Praktas Essentials - Mountain's Toe and Axeholm

 Game Date: 10/22/2023

Location: Roll20
Campaign: Praktas Essentials, Session 3

System: D&D 5e
DM: Matt

The Party:

Quosh (Alan): Half-Orc Barbarian

Rayna (Mandi): Half-Elf Bard

Nymeria (NPC): Wolf

The Session:

Today they managed to get through 2 quests.

Mountain's Toe Quest

They had to escort a man named Don-Jon Raskin to some mines, which ended up being overrun with wererats. Rayna attempted to talk to the wererat leader, but a fight was inevitable. The PCs slaughtered most of the wererats, including the leader, and made a deal with the final survivor. After this quest, the characters leveled up to level 4.

Axeholm

They were tasked with clearing out all the dangers from an old Dwarven fortress.

First they encountered two ghouls, which was pretty easy for them. Then they went upstairs and fought some spiders, which gave them more trouble, but they survived. After that they took a long rest, then spent more time exploring the two levels. A banshee scared them off at one point, and they involuntarily fled back to the lower level. The fought a few more ghouls and a stirge, then prepared to face the banshee again.

This time it was a little tougher because they ended up fighting the banshee and four ghouls at the same time. Quosh and Nymeria faced the ghouls while Rayna fought the banshee. First Nymeria went down, then Rayna, right as Quosh finished off the last ghoul.

It finally came down to Quosh - who was down to 3 hit points, versus the banshee, who was down to 4. The next hit from either side would determine the outcome. But Quosh prevailed, and saved the day. They still had to fight a pair of stirges before the quest was completely done, but after facing a banshee, that was nothing.

They returned to town and rested up.

Praktas Essentials - Butterskull Ranch

Game Date: 10/15/2023

Location: Roll20
Campaign: Praktas Essentials, Session 2

System: D&D 5e
DM: Matt

The Party:

Quosh (Alan): Half-Orc Barbarian

Rayna (Mandi): Half-Elf Bard

The Session:

Continuing this catch-as-catch-can practice campaign. Today was a short session, with the PCs only fulfilling one quest from the mission board.

On the ride out to Butterskull Ranch, the PCs saw the white dragon for the first time, as it flew overhead. Then they heard a pained howling from the woods to the north. They went to check it out, and found a pack of wolves in a clearing. All but one of the wolves were dead, and the survivor was injured. It looked like they'd been attacked by the dragon.

Rayna healed the surviving wolf, while Quosh used his Animal Handling skills to gain its trust. The wolf then joined the party, following them the rest of the way to the ranch.

When they reached the ranch, they found signs of battle. The farmhouse held six orcs, all in different rooms about the house, three on each floor. The PCs peeked in one window, and accidentally caught the eye of one orc. He went outside to fight them, and the PCs managed to kill him without attracting the attention of the other orcs.

They peeked in another window, and decided to get the next orc's attention to hopefully take them out one by one. Rayna used her Wand of Pyrotechnics to get its attention. Unfortunately she forgot to read all the instructions first - in addition to a light show, it also makes a noise that can be heard up to 300 feet away. All five of the remaining orcs were alerted, and started running around the house looking for the noise.

They fought one of the orcs through the window, while the rest moved down the stairs and made their way to the front lawn. Still, they managed to control the fight to where they only had to face one or two orcs at a time. They also had a lot of luck with the dice, so Quosh was the only one to take a lot of damage.

Once all the orcs were finished, they found the ranch's owner tied up in the basement. He gave them an additional mission of finding his lost cow. Then they returned to town for a well-deserved rest.

Praktas Essentials

Game Date: 9/10/2023

Location: Roll20
Campaign: Praktas Essentials, Session 1

System: D&D 5e
DM: Matt

The Party:

Quosh (Alan): Half-Orc Barbarian

Rayna (Mandi): Half-Elf Bard

The Session:

A couple of good friends have been wanting to give 5e a try lately, so I’m running them through 2019’s Essentials box set.

We spent the first hour getting all the equipment to work and building the characters. Later I realized I was doing character creation the hard way, filling out PDFs when I should have just used Roll20’s character creator. Next session should go a little smoother.

The session started in the town of Phandalin. The rumors in town centered around a white dragon that has been terrorizing Phandalin and the surrounding areas. The dragon has really upset the local ecology. For example, the dragon drove the orcs out of one area while making its lair, so the orcs invaded another monster community, and those misplaced creatures invaded another area, and so on.

The dragon obviously has to be stopped, but that’s not going to happen for a few sessions. In the meantime, the PCs have their hands full with smaller quests related to the dragon activity. They checked the job board and took the following jobs:

Umbrage Hill

The characters went to Umbrage Hill to do a wellness check on a woman who brews healing potions. When they arrived, they found a manticore attacking the brewer’s windmill. A manticore is a bit of a tough opponent for two level one characters, so when the battle started going downhill, I adjusted the monster’s stats a bit. I reduced its hit points by about a third, reasoning that the brewer had already damaged it a little bit. Also I reduced the number of attacks it could make in a round – Maybe the manticore was tired.

Gnomegarde

The PCs were sent to visit a local gnome community, to see if the gnomes had any magic items they could spare to defend Phandalin from the dragon. When they arrived, the found that the gnomes were in a state of chaos. One of their kings had gone mad, and a mimic was terrorizing their tunnels. The PCs found the mimic disguised as a wine cask, killed it, and calmed down the king. The gnomes awarded them with three magic items, two of which they got to keep.

Dwarven Excavation

They did not complete this one. They were sent to warn some dwarven miners about the dragon, but when they arrived, the dwarves asked them to kill some ochre jellies that infested the mines. The first jelly they fought split apart and took out both PCs, though they did get it down to 4 hit points. While they were unconscious, two dwarves came to their rescue, finishing off the jelly and reviving the characters. The dwarves then sent them back to Phandalin, where they collected their reward for warning the dwarves.

Praktas - My Campaign World

I'm fleshing out the geography of the campaign I DM. It looks like I'll probably be DMing more often in a few months, so I want to have a solid world to work with. A good deal of this is based on Itropa, the module I built/hosted for Neverwinter Nights. But of course, a good deal of Itropa was based on some earlier stories I'd written. Apparently I was a lot more creative in my youth than I am now. Feel free to steal any ideas you find here, especially the stuff I obviously stole from other sources.

Most of the information in this post would be considered common knowledge to citizens of the area.

Geography
Praktas is the name of the region, and Trasa is the name of the city our heroes currently call home. Trasa is on sort of a small peninsula, jutting ever so slightly into the sea. North of town is Koramil Forest. In the West side of Koramil is Kora, home to an elven community. In the East side of Koramil is Mil, home to Halflings and a few Gnomes. East of Mil is Predek's tower, and northeast of that is an area called Silent Hollow. Far to the north are the towns of is Alta and Valos. North of Alta is Fertilund, and north of Fertilund is the Highpeak Mountains. East of Trasa is the Scarred Mountains, and eventually the harsh town of Fist.

The Koramil River runs between Alta and Valos, running south through the Koramil Forest, and passes through the middle of Trasa, where it eventually empties out into the sea on Trasa's south.

Trasa
Trasa is a large coastal town, and gets a lot of its income from fishing. The Koramil River divides the poor side of town from the wealthy, with the middle class houses and businesses bordering the river itself.

Government:
Mayor Dalewood is a good man, but the town only has so much money. While they do pay the guards to stop the most obvious crime, much of the law enforcement is actually done by the Bounty Hunter Guild.

Important Places In Trasa:

West Trasa (Poor side of town):
Blue Acorn (Inn, Tavern, Gambling)
Pleasure Palace (Gambling, Tavern, Arena, Companionship)
Shifty’s Supply Shop (Merchant, Pawn Shop, front for Thieves Guild)
Stew & Spew (Restaurant/Tavern)
Dreg's Shanty (Dockside tavern/seafood restaurant)
Poor houses

Central Trasa:
*Shopping*
Arcania (Located inside Arcane Guild)
Birk’s “Everything” Shop (Supplies, Misc)
Bjorn's Bakery
Carts Before Horses
Ellyniel's Apothecary (Located inside Arcane Guild)
Fine Blades (Swords and Daggers; located inside Swordsman's Guild)
Hunter's Cache (Ranged Weapons and Ammo, Located inside Hunting Club)
Just Rope
Krog Nito’s Costume Shop
Philip's Exotic Animals
Quality Armors (Armors and Shields)
Virtuoso Music
Ziza’s Zenzations (Stylish Clothing)
*Guilds*
Adventurer's Guild
Arcane Guild
Hunting Club
Swordsman's Guild
The Sisterhood
Bounty Hunter Guild
*Other*
Haunted Bed & Breakfast
Library/Museum
Multi-Denominational Church
Town Hall (Courts, Jail, etc)
Houses, Apartments
Andrik's Teleportation Station

East Trasa (Wealthy):
Dockside Delights (Restaurant)
Guardsman's Guild (Must be member of Town Guard)
Guilded Eagle (Restaurant)
Expensive houses

Other Cities

Kora (2 day horse ride from Trasa)
An Elven city located on the Western side of the Koramil Forest. Most of the citizens are nature lovers who live simple lives, peacefully trade with Trasa and Alta, and guard the Koramil forest from monsters. However, there is a small faction of Kora extremists who despise civilization's encroachment on the forest, and defend nature violently.

Notable locations in Kora:
Kora Bows - Very well-made bows.
Armor Dillo's - Custom-fitted armor, and animal barding.

Mil (Two day horse ride from Trasa)
A small town on the East side of the Koramil Forest. Mil was once an ancient graveyard, until a small band of Halflings (and a few Gnomes) converted the mausoleums into houses.

Notable locations in Mil:
Stuff I Found - A shop whose inventory changes constantly.

Alta (Five day horse ride from Trasa)
Located north of the Koramil Forest, Alta is a very cosmopolitan city, populated by wealthy nobles of all races (but mostly Humans and Eladrin). Citizens of Alta tend to look down on the other nearby cities. Alta has the strictest laws of any city in the region. Within Alta's walls, you must keep your weapons sheathed, and you can not wear helmets or hoods. The town does not allow gambling, prostitution, begging, public drunkenness, or arena fighting. (Actually, they do have a fighting arena, but all the fighters are magically animated golems.) Alta is ruled by Queen Wynnifred.

Notable locations in Alta:
Alta Arcane Acadamy (sometimes called "Triple-A") - A school for those who study magic.
Alta Bardic College (sometimes called "The ABC") - A school for those who study music.
Alta Bath House - Relax, clean up, get a massage.
Fine Armors - One of several stores owned by Darrian Fine. The best place in Alta to buy Armor.
Fine Clothing - Owned by Darrian Fine. Sells stylish outfits.
Fine Grooming - Owned by Darrian Fine. The best place in Alta to get a shave and a haircut.
Fine Weapons - Owned by Darrian Fine. Sells top-quality weapons.
Triple-A Arena - Watch magically animated golems fight. The arena is owned by the Triple-A, and the money earned from the arena goes towards the school. The golems are created by students, who compete to see who can enchant the most powerful golems. (Think of it as a medeival Battlebots.) It is illegal to gamble on the outcome, but a lot of students do it anyway.

Valos (Six day horse ride from Trasa)
To the Northeast of Alta, Valos was once Alta's prison. Though ruled by Lord Teykor Vermon, it remains nearly lawless. Most of the citizens are either starving beggars, or professional bandits. Valos may be home of the crime syndicate known as the "Inner Eye." Valos is also the home of the Darkshade Assassin Guild, an organization whose existence is well-known but never proven.

Notable locations in Valos:
Valos Weapons - Specializes in rogue/assassin weapons.
Valos Armors - Specializes in light armors.

Fist (3 day horse ride from Trasa)
Located in the Scarred Mountains to the East of Trasa, Fist is a very harsh town where might is right and leadership is determined by arena battle. Fist is populated mostly by the hardier races - Orcs, Half-Orcs, Goliaths, Dwarves, Minotaurs, and a few burly humans.

Notable locations in Fist:
Crush's Smashifiers - Sells all types, but specializes in heavy weapons.
Fist Arena - Has minor fighting tournaments every day, and major tournaments to celebrate each 10-day, month, season, and year.

Fertilund (Five day horse ride from Trasa)
Located just north of Alta, Fertilund is a small farming community.

Notable locations in Fertilund:
The Trading Post - Where the farmers of Fertilund go to sell their wares to Alta's grocers.

Notable NPCs
Aaron Cobbler - Poverty-stricken man who sent Tirah and Dorath to find some missing children.
Alana Dillonniel - Female Elf, owner of "Armor Dillo's" in Kora.
Alton Drathiel - Half-Elf. Owner of the "Hunter's Cache", a hunting club and hunting supply store in Trasa.
Andrik Munitae - Male Elf, owns "Andrik's Teleportation Station."
Ardok DuMaj - A wizard who works for the Bounty Hunter Guild. He sometimes teleports Guild Members to other towns for a fee.
Bjorn Wallbanger - Owner/Bartender of the Blue Acorn, a small tavern on Trasa's West side.
Brutemaster Kragg - Captain of the "Stone Army" in Fist.
Captain Caleb Callahan - Another successful Trasa fisherman.
Captain Credence Horn - Leader of the Alta Guardsman's Guild.
Captain Nathanial Jarran - A fisherman who gave Drew and Damakos a ride to the Hells Fury island.
Crush Cudgel - Male Half-Orc, owner of "Crush's Smashifiers" in Fist.
Darrian Fine - Male Human, owns several businesses in Alta.
Darrow Lightbeard - High Priest of Moradin.
Darryl "Red" Thatcher - A farmer in Fertilund.
Dreg One-Fist - Aging Half-Orc, owner of run-down dockside bar "Dreg's Shanty". He lost his left hand to a pirate years ago, when he was a sailor.
Eroll Gold - The very charismatic owner of the Pleasure Palace, Trasa's largest tavern/casino/arena/brothel.
Grag Prime Arathnon - Goliath Barbarian, Current ruler of Fist. Fist's leader is chosen by way of an annual fighting tournament. Arathnon has won three years in a row, but fighting enthusiasts say he's slowing down as he gets older.
Hector Goldheart - Cleric of Moradin. He helped Drew and Damakos find and defeat Predek the Necromancer, to cure their vampirism. Hector has burns on one side of his face, from an encounter with a dragon in his youth. This prevents him from growing a full beard, so he shaves the opposite side as well, and wears it like a very long goatee.
Henna - A healer who works for the Bounty Hunter Guild. She is unable to speak, and is a pacifist.
Jordan Darkwynde - Leader of Bounty Hunter Guild.
Kim Shadowfoot - Female Halfling, leader of Trasa's Thieves Guild.
Krog Nito - Male Half-Orc, owns a costume shop in Trasa.
Kurn Icetooth - A blue-scaled Dragonborn. The Assignment Officer at the Bounty Hunter Guild.
Lord Teykor Vermon - Ruler of Valos, and also rumored to be the leader of the "Inner Eye", a crime syndicate that stretches even as far as Trasa.
Lucre Gold - Famous fighting promoter (and brother of Eroll Gold).
Madeline Starkraven - A crazy ex-pirate who hired Drew and Damakos to find Merea Scorne.
Predek - A Human Necromancer guilty of raising the dead and creating vampires. He was caught by Drew and Damakos, and is currently in Trasa Prison.
Queen Wynnifred - Elf bard, ruler of Alta. She is highly intelligent and very beautiful. While Alta's citizens have a reputation for elitism and snobbery, Queen Wynnifred is actually very generous and compassionate. Was once married to King Parras (human), until he was assassinated. Has a half-elf daughter, "Wyn".
Shifty - Runs "Shifty's Supply Shop", a Trasa pawn shop known for buying potentially stolen goods. Shifty is Trasa's go-to guy for all things of questionable legality.
Trent Dalewood - The kind-hearted but greatly overworked mayor of Trasa.
Wyn - Princess Wynnifred II of Alta. She's a bit of a tomboy, and doesn't enjoy palace life. She often sneaks out disguised as an ordinary citizen named Kya.

Hells Fury:
An all-female pirate crew.
Captain Merea Scorne (a.k.a. "The Pirate Queen") - Two-blade fighter. She is the leader of the Hells Fury. She was caught by Drew and Damakos, and currently resides in Trasa Prison.
Bruta Graxx - Dwarf Fighter, and Merea's bodyguard. Also captured.
Lyyra Syyr - Human Wizard, and Merea's advisor. Also captured.
Risha Thryst - Human Fighter, and Merea's lieutenant. Also captured.
Callexia Galean - Human Druid, and Merea's assassin. The only prominent member of the Hells Fury who is still at large.

Purple Mildew:
A popular music band that often played in the Pleasure Palace in Trasa.
Jeska Spartan (Lead singer) - Originally Jessiana Cole. She was arrested for setting fire to the Bardic College in Alta. She changed her name and formed the band Purple Mildew. The group became very popular until she was recognized, and she was eventually recovered by the Bounty Hunter Guild.
Todd Klute (Flute Player) - Has black hair.
Rash Decker (Harpist) - Has red hair, plays the miniature harp.
Drak Wilken (Drummer) - Bald, muscular, has lots of tattoos. Dates Jeska.

Fist Arena Fighters:
A few of the fighters often seen in the Fist Arena.
Brax "The Axe" Clovenhoof - An aging male Minotaur.
Travok Ballpeen - Male Dwarf.
Killian Krag - Male Goliath.
Orsik Cojones - Male Orc.
Tarn Gulag - Male Half-Orc with pet lizard.
Kren Starblaze - Male Dragonborn, young.
Mordik Morte - Male Human.
Rendar the Great - Male Human.
Krista Treehaven - Female Elf with pet tiger.
Skar Redscale - Female Dragonborn, killed in the ring by Throk One-Tusk.
Scrag Trakken - Male Dragonborn.
Glug Darkhammer - Male Dwarf.
Kirin Skeen - Female Goliath.

Dragons:
Kathernius - Young male Black Dragon.
Nyrithia - Young female Silver Dragon.

Bounties (Recovered):
Some of the criminals already recovered by the players.

Alas Mek - An Alta wizard whose consciousness was transferred into the body of an Iron Golem.
Jeska Spartan - See "Purple Mildew" above.
Skyrene Linnealinae - Wanted for taking her love of animal rights too far, this elf is wanted for killing hunters.
Throk One-Tusk - A former Trasa guard who was wanted for stealing an expensive item.
Victoria Vixen - A seductress who used her magical charms to aid her in her crimes. She was later revealed to be a succubus in disguise.

Bounties (at Large):
Here's a few of the criminals currently at large, whom the players will pursue in future sessions. Note that this is just an idea bank, the characters might change a bit before they make it into an actual session. To avoid spoilers, I'm only posting information the bounty hunters might have access to when signing up for the bounty.

Andar Thresh - Just a small-time thug.
Analon Leebo - Professional Hitman, expert at poisons.
Astral - High priestess of Tiamat.
Dante Bloodscale - Another Disciple of Tiamat.
Broono Grum - Former member of the Bounty Hunter Guild, expelled for carrion hunting.
Chane Tonson - Demolitions expert.
Dibny Kestil - Gnome bard, uses laughing spells to commit crimes.
Felinia Nulelve'tner - Cat-loving cat burglar.
Gar - Lizardfolk assassin.
Glognar Elgen - Dwarven miner who used his tunneling skills for crime.
Gludge - Disease-ridden victim of a transmutation spell gone wrong.
Kama Kur - Former member of the Hells Fury.
Khan Carne - Wanted for cannibalism.
Krimson Vize - A Swordmage.
Lilith de Fang - Death obsessed woman, possibly a dabbler of Necromancy.
Obsidia Pitch - A very stealthy Drow assassin.
Riith - A mysterious Assassin.
Rusty Krosion - Master of rust.
Sullax - Insane magic user, who specializes in mental spells.
Thaco Arclas - Possibly the world's greatest expert in armors.
Timmy the Tot - Halfling who pretends to be a human boy to aid in his cons.
Ug - A very strong barbarian.
Ursa Oso - Bear-loving mountain man.
Valindra Melin - An environmental extremist who loves despises civilized society.
Vana & Vena Kai - Twin assassins.
Zyx - A shapeshifting thief.
Shok Vrurk - Half-Orc Sorcerer who specializes in lightning spells.

Praktas - The Princess and the Dragon

Game Date: 3/6/10

Characters:
Drew Baker (Bryan) - Human Fighter (Tempest style)
Damakos Redhorn (Rick) - Tiefling Rogue (Brutal style)
Tirah (Misty) - Deva Wizard (Wand Style)

The party was hired for a top-secret mission in Alta. The Queen's daughter was missing. Princess Wynnifred the Second is something of a wild child, always getting bored with castle life, and often sneaking off and going on little excursions. But this time she seemed to have disappeared entirely.

And let's face it, every adventuring party needs to save a princess at least once.



The party was required to keep it hush-hush. The government didn't want to announce that the girl was missing, for fear of political embarrassment or phony ransom demands. The Princess Wyn had last been seen wearing a disguise and visiting Fertilund, a small farming community just north of Alta.

The party joined the next grocer caravan to Fertilund, and started interviewing farmers. Along the way they discovered a badly damaged cornfield, with an awful smell in the air.

Eventually some clues led them to a farmer named Delmer Graham, who finally admitted to kidnapping the princess. Long story short:

For the past few months, there had been a few dragon sightings over Fertilund. A few sheep had been stolen, and some crops had been hit by its breath. Delmer had recognized Wyn through her disguise, and theorized that sacrificing a princess could stop the dragon. So he captured her and left her tied up outside what he believed to be the dragon's lair - a cave in a mountain range north of Fertilund.



The party was not happy with Mr. Graham, so they tied him up, and forced him to guide them to where he left the princess. They rode Delmer's horses to the base of the mountain, and when the going got too rough, they tied up the horses and proceeded up the mountain on foot.

During the trip they were attacked by a mountain troll, but they made it through the fight fairly easily. A successful nature check meant Tirah knew about the creature's regenerative ability, and how to overcome it with fire or acid. Finally they reached the cave. The princess was no longer there, but there were dragon footprints around the entrance, and pieces of the rope Delmer had used to tie Wyn up. The party proceeded into the cave.

After a while, they heard snoring. They sent Damakos up ahead, and he sneaked into the dragon's main chamber. There was a lot of human-sized furniture in the chamber, and a young Silver Dragon sleeping on a bed of straw. Another nature check and Damakos suddenly remembered a couple of things he'd read somewhere... Metallic dragons aren't usually as likely to be evil as chromatic dragons... Silver Dragons breathe cold... hmm, those crops didn't look like they'd been hit by cold.

There were also two side chambers closed off by curtains. Damakos quietly peeked into each of the side chambers, one of which contained a very comfortable-looking bed, occupied by a comfortable-looking sleeping princess.

Damakos put his hand over her mouth and woke her up. Upon seeing the devilish Tiefling, she tried to scream, but Damakos quickly explained that he was there to rescue her. He took her back to the party, and Wyn explained that the dragon was now her friend.

The dragon woke up, and Wyn introduced her to the party. The dragon changed to human form and introduced herself as Nyrithia. She was only using this cave as a temporary den while she tried to track down a Black Dragon named Kathernius (though I think I neglected to mention his name during the session), who was an enemy to her family. Nyrithia now knew where his lair was, but she didn't think she could defeat him alone. She convinced the party to help her defeat Kathernius.

Nyrithia had the party get into a large basket (think "hot air balloon"), and in her dragon form carried them to the other side of the mountain range. They landed in a swampy area, where another cave led to the Black Dragon's lair. They left Delmer tied up outside, and everyone else proceeded into the cave.

With sneaky Damakos in the lead, they soon found a treasure room, filled with wooden chests and suits of armor. But when Damakos attempted to open one of the chests, it tried to bite him. They soon found themselves battling a room full of mimics and animated suits of armor.

After the battle they continued down the tunnels until they found the lair. The room was lit by glowing moss, and the chamber's only feature was a large pool of sludge. Kathernius slept under the sludge, but a botched stealth check woke him from his submerged slumber.

It was a decent battle. Nyrithia was right; she would have had trouble beating Kathernius herself, but the party didn't have too much trouble. Well-loved by Alta's citizens for her beautiful singing voice, Princess Wynn kept the party inspired with magical songs. Damakos did the most damage using every rogue trick in the book.

As Kathernius died, he sent off a magical bat messenger, which memorized the party's faces before it flew away. With his last breath, the evil dragon promised that he would be avenged.

After the battle, Nyrithia broke off one of the Black Dragon's talons, so the party would have proof it was dead. Then she took them as far as she could in the basket (she can't get too close to Alta lest she risk getting attacked). Wyn and Nyrithia said their goodbyes, and the party returned to Alta. They turned in Delmer to the proper authorities, got rewarded for returning the princess, and received another reward for defeating the dragon that had been plaguing Fertilund.

Nyrithia has to go away for now, but someday Wyn will be the queen of Alta, and the city couldn't ask for a better protector than a Silver Dragon.


...and apparently they left Delmer's horses tied up at the base of the mountain.

XP Rewards:
Party+Pets Vs Troll: 400/5=80
Party+Pets+Wyn+Nyrithia vs Mimics/Armor: 50x6/7=43
Party+Pets+Wyn+Nyrithia vs Kathernius: 875/7=125
Party Quest Rewards: 500/3=167
Total each: 415

Drew: 5907+415=6322
Damakos: 5682+415=6097
Tirah: 3892+415=4307

Praktas - The Temple of Elemental Weevils

Game Date: 11/14/09

Characters:
Drew Baker (Bryan) - Human Fighter (Tempest style)
Damakos Redhorn (Rick) - Tiefling Rogue (Brutal style)
Tirah (Misty) - Deva Wizard (Wand Style)
Dorath (Bryan) - Goliath Fighter (Great Weapon Style)

This is another quest loosely based on one of my Itropa areas. The title is a parody of the well-known classic D&D module, "The Temple of Elemental Evil."

Bryan's Goliath fighter Dorath - who he had only run once for a practice game - came to visit, and invited our heroes to Fist's annual fighting tournament. It was a three day ride to Fist, riding along the base of a mountain range. On the second night, Damakos was woken up by the sound of someone gasping. He got up just in time to see a young man stumble out of the mountains, barely saying the words "Ultimate treasure..." before falling over dead at the tiefling's feet.

Of course Damakos looted him for all he was worth, and discovered some badly damaged journals. There was very little left that was legible. He found this bit of an entry:

As my grandfather gave me these notes, his dying words were “Don’t forget Rob”. Who is Rob? Am I supposed to meet someone named Rob? Or could he have meant “steal”? Was he asking me to steal something?

Even though it killed him, I am determined to pick up where my grandfather left off. I will find this “ultimate treasure” he spoke of.

(Yes, I know that's cheesy. Welcome to my campaign.)

The rest of the journal was written in a different handwriting. But since most of the pages were burnt, wet, or missing, these were the only snippets he could read:

(This is what it would have looked like if I'd had some parchment paper.)

There were also some crudely drawn maps, pointing to a mountain not far from their campsite. Damakos pocketed a small amount of the corpse's loot, then woke up the others and filled them in. They still decided to go to the fighting tournament first, but on their way back to Trasa, they followed the map.

The map led them to a cave. Once inside, the rough tunnel gradually became a fully-finished, marble-tiled, torch-lit passage. They passed a stable area, where a brown-robed man was tending to several horses. Tirah walked up and asked him a few questions. He wasn't much help, but at least he wasn't a threat - as far as he knew, our adventurers were supposed to be there.

The main hallway finally ended in a set of double doors. There was a magical light shaft nearby, which they determined to be a portal. However, this was the exit end, so they couldn't use it from this location.

Through the double doors, they entered a large temple. The basic layout was sort of bug-like, with rounded walls and six side passages. Four of the passages had color themes, and there was a large golden door at the head of the room. The temple was also full of robed people, each wearing one of four colored robes - red, brown, blue, or white. None of them seemed to care about the PCs.

(Come to think of it, it looks like a Spider-Tracer.)

On the golden door, instead of a door handle, it just had a small raised rectangle with four diamond-shaped indentations. The following poem was carved into the door, just above the rectangle:

Four sisters from the dawn of time,
They rule the world and always will.
The first she runs and never tires,
The second eats to comfort or kill.
The third she lies and carries all,
The fourth oft sings with breath so chill.

(I got this from an online page of riddles, which I altered to suit my needs.)

The PCs started to go down one of the colored passages, and one of the robed people ran up to them and stopped them. Looking at their pets, he asked, "Are those animals to be fed to the Weevil? Very good, but that door is only for the faithful." The players quickly realized they needed to get themselves some robes. So they explored the West passage (living quarters) but couldn't find an easy way to steal the robes they needed without risk.

(DM Secret: The cultists don't really "own" their robes; it's all communal property. They're also fairly easy-going unless threatened. If a cultist had caught a PC stealing his robe, he probably would have said, "Take it, my friend, I'll get another from the storage room.")

The PCs then checked out the East hall. There were two doors at the end of that hall. One was full of caged animals, as well as a young male half-orc (also caged). The half-orc begged them to set him free, because he was going to be "fed to the Weevil." They didn't release him yet, figuring it might get them into trouble, but they did plan to do so eventually.

The other door was the storage room. It was full of robes in five colors: red, blue, brown, white, and gold. They hadn't seen anyone in a gold robe so far, but they went ahead and took plenty of robes of all colors. The adventurers then donned the blue robes, and went down the blue hall.

The Temple of Water

They found themselves in another worship room, much smaller than the main temple. The room was chilly, and had a water/ice theme. The room was decorated with ice sculptures, and the walls were painted with images of oceans and sea life. There were a few blue-robed people sitting on pews, listening to another man who was preaching from behind a podium. Behind him, a young elven girl was tied up. When the PCs entered, the preacher thanked them for bringing more animals, because he wasn't sure the girl would be enough to feed the Weevil.

He allowed them to pass through the door behind him, having them take the elf girl with them. Once they were out of the preacher's sight, they untied the girl, but she was too scared to help them in battle.

They walked down some stairs. The room at the bottom was filled with water, waist-high. Towards the back of the room, there was a 3x3 pedestal, on which stood three pushable statues: An Elf, an Orc, and a Halfling. The room's exit was on the wall behind the pedestal, to the right. They remembered their clue: "The Orc is flanked, the Halfling readies his exit." They started pushing statues around, but were attacked by a pair of Water Elementals. The room's aquatic nature made it rough terrain, which made the battle all the more difficult, but they won in the end. Then they continued playing with the statues.

This turned out to be the answer:

Technically, there were two other combinations that fit the clues. But then, these are clues, not answers. Once they found the right order, the door opened. They also found a lever that drained the water in the room. They went down some more stairs, and found the Water Weevil.

This was another room with waist-high water. The players could only move half-speed, but the Weevil could skim the surface and move all over the room. He had several water-themed abilities, throwing tidal waves and jets of water at them. I personally found the Weevil battles to be a bit tedious. I think I gave them too many hit points.

Once it was dead, they found a diamond-shaped blue jewel in the Weevil's forehead, the same shape as the indentations in the gold door. They also found a nest in the room, which looked like it had once held some weevil eggs, but it was currently empty. The room also contained a yellow lightshaft, which they used to teleport themselves back outside the main temple's double doors.

They left the temple/cave and took a nice long rest outdoors. (DM Secret: If they'd stayed in the cultists' living quarters, they wouldn't have been attacked or anything. Still, someone might have made them put their animals in the West hall cages, and the pets might have been taken to be sacrificed while the PCs slept. So overall they probably made the right choice.) The elf girl left their party at this point, taking her chances with the road to Trasa. Now well-rested, the PCs decided to put on the white robes and tackle the white hallway.

The Temple of Air

The white temple's worship area was identical in layout to the blue temple. The only difference was the theme - instead of water and fish, the room was decorated with images of clouds and birds. Using the old "weevil food" ruse, the PCs managed to talk their way through the next door without incident, and soon found themselves on a windy ledge:

D=Door, G=Gargoyle, L=Lever

The PCs started on the left side of the room, "D". Beyond their 2x5 ledge, there was a 5-foot wide, 75-foot long bridge (that's 1x15 squares) leading to the opposite ledge. The floor (purple) was 30 feet down. Not a deadly drop, but damaging - and annoying. There was a ladder on the PCs' side, but not the opposite side. So if a PC fell off the ledge, they could still get back out, but only on the left side of the room.

The bridge was visibly divided into 5x5 square tiles. They remembered the clue: 3, 6, 8, 11, 15. They smartly surmised that since the bridge was 15 squares long, that the clue must be referring to tiles of the bridge. They not-so-smartly decided that these must be the "safe" squares. So they had Drew jump from the ledge to tile 3 on the bridge. He nailed his Athletics check, but as soon as he landed on the tile, it activated a mechanism, and some heavy winds started to blow. Drew made his saving throw, and remained on the bridge.

But that's when the gargoyles came to life. These annoying flyers had the ability to push or pull their enemies when they attacked. One of them also pulled the first lever, which made more winds blow. Dorath was the only one unlucky enough to get pulled off the ledge, and after the second time he just stayed at the bottom and threw weapons at the gargoyles above him.

Eventually they killed the gargoyles, and Drew made it across the bridge. Pulling the second lever deactivated all the tiles, allowing the other players to cross without jumping over the trap squares. They PCs went through the next door, and found the Air Weevil's room.

The light gray is the normal floor. The dark gray is 20 feet higher. The dark gray walls were covered with spikes, which could be used to climb up to the dark gray ledge. Of course, the PCs could also be blown into these spikes if the wind was high enough. There were four control levers, one on each wall, which could retract the spikes on that wall.

The wind had its own place in the initiative order, and would blow in a different direction each turn, pushing everyone (except the Weevil) one square. Of course, the Weevil could fly, and had a lot of wind-based attacks.

After the battle, they once again took the Weevil's forehead jewel, then left the temple and camped. Then they remembered the Half-Orc prisoner. They decided to check up on him, but he was no longer in his cell. So they split the party. Tirah, Damakos, and the animals went to the brown door, while Dorath and Drew went to the red door.

The Temple of Earth

Damakos and Tirah peeked into the Earth Temple worship room, just in time to see the Earth preacher pulling a chained-up Half-Orc through the back door. They quickly followed. Once through the door, Damakos decided to attack the cultist from behind, while Tirah went to get the rest of the party.

Damakos had no trouble taking him out. However, the clue for this area was "Noise awakens the..." Well, noise awakened the. Just as Tirah and the others were getting back, Damakos was attacked by a pair of Earth Elementals.

After defeating the Elementals, they easily followed the other clue: "Always left in the tunnels." The tunnel branched five times, and each time they took the left passage. Note, originally I was going to have them make stealth checks for each tunnel to see if they woke the Elementals. But since the Elementals were already dead, it didn't really matter.

The Earth Weevil was in a large cave room. Several of his attacks hit everyone in the room, such as earthquakes and cave-ins. After he was dead, they took the jewel, left the mountain and, rested. The Half-Orc left the party, and the PCs changed robes so they could hit the Fire Temple.

The Temple of Fire

This one was easy. After talking their way through the worship room, they found themselves in a tunnel with walls made of fire. At the end of the tunnel, there were two door-shaped areas of blue flame, one on the left, and one on the right. So they followed the clue (Right, Left, Left, Right, ?), and went right. The blue flames did no damage, and just felt like cool air. Wash, rinse, repeat, until the final tunnel, which just had a ? in the notes. They had a 50/50 chance, and they chose correctly, so they avoided fighting what would have been a pair of Fire Elementals.

The Fire Weevil used a lot of poison-based attacks. No, wait, come to think of it, he used fire. The room itself also contained some fire traps, which would have shot bursts of flame from holes in the floor, but they quickly found the control mechanism and disarmed it.

Once the Weevil was toast, with all four colored gems in hand, the party rested and went to the Temple of Light.

The Temple of Light

The golden door required the four gems to be inserted in a specific order, the same order as the poem: Water, Fire, Earth, Air. They found the final temple's worship room, but it didn't look like it had been used in years. While the other four temples had elemental themes, this one seemed to have a theme of life, or possibly love. The cultists would have called it "The Temple of Light", but "light" might refer more to enlightenment than actual light.

Next, they found another puzzle room. There were three oval indentations in the door, and seven oval gemstones on a pedestal. The stones were in the colors of the rainbow - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. Bryan figured it out instantly - it was a reference to the "Rob" clue. He put the Red, Orange, and Blue stones into the door, and it opened. (DM Secret: A wrong combination of gems would have triggered a trap, and possibly alerted some monsters.)

As they looked down the final hallway, they saw a strange sight: There was the final Weevil, but it was chained to the wall. There were several goblins taking the Weevil's eggs and placing them into a bag of holding. The PCs also noticed another shape in the farthest shadows of the room, but couldn't make it out at first.

The dark shape turned out to be a Drow. Once the battle began, he made a few hand signals, and four more Drow stepped out of the shadows.

Each Drow had a different specialty. Two were classic rapier/crossbow fighters, one of whom had an Onyx Dog companion. Another was an assassin, using 4e's "Assassin's Shroud" ability. Another was a female with a snake-headed whip. And finally there was a magic user, who could summon a spider companion. Of course, all of them had the Drow ability to use faerie fire (aka Darkfire; gives combat advantage against a target) and to create areas of magical darkness.

The PCs showed some great teamwork and strategy. Damakos started off by undoing the weevil's chains, while the rest of the group concentrated on the goblin minions. Once free, the Weevil spread its wings, grabbed one of the Drow, and flew off down the hallway carrying its prey.

Then a strange thing happened - one of the Drow fighters started choking. He stumbled past Damakos, tugging at the neckline of his chainmail, provoking an attack of opportunity. A hole appeared in the chest of the Drow's chainmail. The chain weave opened on its own, leaving a direct path to the Drow's heart. Damakos made his opportunity attack, and killed the Drow instantly.

This still left three Drow, and they were tough opponents, so the battle still lasted a while. The final Drow was the magic user, who escaped through a magic portal. After the battle, while looting the corpses, Drew suddenly felt a strange calling. He was compelled to examine the Drow who choked. Drew could feel a connection with the Drow's armor - it wanted Drew to put it on. As Drew put on his new chainmail, he felt a presence. He felt more honorable, but also more bloodthirsty. He was itching to find more evil to vanquish.

The next door led to the treasure room. Well, the room formerly known as the treasure room, as all the treasure chests were empty.

Okay, they didn't tie me up, but there was some grumbling. But really, am I actually going to give "ultimate treasure" to a 4th-level party?

There were two more doors in the treasure room. One was just a storage room, but the other had several goblins and an orc playing cards. Drew went into a frenzy, his chainmail filling him with hatred towards the orc. They left one goblin alive so they could ask him about the treasure.

The goblin explained that the Drow had taken the treasure back to the Underdark, years ago. When the Drow first discovered the Weevil cult, they took over the Temple of Light, never letting the other temples know there were Drow in their midst. Since then, they've been farming Weevil eggs so that they could build their own army of Weevils. They kept the other temples going because it was in their best interests - with the cultists taking care of the Weevils, all the Drow had to do was sit back and collect the eggs.

Disappointed, but not completely empty-handed, the party returned to Trasa and did a little more research on Drew's new armor. It is the "Invulnerable Coat of Arnd" (DMG p. 170), a major artifact. It is infused with the will of an honorable cleric, who died long ago defending his town from attack.

Whether the armor will continue to consider Drew worthy to wear it, will depend on Drew's actions. It already betrayed its former master, but of course the artifact would hate to be used by such an evil creature. Drew could very well find his own neck in peril if he commits dishonorable acts while wearing the armor. Hopefully he will remember this... but it will be more entertaining if he doesn't. ;)

XP Rewards:
Note: I'm counting the party as 7 for the Earth Temple, since the Half'-Orc fought. But I'm not counting the Elven girl in the Water Temple, because she just cowered in the corner the whole time.
Water Temple - Statue Puzzle/Elementals - 300/6=50
Water Weevil - 500/6=83
Air Temple Puzzle/Gargoyles - 300/6=50
Air Weevil - 500/6=83
Earth Temple Puzzle/Elementals - 300/7=43
Earth Weevil - 500/7=71
Fire Temple Puzzle - 300/6=50
Fire Weevil - 500/6=83
Life Temple Puzzle ("ROB") - 300/6=50
Drow/Goblins Encounter - 800/6=133
Quest Completion - 1000/4=250
Total Session Reward - 948 Each

And everyone gained a level:
Dorath 360+948=1308 (Level 2)
Drew 4959+948=5907 (Level 5)
Tirah 2944+948=3892 (Level 4)
Damakos 4734+948=5682 (Level 5)

Praktas - Violence, Robots, and Lust

Game Date: 10/3/09

Characters:
Drew Baker (Bryan) - Human Fighter (Tempest style)
Damakos Redhorn (Rick) - Tiefling Rogue (Brutal style)
Tirah (Misty) - Deva Wizard (Wand Style)

I'm still working on the next actual plot/dungeon adventure. But for this session, I just had them go through three bounties:

Bounty 1: Throk One-Tusk

Throk is a large Half-Orc who was entrusted to guard the home of one of Trasa's wealthiest citizens. But first chance he got, he grabbed the most expensive item he could - a golden egg - and left town. There was an additional bonus if our bounty hunters could recover the missing egg.

(DM Secret: Why did I make it an egg? In my Itropa module for NeverWinter Nights, there is a quest where you are supposed to retrieve an item called the "Golden MacGuffin". In-game, the MacGuffin looked like a golden egg.)

Throk was last seen in the town of Fist, and another guild member offered to teleport the party there. Built in the mountains, Fist is a very brutish town, where might equals right and the weak seldom survive. Their economy is almost entirely built around their arena. Anyone defeated in the arena becomes the slave of the victor (for various amounts of time), so most labor in Fist is done for free.

Since escaping to Fist, Throk had made a fairly big name for himself as an arena fighter, but he practically lived in his fighting cell. The only way the players found to see him was to enter the next fighting tournament. In order to maximize the chances that at least one of them would reach and defeat Throk, all three players entered the tournament. The tourney had 16 fighters, which meant 4 rounds total. The first two rounds were in the morning, and were fairly easy battles. Then there was a six-hour break, so that everyone could get an extended rest, making the final three fights that much more exciting.

After the break, the first match of round three was Drew vs Damakos. This was a good, long battle, but Drew eventually won. The next match was Throk vs Tirah. I fully expected Throk to win this one, and go on to face Drew. Low-level wizards don't usually fare well in one-on-one battles against melee monsters. But to my surprise, Tirah defeated Throk, and he was hers to command.

Of course, Tirah and Drew still had to face each other. They considered just "play fighting", but there was an additional 200 gp prize for the tournament winner, so they fought. Drew won. Since Throk was officially property of Tirah, she ordered him to take her to his cell, where the bounty hunters found the missing egg.

Bounty 2: Alas Mek

Mek was once a highly-respected wizard in the town of Alta. Until one day he was in a horrible accident, which nearly destroyed his body. The other wizards transferred his mind into the body of an Iron Golem. Unfortunately, they didn't realize that this Golem was already inhabited by an evil spirit, and the two minds fought for control of the body. The Golem went on a mindless rampage, finally leaving Alta and heading off into the forest.

Getting to Alta meant buying horses, so now each character owns a horse. Once in Alta, they found it to be a rather snooty town, full of wealthy snobs who looked down on poorly-dressed out-of-towners.

Mek left an easy-to-follow trail, and our heroes found him pretty quickly. They had been given instructions for driving the evil spirit out of the Golem, but of course they had to tire him out first. After the fight, Mek's mind returned to normal, and they led him back to Alta to claim their reward.

Bounty 3: Victoria Vixen

As long as they were in Alta, they stopped by the Guardsman's Guild to look for work. They spoke to Captain Horn, who needed help looking for a con artist. Victoria Vixen had made a living by seducing wealthy men and stealing their life savings. However, no one could prove anything, and the guards sent to investigate had come back with empty pockets and missing memories.

Captain Horn knew exactly where Victoria was - she had taken over a nearby mansion, having charmed the original owner, who had since disappeared. Horn sent a female member of the Alta Guard - Helena Klash - to accompany our heroes. They sent her in first, while Damakos watched through the windows. Unfortunately, the servant who answered the door led Klash into a room that couldn't be seen from the outside.

Damakos continued to peek into each of the mansion's windows, and saw a few servants working in the kitchen, but the rooms they really wanted to see didn't have windows. Damakos then snuck inside and kidnapped a servant, and found her to be under a charm spell. Finally the party decided to all sneak into the house together, and search the remaining rooms. They finally found Victoria in the master bedroom, along with two charmed servants and the newly-charmed Helena Klash.

Victoria fought by using short-term charm spells. She would blow a kiss (CHA vs Will), and her target would attack one of their own allies. Once in melee range, she kissed one of the characters on the lips, causing him to burn an encounter power on a teammate. When she was bloodied, she revealed her true form - a winged succubus. In this form, she still had access to her charm spells, as well as a few fire-related abilities.

When she was finally defeated, the succubus vanished through a planar gate, unable to return for 100 years. With her gone, all her charmed subjects returned to normal.

XP Rewards:
Drew Baker
Tournament Round 1 (vs Brax "The Axe" Clovenhoof) - 125/2=62
Tournament Round 2 (vs Killian Krag) - 150/2=75
Tournament Round 3 (vs Damakos Redhorn) - 175
Tournament Round 4 (vs Tirah) - 150/2=75
Throk One-Tusk (Bounty/Story) - 300/3=100
Alas Mek (Encounter) - 200/5=40
Alas Mek (Bounty/Story) - 300/3=100
Victoria Vixen (Encounter) - 200/5=40
Victoria Vixen (Bounty/Story) - 300/3=100
Total XP: 767 (Total now 4959)

Damakos Redhorn
Tournament Round 1 (vs Kren Starblaze) - 125/2=62
Tournament Round 2 (vs Tarn Gulag) - 150/2=75
Tournament Round 3 (Lost to Drew Baker) - 25
Throk One-Tusk (Bounty/Story) - 300/3=100
Alas Mek (Encounter) - 200/5=40
Alas Mek (Bounty/Story) - 300/3=100
Victoria Vixen (Encounter) - 200/5=40
Victoria Vixen (Bounty/Story) - 300/3=100
Total XP: 542 (Total now 4734)

Tirah
Tournament Round 1 (vs Mordik Morte) - 125/2=62
Tournament Round 2 (vs Skar Redscale) - 150/2=75
Tournament Round 3 (vs Throk One-Tusk) - 250/2=125
Tournament Round 4 (Lost to Drew Baker) - 25/2=12
Throk One-Tusk (Bounty/Story) - 300/3=100
Alas Mek (Encounter) - 200/5=40
Alas Mek (Bounty/Story) - 300/3=100
Victoria Vixen (Encounter) - 200/5=40
Victoria Vixen (Bounty/Story) - 300/3=100
Total XP: 654 (Total now 2944)

Praktas - The Horrors of Arachna Island

Game Date: 9/19/09

Characters:
Drew Baker (Bryan) - Human Fighter (Tempest style)
Damakos Redhorn (Rick) - Tiefling Rogue (Brutal style)
Tira (Misty) - Deva Wizard (Wand style)

Matt2 was unable to make it, so I DMed a Praktas game. To recap: All three characters had just completed the six-week training course at the Bounty Hunter Guild. Drew and Damakos were still holding on to a treasure map they'd picked up during a previous adventure. Tirah, who had joined the BH guild on credit, wanted to earn her 4000 admission fee as quickly as possible. So, they had to decide between taking some bounties, or going after the treasure. They decided to get a couple of bounties out of the way, then try the treasure. I gave them four bounties to choose from.

Bounty 1: Skyrene Linnealinae

Skyrene is an Elven archer, who loves animals more than people. She hates to see animals hunted for food, or kept in captivity. She started small - letting cows and other farm animals loose, much to the annoyance of Trasa's local farmers. Then she took it a step further, by declaring herself the protector of Koramil Forest, and killing any hunters who ventured into the woods.

Our trio of adventurers (plus 2 pets) began exploring the forest, looking for tracks and trying to look like hunters. They finally came upon a deer, and fired an arrow at it. This caused them to be attacked by Skyrene, who had been following them for quite some time.

At first the battle looked pretty one-sided, five against one. But then Skyrene let loose with a loud combination of animal calls, causing a cougar to run out of the forest to her side, and causing the PCs' pets to turn against their masters. Now it was three against four, and none of the PCs wanted to harm their own pets.

But they concentrated their attacks on Skyrene, and once she went down, the pets returned to normal, and the cougar ran off into the woods. Drew and Damakos allowed Tirah to have their share of the bounty, which she put towards her debt.

Bounty 2: Jeska Spartan

Jeska's real name was Jessiana Cole, and she was once an exceptional student at the ABC (Alta Bardic College). One night a dorm party got out of control, and she was expelled for lewd behavior. She then tried to set the college on fire, and fled town to avoid arrest. She ended up in Trasa, where she started using the stage name Jeska Spartan, and formed a music group called Purple Mildew. The group was actually getting fairly popular until an audience member - a citizen of Alta on vacation - recognized her. The entire band went in to hiding soon after.

This bounty had the PCs going all over town. First they headed over to the Pleasure Palace, Trasa's sleaziest club, where Purple Mildew had been known to play. The owner, Errol Gold, gave them the address of Jeska's apartment. They also tried to access some records at Trasa's town hall, but the clerk wouldn't help them for privacy reasons. (DM Secret: While the clerk was immune to intimidation - there were guards all over the building, after all - he probably would have responded to a large bribe. Granted, there's only so much money you want to spend on a bounty hunter quest, if you want it to be profitable.)

Jeska's apartment was empty, but the landlady pointed them in the direction the flute player's house. His house was also empty except for a bum, who told them where the drummer lives. They finally found the entire band at the drummer's apartment. All four band members had bard-like powers. In addition to a headache-inducing sonic wail, Jeska could sing various songs that harmed or hindered all her enemies at once. As long as the other three band members continued playing their instruments, Jeska was harder to hurt (+2 to all defenses for each band member playing).

The PCs took out the band members one at a time, since their music made Jeska harder to hit. Once they were all down, Jeska continued fighting until she was bloodied, and then she surrendered. (DM Secret: While it was harder to defeat Jeska while the others performed, if they had taken out Jeska first, the other three would have surrendered. After all, there was no bounty on their heads, so they had little incentive to protect her.) Once again, Drew and Damakos contributed their shares to Tirah's debt.

Arachna Island

So now they decided it was time for a big score. They went to see their old friend, Captain Jarren, and showed him the treasure map. The fisherman agreed to take them, for a fee, but refused to accompany them ashore this time. He gave the PCs a means to contact him when they were ready to leave, and dropped them off on the shore of Arachna Island.

The adventurers followed the map, which led them near a village inhabited by lizardfolk. They soon found themselves surrounded by the villagers, who wore spider-shaped symbols on their primitive clothing. Tirah spoke their language, and attempted to talk to them. The lizardfolk declared that the invaders would be sacrificed to "the eight-legs", and battle ensued. Once the reptilian attackers were defeated, the PCs continued to follow the map.

The map led them to a cave. The entrance was guarded by two more lizardfolk, but it wasn't a long battle. The cave itself was full of large spiders. The tunnel finally ended in a tomb, containing web-covered sarcophagi. Before they could investigate much further, they were attacked by a pair of incredibly huge spiders, whose bites gave the PCs ongoing poison damage.

Once the spiders were defeated, the adventurers looted the place. They found a chest full of gold, and one sarcophagus held the corpse of a long-dead lizardfolk chieftain, who was wearing several pieces of enchanted clothing. Not any more.

They also found a scroll written in Draconic, which detailed the life of the Chief Athriss, considered to be the greatest leader that tribe had known. Before Athriss, the lizardfolk had lived in fear of the giant spiders, who would occasionally wander into town and eat a villager or two. Athriss convinced the tribe to worship the spiders, sacrificing their sick and infirm to the creatures, which left the spiders with no need to leave their cave for food. It was rumored that Athriss could even speak to the giant arachnids.

One of the more notable pieces of equipment they found on the corpse was a Gem of Colloquy, which allows the bearer to speak Abyssal. As it turns out the spiders were actually demons, and the gem had allowed Athriss to deal with them. Tirah now wears the gem.

The PCs then called Captain Jarran, and headed back to the shore. Once on the ship, they saw something strange on the shore. A lizardfolk shaman came running out of the woods, and started casting a spell. The skies darkened, and it started storming. The PCs saw a large underwater shape heading towards the ship. Everyone headed inside, taking refuge in the galley. The ship rocked and shook until it capsized. Everyone on board was knocked unconscious.

They woke up to find the ship in ruins. Several of the generic crew members were dead, and the survivors were badly injured. Venturing off the ship, they found that they were in some sort of odd cave. Soon they realized that they were actually inside a giant sea monster. They grabbed some supplies and headed down the tunnel, until they found the mouth. Captain Jarran supplied everyone with some potions that allowed underwater breathing, and one of the PCs stabbed the leviathan's tongue, causing it to open its giant maw. Once they'd been expelled from the creature, the watched the giant sea monster swim off at an incredible speed.

Eventually they made to a shore, minus two more crew members. They didn't recognize this island, so they explored it, finding nothing of value. Drew and Damakos each had two scrolls of recall, which could have transported them back to Trasa, but they didn't want to waste them just yet. They could still see Arachna Island off in the distance, and they decided to build a raft and travel there.

They explored every inch of Arachna Island, but it was now empty. They found a dock, and determined that the remaining lizardfolk had probably evacuated. (DM Secret: After discovering the villagers the PCs had killed... then finding that their spider gods were dead... then seeing the sea monster flee the area... the remaining lizardfolk decided that the island was now cursed, and set sail for a new place to start a village.)

Since they couldn't find anything useful on the island, they used some of Jarran's potions to explore under the water around the island. Finally they discovered a large underwater cave, and climbed out of the water to find a large empty cavern. (DM Secret: The underwater part of the cave is where the sea monster slept when waiting to be summoned.) Here they discovered gigantic black obelisk, filled with writing in Abyssal. Tirah spent a few hours studying the obelisk, until she found a way to use it to teleport everyone back to Trasa.

(DM Secrets: There were actually several ways they could have gotten off the island. If Captain Jarran had seen their scrolls of recall, he would have offered to buy them for several times the scrolls' value, then picked up the remaining castaways later in a friend's ship. But Drew and Damakos intentionally kept the scrolls hidden from Jarran's view.

If the players had decided to go ahead and use the scrolls on themselves without sharing, Jarran would have given them directions to hand to another sea captain who owed Jarran a favor.

If they had decided to just take their raft out to sea, I would have strongly discouraged that course of action, but I wouldn't have killed them. They would have encountered more storms, and lost a few more redshirts (maybe even Captain Jarran and/or the pets), but they would have eventually been spotted by another fishing vessel.

The obelisk was originally going to be in a cave on the unnamed island where they washed ashore, but when we reached that point, I liked how the roleplay was going and wanted to prolong it a bit. The players were coming up with some interesting ideas, and I wanted to see what else came up.)

XP Rewards:
Skyrene: 300/5=60
Jeska and Her Band: 400/5=80
Lizardfolk: 900/5=180
Lizardfolk Guards: 400/5=80
Spiders: 300/5=60
Spider Boss: 850/5=170
Combat Total: 630 each.

General Roleplay and Problem Solving:
Drew and Damakos: 200 each.
Tirah: 300.

Totals:
Drew Baker - 830, Total now 4192 (Level 4)
Damakos Redhorn - 830, Total now 4192 (Level 4)
Tirah - 930, Total now 2290 (Level 3)