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Chronicles of the Formation of the Party The Lendore 1st-level group played last night. We found and killed a GAT. The fight was pretty gruesome. What we learned from this adventure: 1. Big, tough, annoying guys who don't like guests and tend to boss people around an awful lot and don't take kindly to people disobeying them, voicing their opinions, or trying to leave, could be GATs. 2. Be glad, be very glad, that some of us had silver weapons. 3. Runes can be darn powerful. When a person uses the most powerful rune of power and destruction they know on a silver dagger attacking a GAT, and knows the runes VERY WELL, and perfectly forms the rune, a vastly powerful magic that turns people and GATs into smoldering ash and dust can be affected. However, since one's own life force is used, one tends to turn oneself into ash as well. 4. Don't fall off cliffs. 5. GATs may not be smart but they are tough as nails. 6. A harpoon is a great weapon! Rest in peace: Surviving: Kyle (back) Adventure #2: Sam'n Friends vs. the Evil Halflings of Hafney Hill Well, folks. Volume II in the continuing Lendore saga of Sam'n Friends adventuring group has suddenly and unexpectedly turned into the final volume. No matter what happens (okay maybe it wasn't THAT unexpectedly!) the group will never have the same name or composition again. That mostly comes from the fact that Sam and most of the party is dead. One major lesson: And the always pertinent message: Rest in Peace: Captured: Escaped: ...alone... Kyle (back) Adventure #3: Hecht's Rescue Party vs. the Witch Hello, all! There isn't too much to write about the Lendore Misadventures this past saturday. Well, here's the short of it: 14 characters (roughly half missile/half melee). Well tweaked, non-personality, loyal, but reasonably weak halflings, elves, and a bizarre hobgoblin. We went to Hafney Hill to kill the halfling bandits. We misdirected and ended up at the wrong hill (though we didn't know it). A storm struck. We had a group of three (very stealthy) scouting up ahead when the storm struck. They ran into some really scary creatures coming down the hill, being led by a human in a pointy hat. They attacked our woodsman, Mask, who managed to get out of the way and live (down to one HP). Our stealthy fighter/thief, Concord, (who had shot the creature once with his bow) was The rest of the party was then heroically nearly slaughtered. Of the remaining 13 characters, we decided to make a stand. The hobgoblin moved to a rear support position since he ruined our surprise. Then we set forward to outflank them, just as they circled around us and attacked the hobgoblin (affectionately called 'Bubba'). We then turned and attacked. The weird creatures in hooded robes were soon revealed to understand the language Demon, when our fun-loving cleric Auburn, commanded one of them to die, in Demon. At this point, lightning decimated the party, leaving like 8 people still standing. A timely entangle caught all of the demons after still more deaths. A timely command took out the witch, who had come around behind. Then the witch and the demons were killed systematically. We managed to save Hecht and Darryl. That left a total of six people remaining: Hecht, thief (Mark) All of Zack's and Sean's and Jeremy's and one of Joel's and my characters The witches necklace and a potion were magical. Some money was recovered, though much actually came from comrades rather than the witch. Anyway, general chaos for a lawful party! Kyle RIP Concord Adventure #4: Hecht & co. and the Restinford Defenders vs. the Evil Halflings of Hafney Hill ADVENTURE LOG #20: Return of the Halflings Character Roster: Felix, 4th level fighter, 42 hp, played by Alex AND RETURNING ONCE AGAIN: Hecht, cleric of the halfling god Brandebaris, played by Mark The party checked around the lair of the burrow worms for a few days just to make sure there were no more worms left. We entered the lair with Felix in the lead, and discovered a room of dead husks. There was also a gem and 2 vials of Nevronian holy water. We dragged four husks back to Restenford, paid one in salvage tax(?!), and commissioned the always friendly armorer to turn them into great helms (?!). Felix, Balinor, and Drew are decked out in the bug head helmets (pincers still intact) when FAR away from civilization, such as it is on Lendore. Perry trained to 5th level, and gained 3 hp to stand at 16 hp. A letter and a mage arrived in Restenford while Perry trained, named Donald Collins. Colin, the elven mage/thief whose disastrous adventure had nearly destroyed his hearing, had found someone for us. Donald is a human coastlander, quite tall, but in most assessments, a "geek." Fresh out of Wicker's training school, he was able to spend some of the money we gave him on two first level spells, Detect Magic and Identify. He also revealed that he has the Light spell. He also has at least two others, one of which must be Read Magic. He said he didn't have any combat spells, and would be more useful if the party acquired some. We traded the lenses to Peltar for the dagger+1 and two spells, Sleep and Colin added that he had absolutely no idea why Donald would want to go to Lendore, but he was interested in "some excitement." Oh boy. He's getting it. We accepted him and helped him equip fully, providing him with ink and other necessities. A month later, the Baron invited us to meet with him. He had a mission that he thought we might be interested in. For those of you who don't know Hafney Hill, it is a lovely little place near Key Ferry that has claimed the lives of countless adventurers. The place was supposed to be haunted, and a halfling cleric of the god of adventure, named Hecht, led a group of adventurers called Sam and Friends to clean it out in 2173. They failed miserably, and lost everyone but Hecht, who escaped via a Sanctuary spell. They were all taken down by startlingly good bowshots from some hostile halflings in the ruined keep. A while later, in 2173, Hecht and Kerr, a druid, led a new expedition to rescue Larry and finish the job. Unfortunately they ended up at the wrong hill, and stumbled on a circle of demon worshippers, and a few of their buddy demons. Over half the party was lost, but the remainder killed the witch and several of the weird demon things. The six survivors split up the treasure-- Arutha the elven cleric of Nevron obtained the only permanent magic item, a silver necklace that gives a +1 bonus to saves. Several potions and the loot were distributed as well. Arutha went off to the Church in Benct, Daryl and his companion went off their own way, and Hecht, Kerr, and Auburn, a halfling cleric of Sheila, went off to get revenge, and help. It appears, in fact, that the ghost stories are entirely false concoctions to scare away people, and that the effects were created by extremely mobile halflings leaping from tower to tower somehow. They arrived in Restenford, and the Baron requested our help. We agreed to finish the job, and marched out to the hill. On the way, we ran into another of our old friends. The burrow worm leaped up straight in front of Balinor. In a move wrought of skill, Balinor managed to get captured by it and beat it incessantly from close up, thereby preventing it from spraying acid all over our nice equipment. This was, of course, entirely deliberate. The party hammered at it for awhile, and it dragged Balinor underground. Unfortunately, without the Plant Growth wall, the creature could escape. After Balinor had wounded it and nearly beaten it senseless, and with Felix in hot pursuit, the creature dropped him and fled. We reached the site of Hafney Hill after a brief stopover in Trun a few days later. The party decided that since reckless attacking had led to their death previously, this adventuring party would try to lure them out to eliminate as many halflings as possible. An astrology revealed that the number 9 was important, and we assumed this meant there were nine halflings. We set up a false campsite and hid in the bushes nearby, hoping to draw their attention and capture them. Unfortunately, though we noticed no observation during the night, we found tracks of a halfling in the morning. Irritated, we tried again the next night, this time with Perry's snares littering the area. Sure enough, in the middle of the night we heard the wire snap, and a moaning sound began. Presumably it was the halfling trying to scare us. Balinor and Felix charged with a wild yell, and a hopeful Entangle was thrown in the general direction by Kerr. It missed, and the two charging fighters barely missed getting caught. Drew tracked through the woods helped by a Light spell, and we found that the tracks were indeed halfling sized and led back into the keep. The moaning continued but got more and more distant until finally it vanished. In addition, the previous party had noted a secret door in the hillside, presumed to be a back exit. We noted the location and waited for the rain to hit. In the morning, we awoke to a large and thunderous storm. We approached the ruins, and Quentin cast Call Lightning and held it as we walked. Cassian cast a Dust Devil, which is much more powerful for Phaulkonians. We noted that the real lightning would strike one of the towers much more often than the others, and then noticed the metal wires running from tower Suddenly, the bell in the far tower began to ring. Cassian sent the Dust Devil that way, and we advanced cautiously. We reached the tower and found the wooden door locked. Finding it untrapped but locked, Felix crashed through it. And suddenly an arrow went cleanly through his shoulder, doing 28 points of damage! He fell back in shock. Cassian sent the dust devil in. We heard a scream and a thump, and found a dead halfling on the floor, presumably pushed off by the dust devil. He was covered with wires and pulleys and other rope systems. Dragging the body in tow, we advanced to the other tower, which the lightning struck more often. With a crowbar this time, we opened the door and waited. Then we looked in quickly, and could hear gears but not see them. Cassian sent the dust devil in. Then we heard a noise above us. Suspecting the halflings were fleeing the dust devil along the wires, we waited a moment. Then Quentin blasted the far tower with lightning. The results were spectacular. We ran to the tower to find three dead halflings, all badly burned. Cassian sent the dust devil down into the open basement, where one of the halflings lay. We hauled it out with a grappling hook, and sent the dust devil down. A moment later, Cassian sensed it had been destroyed. Figuring the halflings might try to escape through the "back door," we ran to the secret door. Since Felix was injured, Balinor used the crowbar to open the door. Suddenly a roughly six foot tall shadow flew out of the door and ran straight at Balinor.
The party sprung into action, attacking with all its silver weapons. Balinor clocked it with Maiden Basher as well. Fortunately, the creature missed Balinor, and it was taken down after failing to hit Morgan (surprise). In fact, it critically fumbled and allowed a free attack. Drew decided that the monster was a wraith or a spectre, though he had never heard of spectres being hit by silver weapons. So we assumed it was a wraith. That means level draining. We doused the body with two vials of holy water, which sizzled on contact. We put it outside, and removed a magic ring from its finger. It appeared to be the collapsed body of a normal Coastlander, turned into a hideous monster by some demonic ritual. We blasted it. We peeked inside, and found a 4' diameter corridor leading off into nothingness. In addition there were two wires running along the sides. One had clearly been triggered-- though the target was somewhere down the hall. It pointed roughly toward the tower we had just left, about 1500 feet away. It was decided to split the party. Balinor leading, followed by Felix, Cassian, Perry, and one other person, would head into the tunnel and follow it to it's end, Perry spot-checking as appropriate. About five minutes into the tunnel, another much smaller wraith appeared and tried to kill Balinor. Cassian attempted to turn it, but failed. The only person who could fight it in the close quarters was the victim, and Balinor smashed it with both hammers. The silver one appeared to inflict half damage, but could affect it. Unfortunately, it actually managed to hit him on its next swing, and drained a level. It was getting old. The now 2nd level Balinor totally bashed it into the ground on his next attack routine. Hecht immediately recognized the corpse after it collapsed-- it was Larry. We splashed Larry with holy water and continued. We finally came to a larger open room about 15 feet high. There was a "vault" on the right side, which the wire that had been pulled was connected to. Apparently the halflings had opened this to mess up pursuit. They succeeded. We continued into the tunnel and discovered a room with a dozen halfling sized beds, 9 of which had been recently occupied. Also, there were a bunch of glowing Pope heads (Nevronian) lit by Continual Light just sitting there at even intervals. Finally there were boxes. We then shouted up, and realized that we had reached the other half of the party. They clambered down and we realized that to our annoyance there were still 4 halflings on the loose. We checked out the vault as well, and discovered a multiple locked chest area. We opened the chests and found quite a bit of money. In the boxes in the main room were random items of value, clearly ripped off of caravans. What to do next? It's unclear. Hopefully the halflings won't find us-- or we'll be able to kill them. Now to get the treasure back to Restenford. The Fall of Hafney Hill! Joel/Balinor (Larry had actually joined the halflings, but when they recognized Hecht they locked him the prison cells "just in case." In the escape they released the wraith but did not release Larry, who was trapped and munched. Then he rose as a wraith himself.) Hafney Hill Part 2-- What the &*@#! do they have under there? Following the death of the second wraith and reuniting of the party in the halflings' bedroom, we decided to search for secret doors, and none were found. The next day, when Balinor had regained his level, we decided to explore the wraith corridor. Noting that the seals had been broken on the door, we entered with Perry leading, searching for traps, and Felix and Balinor close behind. The corridor had all sorts of niches with skulls and stuff in the walls. After about 60' we descended down a spiral staircase into a room with 4 other exits. Perry could faintly hear a creaking noise, and the sounds of running water. We noted the demonic sigil on the floor and decided to peek down the passages. The first one on the near right had a line of skulls, each with glowing red points for eyes which seemed to be staring at us, and vanishing off down the corridor. This was vaguely disturbing. The next corridor had another staircase leading down. The far left corridor had a well decorated archway and another stairs across the room. We approached the altar, and Auburn was able to read the runes (written in Demon!). It welcomed all properly fearful demon worshippers to the lesser temple, and warned of death for all those who did not fear them properly. Perry listened, and we could hear the faint sounds of screams from down the corridor. VERY alarming. The last corridor was well built and unlike the rest of the more natural looking cave. Realizing that perhaps we were out of our league, we decided to head back. That's when we heard the footsteps coming down the stairs we came from. Balinor and Felix were poised at the doorway waiting for the thing to emerge. We could see a set of glowing dots on some shadowy figure walking slowly down. The creature boomed suddenly, "Who are you who descecrate this temple?" We didn't reply, but we did gulp. Finally, Perry said, "We simply want to leave. We have not desecrated the temple!" The creature replied, "Pay the price for trespassing." We backed away from the doorway and the creature emerged into the room. It was a skeleton with a bastard sword and short sword. It walked between us toward the demonic sigil. We took advantage of the opening to start fleeing up the stairs, Morgan and Perry first. The creature reached the sigil when barely half the party had left the room (the corridor only had room for single file), when suddenly the clerics all recognized the area as consecrated evil ground, and that their turning abilities were suppressed somewhat. Then skeleton thing raised its hands and the swords suddenly lit in flame. It then whirled and charged Balinor Uh oh. Cassian began turning, while Balinor and Felix turned to fight it. It swung viciously at Balinor, cutting him with both weapons and doing 20 points of damage, lighting him on fire. Balinor tried to roll out the fire, which was slowly doing damage. At that moment, Morgan reached the top of the stairs and noticed that the door had been locked and bolted from this side. He crashed into the door, but couldn't knock it down. He cried out for a strong helper. Felix swung back with the magic dagger and hit, but it was not clear whether it was actually damaged. Auburn hurled a vial of holy water, connecting and splashing it, and it roared though no apparent damage was done. At the same time, Cassian managed to ward it off with her turn, since it suddenly stopped and backed up. It said, "Leave this place!" We obeyed quickly, backpedaling. Balinor had quenched the fire and took up position behind Felix. Auburn dashed up to help Morgan get the door open. On the third try, Morgan crashed through with Perry, and people started rushing out. Unfortunately, we were only half out when the creature said, "That is enough time." It came up after us, and Felix stopped to delay it. It slashed viciously, doing 41 points of damage and two single wounds (thanks to the Aid spell preventing the double wound), and lit him on fire. While the creature was recovering, he and Balinor got through the door and we slammed it shut, Kerr retracing the runes. Felix was healed in time, and we breathed a sigh of relief. Perry listened, but could hear nothing. Perhaps we shouldn't have gone that way... Deciding that was plenty, and that Hafney Hill was clearly not entirely mundane (everyone needs an evil temple in the basement), we packed up some of the valuables and went to the Trun area to purchase a wagon and oxen. We were able to carry out 30,000 coin weights of the 40,000, leaving mainly furniture and copper pieces behind. By the way, the glowing Pope of Nevron heads were stacked in front of the evil door just in case. We Stoneshaped the iron grid door shut, and set Fire Traps on both entrances. Quentin then Stoneshaped the other entrance shut. We returned a few days later and retrieved the treasure in the wagon and began the trip back to Restenford. Of course, while we were still on Hafney Hill, the half of the party transferring the treasure to the wagon got jumped by a spider, who Quentin convinced to go away. Incidentally, there were three magic items found-- the magic ring on the wraith, a Captain's Jacket (Captain Ketone's!), and a magic plate armor. We later discovered that the weather predicting property of Ketone's jacket was usable by anyone with meteorology skills, such as all captains, and Phaulkonian clerics of at least third level, like Cassian. On the way back to Restenford, several things happened. First we encountered a group of five archers up the road, who scattered into the forest when we spotted them. Nothing happened, and we moved on. Then we saw a giant (20' long) snake lying across the road, and Quentin convinced it to move so we could get past. Then two gnolls appeared in front of us and demanded a 30 gp toll since they had killed some bombardier beetles. We decided that rather than fighting, the 30 gp wasn't terribly important and paid them off grudgingly. Then the hurricane hit. We got the sense something was terribly wrong, and took cover on a hill, the wagons and oxen separate from the main party with Felix and Cassian (both are teamsters) to help control them. The main party encountered another group of six adventurers hiding up there as well and took cover with them. The storm was hideous and lasted several days, but miraculously Felix and Cassian were able to keep the animals from bolting. Unforunately, the other party was using a tarp for cover, which had metal posts. This made them a target for lightning strikes, and one of them took 60 points of damage and was incinerated suddenly! This frightened them. When the storm blew over, Quentin helped bury the scorched man, and we continued on uneventfully to Restenford. There we paid salvage tax and have some issues to discuss. Hecht can actually train, and I believe Auburn can as well, but neither can do it on Lendore very easily. Cassian trained to 4th level, gained 2 hp to stand at 27, and Quentin trained to 5th level, gaining 4 hp to stand at 20. Balinor missed 4th level by 200 XP... We had the items, including the captain's jacket, identified in Barnacus-- the jacket also allows the user to know the tides and protects from the effects of normal weather. The primary ability is the weather detection though. It seems much more geared toward a captain than anything else-- a land-lubber is wasting the item. The ring is a ring+1. The plate armor was, unfortunately, a hideous cursed item. It looks cool, but when you get struck in combat, all enemies are attracted to attacking you for a round afterward, and do extra damage, and then the armor falls apart. Nuts. Treasure splitting: this must be discussed. My suggestions: The Captain's Jacket should be returned to the other party. The ring +1 would be a good item for the Defenders. The monetary split is interesting-- we have a LOT of money tied up in goods-- an idea is to give it to the Baron and have him sell it and feed us a large percentage, rather than trying to sell it ourselves, since we don't even know what anything is worth. The Defenders have hoped to claim quite a bit of the furniture for the house. Furthermore, the main bulk of cloth was ruined in the storm, but the 5 bolts of cloth survived and the Phaulkonian church was interested in about 2100 gp worth of stuff. Of course, we can't sell it for that much, so perhaps giving them 1000 gp worth as a donation will work. The druids were only interested in some of the silverware, which totaled to about 200 gp. So we can donate that, and then give more once we get money from the Baron. In addition, the actual monetary treasure has to be split. Nearly 1000 gp was spent getting the wagon and oxen, but these can be resold to recover a lot of the loss. So there is some cash. If anyone is interested in the proposed option of having the other party remain in Restenford and having them do the easier missions, the Defenders are quite interested in that arrangement. Of course we can provide financial help there. There's lots of negotiating to do. In any case, some cash will certainly need to be transferred so Hecht and Auburn can train, which can be done. Furthermore, while in Barnacus IDing items, we informed the Hand of Fate (Church of Nevron) about the Pope heads and hideous temple down below Hafney Hill. Perhaps an option for the future would be to accompany them, if they want us, to clear the place. Just a thought... A mainly successful conclusion! Joel/Balinor from Log #22: Political Treachery We had last left the Defenders enjoying the spoils of a successful mission to Hafney Hill. Treasure division was settled as follows (if Mark or Kyle have strong objections please voice them and I suspect we can probably change some stuff): Since it was fairly obvious (Mark, if you disagree please tell us) that Hecht and Kerr would not settle down in Restenford, that left Auburn to form a party, and since that was an uncertain proposition, we thought it was best just to give the Lightning a share and let them decide on their own. We made this deal: The Baron would give us approximately 11000 gp as an "allowance" of 3000 gp per year for three years, plus the extra in the fourth year. We withdrew our first years' allowance and gave it to the Lightning. So the split is as follows: Lightning receive 3000 gp, Captain's Jacket. The Defenders cover the cost of the Identifies on the three items, and the salvage tax. We're certainly willing to help you trade the Captain's Jacket, either with the Phaulkonian Church (who is probably quite interested) or the Petethalian navy. The split of that treasure is up to Kerr, Auburn, and Hecht (who still have to train). Joel (back) |
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