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Posts Tagged ‘campaign’

Against the Giants: Session Fifty Nine

22 May

map

After spending a week buying supplies, recuperating, and gathering rumours, Hurin is escorted back to his people in the Dim Forest. The remnants of the elves have temporarily taken up residence in the abandoned town of Hocholve, and there the party are welcomed and honoured as heroes; they are also asked to further aid the elves. Hurin wants to reclaim the elven city of Derelion, which was ravaged by an gigantic Shadow Dragon and a host of Shadows that came out of a portal to the Realm of Shadow. His sages have discovered the means to seal the portal, an act they hope will banish– or at least weaken– the monsters. Deep within the forest a mage once lived, in a tower where he experimented with arcane & planar magic. Long dead, the sages believe the key to sealing the portal lies inside the tower. Hurin asks the party to enter the tower, find whatever it is the sages believe is inside, and return. The only problem is that the tower only appears during the light of the full moon (either one), and remains only during the night, for three days. The party agrees, and after waiting for the next full moon, they are guided to the tower as the moon rises, by the elf Fingolfin, who goes with them.

11th Coldeven, Spring, CY 592

A squat, three-storey sandstone tower sits with a ring of grey monoliths, a garden within the fence. After Corvin scouts the perimeter, finding no other way inside except the gate at the front, they decide to use their Flying Carpet to fly over the monoliths. Beyond lies a garden with oak trees and a junk yard. As they land and approach the tower, walking towards the trees, a swarm of Stirges flies out of them, and attack!

In a matter of a mere two rounds, 15 Stirges are wiped out: Sidni, Fingolfin and Mim hack one of the fluttering blood-suckers from the air, but one latches onto Sidni. He smashes it with the butt of his spear, then skewers another as it darts towards him. Corvin wounds one, leaving it to Fingolfin to slay it, while Ungrid and Halmary cleave their way through the ret of them. They move on to the junk yard, and Corvin starts searching for anything useful– he finds a copper and silver rod topped by a green crystal– but as he rummages, some of the junk starts slamming together and builds a giant humanoid junk-golem, that stomps over, sweeping its arms to smash the intruders: between Corvin, Halmary, Xellos and Mim, the golem falls to pieces; proving once again that the party are rather tough.

Into the tower they go, discovering a robed man who chatters away and pretends to be lost, but runs off onto a teleporter pad; they follow him, upstairs to where a demonic boar-man is discovered in a laboratory. A fight ensues, with the demon boar charming Mim, who attacks but is disable when Fingolfin hits him with a levitation spell, sending him to the ceiling. The robed man, trying to hide, is hit by a poisoned arrow from Corvin’s bow, which not only wounds him dearly but paralyses him too. Xellos, Ungrid and Halmary wade into the demon, and it falls to their combined attack.

Then, as the fight ends, another demon boar– this time a bloated woman– appears from another pad, from the upper level of the tower and attacks. Sidni wounds her when he throws her spear, and Xellos, Ungrid and Corvin wound her further, sending her fleeing upstairs. While Halmary ties up the robed man, the others follow the demon and corner her in a library; Corvin sticks her with an arrow, then Ungrid lops off her head.

End of Session

Kills: 15 stirges, 2 demon boars, 1 junk golem.

Level-Ups: Sidni, Halmary and Ungrid are all up a level. Sidni actually went up at the end of last session.

Notes

This session made me realise that not only can I throw much harder opponents at the party, but that they also have a stack of magic items now; all randomly rolled (with one or two exceptions) but a lot nonetheless. Roughly 14 magic weapons, plus a dozen or so other items. One of my players has put them up on our Obsidian Portal site.

 
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Against the Giants: Session Fifty-Eight

16 May

map tools screen shot

After Ungrid bashes in the wall, the party find another vault with yet another bronze statue of the dwarf god, surrounded by six locked iron chests inscribed with runes; and in an alcove rests another warhammer, fancy but not as ornate and clunky as the one Ungrid picked up. Expecting the statue to animate if the chests are tampered with, Halmary attempts to tie the statues arms with rope, but that actually triggers the statue’s animation and it wades in to attack: everyone retaliates, getting scorched by spraying molten rock as the bronze is cut, but even with that hazard, the statue falls to the floor in a puddle of melting metal; all over in a matter of seconds really.

Corvin checks the warhammer and chests for traps, disarming those he finds, breaking open the locks on those he’s unsure about; one chest’s trap catches him: a choking grip that almost kills him before he manages to shake it off, aided by a timely cure light wounds from Halmary. He piles the loot in the now bulging Bag of Holding, and everyone filters out and makes their way back to the broken corridor, intending on checking out the cavern. They use the Flying Carpet to get down, with ropes spiked into the floor of the corridor as a back-up, and spread out to explore. They find a river, with a giant catfish, and a ‘wood’ of coloured mushrooms: and a chimera that charges Ungrid, but is again easy prey to the combined efforts of the party: the multi-headed beast falls to a series of blows from Corvin, Hurin, Mim and a final stab from Sidni.

They leave the temple, cavern and mushrooms and head back out into the snow-covered mountain valley. They decide to head back to Hochoch, before taking the king back to the Dim Forest and his elves. They pack their bags, and hike for 43 days, taking the safer and well-trodden paths, arriving at the city towards the end of the first month of Spring in the new year.

And before the next session, this is what I sent to the players, as an update as to what has been happening during the months they’ve been away:

23rd Readying, CY 592,

It has been nearly five months since you left the Dim Forest to seek the elven king and bring him back to his people. Hochoch is crowded with soldiers, mercenaries, adventuring parties, and refugees. You manage to find a dormitory that you can rent for a few weeks, mainly because you have gold to throw around. Your drinking and merry-making has not gone unnoticed and there is a bit of bad feeling towards you from the other adventuring parties, and they shun you.

 
Here is what has been going on with regard to the war-effort:
  • After allying themselves with the elves of the Oytwood the armies of Liberation, Retribution and their attached mercenaries liberated Preston, and with the aid of adventurers have managed to rout the giants and their allies from the forest. Preston was being rebuilt before winter fell;
  • Midwood, a mist-shrouded fishing town, has a ‘friendly’ fog-giant that protects it in exchange for silver. After the townfolk warned adventuring parties off from killing him, the Duke has declared it off limits– for the time being– and has left them to it;
  • The armies loaned to the Duke from the neighbouring countries Keoland and the Gran March have now left, sent back home to deal with their own matters. This has reduced the size of the army the Duke can muster to a rather pathetic number;
  • The winter was harsh. Many more refugees managed to escape and found their way to the city, crowding its streets and putting pressure on the dwindling resources of the city;
  • Last month, as the army was training on the edge of the city, getting ready for a Spring offensive, a mass of clouds that were overhead started raining boulders, decimating the army. The clouds moved off, against the wind, and divine prayers and wizardly spells say that it was a retaliation for attacks against the giant leaders…
It is near the end of the first month of Spring. Rumours abound that the giants are fortifying the towns they hold. The Duke’s army has been reduced to a mere 2,500 men (infantry and cavalry), and the mercenaries are starting to drift away, the gold the Duke pays them is running out, and the adventuring parties are heading off for pastures new, finding little profit in the slaying of giants.
 
Posters and notices, town-criers and heralds, are putting the word out that the Duke is looking for allies in the war, and that he is seeking people who are brave and willing to scout out the towns held by the giants, and report on the forces stationed there; so that a campaign against the giants can be planned.
 
Meanwhile, Hurin– the elf king– has sent word to his people, and a message has come back that they are now occupying the deserted town of Hocholve, awaiting his return. He has kept a low profile while in the city, not yet willing to form alliances with the Duke or anyone else.
 
A week has passed since you came back to the city, giving you a week to buy supplies, craft a level 1 potion or scroll; if you want to spend more time in the city, you can do. Hurin is willing to wait a month before he will leave for the Dim Forest to be reunited with his people.
 
He has also asked for your help: he wants you to act as his escort to his people, and might have a mission for them too, if they are willing…
 
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Against the Giants: Session Fifty-Seven

10 May

Map of lost temple

After escaping from the Hill Giants’ Steading, the party spend a few days in a cave tending to their wounds; with a brief flying carpet excursion to Loftwick to purchase scrolls and potions, sell goods and buy supplies. They go through their loot and discover a map that seems to point to an abandoned temple where the giants were meant to investigate; believing something there might be useful in their fight against the giants, the party hike for several days into the mountains and come across a shaft that descends into what appears to be an abandoned dwarf temple.

Together with Mim (dwarf) and Hurin (the elf King) they climb down into the long tunnel, checking for traps along the way by a mixture of Corvin’s ability and Halmary’s Find Traps spell; they find an empty and disused dormitory, a collapsed section of the corridor that opens into a large cavern with the sound of fast-flowing water; missing flagstones with water 80′ below; and through a pair of dented, shredded iron doors is an old dwarf temple dedicated to Clangeddin Silverbeard, god of battle. They cautiously enter, spotting a pile of treasure heaped as if used as a bed– comments of ‘dragons’ are heard– and a couple of broken pillars. A statue of a dwarf, hand stretched out, stands at the back. Whilst the others stand guard or look for secret doors– the map indicates a magic hammer is to be found inside the temple complex– Corvin starts to go through the treasure, shovelling loot into their Bag of Holding, while Xellos casts Detect Secret Doors and finds one behind the statue.

Before anyone can investigate further, Sidni– guarding the entrance– spots a large (juvenile) blue dragon coming round the corner!

Blue Dragon: DeviantArt by catdragongrl

Blue Dragon: DeviantArt by catdragongrl

Ungrid quaffs a potion of growth and is bestowed a spell of resist fire by Halmary, and Hurin proves useful when he casts Haste on everyone; meanwhile the others move into cover. The dragon conjures up a pair of Mirror Images, which are quickly dispelled by an arrow from Corvin and a hail of Magic Missiles from Hurin. The dragon manages to let loose with a potent line of lightning, sizzling into Ungrid, who more or less shrugs off the burning and walks right up to the dragon, and slays it with a pair of well-placed thrusts!

Corvin loots the rest of the treasure, while Ungrid smashes open the secret door to reveal a room with another statue– holding an ornate and gold-plated warhammer– and a pair of chests. The chests turn out to be empty, the hammer looks nice and Ungrid pulls it free: causing the statue to animate and attack, but before it gets to swing its fist, Hurin pelts it with more Magic Missiles and turns it to slag. Mim spots a section of the wall that looks odd: turns out it is a thin layer of stone, a bricked up doorway. Ungrid smashes it with his giant-sized strength, revealing another chamber beyond…

End of Session

Kills: 1 animated statue, 1 juvenile blue dragon.

Notes: with spells, magic items, and mid-level characters, a juvenile dragon is merely a speed-bump.

 
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Against the Giants: Session Fifty-Six

03 May

session_56

With bodies behind them, the party engage the ogre that stands alone and stunned at what it’s just witnessed. As Xellos and Sidni slay the ogre, the doors to the Great Hall burst open, revealing a Hill Giant and a Bugbear, and coming through the doors at the other side of the Hall more giants arrive– the Chief, his Sub-Chief, and the Cloud Giant– while from the corridor to the south, more ogres are spotted.

Ungrid gets nearly crushed by the Hill Giant, but a quick Lay on Hands from Halmary brings him back up to fighting strength, and Sidni wounds the giant by charging it with his spear. Hurin, the elf king, takes care of the bugbear, and as the giants advance, the party hurry down the corridor, forming shield walls at either end, the freed humans, Mim and the elf king in their midst.

session_56_p2

A dire wolf joins the giants, but Ungrid cuts it down. One of the Hill Giant’s steps back, lobbing a boulder at Ungrid and bruising the giant dwarf. He and Sidni take the fight to the giant, and their combined thrusts fell the monster; whilst Xellos slays an ogre, using his channelling magic to finish it off, Halmary engages another giant, and Corvin lets loose arrows back and forth up the corridor, wounding ogres and giants. One of the giant’s overrun’s Xellos, but the warrior chases after it. The Chief Giant takes up position at the end of the corridor, his Sub-Chief with him. The Chief has a giant crossbow, and orders them to surrender. Mim answers for them, shooting him with a bolt, then again, further wounding the giant; the Chief falls back into the Hall, bellowing for his men to take the adventurers out. Xellos, meanwhile, starts hacking away at the giant he chased, aided by more arrows from Corvin’s bow; a final arrow takes the giant in the eye, and it falls to the floor with a thud. Another giant falls as Halmary proves himself as capable as the others, and Mim takes a boulder to the shoulder.

session_56_p3

The party move further down the corridor, closer to the exit they are aiming for: the tower. Knowing that they need to keep Hurin alive– since that was the main reason they travelled to the Steading– Xellos gets him to quaff an invisibility potion, and with another giant felled, the party hurry towards the stairs, ducking as more boulders are flung across the entry hall, two of which crush the freed– nameless, red-shirt– humans, wound Halmary and further wounds Mim. Up the stairs they go, giants closing behind; at the top of the stairs stands a final giant: Ungrid takes it out with a single stab through its heart!

session_56_p4

At the top of the tower, Xellos, Halmary and Ungrid quaff flying potions; Mim swigs a diminuation potion and Corvin picks him up, and with Sidni and Hurin, he jumps on their flying carpet and everyone takes to the air, avoiding a few final thrown rocks, and speed away to the cave where they sheltered not all that long ago.

session_56_pEND

The adventurers are tired, covered in blood and gore, badly wounded, but alive and free! Against all odds, they have managed to fight their way out of the Hill Giant’s Steading, losing only a pair of nameless men, and taking out an astounding number of giants, ogres and their allies. And leaving behind a bunch of rebel orcs who spill into the Steading, and find a bunch of angry giants…

End of Session

Kills: 1 dire wolf, 1 bugbear, 3 ogres, 6 hill giants!

 
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Against the Giants: Session Fifty-Five

27 Apr
http://th05.deviantart.net/fs47/300W/f/2009/235/3/1/Skullcrusher_Ogre_by_D_MAC.jpg

by_D_MAC (DeviantArt)

The ogres hurry down the stairs, only to be blocked before they exit by the adventurers, their freed dwarf Mim and the rescued elven king, Hurin. Ungrid, still giant-sized, wades into the ogres, felling one after another after another, while Corvin and Xellos loose arrows and bolts, Sidni stabs with his spear Werebane, and Halmary slings rocks. The ogres fall swiftly, then a dire wolf is hacked down, and the Hill Giant pushing the ogres on falls to Ungrid’s sword, but not before it bruises Sidni.

With the rebel orcs holding back for now– one of the bosses follows the party, ready to report back when it is safe– the adventurers head upstairs, finding the pantry where the stairs exit, empty of giants. Corvin listens at the door, hears the heavy breathing of giants, and after Halmary blesses them, Ungrid pulls open the door and takes the battle to the two Hill Giants and ogre that stand guarding the doors into a large kitchen. Corvin, backing against another door, and firing into the melee with his Heart-Seeker bow, is surprised when a third Hill Giant opens the door and takes a swing at him, and is almost knocked to the ground by the heavy blow. Xellos and Ungrid swing axe and sword, cutting into the giants, while Sidni and Mim lend Corvin a hand, with Halmary backing them up with his mace. Corvin shoots a giant in the eye, taking it down, and then wounds an ogre with another; it falls to the combined blows from Halmary and Mim, while Corvin takes out the injured ogre in the kitchen with a well-placed arrow. Two dire wolves run into the battle, but a quick command animal sends one attacking the other, and the final giants fall down dead as the wolves continue to fight.

Leaving the wolves to fight, the party start heading down the corridor, hoping to find a way out before they are overwhelmed…

End of Session

Kills: 5 Hill Giants, 15 ogres, 1 dire wolf.

 
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