Saturday, October 29, 2016

Green Pass Campaign IV: Interlude

After magically sealing the underworld rift, the surface of the lake already no longer seems to boil and fume and the malign fog above the surface of the water seems to lessen.

Over the next few hours the clouds around you lift and dissipate, revealing skeletal trees that seem to sag as though wilted by age. Portions of the bark are falling away, leaving behind patches of swollen mushy pulp that looks more like raw meat than wood. Residual beads of red condensation drip from withered leaves. The forest is still deathly still, with no bird calls or insect noises. At least the quiet provides some comfort that camping here for the night will be uneventful. You recover your spells and sleep well, the curse of this place having grown less oppressive for the moment.

After about a few hours of waiting, the formerly indistinct boundary between day and night has become meaningful. The sky is grayed by dawn, but as the sun rises, the coloration is badly wrong. Looking diagonally across the lake you can see the loading docks on the east shore, about a quarter mile from Centerpost, where a few small river boats are moored. The shore itself is deserted, but above the mist-choked horizon, you can see a terrible sight.

Low to the ground, lower than the mountain peaks would be, there is a swirling vortex of cloud. The cloud is fed from below by two enormous geysers of churning colored fluid that seem to be forced upward under great pressure. One is orange fringed in black, like cooling magma. The other is green with pulsing veins of purple wrapping around it like climbing vines. Rather than falling back to earth, the geysers seem to be feeding their churning liquid into the cloud like the base of an upside-down waterfall.
This actually exists! (It's Saturn's polar cyclone.)
The cloud itself is a spiral that draws in both colors like a tornado about to form. At the cloud's center is a dark throbbing egg of something that glistens like wet rubber, spinning rapidly as it hovers in the air a quarter-mile above the ground. Tongues of colored lightning, orange and green, descend from the egg to strike the ground at the known location of Centerpost. A hot wind is blowing outward from the direction of the vortex that was not present the day before. Just in the last few minutes, it has notably risen in intensity. The leaves now tremble enough to shed their drops, and a thin rain of ferric-smelling blood is drizzling under the forest canopy.

There is a far-off wailing on the wind, nearly imperceptible at first but growing louder like a chorus being joined by many voices. The surface of the lake answers the wailing with the wisps of fresh fumes, and begins to sputter with bubbles again.

Friday, October 28, 2016

Green Pass Campaign IV, Session I: The Mist

Writ of Summons on the Authority of the First Office of the Chancery of the Sea-Kingdom of Durnovar, on this the 30th of September, the year 70 AUP, being to all lords temporal, mystical, and spiritual of the chartered lands of Elysium:

We greet you on behalf of King and Archbishop and beseech you to muster at once to the headwaters of the Isigflod, northeast of the Isigwold holdings, and perform the following services on behalf of crown and mitre:

* Confirm the freedom and safety of the garrison at Fort Bodeswell and the Abbey of Little Darply, north along the Isigwold, and aid them in whatever reasonable capacity they request;

* Scout the valley up the Tenterhook to the camp of Centerpost, recently rumored to have fallen to the dread Cult of Orcus, and report on the forces massed there;

* Continue to the gate at Footman's Notch and reclaim control of it from any opposition, so we can re-establish contact with our outposts in the Balewood beyond;

* Warning: Military reconnaissance of the last few months describes numerous creatures of a fiendish and otherworldly nature, including hellhounds and demon swine. Locate the origin of these creatures, and if possible, disrupt their further arrival.

Do not engage any large standing armies until we have mobilized a counter-force of our own. If espionage presents opportunities to eliminate their leadership discretely, however, do not hesitate to do so.

We request you file report by swift courier from Bodeswell to the provincial council at Straddleport upon conclusion of any components this mission.

Heavenspeed, good nobles!

October 24-28, Caudex Annales, 70 AUP
The survivors of the north group, having fled Footman's Notch before the rest of the party was torn apart by hellhounds (and not knowing the full details of their fate), finally returned to civilization in the Isigwold, seeking succor at the castle of Tallibrick Sheerclift. Couriers were dispatched to relay news of the events of the last three months, first west along the river road to Straddleport by horse and then by arcane clairaudience back to Durnovar. The office of the chancellor issued a writ of summons for all nobles settled in the region, landed and titled, to muster for a reconnaissance of the region in greater force, all communications from the Green Pass region having been lost.

A party of powerful heroes assembled at the Buckler Gap, discovering a mysterious wall of fog that completely obscured visibility into the valley. The fog was curiously dense, and left a gritty film on the skin as evidence of its unnatural impurity. Attempts to disbelieve it as an illusion were unsuccessful, although the gritty sensation seemed to be entirely psychological in nature.

The company's roster:
  • April Dawnbow, woodland hunter (Kim)
  • Spinal Pyrope, jello...mancer?! (Kyle)
  • Criptus, skinscribe (Andrew)
  • Smaug, chiefest and greatest of calamities (Zac)
  • Avila Tressa, priestess (Stuart)
  • Qaldor Nim, mage (Sherlock)
  • Rhaegal
  • Tallibrick Shearclift, gnomish ferret-haver (Reba)
  • Darrin, dwarven craftlord (Jacob)
  • Sir Pal of Din, I dunno, probably some kind of elven ranger (Juston)
  • Thorin Odinson, dwarven sapper
  • And a roughly equal number of henchmen
After creating a magically cleared bubble of fresh air using the swirling vortex form of a summoned djinn, the party advanced cautiously through the mist, following the road. The thin patches of forest at the mouth of the valley were devoid of natural life, and the trees and plants were repugnantly soft and spongy to the touch. A few miles into the valley the party found a fortified halfling village, barred to outsiders. They could report nothing about the origin of the mist, other than that it had spread outward from the general location of the military depot at Centerpost.


Various chaotic and extraplanar creatures had apparently displaced the native wildlife. First, the party encountered a group of flame salamanders, which fell quickly to powerful spells after being spotted glowing through the fog. The next night, the sleeping party was assaulted by basilisks, which reduced the perimeter of summoned guardian slimes around the camp to giant slabs of stone before the mages could awaken to hurl electricity at them in the mist-choked darkness.

Finally, the party was discovered by a squad of stone giants. The giants hurled great boulders at the party, their infravision apparently unaffected by the mist. Again the heroes swarmed and dispatched the giants.

Where the Bresigway River widened into a lake, the party broke off the path in order to investigate the water. It was warm and tinged red, with a metallic smell of rust identifiable as the taint of fresh blood. The mist steamed and fumed from the surface of the polluted water. Setting up camp on the lakeshore, the party successfully divined the origin of the fouled waters by magically scouting along the surface of the lake from the air. A rift had opened in the depths of the lake, spewing forth boiling blood from some infernal underworld. The heat of the water made it difficult to endure; lowering the water by ten feet with a powerful spell was more than sufficient to allow the evil to be dispelled with clerical prayers. As the gaping maw closed, the water cooled and the fuming subsided.

The party set up camp and waited for the mist to disperse.


Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Green Pass Campaign IIIb, Sessions 16-17: Scouring the Saberstrath

October 6-10, Caudex Annales, 70 AUP
The adventuring party -- now a full-fledged war company with a growing retinue of followers -- having parlayed with the Nine Captains of the Styxx and accepted a contract to clear out all rival organizations in the Saberstrath, struck out directly south on their mission.

The first target was the camp of the Charybdis crew to the south. The party camped just outside the known location of the pirates. During the second watch of the night, the guards on duty (Sky and Kilor) were separated on patrol. Kilor's clockwork fairy dragon returned from patrol... alone. Kilor had mysteriously disappeared in the night! The party quickly mobilized in pursuit, picking up the tracks of a single unseen intruder.

The trail led to the river, a coldwater branch of the Saberstrath only a few yards wide but relatively deep, too deep to easily ford. There the footprints ended at the waters edge. The saurians, well-adapted for swimming, continued pursuit along the water. The rest of the party advanced toward the camp, picking up the trail again as it left the water farther upstream.

The mysterious assailant, moving slowly under a substantial load, was audible if not visible. As the pursuit approached the camp, perimeter posts raised the alarm. A contingent of opposing officers moved to intercept the party and initiate a brawl in the dark forest. The Charybdis pirate leaders, like those of the Styxx, were bolstered by a pair of dark elven caster allies, one mage and one spider-cleric. Despite their durability, they were quickly surrounded and neutralized with the aid of dragon frostbreath. The pirate marines, having nearly engulfed the party, elected to scatter into the night in fear as the party bellowed a challenge.

The survivors of the pirate camp fled to the south, toward the location of the Jormungandr camp to the east along the trade road. The nimble pirates moved swiftly in only leather, and the party had to pause to collect their loyal platoons of skeletons and the former slaver caravan guards.

Sky scouted the camp ahead, penetrating through the outer watchposts and establishing a visual identification of the leaders' tent. This camp was larger, with a stronger contingent of soldiers and more drow associates. Moreover, they were fully mobilized for battle, and appeared to be using some kind of magical sword to prepare for the coming attack. The sword flashed high in the air as if part of some invocation, triggering a heated dispute with the dark elves. In short order, the rest of the party and their platoons came crashing through the forest and the battle began: the party leading roughly 150 skeletons and 50 guards against a large force of almost 250 Charybdis and Jormungandr pirates and even more galley slaves pressed into battle by whip-wielding taskmasters.

The party quickly wounded some of the opposing pirate platoons at range with arrows from the caravan guards. The saurian heroes focused their attention on the center of the line, inflicting massive damage to the opposing pirates. All seemed to be going easily when two dark elven mages emerged from the rear ranks of the slave mobs on the flanks, hurling fireballs at the clustered lizards and inflicting horrific damage. The distant shrieks of wyverns could be heard approaching from the north!

The battle suddenly ended with the death of the captain, a pirate morale failure and a general rout. The wyvern calls grew quieter and more distant, their magic binding them to service broken. The party liberated the slaves, and Namazu the chaotic white dragon devoured a number of fleeing pirates (to her great satisfaction). The party claimed a wide range of magical weapons from the Jormungandr crew, including the mysterious sword. Along the way back to their base of operations at the relay-beacon watchtower, they stopped to locate the buried treasure of the Charybdis as well. The liberated slaves functioned as bearers, and the treasure stored of the tower were soon well-stocked with valuable coin, gems, and trade commodities too numerous to fully name, totalling tens of thousands of gold.

Roster
  • Zegzinu (2 henchlizards)
  • Conan the Librarian
  • Zelmar the Fright Knight
  • Talyn, another lizard
  • Sky the archer
  • Skittles, yet another lizard
  • Kilor Graniteback, Dwarven Machinist
  • Shiek, Thrassian Assassian  Thrassin Assassin Thrashin' Assassin
  • Herabrin and his scads of spooky scary skeletons
  • The very young white dragon, Namazu
Casualties
Shiek, immolated by a fireball
Two henchlizards, ditto (fire = bad for lizards)

Treasure and Experience

Charybdis Pirate Hoard: 24005 gp (in coin, gems, and trade goods)
Jormungandr Pirate Hoard: 30135 gp (in coin, fine jewelry, and trade goods)
Magical items: Mysterious sword +1

Total nonmagical treasure value: 54139 gp
Shares: 9
Gold per share: 6015 gp

Spoils of war: 186*130 + 10*30 + 10*24  = 1800 gp
Bonus gold for each commander (Herabrin and Zelmar): 450 gp

Personal Combat Experience:
Killed: Captain Boggs [600 xp], Mister Smee [80 xp], Mister Smoo [80 xp], 6th-level drow priestess of House Kilsek [1320 xp], 6th-level drow arcanist [1320 xp], 2 5th-level drow fighters [2x190 = 380 xp], Captain Bloodbeard [600 xp], Mister Smyy [200 xp], Geron [200 xp], Juven [80 xp], Url [80 xp], 6th-level drow priestesses Salyciux and Tyrnaxxu of House Godeep [2x1320 = 2640 xp], 2 6th-level drow arcanists [2x1320 = 2640 xp], 2 5th-level drow fighters [2x190 = 380 xp]
Total: 10600 xp

Miles traveled: 60

Total experience from treasure: 54139 xp
Total experience from kills: 10600 xp
Total experience from exploration: 690 xp
Total experience: 65429 xp
Total experience per member: 7270 xp

Platoon Combat Experience for commanders (Herabrin and Zelmar):
Killed or Routed: 130 pirates [130x10 = 1300 xp], 30 drow heavy infantry [30x16 = 480 xp], 30 drow light infantry [30x16 = 480 xp], 180 slave militia [180x5 = 900 xp]
Troops lost: 80 skeletons [80x3 = 240 xp]
Total: 2920 xp

Bonus experience for each commander (Herabrin and Zelmar): 1460 xp

Saturday, July 16, 2016

Green Pass Campaign IIIb, Session 15: Murdersquatters on the Doorstep

October 4-5, Caudex Annales, 70 AUP
The party recuperated for a week at the watchtower, then headed back to the trail and turned north toward the pirate camp at the northwest end of the valley -- the same one that had been signaled by the tower. Wild animals prowling during the night were repulsed by the army of skeletons.

Upon arrival they found the pirates girded for battle behind a wooden palisade wall. The pirates sued for parley, and managed to coax a delegation of party members (basically, everyone but Herabrin, Kilor, and Sky) to join them inside the keep for a fine feast of rum, salt pork, rum, hard tack, rum, scurvy-prevention oranges, the tears of freshly-flogged captives, and punch. ("What kind of punch? Rum punch?" "No, this kind of punch." *pow*)

During the dinner, a certain air of tension was detected between the drow and the pirates, which the party elected to magnify by insulting the drow. The pirates were thrilled at the prospect of strangers making trouble with the haughty dark elves, and laughed and jeered at the jibes. Infuriated, the priestess demanded the right of satisfaction by combat.

The party quickly obliged, setting up a nearly all-reptilian squad of three saurians and a small white dragon. The priestess was lucky enough to freeze half the party with a quick hold person spell, but then the dragon neatly polished off her guards in retaliation with a blast of ice crystals. The remaining party members slowly chipped away at the house priestess through her armor until she dropped. The remaining drow fled, hiding in their tents. The pirates, satisfied that they had found a set of new stronger allies, immediately turned against the drow (the party set a bounty for their capture) and began to recommend potential targets (mostly their business rivals) in the region for the party to eliminate.

Roster
  • Zegzinu (2 henchlizards)
  • Conan the Librarian
  • Zelmar the Fright Knight
  • Talyn, another lizard
  • Sky the archer
  • Skittles, yet another lizard
  • Kilor Graniteback, Dwarven Machinist
  • Shiek, Thrassian Assassian  Thrassin Assassin Thrashin' Assassin
  • Herabrin and his scads of spooky scary skeletons
  • The very young white dragon, Namazu
Casualties
None

Treasure and Experience

Coins: - [=>  0 gp]
Gems/Jewelry: - [=> 0 gp]
Trade goods: - [=> 0 gp]
Magical items: -

Total nonmagical treasure value: 0 gp
Shares: 12
Gold per share: 0 gp

Killed: 7th-level House Despana priestess [1840 xp], drow 5th-level lieutenant [500 xp], 3 drow 3rd-level fighters [240 xp]
Freaked out by dancing skeletons: 2 grizzly bears [400 xp]
Manipulated: pirate king [1000 xp], 8 pirate lieutenants [1120 xp], 280 pirates [2800 xp]

Miles traveled: 40 [460 xp]

Total experience from treasure: 0 xp
Total experience from kills: 7900 xp
Total experience from exploration: 460 xp
Total experience: 8360 xp
Total experience per member: 697 xp

(Note: Henchlizards get half-shares of treasure and experience. Namazu takes a full share, because dragon.)

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Green Pass Campaign IIIb, Session 14: The Same Thing, But With Dragons

September 28, Caudex Annales, 70 AUP
Caught between two opposing enemy forces, the party elected to fall back and handle the smaller one first. After doubling back to the dragons' cave, the party arranged an ambush just outside the lair. Using the cave entrance as a choke-point, the party aggressively ganked all three of the gophers dragons as they attempted to clear the exit tunnel, one at a time, before they could take to the sky. Only one of the three dragons survived long enough to breathe a frost cloud.

In short order, a group of bounty hunters arrived, just as the party was staking out ambush positions on either side of the ravine. As it turned out, they seemed totally unaware that the party had been involved in trashing the Emru-Marol spider festival, and only wanted to 'recruit' the famed 'Undertaker' as a professional gladiator. They were even willing to compensate the party for his services. (D was totally insulted about 'John Cena' being left off the bounty notice.) Despite having lots of extra saurians to spare, the party was unwilling to sell Zeg into a life of bondage -- even awesome arena-dominating bondage as an ultimate-fighting celebrity -- and declined the offer. The beautiful spokeswoman revealed herself as a hag, and a cloaked figure behind her pulled up its hood to reveal a face full of brain-slurping tentacles.

Molyg the Polyp, illithid bounty hunter
The ensuing battle on the frozen ice of the stream bed was relatively lopsided. A dire troll (under the cloak of invisibility) set up a perfect shot on D, only to fall on his face. The hag never successfully got off a spell. The mind flayer spent most of the battle levitating over the battlefield, and failed to accomplish much using his psionic mass domination, due to some timely saves against mind control. (Plus, full-blooded Thrassian custom classes can fly!) After being grounded, the illithid ended up jaunting back to the astral plane away from certain death.

The bounty hunters had no particular loot of any value, and nothing in their possessions (including the public "wanted" notice) indicated who their employer might be. After resting in the cave (and dispatching Bob, who could resist his evil urges no longer), everyone returned to the tower to plot the next course of action.

Roster
  • Zegzinu (2 henchlizards)
  • D
  • Zelmar the Fright Knight
  • Talyn, another lizard
  • Leone, who spen the entire session as a polar bear
  • Shane, who immediately fled into the mountains without explanation
  • Sky the archer
  • Skittles, yet another lizard
  • Kilor Graniteback, Dwarven Machinist
  • Shiek, Thrassian Assassian  Thrassin Assassin Thrashin' Assassin
  • Herabrin and his scads of spooky scary skeletons
  • Bob the Wolfman
Casualties
Bob, due to the full moon blowing his cover
Leone, slain by the party while polymorphed

Treasure and Experience
Dragon's hoard:

  • 2 crates of armor and weapons, worth 225 gp each and weighing 10 stone each.
  • 2 crates of hydra parts, worth 300 gp each and weighing 5 stone each.
  • 1 sets of engraved teeth, weighing 1 stone per 100 set. (30 gp)
  • 2 sets of engraved teeth, weighing 1 stone per 100 sets. (90, 100 gp)
  • 1 sticks of rare incense, weighing 1 stone per 100 sticks. (15 gp)
  • 2 sets of engraved teeth, weighing 1 stone per 100 sets. (70, 30 gp)
  • 8 sticks of rare incense, weighing 1 stone per 100 sticks. (21, 22, 19, 19, 17, 25, 16, 21 gp)
  • 6 glass eyes, lenses, or prisms. (24, 48, 4, 5, 49, 82 gp)
  • A piece of jewelry constructed from wrought silver worth 700 GP.
  • A piece of jewelry constructed from shells worth 90 GP.
  • A piece of jewelry constructed from shells worth 60 GP.
  • A piece of jewelry constructed from porcelain worth 400 GP.
  • A piece of jewelry constructed from wrought silver worth 500 GP.

Coins: - [=>  0 gp]
Gems/Jewelry: see above [=> 1750 gp]
Trade goods: see above [=> 2577 gp]
Magical items: -

Total nonmagical treasure value: 4327 gp
Shares: 12
Gold per share: 361 gp

Killed: hag [3100 xp], enchanted polar bear [440 xp], dire troll [1300 xp], 4 4th-level fighters [320 xp]
Driven onto the ethereal plane: mind flayer [1600 xp]

Miles traveled: -

Total experience from treasure: 4327 xp
Total experience from kills:  6670 xp
Total experience from exploration: -
Total experience: 11087
Total experience per member:  1008 xp

(Note: Henchlizards get half-shares of treasure and experience.)

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Green Pass Campaign IIIb, Session 13: Take The Dragon, Leave The Hoard

September 25-28, Caudex Annales, 70 AUP
After a week of rest and recuperation for Zelmar, the party reorganized with a mostly new contingent of heroes and lizards (mostly lizards). The addition of the slow-moving monsters (without any similarly sized mounts) reduced the party's speed to a crawl. It took four days to return to the pirate camp and follow their map up the mountain ravines to the site of the reported dragon ambush. The weather turned foul in an unnatural way, from thunderstorms one night to an ice storm the next day. The night's rest was interrupted by a dragon circling their camp, and by a strangely disquieting sensation of being observed by some kind of scrying magic.
Winter is coming here!

Arriving at the location, the party discovered that the dragons had dug out a makeshift lair, pulling the treasure into a series of tunnels below the ground. In fact, the 'caves' were more like open-air crevices covered over by a thick layer of ice from above, and footing was treacherous. Worse, the corpses of the slain pirates were still standing where they had perished under the frost breath of the dragons, and when approached, some of them seemed to be writhing and twitching under a thin layer of ice, animated as "hoarflesh" (ice zombies).

The party cautiously moved past the frozen battlefield and descended under the ground. The translucent ice allowed for dim lighting, and the audible steady breath of some large creature indicated that they were close to trouble.

In the first chamber, they found a single small dragon, Namazu, about 12 feet long -- younger than most of the party. She at first appeared entirely disinterested in the invaders, inviting them to fight her sister and brothers deeper in the tunnels, but showed a sudden interest in negotiation when the party revealed that they were willing to share some of their spells with her, to improve her meager repertoire. She also reassured everyone that her larger siblings had no magical talent, were unable to speak common, and indeed were really rather stupid, despite being a bit larger. She also helpfully informed the party that they were being tracked by another comparably-sized group of adventurers.

The party coaxed Namazu into participating in a plot to trick her larger siblings into launching a raid on the main pirate camp. The pretense was that she had developed "new magic" that would protect them from counterattack, and Zelmar gave her a small teleport effect to allow her to make a surprise entrance.

Unfortunately, the ruse went poorly (reaction check: 3) and instead the larger dragons decided to simply go on a rampage. Their roaring cracked the ice and released the ice zombies, and then they took off on patrol, combing the path from the air and then doubling back on the ground. Zelmar dropped a fear wall in front of them, and they were sufficiently spooked to hightail it back to their lair for the next 15 minutes or so. Meanwhile, the party worked to rescue the unconscious Namazu (who had been knocked unconscious by her enraged older siblings) and beat down the hoarflesh.

So in the end, the party fled carrying one of the dragons, but made no attempt to recover the treasure.

Sort of a reverse-Clemenza move, I guess.



Roster
  • Zegzinu (2 henchlizards)
  • D
  • Zelmar
  • Talyn
  • Leone
  • Shane
  •  Sky
  • Skittles
  • Kilor
  • Shiek
  • Bob the Wolfman (plotting treachery) [inactive]
...and introducing four liberated prisoners for next week (whose names I need to record!)

Casualties


Treasure and Experience
Once again, the party made it through a session without killing anything, and without recovering any treasure, which would mean no gold or treasure-based experience. Dragons themselves are worth a small fortune when sold as captives, though, so I guess I can count that as "treasure" for experience purposes.

Coins: - [=>  0 gp]
Gems/Jewelry: - [=> 0 gp]
Trade goods: -
Dragons: One very young white dragon 1000 gp * 23 hp [=> 23,000 gp]
Magical items: -

Total nonmagical treasure value: 0 gp
Shares: 11
Gold per share: 0 gp

Killed: -
Surrendered: -
Feared with a spell that can't possibly be 1st level yet somehow is (hax!): 570 xp

Miles traveled: 36 [11.5*36 = 828 xp]

Total experience from treasure: 23,000 xp
Total experience from kills: 570 xp
Total experience from exploration: 828 xp
Total experience: 24398 xp
Total experience per member: 2218 xp

(Note: Henchlizards get half-shares of treasure and experience.)

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Green Pass Campaign IIIb, Session 12: Bad Puppy!

September 17, Caudex Annales, 70 AUP
Intent on establishing a base of operations for the region, the party decided to take the Styxx crew's tower by force, relying on the element of surprise.

After hiding in the caravan carts and covering them, several members of the party rode up the winch-drawn cable in the back of the first wagon -- with D sitting on top, cloaked by invisibility.

Upon reach the top, D sprang out and charged the unsuspecting mage... and somehow managed to stumble and miss on the rocky ground (natural 1!)  A magical spell cloaked the entire area in darkness (the party had an alert spell active to provide visibility), as the party desperately worked to intervene in time to save him from the guardian hell hounds. Conan's djinni carted multiple lizards up the side of the cliff, and the mage soon dropped to a sustained and much more professional dwarven assault.

The hell hounds inflicted terrible fire damage as the battle raged, and the captain (Gustavus) directed his obedient air elemental to protect him from direct assault. He did not, however, anticipate being aerially hassled by the djinni, who disrupted control of the elemental long enough for it to run amok and finish off several hell hounds.

When the battle finally swung in favor of the adventurers, the captain elected to charge up the tower, using a giant enchanted lens to send a bright beam of light (shuttered to create a coded message warning of the tower's fall) to the presumed location far to the northwest. The party quickly smashed down the door and apprehended him for interrogation.

He revealed:

  • the Styxx main camp had a much larger force of pirates, numbering in the hundreds;
  • several rival pirate crews were in the area (including the one previously dispatched by the pirates);
  • caravans traveled back and forth multiple times a week;
  • messages were sent back from the tower to the base camp on a daily basis;
  • the message beacon lens could be used to communicate with the dark elves at the opposite end of the valley as well.
The dungeons contained a number of prisoners who were liberated and immediately volunteered to join the party -- replacing Boudicca, Grimdark, and one of the Saurians afflicted with lycanthropy (held in check by slow disease), who all elected to stay behind at the tower to create a permanent base of operations for opposition to the dark elves and their slaver allies.


Roster
  • Zegzinu (3 henchlizards; one afflicted with lycanthropy)
  • D
  • Boudica
  • Aeryn
  • Conan the librarian (contemplating retirement)
  • Grimdark (contemplating retirement)
  • Zelmar
  • Bob the Wolfman (plotting treachery) [inactive]
  • Lavi [inactive]
...and introducing four liberated prisoners for next week (whose names I need to record!)

Casualties
D, lost several teeth;
Zelmar, joined the one-eyed club, because all the cool kids were doing it.

Treasure and Experience
Coins: 968 gp [=>  968 gp]
Gems/Jewelry: 0 [=> 0 gp]
Trade goods: 30 weeks of rations, 10 barrels of rum/grog/ale, 28 pirate blades (short swords), blacksmith's equipment and tools
Magical Library: 8000 gp of books in several shelves [=> 8000 gp]
Magical items: war hammer +1, suit of man-sized plate armor +1ring of regeneration
Unidentified items, but described during interrogation: a lamp (used to summon/control the air elemental, requires incense made from sprite wings and fire salamander claws, recipe in library, requires Alchemy), a scroll (presumed cursed)

Total nonmagical treasure value: 968 gp (Note: The books are too bulky to carry and sell)
Shares: 7 + 3*1/2 = 8.5
Gold per share: 114 gp

Killed: 1 8th-level captain [600 xp], 1 12-HD air elemental [2100 xp], 1 6th-level mage [570 xp], 4 greater hell hounds [3160 xp], 28 1st-level pirate sailors [280 xp]
Surrendered: 55 1st-level guards [550 xp]

Total experience from treasure: 114 xp
Total experience from kills: 6710 xp
Total experience from exploration: 0
Total experience: 6824 xp
Total experience per member: 803 xp

(Note: Henchlizards get half-shares of treasure and experience.)

Domain Assets
Tower, medium round (40' high, 20' diameter, wood doors, floors, stairs) [22,500gp]





Saturday, May 21, 2016

Green Pass Campaign IIIb, Session 11: Backtracking

September 15-16, Caudex Annales, 70 AUP
After some new arrivals and departures, the modified expedition roster now included:
  • Zegzinu (and 3 henchlizards)
  • D
  • Bar Helm
  • Boudica
  • Aeryn
  • Conan
  • Bob the Explorer Wolfman (inactive)
  • Grimdark (inactive)
  • Lavi (inactive)
  • and Zelmar Krackiss, a mysterious stranger who is (spoiler alert) a disguised Fright Knight in human guise
Greater Hellhound (Dave Allsop)
Torn between investigating the dragon-infested pirate treasure trove and the mysterious tower, the party eventually settled on scouting the tower first. An attempt to camp overnight below the tower attracted the attention of a disciplined group of greater hellhounds which staked out the top of the cliff several hundred feet above the campsite. Scouting by wing (Zelmar) and spider-crawl (Boudica) revealed that the tower itself was patrolled by guards, and the hellhounds seemed to be reporting back to it periodically.

In accordance with the longstanding party practice of throwing the element of surprise to the wind in favor of issuing ambiguous threats, the party decided to brutally murder the captured pirate captain and drop his corpse on the tower doorstep, while under the cover of invisibility. The hellhounds, being undeceived by invisibility, barked up a firestorm that resulted in a volley of angry arrows and doubled security details for the tower.

Unwilling to attempt to scale the sheer cliff under the scrutiny of a fiendish welcoming committee, the party instead retreated back down the river tower the path, with vague ideas of tricking/convincing the white dragonlings into helping them.

On the way down, they encountered a supply caravan of over sixty guards transporting several weeks worth of supplies (read: booze). Being outnumbered by only six to one, the party decided to charge suicidally into battle.

The lizards took the brunt of the damage without complaint during the initial charge, but then the guards began swarming around the outside of the formation, flanking into the rear. By the time the officers had been eliminated, both Bar Helm and Aeryn had been overwhelmed, and only sanctuary prevented the same fate from befalling Conan and Boudica.

After forcing the surrender of the caravan, the party decided to turn around yet again, this time relying on stealth and deception. Everyone hid in the covered carts, with the sole surviving lieutenant nervously continuing back to the cliff where (according to his description) the entire caravan would be drawn up the cliff face using a giant mechanical winch, one cart at a time.
Not to be confused with a wench!
Casualties
Bar Helm, spine broken at the neck by guards;
Aeryn, damaged knee (carrying capacity reduced by 6, cannot force march);
...and Bob is quietly succumbing to lycanthropy, not that anyone has noticed.

Treasure and Experience
Coins: 8000 electrum, 11,000 silver (=> 5100 gp)
Gems/Jewelry: 19 gems, 9 jewelry (=> 1814 gp)
Trade Goods: 1 crate sprite wings, 3 crates armor/weapons, 4 crates pottery, 33 bottles of fine wine, 5 barrels liquor, 1 jar dye, 4 jars lamp oil, 12 rolls cloth, 37 animal horns, 2 teabags (3014 gp)
Magical items: shield +2, sword +2, oil of sharpness (+1 to weapon, lasts 8 hours), wand of device negation (prevent use of one other wand/staff/rod for one round), ring of water walking
Unidentified items: suit of chain mail, wand, sword, bolt case with 9 bolts, 2 potions, 2 scrolls

Total nonmagical treasure value: 9928 gp
Shares: 7 + 3*1/2 = 8.5
Gold per share: 1168 gp (all as electrum/silver/jewelry)

Killed: 1 5th-level captain (200 xp), 6 3rd-level lieutenants (300 xp), 5 1st-level guards (50 xp)
Surrendered: 55 1st-level guards (550 xp)

Total experience from treasure: 9928 xp
Total experience from kills: 1100 xp
Total experience from exploration: 0
Total experience: 11028
Total experience per member: 1297 xp

(Note: Henchlizards get half-shares of treasure and experience.)

Saturday, May 14, 2016

Green Pass Campaign IIIa, Session 9: We Shall Not Pass

This is a placeholder for the Footman's Notch session.

Green Pass Campaign IIIb, Session 8: River Pirates

September 7-15, Caudex Annales, 70 AUP
Some new additions to the party included refugees fleeing from the dark elven city in the chaos:
  • Lavi, an elven spellsword
  • Aeryn, a sylvan witch
The path leading out from under the mountains broadened into a large valley full of forests, apparently surrounded on all four sides by impassible cliffs and snow-caps. Rather than risk drow patrols along the main road, the party broke off to follow the river running through the center, discovering it quickly by virtue of the roar created as it plunged down to an underground lake.

The river wound north and west through the valley, passing through a swamp (where the party was warned about the presence of wyverns along the north fork) and then upstream toward a single high peak in the center of the valley. The peak was flat on top, with a watchtower that offered good visibility to the north, east, and south. From the river, a long track -- some heavy objecting being dragged over the ground -- led to the base of a sheer cliff up the side of the peak, and vanished.

The party bypassed an ambush of several spiders in the underground, and finally followed the river back to the abandoned road where it bridged across. Just on the other side of the road, a group of pirates had set up camp along the river. After some initial scouting (and magical intimidation) the party swept into the camp under the cover of summoned fog, clearing it out completely.

Regrettably, all the treasure (buried higher up in the mountains, along a glacial ravine) had already been lost due to a raid by white dragons. The pirate captain offered to reveal the location, but warned grimly that the dragons had already wiped out a group of his own men.

Casualties
None

Treasure and Experience
No gold or valuables this week, since the pirates had themselves recently lost their treasure to a dragon raid.

Killed: werewolf pack leader (450 xp), 5 werewolves (5x135 xp), 24 river pirates (24x10 xp)
Captured: pirate captain (600 xp)

Total experience from treasure: 0
Total experience from kills/captures/deceptions: 1965 xp
Total experience from exploration: 1035 xp
Total experience: 3000 xp
Total experience per member: 286 xp

(Note: Henchlizards get half-shares of treasure and experience.)

Green Pass Campaign IIIa, Session 7: Reaction Checks

This is a placeholder for the Woldwatch council session.

Green Pass Campaign IIIb, Session 6: Party Crashers

This is a placeholder for the Emru-Marol session report.

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Emru-Marol Experience Calculations

So suppose a group of adventurers use a mirror of opposition to summon a army of evil duplicates, right in the middle of a drow spider festival. The 1st edition version of this item doesn't seem to have any limit to the number of duplicates it can summon, and it doesn't even require anyone to see the reflection in order to function. If you're reflected, you're duplicated! So presumably displaying it to a crowd would duplicate the entire crowd -- with murderous counterparts of themselves. How much experiences would the ensuing slaughter be worth?

First, note that the clones aren't particularly strategic. Each one wants only to mindlessly kill its counterpart. So the clones are certainly going to lose this fight, once the opposition gets organized. Let's assume that they can, at most, eliminate about 50% of those present, and that they'll always manage to kill at least 10%. Then we'll dice with d100 to see the exact fraction, keeping the first result between 10 and 50. And the drow get.... 11%! It's almost as if someone tipped them off to trouble. That's what comes of warning the heads of three major drow houses.

Now we need demographics of festival attendance. The city of Emru-Marol has 7000 families, but is part of a much larger realm (Emru-Marolvi) of more like 250,000 families. However, most of those "families" are slaves of the drow. The drow themselves are probably only about 5% of the total population of the realm. So we'll assume a base attendance of around 10,000, and assume that the other 2500 are staying home to keep the slaves in line. That seems like a sensible attendance figure for a major festival, given the physical dimensions of their temple.

All of these attenders are presumably leveled characters, since there are no "0th-level" adult elves. (We'll ignore children, since that's always an ethically uncomfortable subject, and just say they've stayed home. We'll also ignore the victims of their human sacrifices, since those are being brought out a few at a time.) The standard demographic level ratio for ACKS gives a distribution of something like

1 12th
1 10th
2 9th
5 8th
9 7th
20 6th
50 5th
120 4th
240 3rd
700 2nd
2000 1st

plus another 700 black widow spiders watching from above in hopes of snacking on a sacrifice victim. Here I've divided the ACKS numbers by 2 for all levels below 6th, since those soldiers are the ones staying home to suppress the slave revolts.

OK, now we need to check to see who lives. For all levels above 5th, I'm just going to roll randomly against the target of 11%, to see if they can beat it... and they all do, one after another! So no major drow leaders have been slain.

For lower-level characters, I'll just assume a flat ratio or 89% survivors. The 11% that die come out to...

2 6th x820 = 1640
5 5th x500 = 2500
13 4th x190 = 2470
25 3rd x80 = 2000
77 2nd x38 = 2926
220 1st x16 = 3520
77 spiders x80 = 6160

Total 21,216 xp

Divided over 8.5 shares (assuming 1.5 shares for each henchman) gives 2496 xp per party member, with the lizard henchmen getting a half-share of 1248 xp.

There were a few extra drow killed during the impromtu dance recital by Grimdark, but that's basically a rounding error compared to the list above. But since I'm a nice GM, I'll call it an extra 100 xp for anyone at the dance recital. That would be... Grimdark, Zigg, and someone else I forget. Will's one-eyed barbarian. I always forget him!

Oh, yes -- and to acquire the mirror in the first place, that took a win in the gladiatorial arena. So our two gladiators (Zigg and D) each get an extra

2 werewolves x135 = 270 xp

or an extra 135 xp each.

Saturday, January 23, 2016

The Fallen Star

The Fallen Star is a curiosities shop in the northern market district of Emru-Marol. It consists of three split-level floors, connected by a hemispherical spiral staircase that allows full visibility of the upper levels from the front desk. The shop is dimly lit and perpetually smoky from the widely separated torches.

(Art: Tobias White)
The proprietor is an exotic humanoid of unknown origin, thin and elongated, with blue-tinted skin and yellowed eyes. Despite the heavy wrappings on his arms and legs, it seems obvious that the joints beneath don't bend in precisely the same place that normal limbs would be expected to bend. He seems to be unable to communicate verbally in any of the languages of the surface or underdark, but has little difficulty understanding requests made by guests in any language, often seeming to anticipate the requests before they have even been made by producing the requested merchandise even before a customer has begun describing it. He never seems to eat or sleep, and leaves the shop for not more than two or three hours at a time. He gives out cards at the registry that list his name as “Mister Leng”.

The store is constantly patrolled by two muscular infernal fiends, both over 10 feet tall, with oversized heads and thick necks that give them the look of hooded executioners. They communicate only in some unfamiliar tongue of the lower planes, and will growl menacingly at anyone who attempts any unauthorized handling of display items. They seem to respond to requests from Mister Leng by some kind of natural telepathy.

Curiosities in the shop are left uncovered on small tables, with small cards beside them giving their supposed provenance and suspected function. The cards are handwritten in calligraphic script that duplicates the text in multiple languages and runes: Drowic, barbarous Common (of the Larcenous Coast dialect), and something alien that uses wedge-like cuneiform symbols.

All of the prices are exorbitant. In addition to a huge collection of scrolls, wands, and potions, some of the most interesting exhibits in the shop include:

1. A hideous fountain of living heads joined around the perimeter of a stone basin. The heads perpetually vomit forth a foul black liquid from their mouths and noses, rendering them unable to speak, although they are clearly in a state of conscious misery. There are several empty mount points around the basin that are apparently missing their heads. The fountain has a placard with the unsettling caption “Thieves Beware”.

2. A jeweled nightingale in a cage of golden wires, currently inactive but with a clockwork winding mechanism that allows it to spring to life and begin singing on its perch. Strange lights glitter in its eyes, and its song is lilting and faintly magical.

3. A half-dozen enchanted swords, including one labeled “Life Drinker, 6 charges” and two with “Dragon Slaying”,

4. A floor mirror with a drape over it labeled “Mirror of Opposition, leave covered at ALL times, especially when nycaloths are present”

5. A “Brooch of Shielding”. The word “brooch” is crossed out and replaced with “broach” in Common, which is itself crossed out and replaced with “brooch”. Spelling is hard.

6. A collection of vials of oil, with labels like “Oil of Sharpness”, “Oil of Plant Control”, “Oil of Dragon Control”, “Oil of Flying”, and “Oil of Human Control”.

7. Several rings, including a “Ring of Spell Storing (6 spells)” and “Ring of Djinni Calling”. The latter has an asterisk beside it, with the footnote “Note: does not grant wishes

8. A sign that reads “Commissions with the Shadow Sorcerer available upon request, 100000 gp minimum down-payment”

Green Pass Campaign III, Sessions 3-5: A Series Of Unfortunate Events

After the party-split outside the dark elf city of Emru-Marol, both groups remained cut off from one another, as well as from their original base of operations in the Green Pass region. Here's a recap of the region's various disasters during the last month:

Strike 1 (Team Underdark): Emru-Marol (September 1, Caudex Annales, 70 AUP)

The portion of the caravan that had no objection to descending into the drow-infested Underdark consisted (not coincidentally) of the more monstrous and cave-loving members:
  • Zig and his lizardmen posse
  • Conan and Grimdark, the two infravision-capable gnomes
  • Bob the explorer
  • D the dwarf
  • Boudicca and her spider familiar (anticipating local-celebrity status)
The party endured an initial briefing from a drow matron claiming to be "Matron Lestreece of House Kilsek". She exhorted the party to assist her in "protecting" Matron Hestabith, the poorly-regarded matron of House Despana, by assassinating Hestabith's overly ambitious daughter, the (far more competent) Lady Ristabelle. After witnessing the matron's ruthless willingness to carve a helpful map directly into the skin of a doomed prisoner, they agreed to serve her in the infiltration mission, traveling to the Despana compound under pretext of being Kilsek slaves (including visible glowing Kilsek brands). Due to the allegiance between Kilsek and Despana, this was a sufficiently convincing cover story to gain them admittance.

Once inside, they went to the rendezvous point where an agent was supposed to provide them with their weapons and gear... and discovered that he had already been killed by another adventurer, a dual-wielding swordswoman, Sruna of the Atlantean Isles. After bashing down the door and tackling Sruna and confiscating her weapons, they were willing to listen to her sad story of being ambushed and defeated. She also described her own mission of trying to locate her captured party members before the sacrifices began at the autumn festival in four days. The party showed no initial interest in helping. She also surmised that they were being double-crossed, since their employer was probably the matron of Despana's rival, Cindnathys of House Tormtor. Sruna departed theatrically by growing an impressive pair of wings to fly over the walls of the compound and indicated she could be contacted at a tavern in the Goblin's Square, part of the Market District. The party also did not return her two confiscated +3 drowic longswords.

At this point a Despana patrol, tipped off to the fact that someone was smashing down doors in the servant's quarters near the kitchen, began to systematically move through the courtyard looking for the perpetrators. The party briefly engaged in poisoning some food for the feast, and then moved to ambush the patrol as it entered the building. After setting off a stink bomb trap (gnomes!) in in the barracks, the drow patrol struggled back out to encounter the party waiting to jump them from another hallway. The drow were eliminated right down to the last member, as their commander struggled (and failed due to a plucky charge) to dump a fireball in the middle of the party.
Art: Niji707

With the element of surprise lost, the party elected to abandon their mission and retreat over the wall instead, using a rope and tackle (and spider assistance). Meanwhile, Boudicca turned invisible and gaseous and slipped off to look for the chambers of Lady Ristabelle, encountering another and more powerful patrol of female drow soldiers arming on the second floor of the central tower. At the top of the tower she found the door and bodyguards of Ristabelle, who was "indisposed" in her chamber. After causing enough to disturbance to lure the annoyed Ristabelle out, wearing only in her negligee, the gaseous Boudicca made one abortive attempt at a choking grasp (which Ristabelle shrugged off easily) and then floating out the nearest window. (I mean Ristablle was the one in her negligee, not Boudicca. You know what I mean!) The party did leave behind a note implicating Tormtor (rather than Kilsek) in the assassination attempt, and ascribing it to the work of the elusive "Drago the Destroyer".

After slipping over the wall with a force of spider-riders in pursuit, the party fled into the city below and began wandering rather aimlessly in search of somewhere hospitable. They eventually arrived at a weird item shop run by a blue-skinned alien humanoid, similar to the ones discovered (and killed) from the ogre sacks. The party elected not to attempt to sell him the strange cloth they had recovered from those sacks. Conan petitioned for a position as a stockboy and clerk, based on his extensive loremastery, and ended up joining the shop's staff (which already consisted of a couple of horrible-looking underworld fiends).

Treasure and Experience
Coins: None
Gems/Jewelry: None
Trade goods: None
Items of special interest: three drowic longswords (two +3, and one +2, but like all drow weapons they lose their potency if taken away from the Underdark)

Total nonmagical treasure value: 0
Gold per share: 0

Killed or put to flight: a drow male patrol: a spellsword commander (500 xp), his lieutenant (190 xp), and ~10 soldiers (10x 38 xp)
Disarmed: Sruna of the Atlantean Isles (1550 xp)

City locations discovered by exploration: poisoner's shop (200 xp), arena (200 xp), magic item shop (200 xp)

Total experience from treasure: 0
Total experience from kills/captures/deceptions: 2620 xp
Total experience from exploration: 600
Total experience: 3220 xp
Total experience per member: 429 xp

(Note: The henchlizards are getting a half-share of 215 xp.)


Strike 2 (Team Wilderness): The Trail North (September 1-24, Caudex Annales, 70 AUP)

Meanwhile, the rest of the party (consisting of Underdark-averse elves and humans) headed north back in the direction they had come, hoping that the departure of the lizardmen would make the enchanted woods (and its centaur patrols) more willing to entertain proposals for an alliance. In the mountains above the troll-lands they bumped into a party of four would-be dragon hunters, a dwarf and his human companions. The dwarf related the tale of his clan's destruction by the intrusion of a poisonous dragon, and begged for aid in the pursuit of his revenge. The party, unimpressed by his lack of familiarity with the region, ignored the petition, but managed to convince him to come north to seek aid with them instead.

Upon arrival at the wooded vale where they had heard the thunderstorm-battle-rockslide-whatever during the night, they elected to veer off and investigate the wizard's mountain instead. At the base of the mountain, they encountered a warband of two dozen goblins, some of them mounted on wargs. A well-placed sleep spell and some mopping up cost them little but some time and sweat, and they continued up the path to the summit. There they found a pair of grim stone-giant guards outside the mount of a cavern. After parley with the giants, they earned an audience with the wizard inside -- whom a goblin prisoner had already described as pretty thoroughly insance.

Decrepit and bat-crap crazy, like this guy
The audience revealed that the ancient-looking wizard Keliszennan had access to powerful divination magic, both from his occupancy of an ancient throne of power (carved directly out of the mountain) and his use of a crystal ball. He offered, in exchange for the artifact fragment of crypt-stone given to them by the Castellan of Balewood, to provide advice about their next course of action. He spied on the activities of Lord Varghoulis, now in council with his masters in the ruined city of Nerigos to the east, and then expressed grave doubts that anyone in the region would be powerful enough to stop the army of the dead. He did recommend trying to prove worthy of the attention of a powerful domain-ruler far to the south, from the fire lands -- ideally by murdering one of his rivals, the swamp witch Guendenwidha... Guendeswitha... Guen. (OK, just Gwen, that works!)

Treasure and Experience
Just call it 250 per party member, which is being generous for nuking a bunch of hapless goblins!


Strike 3 (Battle Scenario): The Balewood (September 15, Caudex Annales, 70 AUP)

And back north in Balewood, the Durnovaric Expedition Force was being ambushed by a powerful undead force, while being pursued by an even more powerful ogre-and-orc force under the command of a balrog. (It never rains, but it pours.) The intervention of a centaur outrider patrol was insufficient to prevent the shattering of the human position by ogres, and the unlucky Duke Conylt (and his elvish associate Lady Tesslith) fled into the forest -- Conylt heading west to the keep with little but his own skin for protection and Tesslith retreating south with the fleeing centaurs.