Game Night June 24 – A day in the life of a freeporter – Pursers, Tattoos, and a brawl

The pursers office. A stiff breeze through the windows, and the rotund purser spoke to the crew of the Purpyl Wyrm +3 in his dock-shanty as though they were his newfound allies. He had two subjects of utmost importance. The first was the stack of 100 cartons of fine freeport wine, available for 100 gold per case and guaranteed to garner twice that in any port in the Three Seas.

His second topic of conversation was to grill the party on any precious metals or gems they would like to convert into gold pieces. He pointed out the large and re-inforced safe in the corner of his office. If they would deposit any such material to his office he would get a good return on it he next day for a small ten percent fee. The crew declined unanimously.

Moving on, he reminded them to come to the docks at dusk, where he would speak to the assembled crowd about the Snake tongue cult, which he assured them was a very worthy cult. He then looked around to make sure none were eavesdropping and opened his cloak to reveal hundreds of citizenship badges, and told them that he was offering any who signed up the chance to call freeport home., with all the advantages that entailed. (It turns out not too many.) One benefit it offered was the chance to vote in the upcoming election to determine the new King Merchant of the freeport.

The heroes of this tale assured the head purser Pellew that they would indeed see him at dusk and hear his words. THen the went to the tattoo parlor and began an intense session of trying to pick out which tattoos to get. Now, I would like to interject an out of game observation. It was hilarious to see how much like an actual tattoo parlor scene this must have played out, as each of the players tried to pick out exactly which tattoo they wanted. It was funny.

the Tattoo Parlor. It was a tent, shaded by gently curving palm trees on the sandy shore of the Larb’rd Docks, the shadiest part of freeport in more ways than than sun blocking. An arcane tattooist who called himself Al Mirage, offered them three choices. For 1,000 gold they could get the Quick-step tattoo, a popular choice. But for an additional thousand or two, they could get the rare “Arcane eye” added to the tattoo, which blasts a foe with a ray of pure force whenever they are injured and bloodied by an attack.

By the time the they finished up in the tattoo parlor, it was almost dusk, so the officers decided to head towards the puresers office back on the outer docks. Along the way they met up with two of the ships crew who announced they would lke a promotion to become officer candidates. One was a githzerai monk named Cheeto. (Hey wait a minute, didnt they slay all the gith on board when they captured the ship?) The other was an elf cleric-druid, whose name is impossible to recount here, being the names of seven wise owls known to the elf’s people. We shall call him 7-O.

The purser was standing on a stage, and next to him a boy began playing a tune on his flute while he began his speech. Pellew said it was nfair that they only have the four lords of the Merchant Houses and he proposed a fifth choice – the head priest of the Snaketongue cult and as he said this he was becoming more and more agitated and frothing at the mouth, and Poppy saw he had a forked tongue. WHen he raised his hands high in the air to proclaim everyone presnt to the side of the Snaketongue cult, a riot erupted, and they saw that a small serpent was twined about his arm plunging its fangs into his wrist. The flutist was playing as fast and loudly at possible, and it seemed the boy was trying to pull the flute from his lips.

Half the crowd immediately sided with the snaketongue cultist, and this unfortunately included the monk CHeeto. This monk spent almost the entirety of the battle beating on anyone who opposed the idea of a bright new snaketongue cultist future, which worked out, as we shall see. This eventually led to him standing shin deep in hot dog pans, a low point in an auspicious career.

From Pellew two spectral snakes sprung from his hands and he used them as whips, one was thorn covered and the o0ther had sperctral jaws. Additionally 5 members of the crowd pulled venom dripping daggers from under their brown cloaks and terrorized those who opposed the cult. A wild brawl ensued. Poppy used her mage hand to tear the flute form the boys lips, and he survived, to be questioned later.

As if this werent enough, in the midst of tearing out another enemy’s heart with her bare teeth, Felipe chanced to glance up and see see the mast of her ship was listing to the side. Heart forgotten, she sped towards the boat just as an entire army of fish scaled humanoids erupted from the water along the length of the long dock, with deadly tridents and nets in their clawed fists. It took her a moment to tear threw them, with CHeeto’s help, as he decided the enemy of his enemy is hsi friend, and slew the fishy sahaugin wherever he could. Redeemed, he still gave the unilluminated crew of the Pyrpyl Wyrm a savage kick whenever he could.

Though the battle was intense with dozens of foes everywhere one turned, the heroes of the tale managed to slaughter cultists and sahaugin alike, and along the way, they noticed the sahaugin that when Pellew was finally killed, his body splashing into the sea, the sahaugin called off their attack and dove into the sea.

In the aftermath of the battle, the ship was saved froma great hole punched in its bottom. Three chibi fanaton were beheaded by the sahagin raid, and the hold was looted for anything of value – which wasnt much.

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Dark Legacy of Evard 7 – Basement Got Devils

In an interesting twist to fate, the fabric of reality itself shifted to result in your humble evil dungeon master not DM’ing this week’s session of D and D. Ah no, he was a player instead, in the session DM’ed by his apprentice, his minion and henchman, his heir and son, DM Jibber Jabber we shall call him. I also sometimes call him Jackson Delaney, but only when I am especially angry at his antics. This week his antics were spot on, and the dragonborn vampire-paladin Lord Frost made his appearance in the party out to explore the mystery of the dark legacy of Evard.

We were in a basement it seems: a dank cellar below an abandoned manor house, repurposed into a bandit hideout. The bandits were devil-men. Their skin was red, they had horns and tails, and things seemed to catch fire too close around them. This did not stop Lord Frost, the bringer of cold, from engaging in such nefarious activities in the subterranean depths and he charged in with gusto. Their were two rooms full of the devils. One on the left Lord Frost pretty much ignored. The minotaur Jack had stripped his last devil foe of its burning bastard sword, and now wielded it with as much precision as he had his previous rapier.

But in the room ahead, the foes were not so easily defeated and it seems as though Lord Frost was struck with a weapon he least expected from such ignoble foes – the blast of radiance. He fell to his knee, bloodied by the blow, but the white-hot invisible flames continued to tear into his vampirical flesh. He prayed to five headed Bahamut – Why have you forsaken me great draconis? Must I suffer the privations of undead-like flesh, and a proclivity for blood for you? I am a paladin of the five headed dragon, out to to god and justice for those deserving?

The holy prayer went unanswered and Lord frost fell to the ground his pearlescent scales blackening under the radiance he could never wield again. Luckily the rest of the party slew his foes and a rune priest drove the radiance from his body just before he went to the open embrace of the five slavering maws of Bahamut.

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Game Night June 17th – The Dockside Politics of Freeport

When the Merchant King dies, and of course he just had, all the free people of the city vote a new king among the four Lord Merchants of the Free Port City of the Marquoil. The black smoke emenating from the High Fortress atop the extinct volcano meant the ancient lord had at last succumbed to his mortality. In 3 days voting would commence and in 7 days a new king among the four would be anointed.

The carousing officer corps of the Free Looters visited the Castle of each of the Four Merchant Lords, after speaking with Burris the barkeep at the Outer Dock. At House of the Grey Veils, they spoke to a draconian who wore a grey veil over his face. The veil he wore symbolized equality of all peoples. His Name was Lord Grey Frost. He offered them lodgings, and the freelooters accepted, but had another appointment first. The flag of House of the Grey Veils was a snake biting its own tail. The snake wore a veil. And so did the tail.

Next up was Castle Crabstone, and its Lord wore iron armor formed in the scallops and horns of a crabshell. His house motto was “Wave or war – we endure.” (Ya that’s what Im talkin’ ’bout) His house would weight each candidate and throw their votes to the one of his choosing. By this method, Crabstone insured them, that it was he alone who would crown the next king. House Crabstone’e flag was a crab with a snake in its claw.

No one was home at the Keep of House Tallyman, and it was known that young Prince Tallyman was at the bedside of his dying father the king, and remained in the fortress still. Tallymans Flag bore the image of the Free Port Lighthouse with a great gold coin as the sun rising behind it. On the coin was stamped the same image of the Lighthouse with the Sun Coin…

The fourth house, that of the Samarquoil, was on the other side of eel infested Freedom Bay, and thus went unexplored, though it was known that they were the wealthiest. They owned land rights of nearby delta, and a permanent platform settlement suburb of Free Port,with all the votes that entails.

Crabstone offered the Free Looters 2,000 gold if they can verify the rumours that a House is planning to betray the voting process. 5,000 gold if they can thwart the plan. Lord Greyfrost promised them 1,000 gold if they would explore rumors of a “snake tongue cult” on the Delta Platform, and he would give them a bonus for any votes thy managed to procure while on the platform. If he should win due to their influence, then the reward would be infinitely greater.

Back at the Outer Dock, they spoke with the Head Purser who invited the freelooters to a meeting of the snake tongue cultists on the outer docks that night.

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Messing around with Keep on the Borderlands Maps

The Keep on the Borderlands

One of my favorite views of the Keep on the Borderlands, recently appended to Restwell Keep, is this map by an artist who goes by the name “crazyred.” A version of this map appeared in the DnD Encounters Season 4 adventure Keep on the Borderlands: A Season of Serpents, and a keyed version appeared in Dragon 176 feature on the Keep. It was of great use during the adventure. and the two together combine to form an excellent dragon-filled introductory campaign.

Restwell Keep Tactical Map

This is a recreation of Restwell Keep done using the tactical maps from A Season of Serpents. The map is not perfect, and the most glaring change is that the bank has switched sides from the southern wall to be adjacent to the keep. There are plenty of minor differences as well, such as the complete lack of an inner bailey, but to throw down this almost 300′ wide town is still pretty impressive. It also makes a congruent town shape, where the outer edges become the outer stone walls. With the addition of some dungeon tiles, even more possibilities open up.

The map was made by first photographing the poster maps from above, and avoiding glare was impossible for me to achieve. Next I used Gimp (free graphics software) Perspective tool to square them up. I imported them as map tiles of the correct number of squares into Masterplan, and voila – Restwell Keep on the Borderlands.

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The Free Port City of the Marquoil

The outer bastions of the Free Port City of the Marquoil

Said to be impregnable, the free port city of the Marquoil juts out into the sea at the southernmost tip of the lands of D Erte. Protected from land by a an extinct volcano, and from the sea by a ship-navigable tunnel, the deep water harbor is surrounded by a natural defensive bulwark. Over the centuries, the city grew from a safe haven for pirates as do most of the cities in the Three Seas region, to become a powerful city, both in trade and in strength of its free booter navy. The port became the lock through which all traffic between the Three Seas the mysterious and wild far east must pass.

Besides the natural defenses, the city has been improved by the construction of a mighty fortress overlooking the harbor from its volcanic precipice. Known as the First Lords Bastion, it is home to the most dreaded weapon in the Three Seas – the Fire Bolter, which is an arcane contraption able to hurl fireballs over half a league. The Free Marines man traditional ballistae and catapults on the rocky clifftops overlooking the cove.

A lighthouse guides ships through the treacherous waters and towards the outer docks, where they may seek entrance into the city. The Free Navy billets its many ships along the same wharf, and ships may dock here, or for a greater fee and inspection, they may pass into the inner sanctum. On foot, travellers may pass through the Free Marine Training Grounds to gain entry into the city, but all cargo has to be floated through the tunnel.

Inside the bulwarks, the great safe harbor is a riot of activity. Three long docks extend toward the center of the bay, with all manner of boats and ships docked alongside them, while teetering buidings form a line down the center of the docks. The Larboard, the Leeward, and the Main, these massive constructions are the life blood of the city, and much of the populace of the free city spend their days and nights on these floating docks.

North of the docks is a narrow strip of built up shore where many of the largest market houses were built of the same local sand colored stone. Above them are two plateaus, on the lowest are the estates of many of the wealthiest of the populace while the highest holds the massive First Lords Bastion.

To the left and right of the harbor two long arms stretch out in an embrace that meets at the tunnel. On the Leeward side (the east) rose three stone castles of the Merchant lords. The first was Castle Tallyman, and it guards the eastern approaches to the city. In the center, built upon piles of sea walls was the hulking structure of Castle Crabstone, and the third was Castle Grey. These massive walled keeps were designed to withstand a seige by enemy or by storm, but the many hundreds of hovels, tents, and shacks that spring up around them are periodically swept away by the huricanes that sweep in from the deep oceans.

On the larboard side the wealthiest house of all, House Samarquoil, had its sprawling palace. The merchant lords of House Samarquoil held the rights to all the wealth of the nearby river delta, and surrounding lands. The soft and hardwoods of the forests to the north, as well as the rare and exotic herbs and spices of the river delta were much prized throughout all known realms. House Samarquoil had wealth enough to construct their own floating colonial outpost near the mouth of the delta, which has become an offshoot suburb of Freepot.

Four great merchant houses rose to power in the city, and they formed an alliance which they named the Marquoil Treaty. Since its signing, centuries ago, the four houses have continued to rise in power and prestige to control nearly all shipping in the region. According to the treaty, one lord is voted by the free populace of the city to become the First Lord. The merchant rules for life, and resides in the fortress. He controls the Free Navy, made up of an equal number of ships from each of the four houses, and the Free Marines.

The current first lord is Arnace Tallyman, who has lived in the fortress for many long years. Some say he will never die, but only become richer and richer until the weight of the gold sinks the fortress into the sea.

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Dark Legacy of Evard 6 – Party at Vontarins House

After missing last week due to some emergency dental surgery (ugh) it was nice to be back in the saddle. Since my son (and co-dm) was in the middle of an intense Warhammer 40k battle with one of the players when I arrived, we decided to let them keep playing and consolidated the DnD’ers into one large table of 7. It was a nice experience. I have always favored large groups for Encounters, it was great to have a large table again after so many weeks of playing with 4 or 5. I was also glad to see most of the regulars were back. After standing them up last week, I was sure that they would do the same to me. Thankfully, I was wrong, and it shows what an awesome crew of players I have to put up with my shenanigans and return week after week.

I was sad to miss week 5, since it seemed especially awesome, but week 6 looked good too, so I was caught in a conundrum. In the end, I decided to work both encounters into one, and with the 7 players, it made it possible to combine the monsters, or one notable monster that is.

The party was just waking up from their naps, after spending the night chasing shadows, when a young strangely dressed fellow showed up, begging them to come see his grandmother. He wore clothes with strange patterns embroidered into them, and wide flapping lapels. The paladin knew his kind –Vistani. They were a nomadic people who never stayed one place long, and who were often accused of nefarious activities. This kid seemed honest enough under the paladins glaring eyes, and so they agreed to follow him.

Mother Grivelda met them at a house outside town, and had heard of the heaors exploits. She had one question for them – who was buried in Evards tomb? When they guessed Evard, he chuyckled and told them no, the body was switched and Vontarin was buried in the tomb. She said his old house was nearby, and they they should seek it out for clues to the curse that has befallen the town of Duponde. As she spoke, they heard a long wailing howl of a wolf in the woods outside. She then asked them if they would like to have their fortunes read, and Gale the hunter, Connie the vampire, and one or two others agreed. She told them of dark times ahead, and of the fear of loss, and told the vampire specifically to keep to the shadows. The party then left and made their way down the lane towards the abandoned house of Vontarin.

As they walked, they heard more wolf sounds, this time from closer, and Gale thought she might have seen a flitting shadow, but soon they left the woods behind, and came to a hill atop which the ruins lay. The courtyard was empty, and a fountain with black sludge stood between statues of Vontarin, one on horseback, one on a seahorse.

The invoker stepped forward and tried the door, it was locked. The house was in ruins, with part of the roof caved in, but all the windows were shuttered, and some looked recently nailed shut. Also, there were recent tracks of men and beasts leading to the locked door. This was all the minotaur needed, and he charged forward, slamming into the doors with his be-horned head, smashing the doors off their hinges and 10 feet into the dark, dusty interior. He was immediately attacked by a pair of drakes. If dogs are man’s best friend, then drakes are surely monsters best friend. No self respecting humanoid is without at least one guard drake. In this house were a pair. One was small, but what it lacked in stature it made up for in fangs. Its had fangs hanging out of its mouth, pointing every direction, and it knew how to use them. It charged the minotaur and bit into his thigh. Meanwhile, the other drake was larger and covered in green scaly hide. It sat back on its haunches and its throat expanded like a bull frog’s before disgorging a huge glob of acid that arced across the room and splashed into the minotaur.

The rest of the party moved into the room, except for Gaunt the shadow wizard who moved around one side, and Gale the hunter who kept alert outside the front door. She noticed a shadow flit behind a nearby tree and without hesitation she fired an arrow at a shoulder just visible. A wolf-like howl met her attack, and out of the cover of the tree a half-man half-wolf came bounding. Along the way it pulled the arrow out of its shoulder, and Gale watched with fear as the wound began to close. It then slashed the hunter knocking her down. It bit her too, then leapt into the doorway to take on the others.

Meanwhile, a party of 4 red-skinned demi-humans with tapering horns on their heads – tieflings – stood up from one back corner of the house where they were playing a game of cards. They rushed forward ,and from the other end of the house came a huge tiefling with a flaming bastard sword in his hands. He struck out at the paladin and the rune priest.

Connie the vampire wore a wide brimmed hat to keep the sun off, and as she was hit with a glob of drake spit, the hat began crumbling from the acid. I warned her that it was a good thing she was in the house, since it was high noon outside and her hat was destroyed. On her turn as a minor action, she put on another hat.

The melee was fierce as the allies and enemies crowded into the front room of the ruined manor. The card playing tieflings went down quick, but their boss was harder to kill, and he stood in front of the spitting drake, protecting it. The werewolf tore into the allies from the door, while the tieflings hit them from the other side. But these are heroes, and they turned the tide. After the minions and the chihua-drake were slain, the party ganged up on the boss and the werewolf, and the battle was won. The poor spitting drake was the last to go down, spitting and backing away until it was finally, mercifully slaughtered.

After seeing the flaming bastard sword, the hulking minotaur knew that he would feel inadequate if he continued using his rapier, and he took it with a smile. Now that’s a sword worthy of a minotaur.

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Game Night June 10th – Caught Between Skulla and Charmander

Between Skulla the dracolich, Charmander the hydra, and a giant whirpool

This is what the night eventually led to, but there was some leading up to it, so lets lead in with the leading up to part.

Having dispatched the savage humanoids, the characters discovered the stupid orcs wielded hand axes of dark elf steel. It was glistening and deadly in the darkness but tarnished quickly in sunlight. They found 6 such axes (worth 500 gold apiece) and surmised that the tunnels must lead down eventually into the Underdark, demesne of the drow. While checking all this out Poppy heard the faintest of murmured cries coming from what sounded like human prisoners in the tunnels below. The heroes (who happened to be short on slave rowers) proceeded with caution down the foetid tunnel, leading ever spiraling downwards. Tolro the elvish hunter used her sneaking skills to scout ahead, and she came to an area of pitch darkness where the walls seemed to expand into a roughly circular chamber.

Her elvish eyes could detect even the faintest reflection of light, and she counted 18 pair of human eyes seated around the perimeter of the chamber, and a dozen sets of glowering red orcish eyes in the center of the chamber, but no visible ogres. She was also overcome by an overpowering stench of decaying flesh. She hurried back to the others to devise a plan and it quickly came about that they may be able shock and awe the orcs into fleeing. So began a series of flashes and bangs, shouts and even the half orc THokk somersaulting into the room with a back-spray of flashing lights. Needlesss to say, the minions fled, and the surviving crew of the Emerald Guard were saved.

They claimed to sail the Emerald Guard, ship of the princess of Shalazar, who was lost overboard when they foundered in a storm. The crew wound up in this sea cave and were promptly captured by the savage humanoids who have been feasting on them one after the other for the past few days. THe ship captain Ling Wei spoke to them as Poppy and Hex hurried forward, sensing danger. But it was only a softly enchanting music they heard, and could even pick out a few words. The song spoke of an elf with a big sword and a stabbing, cursing space pirate.

Poppy and Hex hurried forward to hear more of the song, and as they reached the waters edge inside the sea cave, they noticed the tide had gone down, exposing a small island in the middle of the cave. ‘Pon this island grew many beautiful, small white flowers, which reflected the shafts of lancing rays shining down through the extinct volcano’s open top. Laughing and playing on this island were a group of charming mermaids, who picked the flowers and strung them through each others hair, except for one tall red-haired beauty who sang a lovely song about coming out to play.

Hex skidded in his tracks, shaking his head and deciding he had no interest in the mermaids, but Poppy went straight to the edge of the carved stone dock, her toes curling over the lip. She glanced through the crystal clear waters of the sheltered harbor and saw a gigantic octopus with coiled tentacles lounging on the sea bed. The words drifted over the waters about the magical powers of the flowers to raise one’s defenses. Poppy was tempted mightily but seeing those slick pink tentacles twining through the salty brine made her see truth and she halted just in time, even as her hands were coming together in a dive.

The singing stopped and even though the mermaids begged them to come out to the island and promised them each a flower, the party set their eyes towards the exit and rowed on without another word. The pouting mermaids stuck out their tongues at them as they passed. They promised them half the pearls from their treasure chest if they could recover it from the octopus, but the protagonists would not be tricked a second time and thus returned to their ship with 8 veteran seamen. The winds were still blowing at gales strength though they had shifted to the west. This proved fortunate to the Pyrpyl Wyrm as her prow was now pointed straight to Free Port.

The Pyrpyl Wyrm made great time throughout the rest of the day. The Three Seas is unique in that it is a flooded volcanic plain, still active, and this has a drastic impact on the form of the sea, ad the rules of sailing. The depths can vary greatly from one area to the next, with great deep trenches cutting fast currents, and all kinds of rocky shallows and outcroppings make dangers for ships. Poppy caught sight of one such spire of rock of the port side, a league or so distant, but she wasnt worried, as the water ahead and below was the dark blue of great depth.

Soon after, she saw a ridge of stone breaking surface off the starboard bow, and when she caught another ridge back on the port side, only now less than half a league away, she realized they were being boxed in. Soon rocky ridges sprang up on either side of the ship, narrowing and funneling them to the west. The gale force winds acted as a disadvantage by now. The current had caught them, and the depth of the trench they were following prevented any anchorage without getting dangerously close to the rocks. There also wasnt enough room to turn around. Poppy peered despaarteley ahead and saw to her relief that the two narrowing ridges of rock never met, but that there was a gap wide enough for the ship to pass through, their only options were to furl the sails and coast through at a slower pace, or to go through at full speed. It was unanimous, full speed ahead.

As they approached the gap, pushed on by the gale force winds, and pulled along by the rushing currents of the deep channel, Poppy saw to her horror that in the hundred yard gap between the two clif faces, a great whirpool seethed and churned. The boat would be caught, but she had to choose the left (port) or right (starboard) side of the pool to risk. On the right hand pinnacle of rock, a draconian cresture of such groteqsue gigantism crouched, watching the approaching Pyrpyl Wyrm with its four sets of eyes. It was a flamekiss hydra, and this was its hunting ground. As Poppy prepared to risk the left-hand side, she saw a grey shadow break free of the clouds far above and circle to land on the other pinnacle of rock in a heap of clattering bones.

“Skulla my old ally, I see you have come to steal my kill!” the voice of the hydra boomed out of four mouths simultaneously. “Not at all fiery Charmander, I have been tracking my prey since they left my domicile of dread . It is you who dare claim my kill!” retorted the wretched dracolich in a hollow booming voice, that shook its dozens of tusky ribs together inm a clamor like the dead against the gates of the abyss.

With a short discussion between ships officers the choice was made to pass by the dracolich first, at break-neck speed. They girded for battle, each choosing the best place to stand. It ended up being a good choice since the dracolich could fly and had the ability to mesmerize at long range, whule the hydra had no such powers, so it had to wait until the whirpool brought the ship around to it.

The whirpool was a vast inescapable circling maelstrom, and the ship had to make four successful piloting checks to navigate up out of the four deep channels circling the whirpool and to safety beyond. Only one such channel could be traversed per turn, and the DC to pilot was DC 25, modified by any other ships officers check to aid in the piloting, which gave a cumulative +2 bonus to the roll. The steering check was a minor, as was aiding. As it was the ship took 5 rounds to leave the maelstrom, and one time around no one was steering the ship at all! (I should have rolled on the ship damage chart that turn, arrgh!)

Thokk and Hex spin in the grasp of the whirlpool as Poppy faces Charmander

The Battle against the Duo of Soloes

Thokk charged up onto the stony outcropping upon which crouched the dracolich Skulla. He was immediately mesmerized and ordered to leap into the whirlpool. The ship moved quickly past the ship as each character went, and much damage was unleashed towards Skulla, until the ship was suddenly whisked around and began its pass of Charmanders perch. The our headed beast blasted its flamekiss all over the ship, attempting to alight its enemies, but Hex’s magic pulled the hydra onto the ship, which it graciously accepted wthout a fight.

Later on, Hex attempted to push the hydra into the maelstron, but its massive clawsdug ito the ships decking for three passes around the whirlpool before succumbing to the push and taking a swim. hex himself was thrown overboard by the force of the dracoliches wretched breath, and Poppy narrowly avoided the same fate, facing down Charmanders seven heads alone.

But she was not quite alone, for Tolro decided to take the low ground and leapt down onto the lower deck with the sailors to back herself against the main mast. Charmander blasted her into toast, and the captain had to raise her with inspiring words. She got her revenge just after Poppy lopped off many of its heads in a mighty swing. One single arrow when right into CHarmander’s heart, felling him where he stood.

THe dracolich was still unbloodied, and it planted the secret desire to shoot Poppy in the back with the arcane ballista into Hex’s easily swayable mind. Poppy, who was still frowning at the lost kill, turned her evil eye on the sword lock. She then went on to promise certain unmentionable things to the undead monstrosity facing them, and the Raven Queen smiled on her, for she smote the dragon a mighty blow. Bot quite killing it however. THe dracolich went down in a frenzy of minor paltry blows, as the party finished him off like a gang of thugs might finish off a richly dressed fop with no money pouch. Kicking,punching, gouging.

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No Encounters tonight

I am suffering from some sudden and intense toothache, Im sorry I have to cancel tonight. I will try and run a double encounter next week.

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Game Night June 3 – Wandering Sea Cave Savage Humanoid Encounter

"A mountain rose out of the sea with a cavernous opening..."

After the battle with the Purple Wyrm, the Tomfool Free lancers were in dire need of ship repairs. They ended up harvesting the great spine of the beast and fusing it to the broken timbers of the main mast for support, and mounted the sea serpents skull on the ships prow. (Harvesting its skin for hull repairs was deemed impractical after repeated attempts.)

While the ship repairs were successful, they could not replace the lost rowers, and this led to the ship drifting through a week long spell of rain with little to no wind. They spent their time time trying to catch fish and drinkable water. The chibi’s grumbled at the salty mix the heroes squeezed out of the sodden sails for them to drink. It is a wonder none of them became ill, but it was due to the amazing sandwiches of Thokk the half orc barbarian master cook, or “Cookie” as he insisted on being called. Tunaisse with mayon, mm. His apprentice wizard assistant Ismelda no doubt helped.

Finhals Cave

On the 7th day out, the wind picked up into a gale and the rain continued, forcing the ship to ride out a storm, until the 8th day, when the skies opened up. The strong winds continued and the ship began to make good speed throughout the day. Around noon, a dark shape on the horizon rose out of the ocean ahead, which Poppy’s keen eyes soon picked out as a lone mountain jutting up out of the water. They cautiously kept their distance, fearing rocks and shallows, but the water around it was clear and deep. A dark scar resolved itself into a cavernous crack opening up one side of the mountain, into which the sea flowed. Tacking into the wind, they came around and lowered sail.

Though the crack seemed large enough to admit the Ship+3, the ships officers decided to take a rowboat in, and leave the chibi fanaton and humans aboard. The five remaining ex-slaves assured them they would defend the ship and await their return, and that they could not sail without the aid of the chibi, who were intensely loyal to their new masters.

Sailing into the crack they saw that it was an old hollow volcano and their were structures built upon the far wall. A circle of dayling illuminated the inner protected bay, and across the deep water a long stone dock was carved from a wide inner shelf of stone with steps going up into the ruins of stone buildings. They discovered tumbled and broken stone buildings many centuries unused, with little record of who once called this place home. Searching further into the ruins, they noticed at the back of the cavern 4 cave mouths leading deeper into the mountain. It looked like there were once bronze bars blocking them, but now only the ruins of stubs stuck out of the stone. As Poppy and Felipe cautiously advanced, keeping a sharp ear, they could hear the distant sound of… hooting. \

Now thats a sea cave full of savage humanoids all right!

The hooting quickly became louder and more savage sounding until from the mouths of three caves disgorged throngs of howling, hooting orc savages led by enormous bloated ogres with spiked clubs. The battle was swift and fun and towards the end of it the ghost of Sharia made an appearance and helped turn the tide of victory. (Thanks to our good friend Khar suddenly returning after a gaming sabbatical known as SHOOL. She will not be using the lame revenant Sharia-as-seeker that I had the printer spit out, though the ghost of Sharia made a fine accounting of herself during the last half of the battle with the savage humanoids.) Each character was able to do what they do best – slaughter hordes of brutes. It was glorious.

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Encounters Dark Legacy of Evard 4 – Shadows linger, and finally some brains

Finally after a night spent in the shadowfell, dealing with shadowy monsters and elusive threats, the party has a fleshy enemy they can really sink their teeth into. Or let me rephrase that, the enemy finally sinks their teeth into the party of heroes. Groans, moans, and the occasional slurred word “brains…” comes from the shadows of the cemetery, and Brother Zevan wants them to investigate. But before that happened…

While chasing down shadows, town guardsman came up to the heroes, and mentioned a brother Zevan from the Chapel of Light who wanted to see them. The paladin had heard of this warrior priest and knew him to be an upstanding fellow, if on the older side. When they arrived at the chapel, they saw he was protecting a group of civilians who sought the chapel’s safety. Though old and bent, brother Zevan looks like a born fighter, and indeed his trusty mace is leaning by the door. He tells the heroes a tale of seeing the strange mage involved in a ritual in the cemetery near his chapel just before the “shadowfall,” and wants them to investigate.

The runepriest has been eyeing Brother Zevans mace – a big deadly, finely crafted thing, and asks the priest if he could have the weapon. Zevan takes great interest in the runepriest, and they agree to swap maces – and that’s how Thorn ends up with a masterwork +1 mace. (that and a good diplomacy check)

After that, it is off to the cemetery, and they arrive just as corpses are pulling themselves up out of the dirt – perfect timing! So begins a big battle of organs, blood and body parts flying. It was a good battle, pretty tough, and fora moment there it looked dangerously like a TPK in the making, but the party pulled through it, despite the poor paladin being knocked unconscious every round repeatedly. But the organs of slaughtered ghouls and zombies quickly piled up on and aound him, and the party was victorious just as the first light of dawn spread its wings across the vault of the sky.

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