyneva Parsay (Francine) – Half-Elf Cleric of Benyar / 1
Rolando (Paul) – Human Fighter / 1
Sondra (Julia) – Human Fighter / 1

Voted Most Valuable Player:

Rolando

GM notes:

The characters have now made Frandor’s Keep their supply base. Sondra finally arrived. Turns out that blind pilgrim gave better directions than anybody thought. Setting out on a rocky mountain trail shown on Liam’s map, the group ran into their second Kobold patrol – a much trickier one than last time.

Combat improved, but we’ve got to work on getting the time down. I may institute a three-second count-down for each initiative segment.

Temporal honor adjustments were spotty at best. I continue to work on that.

Players have now been given log-in information (check your e-mail). Those who post summaries of the adventure will receive an EP bonus. Extra points for in-character posting.

When you post, be sure to choose the category “Adventure Reports”.

Also, please be sure to put your character’s name at the top, so we know who’s writing!

Temporal Honor and Experience Points

Remember that thieves get EPs for using their thief skills, clerics get EPs for being religious, and fighters… well, you’ve got that part down. Players who post session reports will receive 100 EPs, which is more than you get for killing those kobolds!

May all your hits be crits!

by Liam

Well, things are certainly getting more entertaining. The gang finally found someplace to set up a base of operations- Frandor’s Keep, it’s called. Pretty nice place, but they seem to dislike thieves (or at least, bad ones). We got rooms at an inn; DumbO, Ninny and I bunked up. Turns out that Ninny snores like a dragon with allergies- I always feel a little sorry for the Tiny-Nose People.

 Anyhoo, we decided to go out looking for something more interesting to do than getting sprayed with spittle by the shopkeeper. Didn’t take long for us to find a gang of xi niu kobolds, whom we promptly killed. The ‘biggers’ hacked them up while Ninny and I shot them from a discreet distance (I knew she was the smart one). I sort of shot Rollie in the ass, which was bloody hysterical, but I don’t think he saw the humour in it. Grouch. At least I got my arrow back.

 I got some armour out of it- pretty stinky, but I think maybe I can get it cleaned up. We also scored some cash, a few rusty swords, and some ears. The local soldiers are willing to pay for kobold ears- gawds forbid I should EVER get that hungry. But there’s no accounting for human tastes.

 Boris likes it here. He wandered away at one point, but I think he was just chasing a cat. He must have caught it, since he didn’t eat his dinner that night.