Tantris - Session 7

Game Date 8/22/09
Characters:

Rolan Daan (Bryan) - Elf Rogue

Rhogar Burnscale (Rick) - Dragonborn Fighter

Nara Cavell (Matt) - Human Cleric of Pelor

Nara's Journal:

I don't know what to do next. We've tried a few mountain trails, and we thought we saw a temple in the distance. But when we later took another trail for a closer look, that temple turned out to be ruins. Was my church mistaken? Were those ruins the source of the rumors that sent us here? We've asked many local miners and explorers about the region, and no one has seen a temple. I don't know how much longer I can keep searching random mountain trails. It is unfair to keep Rolan and Rhogar in my service, when they would probably be happier pursuing more profitable opportunities. Rolan has already complained that we're on a wild goose chase, insisting that he "just knows" that the temple doesn't exist.

But of course, Rolan has been exhibiting all sorts of suspicious behavior. One night, when we were camping on the mountain trail, Rolan went out to hunt. When he returned from hunting, he immediately left to wash his prey's blood stains from his backpack. He didn't come back until the following morning, with an outrageous story about being attacked. I didn't press the issue; I have enough problems. If he is hiding something, I can only hope it's not something too sinister.

We encountered an Army from Everesk, and Rolan's ability to lie most likely saved our lives. And shortly after the battalion passed us, they were slaughtered by an unknown force. I don't know what to make of that. And more recently we encountered a party of Orcs, who we defeated thanks to Rhogar's battle prowess. But I seriously doubt it was Orcs that defeated the Everesk troops.

I think we're running out of options. Every path has been a dead end, and I currently have no leads. I hate to return to Tantris empty-handed, but I don't see that I have much choice.

As always, I pray to Pelor for guidance and insight. For yours is the one light, the true light, and the brightest light. Honor to your name.

- Nara Cavell

OOC:

We had an audience! Matt2's and Bryan's significant others decided to sit in on this session, to see what it was all about. Oh, and Bryan's dogs were present as well, but they didn't get as much out of it.

When Rolan disappeared overnight, it was to meet with the Dark Fang Guild, of which he became a member in the previous session. The guildhouse had a very dangerous method of entry, a path worthy of the Umbrella Corporation. Rolan is still not allowed to tell Nara or Rhogar of his membership in the guild, and all three of us will be in danger if he lets it slip. Nor is he allowed to let us find that temple. After asking another guild member for guidance, Rolan was given the tip of guiding us up the path which gave us a view of the ruins.

XP Rewards:

Rhogar - 165 XP (100+65) - Total XP now 1729

Rolan - 170 XP (100+70) - Total XP now 1838

Nara - 165 XP (100+65) - Total XP now 1753

Praktas - The Bounty Hunter Guild

Game Date: 8/22/09

Characters:
Drew Baker (Bryan) - Human Fighter (Tempest style)
Damakos Redhorn (Rick) - Tiefling Rogue (Brutal style)

Okay, so maybe we're a bit nuts here, a bit D&D obsessed... we were already having a busy gaming day, with an LFR game in the morning, and a Tantris game in the evening. But we had a couple of hours between sessions, and I knew this one thing would only take about 20 minutes. So I had them take the test to become members of the Bounty Hunter Guild.

Some background info:
Trasa does have town guards, but they spend most of their time preventing crimes. They do not have the resources for city-funded criminal investigations. If someone must be found, they generally rely on the Bounty Hunter Guild. Bounty Hunters in Trasa work with the full support of Trasa's government. Rewards are usually posted by the families of murder victims, people who've had treasures stolen, and so on. Sometimes rewards are posted by groups or organizations, sometimes a collection is taken up to pay a bounty, and in rare cases, for serious crimes, Trasa's government itself might post a reward. But most of the time, bounties are posted by those who can afford to pay a reward. For this reason, justice in Trasa is often considered to be a rich person's luxury, even though Trasa's actual courts are extremely fair.

Not just anyone can post a bounty on anyone - To post a bounty in Trasa, the fugitive has to be accused of breaking a law in Trasa. The purpose of the bounty hunters is to retrieve these fugitives so they can get a fair trial in court. Of course, most fugitives do end up being found guilty, since the truly innocent ones are more likely to trust the courts than to run.

Bounty Hunter Guild Rules:

1. All bounty hunting within Trasa must be done by guild members. Otherwise it is vigilantism, which is illegal in Trasa.

2. You must register for a specific bounty before you are allowed to actively pursue their capture. You may not register more than three bounties at a time. If you happen to encounter a fugitive whom you are not currently registered to capture, it is still permissible to detain them and collect the reward, provided you do not interfere with another guild member's capture. (See rule #5.) However, if a guild member frequently collects bounties without having registered for them first, the member might be investigated.

3. All reward amounts posted are for live capture. If bounty is killed, the reward is halved. If dead, the hunter must bring in the corpse (or at least head) as proof. There are spells to confirm identity, lest a hunter attempt to deceive the guild with a fake corpse.

4. Bounties should only be killed in self-defense, and excessive force should only be used as a last option. Many fugitives will later stand trial in the Trasa Court, so a hunter who kills is acting as judge, jury, and executioner. If a hunter appears to have an unusually high kill rate, they will be investigated by the guild.

5. Stealing another hunter's captive is called "Carrion Hunting", and is not tolerated. The guild tries to distribute hunts so that multiple hunters are not hunting the same fugitive at the same time. If another member's captive escapes, you may assist the recapture, because apprehending the criminal is always more important than the distribution of the reward. In such a case, Guild Council will decide how the reward is to be divided.

6. While within Trasa's city limits, you must not break any of Trasa's laws while pursuing your prey. If your hunt requires you to visit another city, you must follow that city's laws while there. Many of the areas between cities are considered lawless, but the Guild rules always apply on any bounty.

Failure to comply with the above rules may result in expulsion from the guild. The Trasa Bounty Hunter guild complies with all of Trasa's laws, and will not protect its members from prosecution.

- Jordan Darkwynde, Head of Trasa Bounty Hunter Guild

Joining the Guild:
It usually costs a total of 5000 gp to join the guild. It costs 1000 gp to take the test, and if you pass, you pay the remaining 4000 for the Bounty Hunter License.

You must pass test to get the license. If you fail the test, the 1000 is non-refundable. You can retake the test as many times as you want, as often as you want, but it costs 1000 each time.

The license itself takes the form of a magic glowing tattoo of dagger on your wrist (right or left is your choice, as is tattoo color). The tattoo gives off a small amount of light, so the guild recommends you wear a wristband over it. If a wrist tattoo isn't appropriate for your character (like if he has no arms, or doesn't have normal skin), alternative locations and/or identifiers are available.

If you quit or are expelled from the guild, you must have the tattoo removed at your own cost (done by guild wizard, 1000 gp). Ex-members who display the tattoo will be hunted and arrested. If you are unable to pay for the 1000 for the tattoo's removal, the guild will either burn it off (100 gp), leaving disfiguring scars, or cut off the hand above the tattoo (free).

Guild test:
First there is a written test, followed by some physical challenges and skill tests. In total there are 10 skill checks. Some skill checks have two skills listed; the applicant may choose which one to roll. One time during the test, you may spend an action point to reroll a low roll. You must keep the second roll. If you roll a natural 20, you get 5 additional points. (Points for style)

Once I add up all the results, I divide the total by 2 (rounding up), and that is the final score. You must score 70 or above to pass. Higher or lower scores can have some additional bonuses:

100+ - Perfect score, and they will waive the 4000 membership fee, for the honor of having such a skilled hunter.
91-99 - They charge you half price on your entrance fee, 2000 instead of 4000.
86-90 - They give you 10% off your entrance fee, 3600 instead of 4000.
70-85 - Passing. Still have to pay the full entrance fee of 4000.
60-69 - Fail, but will let you retake the test once for half price (500)
Under 60 - Flunk, must pay the full 1000 to retake test.

In addition to passing the test, you also get 1000 xp to represent the following weeks of guild training. This is a one time bonus (i.e. you couldn't repeatedly leave and re-join the guild for xp).

Quick Breakdown:
01. Written Test (History/Insight)
02. Basic Fighting (Athletics/Acrobatics)
03. Endurance Fighting (Endurance/Heal)
04. Defense from Magic (Arcana/Religion)
05. Sneaking and Hiding (Stealth)
06. Open Lock (Thievery/Dungeoneering)
07. Searching (Perception)
08. Information Gathering (Streetwise)
09. Convincing (Diplomacy/Intimidate/Bluff)
10. Forest Tracking (Nature)

Roleplay:
You are taken into a room, where you sit down at a desk. (If both, mention someone standing over them making sure they don't cheat.) You are handed a sheet of paper filled with general knowledge questions, as well as questions about Trasa's laws and Bounty Hunter lore. Some are multiple choice, some are fill-in-the-blank, and some are True/False. You are given a quill and some ink, and 15 minutes to fill out the test. (History or Insight Check)

Your tests are taken away and graded. You are then led down some stairs and into what appears to be a training room. It is a large, open room, filled with fighting rings, training mats, attack dummies, and archery targets. You see many guild members sparring and practicing their skills. Some members are watching you from a distance, sizing up the fresh meat. You overhear a pair of guild members placing bets on your performance.

Your trainer stands on a balance beam, and instructs you to stand on the other end. Then he raises his fists, and instructs you to attack him unarmed. The two of you fight for a while, having to maintain your balance while trading blows. (Athletics or Acrobatics Check)

Then he gets you off the beam, and continues to test you, mixing boxing and wrestling. He is much more skilled than you are, and easily avoids your attacks, but he doesn't seem to be trying to win so much as studying your level of skill. He changes his fighting style often, and at one point gives you a choice of fake weapons so he can test your armed fighting skills. You fight for a very long time, until it seems to be a test of your stamina as well as your fighting skill. He is clearly trying to see how long you can last. (Endurance or Heal Check)

Then he picks up a wand and starts casting spells. The spells are harmless, causing pain but no damage. He is testing your ability to avoid them, negate them, or counter them. (Arcana or Religion Check) Finally he declares that part of the test is over.

Next, he takes you into a long, dimly-lit room, with several columns at 10-foot intervals. Every 15 seconds the room's lights come on, and stay on for 5 seconds before going out again. At the far end of the room is a large chest. The instructor hands you a lockpick, and a pair of noisy metal boots to wear. You have to walk from one side of the room to the other, making as little noise as possible, then figure out how to turn the lights off for good, and open the chest. Whenever the lights come on, you must hide behind the nearest column as quickly as possible. (Stealth Check) When you reach the chest, the lights stay off. You must use the lockpick to open the chest, or find another way to open it. (Thievery or Dungeoneering Check) You struggle with it for a few minutes, finally opening the lock.

Inside the chest is a drawing of a man's face. The trainer asks you, "When we were in the training room earlier, and you saw the other guild members training, where was this guild member standing?" (Perception Check)

He leads you up some stairs, then leads you back outside the guildhouse. "You're almost done. Now you just have to tell me my name. Ask around the West side of Trasa until you find out. (Streetwise Check) Eventually you will find the right person to ask, but you still have to convince them to part with the info. (Intimidate, Bluff, or Diplomacy Check)

Then come find me. I will be hiding in the forest outside Trasa's Western gate." (Nature Check) You follow his tracks, and find him hiding up in a tree. He leads you back to the guild house to tally up your score.

Results:
Damakos passed on his first try, with a score of 85. Drew failed on his first time, with a 62. His score was high enough to rate a half-price retest, and he passed the second time, with a score of 86.

XP Rewards:
1000 xp each, as a result of the six-week training period that follows membership.

LFR - Lost In The Fog

8/22/09 - The Game Keep

Module WATE1-5: Lost In The Fog (Low Difficulty)

Characters (from my group):

Krusk (Rick) - Level 1 Half-Orc Rogue (Brutal)

Rhogar (Bryan) - Level 1 Dragonborn Fighter (Great Weapon)

Voranna (Matt 1) - Level 2 Eladrin Ranger (Archer)

Merric (Matt 2) - Level 1 Halfling Rogue (Trickster)

Also in the group: Another fighter and another Halfling Rogue.

A lot of people signed up for this game, so they divided it into two groups. At first, our group was just the four of us, which was a bit disappointing. After all, one of the fun parts of LFR is playing with new people. Then two more joined our table. It was a very unbalanced party - no spellcasters, no healers. We *almost* had a bard, but the character had already played this module, so that's who became the second Halfling Rogue.

We did... poorly. There were two combat encounters, and both of them had most of us getting pounded into the ground. But nobody died. In the final encounter, Voranna was the last one standing, and had to chase down the final enemy before he escaped.

Rewards:

Everyone received 400 xp and 75 gp. Rhogar and Krusk got a healing potion, and Voranna got a +1 Thunderburst Longbow.

Praktas - Small Sacrifices

Game Date: 8/14/09

Characters:
Tirah (Misty) - Deva Wizard (Wand)
Dorath (Bryan) - Goliath Fighter (Great Weapon Style)

Misty had never played before, and just wanted to see what Bryan had been doing all these Saturdays. So, I threw together a short adventure, just long enough to show her how the game works. Predictably, she enjoyed the roleplay parts more than the combat, while Bryan was the exact opposite.

I was hoping that we'd have at least one more player, but since we didn't, I had to nerf the difficulty a bit so it would be survivable. Bryan was originally going to play a Shifter Rogue, but I convinced him a sturdier fighter would be better for such a small party.

This adventure was inspired by "Hall of the Spider God", which appeared in "Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition For Dummies". The players heard about child kidnappings, on the poor side of town. The only witness saw a short purple-cloaked figure taking a child into the sewers. After descending into the sewers, the PCs followed some strange tracks until they found a secret door. The door led them to a set of hallways, with five rooms:
Doors 1, 3, and 4 were wooden and unlocked. Door two was a sturdy stone door, and was locked. Door 5 was gold plated stone, with religious symbols on it. It was also locked.

First they listened at each door. At door 1, they heard kobolds talking in Draconic, something about preparing the next sacrifice for the worm. At door 3 they heard some orcs arguing about wanting to eat one of the children. Since door two was the strongest, they figured (correctly) that the children were hidden in there. Dorath attempted to knock it down, but failed horribly, and the noise drew an orc into the hallway.

After defeating the orc, they realized the key must be in one of the other rooms. They tried room 3 first, fought an orc and two kobold minions, and found the key to door 5. Then they tried room 1, fought four kobold minions, and found the key to room 2.

In room 2, there was a cage holding three children. There were two skeletons standing perfectly still, guarding the cage. As one of the players prepared to step into the room, one of the children called out, "Wait!" The child had recognized that the PCs weren't kobolds or orcs, and warned them that stepping on the floor activates the skeletons. The child explained that whenever the orcs come into the room, they wave a wand around which controls the skeletons.

The PCs then tried room 3, fought another orc, and found the wand. Back in room 2, they freed the children, and took them back to the surface. They rested for the night, and returned the next morning to tackle room 5.

After a religion check, Tirah recognized the symbols on door 5 as those of "The Cult of the Purple Worm". They entered the room, both wearing purple cult robes they'd acquired in previous rooms. They saw two kobolds chanting in front of an altar. Upon the altar was a boy, tied-up but otherwise healthy. Tirah managed to convince the kobolds that she was their leader (she rolled very high, and the kobolds were very stupid). She ordered them to leave the room, and they complied. As Tirah started to tend to the boy, the ground began to rumble. Suddenly a giant purple worm burst out of the ground.

Note that a purple worm is not an appropriate encounter for a pair of level 1 characters, but this wasn't really statted like an actual purple worm. As I pulled out the miniature, I told them (OOC), "Don't be scared by the size of the mini; it's not as bad as it looks." To which Bryan replied, "Isn't that what you said a few months ago, right before our first characters were killed?"

Dorath kept the worm busy while Tirah grabbed the boy and took him to the safety of the hallway. Then she returned and helped Dorath finish the creature off. Tirah found a scripture book, and flipped through it. Reading between the lines, she realized the true story: This was actually a very old, decrepit purple worm, on its last legs (so to speak), and too weak to fend for itself. The kobolds found it, started worshiping it, and fed it children they had kidnapped.

Having cleared out absolutely everything (I forgot about the pair of kobolds that Tirah ordered out of the room), the party took the child back to the surface and claimed their reward.

XP Rewards: 360 each.

Praktas - The Pirate Queen

Game Date: 8/8/09

Characters:
Drew Baker (Bryan) - Human Fighter (Tempest style)
Damakos Redhorn (Rick) - Tiefling Rogue (Brutal style)
Ruu - Drew Baker's pet bear
Jacob - Damakos Redhorn's pet wolf.
Hector Goldheart (NPC) - Dwarven Cleric of Moradin

House Rule Clarification:

One small change to the house rules set up in the last session. Last time we had the players and their pets both rolling initiatives. Now we're just having each player's pet go after their owner.

Last Session Wrap-Up:
When we last left our, uh, "heroes", they had defeated the Necromancer Predek. Their vampiric curse now broken, the adventurers set out from Predek's Tower to turn in the evildoer and (more importantly) collect their reward. They wanted to loot the tower, but Hector forbade them from doing so. "These objects belong to the church now," Hector explained. "We 'ave to make sure none of it is cursed. You try to use anythin' you find 'ere, and it's as likely to blow up in your face as to do ya any good!" Since the objects were mostly arcane in nature, and therefore unlikely to be useful to our melee-oriented adventurers, they didn't push the issue.

As they left the tower, the building vanished behind them. Hector cursed and muttered something about unholy necromancers and their extra-dimensional lairs. They passed back through the town of Mil, where the halfling citizens were very happy to see Predek in captivity, and offered to pay a reward if the necromancer were to be released into their custody. Knowing that a much larger reward would be waiting for them in Trasa, the PCs declined the offer and continued their journey.

It was a two day ride back to Trasa on horseback. The first night, they set up camp, and Drew had the first watch. About two hours in, he heard something shuffling in the woods, and so he woke up his companions. They soon found that they were surrounded by undead monsters, bent on freeing their dark lord. All in all there were four normal skeletons, a blazing skeleton, a skeletal wolf, a zombie, and a wraith. Hector immediately recognized that the wraith was the only enemy with any sort of intelligence, and warned the others not to let it reach Predek, lest it find a way to undo Predek's magical bonds.

It was a decent battle, but in the end, the so-called good guys won the day. The rest of the ride back to Trasa was uneventful. They turned in Predek, got their reward, and checked in at the church of Moradin. The High Priest looked over their vampire bites, and declared them completely healed and curse-free. As a parting gift, Hector gave each of the adventurers two scrolls of recall, which can be used to teleport back to Trasa in a pinch.

The Pirate Queen

A few days later, Drew and Damakos were having lunch at "Dreg's Shanty", a run-down seafood restaurant/tavern near Trasa's southern docks. They noticed an odd woman sitting at another table... she was dressed in mismatched clothing with messy hair, and had a rather obvious facial tic. But what really got their attention was the way she kept talking to thin air. She noticed them looking and waved them over.

She introduced herself as Madeline "Mad" Starkraven, and introduced the empty seat next to her as Merea Scorne. Madeline seemed to be a bit on the eccentric side, saying random things and having violent mood swings. Every few sentences I would roll this die to determine her next mood:

Mood Die

Madeline explained to them that Merea was a ghost, and was haunting her as revenge. Madeline had once been a member of the Hell's Fury, an all-female pirate crew commanded by Merea. One day Madeline grew a conscience, set the ship on fire, and swam for shore as the ship exploded behind her (they'd been storing explosives on board). Ever since then, Merea's ghost had been tormenting her. Madeline believed that if she could just give Merea's body a proper burial, then the spirit would finally leave her alone. Madeline still remembered the exact location where the ship went down, and gave the adventurers instructions for procuring a ride. As payment, she offered them some gold and an enchanted shortsword. Madeline also gave them a Wanted poster, which revealed that there was a bounty out for Merea and her crew.

I was waiting for the players to ask her how they were supposed to breathe underwater when they found the ship's wreckage (a question which would have prompted her to give them a couple of potions of water breathing), but apparently the thought didn't occur to them. Actually, there were a lot of questions I'm surprised they didn't ask (would Merea's body still be at that spot at the bottom of the sea, after all this time, and after the ship exploded?), but I'll be kind and assume they didn't believe it would come to that. Once they saw the wanted poster, they probably figured out that the pirates would still be alive.

Drew and Damakos found a ride on the ship of a fisherman named Captain Jarran. A few days into the trip, they were in their cabin, when they heard shouting outside. They walked out on deck to find they were under attack by pirates. The pirates had secured the ships together with grappling hooks, and were in the process of setting down a boarding plank between the ships:



This was a fairly large battle, with six pirates (all female), Captain Jarran, six of Jarran's crew, Drew, Damakos, and their pets. It began with the crews of both ships firing crossbows at each other from their own ships, until two of the pirates started crossing the plank. Damakos used a rigging line to swing to the other ship, and took out more than his share of pirates. After a few minutes, three more pirates came on deck, including the acting captain Risha Thryst.

Risha was a bit exasperated that her crew was having so much trouble with a simple fishing vessel. Soon she was the last one standing of her crew, and she surrendered once she realized she was so outnumbered. They interrogated her, asking her questions about Merea. It turned out Merea was alive and well, having escaped her ship before the fire had spread to the explosives. She called herself the Pirate Queen now, and rarely went out on missions herself any more, preferring to send out her captains on raids.

Risha refused to reveal the location of Merea's hideout. Damakos searched her cabin, and found several sea charts, showing a lot of the ship's routes. All of them had the same origin point, a tiny isle labeled "No-Man's Island". They managed to get both ships back to Trasa, turned in Risha and her crew to the proper authorities, then piloted the pirate ship to No-Man's Island.

They anchored the ship a bit off shore, and took a landing craft to the beach. Jarran took six of his crew members, all of whom were wearing red shirts, and the large party began exploring the island. They were eventually ambushed at the base of a hill in the middle of the island, but managed to take their attackers down pretty quickly. They noticed that a couple of the pirates had emerged from hidden hatches in the side of the hill, so that was the next place the party explored.

They found a long, well-lit tunnel. Parts of it were just natural caves, and other areas had been carved by sentient hands. They reached a place where the tunnel split. Jarren took his crew left, while the PCs and their pets went right. Soon the players passed a door on their right, and chose to investigate this side room before continuing down the tunnel. Damakos showed amazing stealth ability as he quietly opened the door and looked around. It was the living quarters, filled with bunk beds. On the opposite side of the room, there was another door, through which he could hear running water... and singing. They decided not to check it out any further, and continued down the tunnel.

The road not taken: Had they investigated, they would have found that the far room was a bathroom and shower. They would have seen a woman showering, her back to them as they entered the bathroom. They might have assumed that she was oblivious to their entrance, or they might have realized it was a trap. It would be obvious to them that she was unarmed, so they might have felt safe even if they were expecting a trap. As soon as they prepared any sort of attack, she would have turned around and smiled, before casting Acid Orb, then turning into a cougar. Callexia Galean is a Druid assassin, and her name was also on the Wanted poster they'd seen earlier. Upon hearing their cue, four exceptionally sneaky pirate minions would have rolled out from underneath their bunk beds, thereby sandwiching the PCs. Of course, this was all dependent on the players not attempting to look under the beds on the way in.

Anyway, they didn't fall for it. They reached another door at the end of the hallway. Damakos rolled very high on his stealth check, and managed to peek through the door without being seen. It was the training room, filled with combat dummies, archery targets, and weapons racks. There were two other exits from the room - one small door identical to the one Damakos was using, and a large set of double doors. There were four pirates in the room, barricading the double doors. Damakos rolled another high stealth check, tip-toed into the room, and clobbered one of the pirates with a sneak attack.

After the four pirates were defeated, the PCs sat down to rest, and Captain Jarran came through the opposite small door, alone. His group had been ambushed in the dining hall. Only two of his crew were still alive, but one was greatly injured, and the other was tending to his injuries. Jarren joined the PCs as they unbarricaded and unlocked the door.

One hallway later, they found the throne room. Damakos was not as successful in getting through this door silently, but it probably wouldn't have mattered if he had, as Merea was well aware of the invasion. The Pirate Queen sat on her throne, flanked by her caster Lyyra Syyr, and her Dwarven bodyguard Bruta Grax. There were also four minions standing about the room. After a short bit of dialogue in which Merea refused to surrender quietly, the battle began.

Merea, Bruta, and Lyyra were tough customers. All three were completely custom, thrown together using whatever powers I thought suited their personalities. Merea was a dual-wielding swashbuckler, Lyyra was a powerful caster, and Bruta was an armored tank. Under normal conditions, it would have been a very long battle.

However. In a previous session, I allowed the PCs to find a very powerful grenade-like weapon, the, um... *cough* Holy Hand Grenade. *cough* I statted it myself. It has a complicated list of instructions for throwing it, but it does colossal damage, and has a huge blast radius. Where it lands is based on the player's die rolls, and Bryan unfortunately rolled fairly low. It bounced off a few walls, and still managed to do a lot of good. It vaporized all four minions, and stunned and knocked down all three bosses, along with Drew. The rest of the PCs were unaffected, because they were still hiding in the hallway.

While the bosses were stunned/prone, the PCs took every possible advantage of the situation. Later, when Lyyra created a zone of fire, the PCs kept pushing Merea into it, and blocking her from exiting in any way that didn't result in her getting flanked. It was still a long fight, but the Grenade made it a lot shorter. I was planning to have Lyyra teleport away when she reached 1/4 health, but they managed to finish her off too quickly. When Merea got down to 1/4, she surrendered, as she was the only one left and surrounded on all sides.

After the battle was over, the adventurers rooted through Merea's personal quarters, and found some treasure maps labeled "Arachna Island". Everyone returned to Trasa, and turned in the pirates they had captured, including Merea, Bruta, and Lyyra. They went back to the living quarters on their way out, but it was completely empty. Apparently Callexia knew Merea had been defeated, and felt it was better to escape now and fight another day.

Madeline Starkraven didn't take the news well. The revelation that Merea was alive meant that Mad was truly crazy. Still, she stayed true to her word, and gave the PCs their reward. That's where we ended the session. Next time, they plan to check out this mysterious Arachna Island. They also plan to join the Bounty Hunter Guild, whose entrance exam is quite extensive.

Funny note: The most damage any player took in this session was party inflicted. At one point Drew rolled a 1, and using the fumble chart I introduced last session, he rolled a low number. He ended up throwing his weapon, which hit Damakos in the face, and critted. Ouch.

XP Rewards:
I know I designed the adventure, but I was actually surprised there was as much XP as there was. Sure, the battles were large, but the players had some sort of help with almost every battle, which should have soaked up some of the XP. They had their pets with them at all times, and were often joined by numerous NPC allies.

Stat-wise, they were some difficult encounters. However, I rolled absolutely horribly on my attack rolls the entire night. So much so, that it became a running gag. I kept switching out my d20s, but that didn't help. But even with my ineptitude, I do feel the players definitely earned what they got.

Encounter 1 (Undead): 500/5=100
Turn in Predek: 300/3=100
Encounter 2 (Pirate Ship): 600/11=55
Turn in Risha: 100/3=33
Encounter 3 (Hell's Fury Ambush): 400/11=36
Encounter 4 (Training Room): 400/4=100
Encounter 5 (Merea): 700/5=140
Turn in Merea & Associates: 400/3=133
Total each: 698

Drew and Damakos both reached level 3.

Tantris - Session 6

Game Date 7/25/09

Characters:
Rolan Daan (Bryan) - Elf Rogue
Rhogar Burnscale (Rick) - Dragonborn Fighter
Nara Cavell (Matt) - Human Cleric of Pelor

Nara's Journal:

I'm facing what I hope is only a minor crisis. Nothing so deadly as Orcs or demons or crazed religious zealots this time. This is more a matter of lost trust, and suspicion between friends. I consider myself an excellent judge of character, and I've always found Rolan to be a paragon of morality. But... and I feel bad even thinking this, so writing it down is absolutely painful... I think he's hiding something.

It started when we found out there was a war brewing. Being a loyal servent of Pelor, I quickly returned to my temple and asked what I could do to help. I was given the task of locating a temple in the northern mountains, and finding out whatever I could about it. I was allowed to take Rolan and Rhogar along for help, so we quickly set off in that direction.

We arrived at a mining community called "Miner's Forge", which is just south of the mountain range. We asked around town for information, but either the townsfolk are tight-lipped, or we're way off-course. We decided to check out the mountains themselves. Maybe if we could get high enough, we could actually see the temple on another peak somewhere. But we didn't even get close to a mountain trail before we were stopped by a guard. The miners are quite jumpy about claim-jumpers, so a trio like ours was met with immediate distrust. I was allowed to ask a few questions, however.

We soon learned that our best lead was to look for Elves. It seems that Elves are often hired for scout work, to find new areas to mine. We hoped to find and Elf who had seen the temple during his explorations. We returned to town, and waited at a tavern until nightfall, when miners began to return to town. We saw a group of Elves enter the tavern, but they proceeded to a private back room before we could talk to any of them. Being an Elf, Rolan thought it best if he checked it out alone.

He returned with an appointment to meet them at midnight. I got us a room at a local inn, and Rhogar and I stayed in when Rolan left for his errand.

A bit later, Rhogar and I heard a crash from the room next door, so we went to investigate. No one answered our knock, but the door was unlocked. We could see that the window had been broken, but it was too dark to see anything else. I returned to our room to get a lantern, and Rhogar stayed behind. As I got to my room, there was a man there, going through my backpack. Before I could react, he drew his crossbow and threatened me. I asked him what he wanted, trying to speak loud enough for Rhogar to hear. The man said he already had what he came for, and jumped out the window.

I couldn't follow, because I heard more noises next door, and I was afraid Rhogar might be in trouble. He wasn't. There had been an intruder in that room as well, but he was no match for my Dragonborn friend. In fact, by the time I got there, the trespasser was far to injured for me to revive him.

The only thing missing from my backpack was my book of scriptures. I haven't the slightest idea why someone would take that; it holds nothing of value to any who aren't faithful to Pelor, and there is nothing in there that I wouldn't gladly preach to any who asked. In fact, High Priest Josel has even considered making extra copies of the book to place in the dresser drawers of inns, so that travelers can discover Pelor's light.

So, in order to keep Rolan informed, we went straight to him and showed him the intruder's body. He had been puzzling over a logic problem he had been given, and we helped him solve the riddle. We ditched the body and returned to our room, while Rolan turned in the puzzle solution.

A bit later, the three of us were at the inn, when we heard what sounded like pebbles being thrown against the window. The three of us went down to investigate, which turned out to be a mistake... we really should have left someone in the room. Rolan was the first to return to the room. When I entered, he was holding my scripture book, but my backpack was gone.

Rolan told me that the book was just lying there, where my pack had been. I want to believe him, and the story makes sense... the pebbles were thrown against the window to draw us out of the room, so that someone could break in and steal my pack. But why would they return the book? What kind of burgler returns things? And Rolan's explanation itself seemed suspicious. Not the content, but the delivery - something about his eyes told me there was more to the story, something he decided to hold back.

But then, there wasn't really any solid reason to doubt him, so I let it slide. Rolan once again had to leave for an information hunt, and once again Rhogar and I stayed behind, sleeping in shifts. A few hours later, Rolan returned. He had found my pack, but he was covered in wounds, and collapsed as soon as he entered. Of course my first instinct was to help him, how could I not? It's what I do. As I write this, his wounds are bandaged, the healing power of Pelor is coursing over his body, and he is sleeping off what must have been a very interesting night.

It looks like he fought his way through the Nine Hells to get me that backpack. If I'd known it was going to be such a trial, I would have told him to let it go. I've never been materialistic, and possessions are much cheaper than blood. I respect Rolan, and I appreciate whatever he had to go through tonight. But he still has a lot of explaining to do when he wakes up.

- Nara Cavell


OOC:
Rolan has been recruited into an organization called the Dark Fang Guild. The logic problem (a D&D variation of the Einstein Quiz) was part of their initiation test. They were the ones who stole the book of scriptures, and gave Rolan the task of returning it to Nara's pack without her knowing about it. And then they went on to steal the pack, for use in their next test.

When Rolan returned to the Guild after the pack was stolen, they put him through one final test. They had him traverse a guildmaze full of dangerous traps. The first room was full of pendulum traps, and Rolan only survived by having a high reflex stat. The second room took the longest, and had Rolan finding his way through a maze of invisible walls, illusory monsters, and enchanted mirrors. The third room had a puzzle involving an hourglass, spinning blades, moving walls, and Nara's pack on a pedestal.

Rolan managed to survive all the tests (though I think the DM gave him a few free passes). He is now an official member of the guild. However, he is not allowed to tell anyone - presumably including Nara and Rhogar - about the guild. It will be very interesting to see what sort of story he tells them when he wakes up.

XP Rewards:
Rhogar - 550 XP (200+300+50) - Total XP now 1564
Rolan - 650 XP (200+300+150) - Total XP now 1668
Nara - 550 XP (200+300+50) - Total XP now 1588

LFR - Silent Streets and Vanished Souls

7/25/09 - The Game Keep
Module BALD1-4: Silent Streets and Vanished Souls (High Difficulty)

Characters (from my group):
Krusk (Rick) - Level 1 Half-Orc Rogue (Brutal)
Rhogar (Bryan) - Level 1 Dragonborn Fighter (Great Weapon)
Voranna (Matt 1) - Level 2 Eladrin Ranger (Archer)
Also in the group:
Mindartis - Eladrin Warlord
Denier - 2-Weapon Melee Ranger
Eradrinor - Swordmage

This was a very busy day for us. We were in the LFR game from 12-4, and we still played a Tantris session later (blog post to come).

This was my favorite LFR game I've played so far. We only had two combat encounters, and several skill challenges. Nothing about the module itself was specifically better than the others we've played, but I really enjoyed this group of players. We had my favorite LFR DM (Barry, who also DM'ed us through 4/11/09's "These Hallowed Halls"), some brutal fighting, and lots of joking around.

The Warlord character really stood out. He knew how to do his job perfectly, used excellent combat tactics, and constantly gave advice to other players on their turns. If he hadn't been playing a Warlord, I might have thought he was just one of those annoying players who wants to control the whole party. And maybe he is, but if so, the Warlord class suits him perfectly. We were very glad to have him in the party.

The first battle started out great. Krusk, who doesn't even generally act as a melee character, used his opening round to rush the most important enemy, and critted. With sneak attack damage. The rest of the fight didn't go as well, and most of us were hurting by the end (everyone but me, really). But Rick's lucky roll definitely made the battle easier than it could have been, so we were all thankful for that. The final enemy surrendered rather than face our group.

The second battle was also pretty difficult. There was one very large boss surrounded by smaller enemies, but they weren't minions. (I won't say what they were here, as it would be a spoiler for those who haven't played this module.) We all concentrated on the large enemy first, who took a while to take down. Once he was gone, the rest of the pack swarmed us, and tore some of us to shreds.

This was the first LFR game I've played where a character died (the 2-weapon Ranger). Because I shoot from a distance, I went the entire session without being targeted by any enemies. I think that's the second time I've gotten through an LFR game without losing any hit points.

Rewards:
Rhogar - 560 xp, 100 gp, Battlecrazed Greatsword +1
Krusk - 560 xp, 100 gp, Subtle Shortsword +1
Voranna - 560 xp, 175 gp.

Praktas - The Rat Lord's Lair

Game Date: 6/27/09

Characters:
Drew Baker (Bryan) - Human Fighter (Tempest style)
Damakos Redhorn (Rick) - Tiefling Rogue (Brutal style)

Surprise session:
Matt2 wasn't available to DM this weekend, so I ran them through a Praktas game. Parts of this session were taken from "The Rat Lord's Lair" (a short adventure detailed in "Dungeon Master for Dummies" 3.5 version).

We only have about 10 Tantris sessions left before Matt2 moves away, so I've been fleshing out the setting for the games I DM. Who knows how long it will be before we find another group, so in the meantime I want to make sure I'm prepared to DM as often as needed.

Geography:
So, I've designed a city where most of the action will take place, and some of the nearby areas. Most of it is taken from my NeverWinter Nights module, Itropa. The main city is Trasa (I'm already sometimes saying "Tantris" when I mean "Trasa"). It's a coastal town who gets a lot of its income from sea trade. A river flows through the center of town, emptying into the sea to the south. There are slums on the west side of town, and posh neighborhoods on the east side. Trasa's law enforcement relies partially on their Bounty Hunter Guild, which the PCs will eventually be able to join.

North of town is the Koramil forest, so-called because it lies between the Elven city of Kora (Northwest) and a small Halfling community called Mil (Northeast). Far to the north are the towns of Alta (a rich, snooty town) and Valos (a town ruled by criminals). To the East of Trasa there is a mountain range, in which lies the Orc town of Fist.

House Rules:
Since this will end up being a permanent alternate campaign setting, I've set up a few house rules for the group as well. This is a difficult campaign because we've only got two players, and they only like to play melee characters. It's mostly going to be fighters and thieves, so I've got to plan sessions around the fact that they can't heal or do high-damage spells. So most of the house rules are set to make things a little easier for them, but I might be overdoing it, so I'm sure some tweaking will be needed further down the line. Also, some rules have nothing to do with difficulty, and are just for fun. The rules so far:

1. Buyable Potions: Some magic items will be sold in stores, including healing potions. Of course, the players could take advantage of this by stocking up and using canned magic to get through a dungeon, but I doubt it. With 4e, even if you buy 1000 healing potions, you're still restricted by your max number of healing surges. And they probably won't want to spend too much money when they're trying to save up for more important things, like joining the Bounty Hunter Guild.

2. Magic Items: Official 4e rules have you unable to wear more than one magic item per level. In my game you can wear as many magic items as you want. However, there will still be limits to what items they can find or buy, so I'll still keep them from getting decked out like gods at first level.

3. Pets and Henchmen: The town has pets for sale, and henchmen for hire. I'm going to allow each player one pet at a time. The more powerful the pet, the more it costs. The player will control the pet, giving that player two turns per round. However, when controlling the pet, the player must treat the animal as a dumb animal. No battle strategies, coordinating with the owner, etc. The animal will run towards the nearest or most threatening enemy and attack it. So far they've handled this pretty well, but if they start taking advantage of it, I'll declare the DM as universal animal handler.

The party may have one hired henchman at a time (not including plot-related companions), and they are always DM-controlled. XP will be divided among all party members, including pets, and pets/henchmen do not gain levels. So it is in the party's best interest to keep a smaller group if they want to level faster. Hired henchmen will also demand a share of the loot.

4. Micromanagement: I am not going to worry about things like eating and rent, unless specific situations demand it. It is assumed that between adventures, the characters do other odd jobs that make them enough money to break even on the costs of living. Of course there may be the occasional adventure where they run low on food and have to keep track of it, or hunt and forage to survive. I'm also not going to worry about basic ammunition, since that's so cheap it barely matters. Of course, I will still have them keep track of magic ammunition.

5. Death: If the characters die, depending on circumstances, I will sometimes allow them to choose whether they remain dead, or have me come up with an explanation for their survival (with XP/GP loss). Once they make the decision for the characters to be dead, it’s final. Sometimes their next characters will find the bodies of their old characters, allowing the transfer of loot, but not always.

Whenever the two current characters die, or Bryan and Rick just get tired of them, I'd like to try running an evil campaign with a more balanced pair of characters. They would probably enjoy the upcoming Assassin class, so I hope to keep the current characters alive until Assassin is available in September. Given how rarely we play the Praktas sessions, it shouldn't be a problem.

6. Critical Miss: Just for fun, I have drawn up a Fumble Chart. If they roll a 1 on an attack roll, they will then roll a d100 on the fumble chart. Some outcomes are good, but most are bad, and the higher the better. I'm not going to let my players see the chart, nor will I detail it here. There are no loss-of-limb or instant death outcomes on the chart, though some of the bottom 10 can leave a permanent scar. Overall, it's not nearly as harsh as most fumble charts I've seen.

Even so, during this session, they managed to harm themselves a few times with the chart, so I don't know how well it went over. The funniest bit: Rick rolled a 1 on an attack roll. He rolled very high on the fumble chart, so high that his character recovered from his miss and managed to get in a second attack. On the second attack he rolled a one again, this time rolling low on the chart and hitting himself with the weapon.

7. Divine Intervention: Starting at second level, once per level, and only if you are in good standing with your deity, you may make a prayer which will be answered. It might not be answered the way you were hoping, and it should probably be reserved for life-or-death emergencies. These wishes can not be saved up; it resets at 1 each level. I got this idea from someone on the WOTC forums.

The Session:

When we last left Drew and Damakos, they had looted the bodies of Daalan and Ghargoff, then went for drinks to celebrate. While at the bar they were attacked by assassins, and the tavern burned to the ground.

While the town didn't specifically blame Drew and Damakos for the bar burning down, it was enough to get them labeled as troublemakers. They also recognized Drew's Lifedrinker Longsword as the one that had previously been wielded by the hero Daalan. So the pair was banished from Fallcrest.

They walked down the road for a few hours, just seeing where the trail led. Eventually a merchant wagon pulled up beside them and offered them a ride. The merchant's pet cougar was resting inside. The merchant was travelling to Trasa, and the three took turns driving for the next few days. On the last day of the trip, the wagon was attacked by bandits, and the merchant was killed. The players had to deal with an out-of-control, flaming cart filled with explosive firebombs. Then Drew, Damakos, and the cougar had to fight the bandits themselves (a human ranger with a pet wolf, and a female Dragonborn). The PCs quickly defeated the would-be thieves.

After a charisma check, the cougar decided Drew was her new best friend, and the three continued to Trasa on foot. Upon arrival, they spent overnight in at The Blue Acorn Inn. The next morning they found a job opportunity posted on the Inn's bulletin board. They players gambled a little while waiting for the bartender's attention.

This is the part that was taken from Dungeon Master for Dummies. The bartender, a gruff dwarf named Bjorn Wallbanger, took them through the back room, down some stairs, and to a locked door. Bjorn was very proud of the door, believing it to be impenetrable. This was his vault, where people paid him to keep their valuables. And yet, for the past few nights, some things had been disappearing.

Bjorn proposed that the PCs hide in some crates overnight, to see if they could catch the thief in the act. At about 2 AM, the PCs heard someone wandering around the room. The trespasser could smell them, and tried to trick the PCs into surrendering. The PCs jumped out of their crates and attacked. It was a halfling, who yelled, "You'll never catch Needletooth, Lord of the Rats!" as he dove behind some crates and ordered a couple of large rat minions to attack the PCs.

It was a short battle, but it still gave the Rat Lord time to escape. The PCs found a freshly-burrowed hole in the wall (it looked as if the hole had been opened and resealed several times). The bartender Bjorn then entered the room and offered the PCs more money if they would go through the tunnel. He promised them an even greater reward if they managed to retrieve the stolen items, and he was particularly worried about a certain missing dagger. He handed them a checklist of the stolen items:

1 bag of gems
3 bags of gold
1 pair of sandals
1 pair of boots
1 pair of bracers
1 pair of gloves
2 vials of liquid
1 exquisite dagger

The PCs widened the tunnel entrance and followed it down, until they reached a wide open chamber. It was full of goblin miners, to whom the Rat Lord shouted, "100 gold pieces to the goblin who brings me the heads of those intruders!" before darting out the far exit.

It didn't take long to kill the goblins, and the PCs continued on toward the final chamber. The Rat Lord's chamber was swarming with rats, covering the entire floor (counting as rough terrain). The encounter consisted of Needletooth, who now morphed into his were-rat form, accompanied by a younger were-rat companion and two rat minions. There was also one specific swarm of rats that moved randomly around the room, the only normal rats who could actually cause damage.

The enemies managed to spot them before they entered the room, and they got the highest initiative, so most of this battle was spent in the entrance hallway. This actually worked out well for the PCs, because it meant melee was one-on-one, and the cougar was in front. None of the enemies had ranged attacks (in retrospect I probably should have at least given the Rat Lord a crossbow).

After the Rat Lord was killed, the rest of the room's rats fled the room through various grates. This is the end of the part that was covered in Dungeon Master for Dummies.

The PCs found everything on the list except for the dagger. A few of the items looked very well-crafted, so the PCs decided to get them appraised before returning them. After all, they could always claim they only found some of the items. They also found a small egg-shaped device, and another vial of liquid with it.

Before leaving Needletooth's lair, they found a crumpled-up note:

Needletooth,
Meet me at my grave at Midnight. Bring the dagger.
- Mistress Rubin

On the back of the note was a badly drawn map of the local cemetary, with an X drawn over one of the crypts.

The next stop was Shifty's, a 24-hour pawn shop primarily frequented by thieves. "Hmmm, that's interesting," remarked Shifty, "a bartender was just in here earlier asking about a very similar list of items." The three bags of gold from the list contained a total of 120 coins, which was exactly the amount it cost to appraise the rest of the magic items. The PCs decided to keep some of them, and give a really good lie when returning the rest. The items:

1 bag of gems - Was worth 435 gp. Shifty offered 200, PCs decided to return them to Bjorn.
3 bags of gold - Totalled 120 gp. PCs used to pay Shifty to identify the magic items.
1 pair of sandals - Feyleaf Sandals. Damakos kept.
1 pair of boots - Catstep Boots. Drew kept.
1 pair of bracers - Bracers of Respite. PCs returned to Bjorn.
1 pair of gloves - Gloves of Kitten Summoning, a gag item of my own design. PCs returned.
2 vials of liquid - Potions of Regeneration. PCs returned.
egg-shaped device - Holy Hand Grenade. Another gag item, but a very powerful one that the PCs should probably save for a true emergency. PCs kept; it wasn't on the list anyway. The grenade was accompanied by another vial of liquid, which turned out to be a Potion of Protection from Radiant, which is meant to be taken before using the grenade, in case the thrower is caught in the blast radius. I have drawn up a very complicated set of instructions for use of the HHG, and if the thrower rolls badly, he could very easily kill himself.

So, the PCs returned to the Blue Acorn, and gave some of the items back to Bjorn. Damakos explained that they had only found a few of the items, but he didn't roll very high on his bluff check. Fortunately, the bartender really didn't seem to care much about the missing items, as he was mostly concerned about the dagger. The PCs managed to get him to elaborate on the dagger's importance. It turned out that the dagger was designed to kill a vampire that had been terrorizing the town. The PCs mentioned Needletooth's note, and Bjorn offered them even more money if they would go to the crypt and retrieve the dagger. He also mentioned that the town itself was offering a reward for the vampire's death.

The PCs spent the night at the Inn, and set out the next day for the graveyard. They made a conscious effort to reach the crypt early, so that it would still be daytime when they encountered the vampire's lair. Damakos had to pick the lock to enter the mausoleum, where they found a trapdoor with a ladder leading down into the darkness.

Eventually they found themselves in a long, skinny room:

The PCs started on the far left side, at the first red L. Five feet in, the room started to slope downwards. I wasn't quite sure what this would do to movement, so I ruled that they could add 1 to their move when going downhill, and subtract 1 if moving uphill. At the bottom of the slope was a pit, and the ground on the other side of the pit was level again. The far right wall had a lever on it (the purple L), and another ladder going down yet again (the bottom right L).

In front of the pit there were four skeletons (the blues S's). Once Drew, Damakos, and the cougar had reached the room's halfway point, they heard a sickening gloopy sound, like that of jellied cranberries being shaken out of a can. A gelatanous cube slowly slid down from a hole in the ceiling, landing where the green C's are on the map. It went from wall to wall, blocking any possible retreat. Each round it went downhill (to the right on the map) one square. So the battle now had a time limit.

The PCs killed three of the skeletons (Drew using the "Bull Rush" move to push one into the pit), and the cougar died during the battle. Once he had a clear path, Drew jumped over the pit and pulled the lever. This caused the pit to close so Damakos could run across. Just in time, too, as the cube was almost to the "S" squares by this time.

They then pushed the lever back so the pit would re-open, keeping the final skeleton and the cube from reaching them. Deciding not to push their luck (the surviving skeleton had a crossbow Damakos was bleeding profusely) they went down the ladder.

Damakos was out of healing surges, and retreat was no longer possible. So I decided to be nice to them. They managed to find an out-of-the-way alcove where Damakos could take an extended rest while Drew stood guard.

They finally found the vampire's lair. It was a 6x8 room (that's 30 feet by 40 feet), with a coffin in the center and an altar at the far end. The dagger was resting on the altar, and there were two levers on the wall, one on each side of the altar. Drew went to the coffin and thrust his sword through the top (it was empty), while Damakos retrieved the dagger. Then they decided to pull the levers, simultaneously. The noise alerted the vampire, who burst through the door, accompanied by a large vampire bat.

Okay, this trap didn't work out very well. How this was supposed to work: If the PCs hadn't pulled the levers themselves, once the vampire finally entered the room, she would have pulled the right-hand lever. Each round for the duration of the battle, there would be a mechanical sound in the walls, and a spike would shoot up from one square on the floor. I would roll a d6 and a d8 to decide which square (I had numbered the sides of the map to correspond to the die rolls), and if the square happened to be the altar or the coffin, nothing would happen. Well... only once during the battle did the square turn out not to be the coffin or the altar. The odds have got to be astronomical (though admittedly I did forget to do the spike on a couple of rounds).

The other lever filled the room with sunlight. Light reached all the squares except for the outer edges. Both the vampire and the bat hated sunlight, and at first stayed at the edges of the map. However, neither enemy had a ranged attack, so they had to risk the sunlight in order to damage the PCs.

Okay, originally I had intended to give the vampire natural regeneration, and the only effect of sunlight was to halt her regen. The bat wasn't going to be harmed by sunlight at all. However, it became clear early on that the PCs were outmatched, so I did a little nerfing on-the-fly. No regen, and both baddies could be damaged by sunlight. So anyway, the battle was tough at first, but the PCs eventually figured out ways to draw the enemies into the light. Both PCs got bitten by Mistress Rubin at least once during the course of the fight, bites which healed her a little.

Damakos used the exquisite dagger on her a lot during the fight, and it was the most damaging weapon they could have used. In reality it was just a +1 dagger, but against that specific vampire it was +5. I didn't tell them that I was adding extra damage, but they did realize it was the best weapon they had against her.

Once she died, they took her head, the dagger, and the only loot in the room (an Amulet of Health), and returned to the Blue Acorn. Bjorn sent a runner to the town council, who sent a representative to present the reward for the vampire. Bjorn let them keep the dagger, since it was no longer of any use to him.

That's when Bjorn noticed their vampire bites. He suggested they visit a friend of his, a High Priest of Moradin named Darrow Lightbeard. The High Priest examined the wounds, and told the players they were going to die if they couldn't get some sort of counter-curse within a tenday. It turned out that Mistress Rubin was not a true vampire, but rather the victim of a vampiric curse placed upon her by the Predek the Necromancer.

Darrow could not remove the curse without knowing how Predek did it, so he sent the PCs to find Predek's tower. He sent a cleric with them, a dwarf named Hector Goldheart. Hector had burns all over half of his face, which prevented him from growing a full beard. So he would shave the other half of the beard to match, leaving him with a long, curly goatee.

While in town, the PCs decided to buy a couple of more pets. Drew bought a bear, and Damakos bought a wolf. So the party now had five members. The church let them borrow a couple of horses, and it was two day's journey to Predek's tower. On the way they passed through the town of Mil, a halfling town that was once a graveyard. For some reason, the founders of the town had converted ancient mausoleums into houses. Well, the people of Mil now complained that the dead had been rising lately, and they felt it might be Predek's fault. So they offered an additional reward for Predek's capture.

The PCs arrived at Predek's tower. It was a circular tower, three stories high. There were no windows on the first two floors, but the front door was unlocked. Damakos peeked into the front door. The ground floor was one large, square room. It appeared to be larger on the inside than the tower was on the outside. There was a door on the opposite wall, with four locks. Four skeletons stood around the door, as unmoving as statues. Each skeleton held a sword in its right hand, and a key in its left. They didn't attack even as the party entered the room.

The PCs figured that the skeletons would probably come to life once the keys were taken, so Damakos, Drew, and Hector each stood in front of a skeleton and prepared to grab a key. When the first key was taken, the entrance door slammed shut and an illusion of Predek appeared and spoke a pre-recorded message:

“Hello, you have reached the Tower of Predek the Necromancer. I do not wish to be disturbed right now, which means you are not welcome here. Please enjoy your death, followed by your eternal servitude as one of my undead minions.”

Then the skeletons came to life. Also, the side walls started to move inward, making this battle another one with a time limit. Each skeleton was a regenerating minion - it took one hit to kill, but would come back to life on the next turn. But each would drop its key the first time it was killed.

With five PCs it didn't take long to get all the keys and leave the room. They found stairs to the second floor, which turned out to be Predek's living quarters, occupied by non-threatening skeletal servants. The party proceeded to the third level, Predek's office. Predek was bald and dark-skinned, and wore black robes. He enjoyed hurling insults at the party almost as much as throwing spells.

Even with 5 PCs, it was a long battle. Predek had a lot of spells, a lot of hit points, a lot of snarky comments, and the ability to summon undead minions. When he was finally defeated, the party chose to let him live, and forced him to work with Hector to compose a counter-curse. Finally the pair produced a couple of potions for the PCs. They had two options - drink the white potion, which would completely cure the vampire bites; or the black potion, which would prevent their deaths but leave them with the mark of the vampire.

The mechanics - I knew they would have enough XP at this point to reach level 2, so what the black potion was basically offering was the "Vampiric Heritage" feat. From Dragon Magazine #371, this feat gives you a +2 bonus to Perception and Insight checks to sense and recognize dhampyrs and undead. More importantly, it grants the "Blood Drain" encounter power. Blood Drain is a touch attack whereby you can damage a grabbed enemy while spending a healing surge. It's not very powerful, but it's still pretty cool to know your character is part vampire.

But they didn't go for it. They both drank the white potion. Hector took Predek into custody, and the party left the power. This is where we ended it for the night. I forgot about the reward waiting for them in Mil, so we'll have to remember that next time.

XP Rewards:

Encounter 1: Bandits x2 + Wolf = 400 xp/3 PCs = 133 xp each.
Encounter 2: Rat Minons x2 = 50 xp/3 PCs = 16 xp each.
Encounter 3: Goblins x4 = 400 xp/3 PCs = 133 xp each.
Encounter 4: Rat Lord + Wererat + Minions x2 = 350 xp/4 PCs = 87 xp each.
Encounter 5: Skeletons x4 = 600 xp/3 PCs = 200 xp each.
Encounter 6: Vampire & Bat = 450 xp/2 PCs = 225 xp each.
Encounter 7: Skeletal Minions x4 = 100 xp/5 PCs = 20 xp each.
Encounter 8: Predek = 500 xp/5 PCs = 100 xp each.
Quest Reward for The Rat Lord's Lair: 200 Each
Quest Reward for Mistress Rubin's Crypt: 300 Each
Total Each: 1414

This brings Drew and Damakos up to 1664 total xp each, and took them both to level 2.

Note:
To some it might seem that I'm being a little free with the XP, treasure, and gold. However, I wasn't sure how many of these encounters we'd actually get through in one night, and I really thought this was going to be two sessions worth of battles.

I'm still working on the balance and making a lot of mistakes. Remember that this campaign is for practice, both for them as players and for me as a DM. I'm experimenting with a lot of fun types of encounters and weird little traps, and some of the stuff I'm planning will require them to be a higher level. I could just have them roll up a couple of level 5 characters, but I'd rather play them through the levels it at a higher-than-normal pace. They may well end up leveling once per session, at least for the first few levels.

Reminder to Self:
Start next Praktas session with trip to Mil, to turn in Predek for more possible rewards (and more possible plot twists).

Tantris - Session 5

Game Date 6/13/09

Characters:
Rolan Daan (Bryan) - Elf Rogue
Rhogar Burnscale (Rick) - Dragonborn Fighter
Nara Cavell (Matt) - Human Cleric of Pelor

Nara's Journal:

Glorious day! The sun shines once again, and I can feel the love of Pelor in the air.

Unfortunatlely this will have to be a quick journal entry, as I am gearing up for war. Nevertheless I must record our success, in case I am killed in the upcoming battle.

Where to begin... I was walking by a house, and felt a strange compulsion to enter. It's not like me to enter random houses, but I felt that I had to. I was greeted by a man named Cyon. He had a... "presence" that I can not describe, only to say that I trusted him much more quickly than I should ever trust a stranger. Cyon requested a favor. He gave me a black coin which I was to deliver to the high priest of Coyn. He told me that the priest would know what it meant. The message would not be well received, but I would come to no harm. I could not have told you why at the time, but I accepted the task.

After the delivery, I found out what it meant - it was a combat challenge. I was to face Coyn's high priest at dawn. Rolan, Rhogar, and I returned to Rolan's dwelling to get some rest, where we once again encountered Cyon. Cyon - whom I believe to be an avatar of Coyn Himself - explained that the high priest was not in Coyn's favor, and that we would have Coyn's blessing in battle. He had already blessed Rolan with an enchanted bastard sword, and he had given Rhogar three magic coins... well, "given" in that Rhogar won them in an arm wrestling contest against someone who didn't even remember the event later... well, we didn't figure any of this out until it was over...

But I digress. The following morning we faced the high priest in battle. Per Cyon's advice, I taunted him until he allowed all three of us to face him. The priest's magic was surprisingly weak, and our attacks seemed enhanced by divine favor. In the end it was Rhogar who delivered the killing blow, cleaving the priest in twain.

As a reward, we were allowed to make one decree that the Temple of Coyn had to follow. And we were required to name the new High Priest of Coyn. We had until the end of the day to make our decision. After much deliberation, and seeking advice from the acting high priest Dupree, we chose Morok (who had announced us at the duel) as the new High Priest. For our decree, we had my temple's High Priest Astor Josel and one of our paladins released from Coyn's prison.

We have dealt a great blow to the corruption in the Temple of Coyn. I hope their new leadership remains virtuous.

I checked in with my own temple, and my companions walked the streets listening for rumors. They discovered that Lord De Rais was looking for us. He wasn't even subtle about it; he had posted reward offers all over the city. After checking in with my temple one more time, we decided to confront De Rais ourselves, in his own home.

De Rais was... repentant? No, I think it's better to say he was just "done". He had finished setting his evil plans in motion, and now he just wanted things to be over. He showed us a goblet made out of a child, which made me quite nauseous. He admitted his crimes, and gave us a signed confession for us to deliver to authorities. He explained some of his motivations, telling us a story of love lost or some such... but nothing in his past could excuse his actions of late. Nevertheless, we didn't attack him even when he drew his rapier.

...until he thrust the rapier into Rhogar. Then we fought back with a vengeance. It was a tough battle, and Rhogar especially took a lot of punishment. When we finally had him defeated, I finished him off with Sacred Flame.

Afterwards, the sun came out again, and all felt right with the world. Rolan's mysterious sword vanished, leaving only a coin in its place.

We took the evidence back to High Priest Josel, and he had me deliver it to the Temple of Coyn. They were very appreciative, and gave us a free round at their gaming tables. None of us won anything. I would have donated my winnings to Pelor anyway.

We decided to celebrate our victory, and I followed my companions to their favorite pub. But we found that the bars were empty. We soon found out that war has been declared, and all citizens are required to report for duty placement.

In other news, my language studies have been coming along nicely. I am now close to fluent in the Giant, Goblin, and Abyssal languages.

OOC:
Climax! And Level! The game had a late start, so we didn't get to play as long as usual. But that didn't matter, because we managed to cram in some important events, and wrap up a lot of the current storyline. The "war" hook for next session is going to be interesting.

XP Rewards:
200 each for general gameplay, and 50-ish each for our individual contributions. We each reached level 2.
Rhogar - 255 XP (200+55) - Total XP now 1014
Rolan - 250 XP (200+50) - Total XP now 1018
Nara - 255 XP (200+55) - Total XP now 1038

Tantris - Session 4

Game Date 5/30/09

Characters:
Rolan Daan (Bryan) - Elf Rogue
Rhogar Burnscale (Rick) - Dragonborn Fighter
Nara Cavell (Matt) - Human Cleric of Pelor

Nara's Journal:

It is literally a dark day for the Church of Pelor and all the goodly races.

When I last wrote, we were working for Lord De Rais, escorting a caravan. The mission could have gone better, but eventually we fulfilled our obligations. I am now working on an assignment to locate a missing child of the De Sillis family. Or I was, but we recently learned that the child has been killed. I have been working with Rolan and Rhogar again, who have been very helpful despite their unorthodox methods. I have reservations about putting this in writing, but we suspect that Lord De Rais is responsible for for the death of the De Sillis child, as well as several other troubling events of late.

I won't commit to paper how we discovered this information, but we now believe that De Rais may have hired Orcs to kill the De Sillis child. And when the Orcs failed their task, De Rais manufactured evidence that Gruumsh-followers were responsible for the child's death. We followed an Orc from the De Rais compound, in an effort to interrogate him. But of course the Orc wasn't in the mood to talk, and we had to kill him in self-defense.

Shortly afterwards, the Orc's house was burned down by riders from the De Rais compound. As soon as we confirmed the riders' origin, we returned to Tantris and informed High Priest Josel.

Afterwards, I wanted to continue to investigate this mystery, but we didn't know where to look. However, we did know of one possible ally, an Elf who had recently helped Rolan out of a crisis. We knew approximately where this Elf roamed, and we set out for that area. We set up camp, in the hopes we would be contacted.

Instead, we were found by an Imp. It was a tough fight, but we managed to defeat the foul creature. No longer wanting to stay in the area, we travelled to the De Winter estate. The De Winters are devout worshippers of Pelor, and I previously found their household to be very hospitable. Our mysterious Elf ally also has connections to that area, so it seemed like a safe destination. How wrong we were.

When we arrived, we found the De Winter house to be under seige by demonic attackers, led by what looked like De Rais himself... or at least an unholy, twisted version of the man. We were attacked by some sort of devil (an Evistro, I believe), and we were lucky to survive his onslaught. Rhogar in particular fought valiantly, ready to sacrifice everything to protect us from the damned monster. Once the abomination was defeated, a large number of Elves - who we believe to be of the same group as Rolan's rescuer - appeared and put out the fire using magical arrows and elemental summons.

After the fire, we saw a large symbol on the ground in front of the ruins. It was the symbol of Asmodeus, Ruler of the Nine Hells. We made haste to Tantris, where I once again informed High Priest Josel of the most recent developments.

While the De Winter home may have been destroyed, we learned that the De Winters themselves were staying in their other home within the city. We attempted to visit them, but were not allowed in. I left a message, requesting audience with them at their earliest convenience. But I found out later that they were very ill, and unable to see visitors. This was not an isolated incident; rumors of a spreading plague had many citizens afraid.

We had very few leads, so we decided to pay a visit to the De Sillis compound. Rolan showed considerable skill climbing over the wall, and once inside he witnessed something blood-chilling. Another demon - possibly a Glabrezu by his description - created a planar gate and disappeared through it. It left a symbol of Pelor behind. Rhogar and I discovered that the front gate was open and unguarded, so we entered and reunited with Rolan. We explored the house, and found many dead bodies. It appeared that a battle had been fought, between the De Sillis clan and followers of Pelor. We found no bodies of children, though we knew children had lived there. We eventually found the bodies of Lord and Lady De Sillis themselves, impaled upon the blades of their enemies, frozen in battle in a scene that told the whole story.

...Maybe. I still don't know if this was an actual attack by other followers of my deity, or if there is another layer to this puzzle.

Before we could ponder it for too long, however, we heard others coming into the building. We hid. From Rolan's view under the bed, he saw another Imp run by the door, and he swears it saw him. Shortly thereafter, some people entered the room, but they only stayed long enough to confirm the fate of the De Sillis family. As soon as they left, we decided to leave ourselves. I most definitely did not consider burning down the building, in order to destroy evidence that might put Pelor in a bad light. Such a thought would never occur to me.

Hoping for some answers, we once again returned to Tantris. We arrived in the morning, and I immediately sought out Josel despite my weariness. He confirmed that that this attack was not authorized by our church. So either another church of Pelor assaulted De Sillis estate, or someone else is trying to make it look that way. The types of demons we'd witnessed were not easily controlled, so either the summoner is very powerful, or very careless. When I mentioned the missing children, Josel reminded me that child sacrifices are sometimes needed to summon the kinds of horrors we had seen.

I tried once again to see the De Winters. I was informed that only authorized Clerics of Pelor were allowed to see them, and those were trying desperately to cure their illness. Looks like I found a way in. We went straight to my temple to get permission to join the healers. When we arrived at the church, I noticed an elegant carriage parked outside. I noted that it had the symbol of Coyn on it, but I was too preoccupied for that to sink in at the time.

As I entered the church, I found that High Priest Josel was being escorted out of the building by representatives of Coyn. I tried get Josel's attention, but another of Coyn's followers informed me that I was not allowed to speak to him. Naturally I found this to be a troubling development, but I wasn't about to be diverted from my plan. I knew someone had to be in charge, so I went to the acting High Priest and asked for his permission to assist the healers at the De Winter home. I think having someone else in charge may have actually improved my chances; Josel might have seen through my necessary deception. In any event, I soon found myself with permission to visit the De Winters.

Not that it helped. The De Winters were too feverish to remain conscious, and even if they'd been awake, I wouldn't have been able to speak to them freely with the other Clerics there. So I asked the other Clerics if there was any way I could help them, and they told me they could use some Mandrake root. This rare root is found in the Sleeping Wood. I decided I would use the temple library to learn how to find the root, and we would leave in the morning for the Sleeping Wood.

When we arrived at the temple, I found that the followers of Coyn had an even greater presence. I was starting to feel uncomfortable about their occupation of the temple. Nevertheless, I had a job to do. Rolan told me that he and Rhogar had something to do, so we parted with the intention of meeting up again in the morning. The acting High Priest was in the library, absorbed in his own studies. I soon found all I needed to know about Mandrake roots. I also overheard a conversation between the High Priest and someone else... I didn't catch all of it, but what I heard was somewhat scandalous. I believe he has been paid off by the church of Coyn. As soon as I could, I returned to my room and started getting ready for bed.

Fortunately I was still dressed when Rhogar and Rolan burst into my room. Rolan told me he'd had an encounter with a hooded figure, who had requested his help. The details are still vague, but Rolan expects to be contacted again soon. We no longer felt safe at the temple, so we decided to climb out my window and spend the night somewhere else. As we were about to leave, we noticed something odd. Rolan now had a new sword strapped to his back. It was a bastard sword, much larger than the type of weapon Rolan usually weilds. Rhogar tried to touch the hilt, but it became too hot for him to touch. Rolan, however, was able to touch it with no problem.

We still left through the window, spent the night at Rolan's place (mental note: show Rolan how a broom works), and left the following morning for the Sleeping Wood. It was a day-and-a-half ride, but we didn't run into any trouble. We explored the woods until we found enough of the mandrake root. While there, Rolan had yet another odd encounter with another Elf.

We rode back to town, and I went straight to the De Winter house to drop off the mandrake root. I hope it helps; I will be sure to check up on their progress. We then returned to Rolan's dwelling, where we are as I write this. We have not settled on our next course of action. We will most likely send Rolan out to listen for rumors.

The effects of the spreading evils have even touched the sky. There is no longer a moon at night, though it should be quite visible this time of the month. The daytime skies have turned an ominous gray, as if the impending doom is preventing Pelor's love from reaching the world. Soon I fear we will no longer be able to distinguish day from night, and the grace of Pelor will be unable to find my heart. I strongly suspect that it is Lord De Rais who has been summoning the devils responsible for the plague and the darkness. But at the moment I have no way to prove it, and no way to stop him.

With all my love and all my spirit, I pray to Pelor for inspiration and guidance. For thine is the light and the way.

- Nara Cavell


OOC:
This was a very exciting session, with a lot of content to absorb. I definitely don't remember everything that happened, but hopefully that was all the most relevant information. At the very least I think I have a few events out of order, but with all that's happened, it's quite possible Nara's memory is as fuzzy as mine. It's funny, in retrospect you notice a lot of foreshadowing that flew right over your head the first time, not to mention the occasional missed plot hook.

Note:
When the trio first encountered the acting high priest, Rolan noticed something gold in his pocket. Later, when Nara visited the temple library to research mandrake root, Rolan broke into the priest's quarters to look around (with Rhogar acting as lookout). He didn't find anything, and he made sure not to mention his break-in to Nara later. He was on the way out of the Priest's quarters when he saw the mysterious hooded character, and followed him. After speaking to him, Rolan returned to Rhogar and they tried to walk out the front doors, but were spooked by Coyn's guards, which is why they sought Nara's room instead.

XP Rewards:
100 each for general gameplay, 50 each for the Imp, 84/83/83 for the Evistro (the XP didn't divide 3 ways, so Rhogar got the extra point for being a badass), and some change (50/55/60) for individual acts of bravery, skill, and/or roleplaying.
Rhogar - 284 XP (100+50+84+50) - Total XP now 759
Rolan - 288 XP (100+50+83+55) - Total XP now 768
Nara - 293 XP (100+50+83+60) - Total XP now 783

Also, an earworm: