Drow War Rages!
Yesterday’s D&D game (Oct. 29, 2005) picked right up where the last session left off, with the regular characters battling the drow elves deep in the underdark of Aarde. Flegol picked off evil spellcasters from among their stalactite and stalagmite perches, using his bow against his favored enemy. Geena did the same. Phil’s new halfling rogue, Secro, did some climbing and sneaking, and helped Rivet take out a couple of threats from within their cave. Joseph healed the wounded in battle and fought off four drow rogues who tried to sneak up behind him. Similarly, Revan found himself at a bit of a tactical disadvantage, as his Pegasus would not fit within the close quarters. But few of the enemy were able to land blows on any party member. Though a few sleep-poisoned arrows knocked Black-Eyed Bill and Flegol out for a few rounds, most of the drow were simply no match for the heroes. One large drow monk picked his way through the growing pile of drow bodies around Taito and gave him a bit of a challenge, but ultimately fell to join his brothers on the rocky cavern floor. Lola couldn’t resist putting out an oil fire set by Rivet one round, but on every other round of the combat, her twin longswords were putting the enemy down. Mick the Gangly, striding near Taito on his stilts, “reached out and touched” drow, just outside of the range of their melee weapons like a whirlwind. Telpin sang and used his wand of lightning bolts, as usual. Nightsong Sharpfang sang with the other bard for a stereo effect with greater range, and used her spear from the back of her giant rat mount (until she was hit by a sleep arrow, anyway). Captain Fergus Dowrimple flew over the battle, launching fireballs into drow hidey-holes, somewhat protected by a few defensive spells (and thankful for evasion against the steady tide of incoming fireballs and lightning bolts early in the battle). Yes, the party won the battle. And no, Henderson was not present for this fight; he has been made busy recruiting more lizardman tribes to the cause. Though the drow settlement was fairly poor, the multiple drow weapons and armor fetched a decent price from the bluefeather lizardman tribe outside of Moporia. Party members were also able to purchase items in the city. Secro had a humbling experience with one of Moporia’s royal wizards, but was released from the city-states dungeons for a 2,000 gold piece fine for trespassing, as no items were stolen from the wizard’s manor.
Experience: 4,500 x.p. Gold (each P.C.’s share after selling items found): 7,500 g.p.
P.S. I built some new terrain, but the base coat wasn’t dry yet for this session so we didn’t use miniatures. Also, it wasn’t raining, but compared to the previous session it was really cold in the basement, so we’ll be upstairs for sessions until it gets warmer. Another thing--it was good to see Morgan yesterday, and I’m waaay overdue for some games of Magic. Have a Happy Halloween everybody! Next session: November 12.
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Old Heroes, New Villians
Revan, Joseph Prex, Flegol, Taito and the NPCs began this session at a turning point requiring discussion. What use is it to have the Fountain of Youth if death, slavery and world destruction of Aarde are soon to follow? Read the previous entry for the current situation. Collectively the party now had a lot of important information to consider, much of which is known to no one else. Here are some of the things that were discussed:
* Elven transmuters and the large quantity of enchantment school wands in use by the Purple Order elves, the drow and their followers are being used together in the following way: a skilled elf polymorphs into the form of say, an ogre to gain easy access to an area, and then uses charm monster on tribal leaders to persuade as many ogres as possible to join the Purple Order, or at least cooperate with it. This process is known by the party to have been used on lizard men as well as thri-kreen and many individuals of various races. It is possible this method was originally used by the drow on the elves of Sonaeed (even Leofeldt himself?) to create the Purple Order. By now, many people from every major city of Aarde and every evil or neutral-aligned race in the outlying areas could be working for the Purple Order in one way or another, as even one elf, drow or converted agent of any race can persuade more than 100 people in a month or less. And there are a lot of agents. Evil divided can be kept in check. Evil united is worrysome. Now even many well-meaning people are unwittingly (sometimes through magic) working for the elves.
* Humans and their good-aligned allies of Aarde currently have no collective strategy, and have not worked together in 500 years.
* Potential allies the party could begin recruiting include the goblin sorcerers of Pqukquilibo (if they can be separated from their fire giant protectors), the gnome illusionists of Ponoblish Bimpitigora (who are thought to control or possibly create dragons), the halflings of the Warmsea and Iceberg Ocean islands (most of whom are proven seamen, many of whom are psionic), and the retired heros of Lhevix and those who have settled there.
* From what the characters knew, Lhevix was initially considered a gamble (especially by the NPCs) because the ruler there, Khadgar, is not only an elf, but lawful neutral in alignment--so his loyalties might be questionable. And of the other Heroes of the Tenneous War, Cedric (also an elf) had disappeared into hermetic obscurity, Killian had made himself indispensible entertaining and motivating the citizenry of Pavalos, and Pel had become insane from secret interplanar knowledge from his travels that had twisted him toward evil and a strange solitude. But all the Old Heroes were historical figures, well-known for their great deeds. Many were thought dead. Khadgar was considered a god by some. Donavan was said to be training dwarven fighters, undefeated in single combat spars by all comers to her village at Donavan's Reef for 500 years.
-----So after the discussion, a decision was made and the party went to Lhevix. Taito met with some lizardmen to attempt to persuade them over some bloodfire wine as stories were exchanged around the campfire of the Blue Feather tribe. One lizardman disagreed with Taito, and said the lizardmen should join the elves. The two battled and the dissenter's attempt to charm monster on Taito failed, as did his attempt to baleful polymorph him into a frog; Taito, a drunken master, beat the "lizardman" into submission. Flegol, uninterested in the city, stumbled into a cave in some nearby cliffs and ended up meeting Cedric. Before long, a construct/probe of Pel's arrived to gather information. Joseph and Revan, in combination with the other characters, were able eventually to get all the heroes, Old and New, together at one of Khadgar's huge ornate palaces. The Old Heroes agreed to help.
...What follows is a summary of the events that followed:
The Old Heroes teleported to the frozen surface of Phobos, entered a crater and infiltrated the drow tunnels to the core, where Pel used his planeshifting magic to trade places between this area and its leaders and an equal area from the elemental plane of hot liquid magma. These type of attacks continued until enough drow were able to connect their lightning bolts with them to force them to leave. Next, Killian located Silvereyes, one of the elven heroes of Sonaeed who defeated Signatious over 1,000 years ago. Silvereyes, now the owner of the Vulgar Paladin Inn, knew Lord Leofeldt personally (he had long ago convinced him he was a friend), and was able to arrange a projected image discussion with "Leo." and make introductions. Disagreements quickly broke into open magical warfare, with Pel's horrible spells destroying the Sonaeed cities of Lynchtooth, Lomee, Grand Turim, and Aggaquon. In retalliation, Leofeldt unleashed similar magic, wiping out the Aarde cities of Hootineye, Lhevix, Upslone, and New Durnick. Shortly afterward, both Pel and Leofeldt successfully wished away these events, so it was as if they never happened. Leofeldt then made a verbal attempt to persuade Khadgar to join his cause, showering him with compliments and offering him troops, money and power. At one point, Leofeldt magically caused a hurricane on his own world to prove a point. But Khadgar wouldn't be persuaded. Ultimately, negotiations began. In return for human non-use of the Fountain(s) of Youth, Leofeldt would order his elves to return to Sonaeed, and Aarde elves to return to pre-invasion borders. In addition, Leofeldt would break the elven alliance with the drow, which he personally had made and kept together. Both parties agreed to work together against their new mutual enemy: the drow. Soon afterward, drow were being attacked on Phobos, Sonaeed and Aarde; each with its own Underdark dominated by drow.
* * *
Revan, Taito, Joseph and Flegol and the NPCs entered a cave opening in the Gottsland Island mountains, not far from Lhevix. In a matter of about a week, they had decended through the caverns and found their way to a medium-sized drow family stronghold, with living, working and fighting areas carved into the stalagtites and stalagmites. The battle has begun, and will continue for some time now.
Experience for the Old Heroes was simply a reminder that 20th+ level versions of these characters might make occasional appearances (Pel, for example, is 28th level). Regular party experience was 1,500. Treasure is as follows: each Old Hero may give one gift of no greater than 10,000 gp value to one Young Hero of his or her choice (DM's approval required). Next session: Sat., Oct. 29th.
* Elven transmuters and the large quantity of enchantment school wands in use by the Purple Order elves, the drow and their followers are being used together in the following way: a skilled elf polymorphs into the form of say, an ogre to gain easy access to an area, and then uses charm monster on tribal leaders to persuade as many ogres as possible to join the Purple Order, or at least cooperate with it. This process is known by the party to have been used on lizard men as well as thri-kreen and many individuals of various races. It is possible this method was originally used by the drow on the elves of Sonaeed (even Leofeldt himself?) to create the Purple Order. By now, many people from every major city of Aarde and every evil or neutral-aligned race in the outlying areas could be working for the Purple Order in one way or another, as even one elf, drow or converted agent of any race can persuade more than 100 people in a month or less. And there are a lot of agents. Evil divided can be kept in check. Evil united is worrysome. Now even many well-meaning people are unwittingly (sometimes through magic) working for the elves.
* Humans and their good-aligned allies of Aarde currently have no collective strategy, and have not worked together in 500 years.
* Potential allies the party could begin recruiting include the goblin sorcerers of Pqukquilibo (if they can be separated from their fire giant protectors), the gnome illusionists of Ponoblish Bimpitigora (who are thought to control or possibly create dragons), the halflings of the Warmsea and Iceberg Ocean islands (most of whom are proven seamen, many of whom are psionic), and the retired heros of Lhevix and those who have settled there.
* From what the characters knew, Lhevix was initially considered a gamble (especially by the NPCs) because the ruler there, Khadgar, is not only an elf, but lawful neutral in alignment--so his loyalties might be questionable. And of the other Heroes of the Tenneous War, Cedric (also an elf) had disappeared into hermetic obscurity, Killian had made himself indispensible entertaining and motivating the citizenry of Pavalos, and Pel had become insane from secret interplanar knowledge from his travels that had twisted him toward evil and a strange solitude. But all the Old Heroes were historical figures, well-known for their great deeds. Many were thought dead. Khadgar was considered a god by some. Donavan was said to be training dwarven fighters, undefeated in single combat spars by all comers to her village at Donavan's Reef for 500 years.
-----So after the discussion, a decision was made and the party went to Lhevix. Taito met with some lizardmen to attempt to persuade them over some bloodfire wine as stories were exchanged around the campfire of the Blue Feather tribe. One lizardman disagreed with Taito, and said the lizardmen should join the elves. The two battled and the dissenter's attempt to charm monster on Taito failed, as did his attempt to baleful polymorph him into a frog; Taito, a drunken master, beat the "lizardman" into submission. Flegol, uninterested in the city, stumbled into a cave in some nearby cliffs and ended up meeting Cedric. Before long, a construct/probe of Pel's arrived to gather information. Joseph and Revan, in combination with the other characters, were able eventually to get all the heroes, Old and New, together at one of Khadgar's huge ornate palaces. The Old Heroes agreed to help.
...What follows is a summary of the events that followed:
The Old Heroes teleported to the frozen surface of Phobos, entered a crater and infiltrated the drow tunnels to the core, where Pel used his planeshifting magic to trade places between this area and its leaders and an equal area from the elemental plane of hot liquid magma. These type of attacks continued until enough drow were able to connect their lightning bolts with them to force them to leave. Next, Killian located Silvereyes, one of the elven heroes of Sonaeed who defeated Signatious over 1,000 years ago. Silvereyes, now the owner of the Vulgar Paladin Inn, knew Lord Leofeldt personally (he had long ago convinced him he was a friend), and was able to arrange a projected image discussion with "Leo." and make introductions. Disagreements quickly broke into open magical warfare, with Pel's horrible spells destroying the Sonaeed cities of Lynchtooth, Lomee, Grand Turim, and Aggaquon. In retalliation, Leofeldt unleashed similar magic, wiping out the Aarde cities of Hootineye, Lhevix, Upslone, and New Durnick. Shortly afterward, both Pel and Leofeldt successfully wished away these events, so it was as if they never happened. Leofeldt then made a verbal attempt to persuade Khadgar to join his cause, showering him with compliments and offering him troops, money and power. At one point, Leofeldt magically caused a hurricane on his own world to prove a point. But Khadgar wouldn't be persuaded. Ultimately, negotiations began. In return for human non-use of the Fountain(s) of Youth, Leofeldt would order his elves to return to Sonaeed, and Aarde elves to return to pre-invasion borders. In addition, Leofeldt would break the elven alliance with the drow, which he personally had made and kept together. Both parties agreed to work together against their new mutual enemy: the drow. Soon afterward, drow were being attacked on Phobos, Sonaeed and Aarde; each with its own Underdark dominated by drow.
* * *
Revan, Taito, Joseph and Flegol and the NPCs entered a cave opening in the Gottsland Island mountains, not far from Lhevix. In a matter of about a week, they had decended through the caverns and found their way to a medium-sized drow family stronghold, with living, working and fighting areas carved into the stalagtites and stalagmites. The battle has begun, and will continue for some time now.
Experience for the Old Heroes was simply a reminder that 20th+ level versions of these characters might make occasional appearances (Pel, for example, is 28th level). Regular party experience was 1,500. Treasure is as follows: each Old Hero may give one gift of no greater than 10,000 gp value to one Young Hero of his or her choice (DM's approval required). Next session: Sat., Oct. 29th.
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Phobos Invasion
A week later than it would have been, but after much-needed improvements to the basement, we had a pretty good D&D game session yesterday (10/1/05). Last week, Joe and I hauled off a pickup truck load of old appliances and a dead lawn mower, which freed up some space and cleaned things up a bit; I was able to actually soap and bleach the basement floor afterward. Yesterday, Shane and Robby helped me put terrain materials into a big old locker and set up the tables (three 4'x4' tables, totalling 4'x 12' space) for our minis, terrain and stuff. I gave Roddy a 25th-level version of Fergus Dowrimple to use as an NPC in his campaign (he'll be a PC for any sessions I can make it to). Carson had a commitment that made him a bit late, but he drew some more character cartoons for us so we forgive him... We had plenty of chips and soda, and even Penny and Bella played for part of the session (and Penny bought me the new Unearthed Arcana yesterday, thanks!). One of the best things about yesterday was that I had a new batch of ideas that have been in the works for a while for a multi-part adventure to spring on the party. Thinking about it now, I might have rushed and deviated from what I originally had in mind in places, but that really doesn't matter.
Okay, here we go. So the party, now the proud owners of the spelljammer Impervious, set down on the beach of the Quooly desert, near a pyramid they spotted from the air, and sent out an expeditionary force as shooting stars fell in the distance. After fighting a group of elf-charmed thri-kreen insect-people outside one of their strange, tall rounded sandstone fortress/settlements, Lola, Geena, Aiko, Revan, Buddy Nagel (Flegol's kobold cleric friend), Flegol, Henderson, Nightsong Sharpfang, Telpin, Mick the Gangly, Fergus, Joseph Prex, Rivet, Taito and Black-Eyed Bill advanced to the steep-sided pyramid, a ziggarut in the distance. With great difficulty and a bit of luck, Rivet gained entry through a hidden stone panel in the side, after also figuring out the stone button-symbol combination lock (the symbols were in Draconic). For reasons unknown to the party, the pyramid was vacant, with a heavy layer of dust and a lot of bones in the dark interior. Rivet (mostly) and Henderson found and disabled a large number of magical traps as the party explored the chambers: teleportation circles, petrification zones, a hold person-mass, a powerful sonic burst alarm and a couple of disintigration traps. Fortunately, both of the party's rogues were reptilian (a kobold and a lizardman) or the entire pyramid would have filled with poison gas, and a couple of the traps simply gave magic mouth warnings/messages of mercy instead of going off. At one point, about half of the party were teleported to a distant island, but Fergus had a scroll of teleport, and used it to get them back to where they stood just before the stepped into that trap. Ancient hieroglyphs, interpreted by Joseph, Revan and Fergus, revealed that the ziggarut was a temple to Io, the ancient dragon god considered to be neither evil nor good. After a great deal of exploration, the party found a brass fountain on the top level of the pyramid interior. The NPC bards Telpin and Nightsong Sharpfang (a gnome and a kobold) helped identify that it was a Fountain of Youth, believed to be one of only seven parts of the original brass fountain of the gods in existance--the others being lost, hidden or owned secretly...
In the lowest level of the ziggarut was a tablet, protected by lizardman skeletons that were instantly turned to dust by Joseph. The ancient tablet, made of adamantium-impregnated stone, is older than the ancient pyramid and likely to have been transplanted from a much older structure. The combined skills and knowledge of the party translated the meaning: elves of the moon Soboff were the first drow, and though they enraged the gods into pushing their moon into Aarde, many escaped, and others actually survived the Great Havoc itself, inhabiting Aarde's underdark (dubbed the undermoon by the party). This information disturbed the characters as they tried to put a cascade of pieces to a large puzzle together...
* Knowing that more and more Drow have appeared in each encounter with the Elves of the Purple Order (invading from Aarde's remaining moon Sonaeed).
* Considering the shooting stars.
* Joseph Prex remembering an old St. Cuthbert seminary school prophecy taught by High Priest Miguel: "When the spots of the dark moon fall upon Aarde, the Halls of Prophecy must be revealed."
* And more memories: Revan recalled his paladin training, where he learned some of Khadgar's secrets, including the presence of the time lord Latham in the final great battle against the arch-villian iron golem, Lord Tenneous, over 500 years ago.
So, the party has a voyage to the nearly mythical city of Lhevix planned for the near future.
But first, the party returned to the Impervious and set out to explore the landing site of one of the shooting stars. As it turned out, the tapered egg shape in the large crater was steaming from the round front, and shooting snow from a 5' opening in the tapered end in back. The "shell" was adamantium. Joseph magically protected the party from cold damage, and Revan led the party single file into the nozzle's 100 mile per hour winds and spray of snow, into a widening tunnel of super high-pressure cold air and snow spotted with softball-sized, blackish brown, leathery rocks that turned out to be drider eggs. A couple party members ate some eggs, which contained weak poison, but survived. Within what turned out to be a colonizer pod, the party battled a large number of driders (probably 200 or more), beginning with eggs and small young near the nozzle and mature adult guards near the warm part in front. The tightly packed enemy attacked the party in a battle that would have been difficult if not impossible for the party if not for Joseph's flame strikes, fireballs from Fergus, and Telpin's wand of lightning bolts. These area-of-effect spells made room for the party's melee fighters and archers to kill off surviving driders, some of whom were armed with shortbows. Driders with melee weapons had difficulty attacking party members in great numbers, as even by climbing and attacking from the ceiling and from webs, no more than eight drider warriors could attack any one party member. With their whirlwind attacks, Taito and Mick the Gangly were in their element. Flegol and Geena again had opportunity to shine in this battle, picking off survivors and removing ranged threats.Revan, unable to charge with his pegasis in tight quarters, still fought amazingly, shrugging off scores of attacks and methodically smiting enemies before him. The final drider, older and better equipped than the others, was assumed to have been the leader. After defeating the driders, the party explored the colonizer pod and found it to be loaded with food, some tools and weapons and building materials, and a small pilot station with a glassteel window and wires leading back to a nozzle adjuster in the rear. Left unchecked, a single colonizer pod, with its many eggs would breed and train an army of over 1,000 driders loyal to the purple order. Are all the colonizer pods populated with driders? If the history of the Jaramonians is any indication, probably not.
Experience:3,000 xp. Treasure: Immortality and adamantium.
Okay, here we go. So the party, now the proud owners of the spelljammer Impervious, set down on the beach of the Quooly desert, near a pyramid they spotted from the air, and sent out an expeditionary force as shooting stars fell in the distance. After fighting a group of elf-charmed thri-kreen insect-people outside one of their strange, tall rounded sandstone fortress/settlements, Lola, Geena, Aiko, Revan, Buddy Nagel (Flegol's kobold cleric friend), Flegol, Henderson, Nightsong Sharpfang, Telpin, Mick the Gangly, Fergus, Joseph Prex, Rivet, Taito and Black-Eyed Bill advanced to the steep-sided pyramid, a ziggarut in the distance. With great difficulty and a bit of luck, Rivet gained entry through a hidden stone panel in the side, after also figuring out the stone button-symbol combination lock (the symbols were in Draconic). For reasons unknown to the party, the pyramid was vacant, with a heavy layer of dust and a lot of bones in the dark interior. Rivet (mostly) and Henderson found and disabled a large number of magical traps as the party explored the chambers: teleportation circles, petrification zones, a hold person-mass, a powerful sonic burst alarm and a couple of disintigration traps. Fortunately, both of the party's rogues were reptilian (a kobold and a lizardman) or the entire pyramid would have filled with poison gas, and a couple of the traps simply gave magic mouth warnings/messages of mercy instead of going off. At one point, about half of the party were teleported to a distant island, but Fergus had a scroll of teleport, and used it to get them back to where they stood just before the stepped into that trap. Ancient hieroglyphs, interpreted by Joseph, Revan and Fergus, revealed that the ziggarut was a temple to Io, the ancient dragon god considered to be neither evil nor good. After a great deal of exploration, the party found a brass fountain on the top level of the pyramid interior. The NPC bards Telpin and Nightsong Sharpfang (a gnome and a kobold) helped identify that it was a Fountain of Youth, believed to be one of only seven parts of the original brass fountain of the gods in existance--the others being lost, hidden or owned secretly...
In the lowest level of the ziggarut was a tablet, protected by lizardman skeletons that were instantly turned to dust by Joseph. The ancient tablet, made of adamantium-impregnated stone, is older than the ancient pyramid and likely to have been transplanted from a much older structure. The combined skills and knowledge of the party translated the meaning: elves of the moon Soboff were the first drow, and though they enraged the gods into pushing their moon into Aarde, many escaped, and others actually survived the Great Havoc itself, inhabiting Aarde's underdark (dubbed the undermoon by the party). This information disturbed the characters as they tried to put a cascade of pieces to a large puzzle together...
* Knowing that more and more Drow have appeared in each encounter with the Elves of the Purple Order (invading from Aarde's remaining moon Sonaeed).
* Considering the shooting stars.
* Joseph Prex remembering an old St. Cuthbert seminary school prophecy taught by High Priest Miguel: "When the spots of the dark moon fall upon Aarde, the Halls of Prophecy must be revealed."
* And more memories: Revan recalled his paladin training, where he learned some of Khadgar's secrets, including the presence of the time lord Latham in the final great battle against the arch-villian iron golem, Lord Tenneous, over 500 years ago.
So, the party has a voyage to the nearly mythical city of Lhevix planned for the near future.
But first, the party returned to the Impervious and set out to explore the landing site of one of the shooting stars. As it turned out, the tapered egg shape in the large crater was steaming from the round front, and shooting snow from a 5' opening in the tapered end in back. The "shell" was adamantium. Joseph magically protected the party from cold damage, and Revan led the party single file into the nozzle's 100 mile per hour winds and spray of snow, into a widening tunnel of super high-pressure cold air and snow spotted with softball-sized, blackish brown, leathery rocks that turned out to be drider eggs. A couple party members ate some eggs, which contained weak poison, but survived. Within what turned out to be a colonizer pod, the party battled a large number of driders (probably 200 or more), beginning with eggs and small young near the nozzle and mature adult guards near the warm part in front. The tightly packed enemy attacked the party in a battle that would have been difficult if not impossible for the party if not for Joseph's flame strikes, fireballs from Fergus, and Telpin's wand of lightning bolts. These area-of-effect spells made room for the party's melee fighters and archers to kill off surviving driders, some of whom were armed with shortbows. Driders with melee weapons had difficulty attacking party members in great numbers, as even by climbing and attacking from the ceiling and from webs, no more than eight drider warriors could attack any one party member. With their whirlwind attacks, Taito and Mick the Gangly were in their element. Flegol and Geena again had opportunity to shine in this battle, picking off survivors and removing ranged threats.Revan, unable to charge with his pegasis in tight quarters, still fought amazingly, shrugging off scores of attacks and methodically smiting enemies before him. The final drider, older and better equipped than the others, was assumed to have been the leader. After defeating the driders, the party explored the colonizer pod and found it to be loaded with food, some tools and weapons and building materials, and a small pilot station with a glassteel window and wires leading back to a nozzle adjuster in the rear. Left unchecked, a single colonizer pod, with its many eggs would breed and train an army of over 1,000 driders loyal to the purple order. Are all the colonizer pods populated with driders? If the history of the Jaramonians is any indication, probably not.
Experience:3,000 xp. Treasure: Immortality and adamantium.
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