This session the party interacted some with the survivors in the Misty Morning Inn. Adra told them of what to watch for in terms of zombification, gave them some healing, and received some help from Ilivarra. Smolkin set them on a quest to find Constable Halpern & Mayor Lundgrave, to recover some of the town's leadership so that they can figure out how to get out of the situation they've found themselves in. Torrin McCarver, the innkeeper of the Misty Morning Inn, also asked them to recover some foodstuffs if they could, to allow them to remain dug in for longer if such was necessary. They snuck through the town to the town hall's gates, where they encountered a pair of hulking zombies and a number of special zombified guards known as dread protectors.
This encounter proved quite difficult, and Malthus & Pieter were both sent into dying status. At one point it looked like the dice were going to cause another TPK, but with a couple of critical success death saving throws, the tide turned and the party was victorious in the end.
Entering the town hall, the party explored the eastern side of the first floor, recovering some gold from the footlockers of what appeared to be the guards' barracks; they also discovered a stained green cauldron, which they eventually decided was the likely origin of the zombie plague, via an explosion. After this, they encountered a patrol of zombies led by a ghoul. They dispatched of the ghoul fairly quickly, and this is where we had to stop.
Hopefully next week we'll get a longer session off the ground; it seems like we aren't getting much done in these last couple sessions. Still learning our characters I guess =) See everyone for next week!
Note: As a roleplaying reward - Pieter, Nirreh & Ilivarra may all add 20 experience points to their total!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Session #13: Not a Lucky Number
This was our first session introducing everyone's new characters. Jordan is playing a human cavalier named Thomnall; Andrew is playing a human executioner named Pieter; Sal is playing an elf hunter named Nirreh; Traver is playing a drow warpriest named Ilivarra; and I'm playing a drow hunter named Malthus. The session was a bit shorter than usual due to some technical problems - I had issues getting into the character builder to give Ilivarra her character sheet, and we had a couple of very long load times with the new maps for this session. Let's get to the recap.
The party were introduced to one another as members of the Black Wolves, a mercenary group so named because of their affiliation with blacksmiths - indeed they met their master, Lucas Black, in a blacksmith's shop in Falconia. Malthus, Pieter & Ilivarra, already members of the group, were introduced to Thomnall & Nirreh, new recruits. Nirreh & Malthus, to say the least, got off on the wrong foot, and the elf/drow prejudices look to be an early theme between the two. They were matched up in a duel for the initiation of the new recruits; Thomnall was matched against Pieter. Malthus & Thomnall emerged the victors of their respective battles.
After this introduction, the party were told that they'd been asked to head to Cairnmoor to assist with defending against a possible invasion from the warlocks of Beleth, who lived to the north. With winter having come, the party trudged through the snow along the road, stopping in Kinderwood for the night - Malthus & Nirreh caught filth fever from a sick man in the room they all used.
Heading up toward Cairnmoor the party was intercepted by a scouting party of elves who refused to let the party move any further, citing a plague in the northern regions as their justification. They were in no mood to talk, and things quickly turned hostile - the party proved more than up to the task, however, and the elves were quickly routed. Making note of this plague, the party continued to the north and into Cairnmoor. What they found was a ghost town, seemingly abandoned quickly enough that the citizens did not even bother to lock up their homes.
Proceeding cautiously into town, the party soon discovered a zombie by Black's Armory, the shop of a brother their master had asked them to check in on - Pieter garroted the zombie, but this proved only to worsen the situation, as it drew the attention of more zombies, which drew still more attention as the fighting began. Before long, the party found themselves battling a horde of zombies, and they were saved only by some quick thinking on the part of several party members (Nirreh & Ilivarra in particular) and the intervention of a dwarven survivor with a few of the remaining town guards. This was a very scary encounter for those involved, as Pieter & Malthus had more than few brushes with death, and everyone save for Nirreh was quite bloodied by the time they managed to escape. In this DM's opinion, it was also a very effective encounter - it seemed to toe the line just about perfectly between hard enough to put fear into the party, but not so difficult that they were guaranteed to die.
They fled down the western road from the zombies, and before long arrived at the Misty Morning Inn, where they found survivors taking shelter. We stopped there for the night. It didn't feel like we got a whole lot done, but that's to be expected - technical difficulties cut our actual playing time down to something under 3 hours at best estimate, and with everyone still learning how their characters work, combat will be slowed down a bit until we are all comfortable again. Hopefully everyone had fun with this session, though, and is looking forward to finding out what happened to the town their previous characters left in comparably great condition...
The party were introduced to one another as members of the Black Wolves, a mercenary group so named because of their affiliation with blacksmiths - indeed they met their master, Lucas Black, in a blacksmith's shop in Falconia. Malthus, Pieter & Ilivarra, already members of the group, were introduced to Thomnall & Nirreh, new recruits. Nirreh & Malthus, to say the least, got off on the wrong foot, and the elf/drow prejudices look to be an early theme between the two. They were matched up in a duel for the initiation of the new recruits; Thomnall was matched against Pieter. Malthus & Thomnall emerged the victors of their respective battles.
After this introduction, the party were told that they'd been asked to head to Cairnmoor to assist with defending against a possible invasion from the warlocks of Beleth, who lived to the north. With winter having come, the party trudged through the snow along the road, stopping in Kinderwood for the night - Malthus & Nirreh caught filth fever from a sick man in the room they all used.
Heading up toward Cairnmoor the party was intercepted by a scouting party of elves who refused to let the party move any further, citing a plague in the northern regions as their justification. They were in no mood to talk, and things quickly turned hostile - the party proved more than up to the task, however, and the elves were quickly routed. Making note of this plague, the party continued to the north and into Cairnmoor. What they found was a ghost town, seemingly abandoned quickly enough that the citizens did not even bother to lock up their homes.
Proceeding cautiously into town, the party soon discovered a zombie by Black's Armory, the shop of a brother their master had asked them to check in on - Pieter garroted the zombie, but this proved only to worsen the situation, as it drew the attention of more zombies, which drew still more attention as the fighting began. Before long, the party found themselves battling a horde of zombies, and they were saved only by some quick thinking on the part of several party members (Nirreh & Ilivarra in particular) and the intervention of a dwarven survivor with a few of the remaining town guards. This was a very scary encounter for those involved, as Pieter & Malthus had more than few brushes with death, and everyone save for Nirreh was quite bloodied by the time they managed to escape. In this DM's opinion, it was also a very effective encounter - it seemed to toe the line just about perfectly between hard enough to put fear into the party, but not so difficult that they were guaranteed to die.
They fled down the western road from the zombies, and before long arrived at the Misty Morning Inn, where they found survivors taking shelter. We stopped there for the night. It didn't feel like we got a whole lot done, but that's to be expected - technical difficulties cut our actual playing time down to something under 3 hours at best estimate, and with everyone still learning how their characters work, combat will be slowed down a bit until we are all comfortable again. Hopefully everyone had fun with this session, though, and is looking forward to finding out what happened to the town their previous characters left in comparably great condition...
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Malthus's Backstory
Full Name: Malthus Crowsbane
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 160 lb.
Age: 42
Eye Color: Purple
Hair Color: White
Skin Color: Black
Body Build: Athletic
Distinguishing Feature(s): Braided lengths of hair framing his face; carries a dulled longsword as the only remaining heirloom of his family; carries a spindle of black thread he uses as a makeshift yo-yo
Malthus was born in the Drow city of Nightshore, or "Umeth'shol" in Elven, deep below the Peaks of Woe in the Underdark. He did not spend long there, however, as his father was killed for worshipping the Raven Queen instead of Lolth; his mother died not long after, but not before she was able to escape with her young son to Vulkannen. She left him in the care of his older brother Pelloth - Pelloth did not have his younger brother's best interests at heart, however, and sold young Malthus into slavery in true backstabbing Drow fashion. As a result of his fairly brutal slavery in bondage to a noble from the infamous House Trannyth, Malthus retained very little from his childhood save for a dulled longsword once wielded by his father.
Malthus remained a slave until well into his 19th year of life, when House Trannyth was disgraced by dealings with Albacoran pirates and stripped of its nobility. Malthus was freed in the process, though to an uncertain fate - penniless and without a home, Malthus wandered the streets as an urchin. He spent much of his life as a thief, until a near-death experience involving a fall from a building that nearly killed him gave him a vision of the Raven Queen. She scolded him for trying to force fate's hand, and cryptically assured him that though his fate had stalled, he would soon meet someone who would start it once more.
This turned out to be true, as he met Lucas Black, the leader of a mercenary company known as the Black Wolves, the next day. Black saw a natural affinity for battle in Malthus, and took him in as an apprentice, training him in the ways of the scout. In his training, Malthus came to understand how truly significant his brush with the Raven Queen was - rarely does the spinner of Fate speak to a mere speck upon the thread. His newfound dedication to the pursuance of Fate guided his training as much as Lucas Black did. Before long, he became a fully-vested member of the Black Wolves, building a reputation as one of its finest scouts.
Malthus has somewhat of a reputation as a lone wolf, but he is by no means blind to his race's reputation on the surface, and makes a strong effort to prove himself to those he is paired with. He is unquestionably loyal to Lucas Black, and loyal to his companions; strangers are another story. Malthus despises the undead in all forms, considering them affronts to the Raven Queen, and plays with his yo-yo during any sort of downtime. Though he largely puts his personal desires aside in the interest of following the path of Fate set before him (and therefore acting in service of the Black Wolves), he would jump at the chance to get revenge on House Trannyth and the backstabbing brother who sold him into their service...
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
New Character Tracking
This post is to track the development of our new characters. Here's some quick criteria:
- Level 4
- One character of each role (Striker, Controller, Defender, Leader)
- Starting equipment 300 gold pieces, adventurer's kit; each will get 2 Level 1 common magic items, determined with the DM, and a mundane weapon/armor if one of these is not one of the magic items
See below for who is making what kind of character -
Defender: Jordan - Human Cavalier
Leader: Traver - Drow Warpriest
Controller: Sal - Elf Hunter
Striker 1: Andrew - Human Executioner/Thief?
Striker 2: Kurt - Drow Scout
- Level 4
- One character of each role (Striker, Controller, Defender, Leader)
- Starting equipment 300 gold pieces, adventurer's kit; each will get 2 Level 1 common magic items, determined with the DM, and a mundane weapon/armor if one of these is not one of the magic items
See below for who is making what kind of character -
Defender: Jordan - Human Cavalier
Leader: Traver - Drow Warpriest
Controller: Sal - Elf Hunter
Striker 1: Andrew - Human Executioner/Thief?
Striker 2: Kurt - Drow Scout
Session #12: The Poison Takes Effect
Iados was not present for the beginning of this session, which wasn't a problem since he had been dragged off by the spiders in the previous session. We'll get right to the recap.
After having opened the Chamber of Cleansing, the party found themselves immediately assaulted by the poisonous gas and the showers of acid. They entered the chamber and found their health quickly in great jeopardy as the gas tore through their health reserves. Two party members were dropped in the chamber, and they only survived through learning that the gas would not affect them if they crawled. Even after making it to the other side of the chamber and deactivating the deadly traps, they were all bloodied or close to it.
The party took a short rest and headed through the door to find Iados wrapped in a cocoon. They freed him, and were then found by Lazlow "Laz" Dirgwyn - the man they had been sent to find. He had discovered some sort of dark power which had imbued him with the responsibility of being a caretaker for an adolescent tomb spider, a horrifying beast known for reanimating the dead to serve as walking cocoons for its young. Everything seemed to fall against the party in this encounter - the tomb spider, the most dangerous of their foes, critically succeeded on its initiative roll and locked down the party's movement out of the tight corner they were in. Dice rolls worked against the party the entire fight, and in the end they were all taken down with the tomb spider, Laz, a spider swarm, and an egg sac zombie still standing on the monsters' side.
In the face of their first "official" TPK (the party was given a semi-mulligan on the Sir Cairnstone encounter due to the encounter being designed as perhaps too difficult), the party looks to be setting up to re-roll their characters. The next few posts on this thread will cover that process, such as the posting of new backstories and tracking of who's going to play what. Stay tuned!
After having opened the Chamber of Cleansing, the party found themselves immediately assaulted by the poisonous gas and the showers of acid. They entered the chamber and found their health quickly in great jeopardy as the gas tore through their health reserves. Two party members were dropped in the chamber, and they only survived through learning that the gas would not affect them if they crawled. Even after making it to the other side of the chamber and deactivating the deadly traps, they were all bloodied or close to it.
The party took a short rest and headed through the door to find Iados wrapped in a cocoon. They freed him, and were then found by Lazlow "Laz" Dirgwyn - the man they had been sent to find. He had discovered some sort of dark power which had imbued him with the responsibility of being a caretaker for an adolescent tomb spider, a horrifying beast known for reanimating the dead to serve as walking cocoons for its young. Everything seemed to fall against the party in this encounter - the tomb spider, the most dangerous of their foes, critically succeeded on its initiative roll and locked down the party's movement out of the tight corner they were in. Dice rolls worked against the party the entire fight, and in the end they were all taken down with the tomb spider, Laz, a spider swarm, and an egg sac zombie still standing on the monsters' side.
In the face of their first "official" TPK (the party was given a semi-mulligan on the Sir Cairnstone encounter due to the encounter being designed as perhaps too difficult), the party looks to be setting up to re-roll their characters. The next few posts on this thread will cover that process, such as the posting of new backstories and tracking of who's going to play what. Stay tuned!
Aludiana's Backstory
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 120 lbs.
Age: 48
Eye Color: Green
Hair Color: Red
Skin Color: Light
Body Build: Slim
Distinguishing Feature(s): Right leg tattoo of a stack of gold coins with a snake wrapped around them, wears a bright green ribbon around her left wrist as a reminder of Tresh, prefers to wear dark-colored armor and clothing Aludiana came from the elven community of Shimmerdew, in the Elven Wildlands near Vulkannen, which is somewhat uncommon. Yet, since the community was so close to Vulkannen, the elves managed to get a trade relationship with them. Aludiana was third of four children born to Shasha and Diren, the others being brothers Temorn & Belrin, & sister Celindra. She didn't have an overly outlandish childhood as she was growing up. She trained to be a Warpriest for the village as was assigned to her by the elder, and learned the skills that were needed to watch over the village.
When she turned 12 she was given the job of going with the traders that usually go into Vulkannen to do the trading that was needed. This was her first time going to see how the "outside" world worked, and that's what started this downward thinking of money and action. As she stayed near the traders' set-up, a wealthy trader saw her and thought that she was doing a great job of helping the traders and gave her a silver coin. She was very happy and excited to recieve something like this and thanked the trader, yet when she got back to the village, the elder became aware of what was given to her.
It was a village rule that all money that was gained was to be held at there "bank" area. The elder though nice normally did not want her to start thinking that she was going to be an exception because she was young and just starting out, so the coin was taken from her. She wondered why they never allowed anyone to keep money on them and questioned the elder. He told her the reason was because they didn't want the village to be "cursed" by the "way of the soulless earth". She thought that this was something was just a stupid rule for the elders to just be greedy themselves. So as she was continuing working with the traders, she would hide a coin or two away and when she got back to the village she would place it in a little pouch that was in her sleeping home.
During this time she also made a like-minded friend, Tresh. Tresh believed that they should be at least allowed to keep a little bit of money so that they could get gear and other small things. After one of her usual trips to Vulkannen, she saw that the elder and a couple of the elder's counsel were waiting for her at the front of the entrance of the village. The elder held up the coin pouch that was hidden away inside her sleeping area. He began to fight with Aludiana, and as things started to get pretty heated she punched the elder in the face. The others were taken aback by this, and they imprisoned her.
She was not imprisoned long though, for Tresh went in and freed her. She asked why she was doing this considering that this could put her in danger. Tresh told her that she heard that they were going to kill her for doing something for so long and threatening their way of life. Angry that they would go this far for something that she thinks is so stupid, she thanked her friend and started to sneak out of Shimmerdew. As she was trying to flee from the village she was spotted by a guard. She got into a fight and killed the guard, but the fight drew unwanted attention and so she ran for Vulkannen.
Though the running away and fighting scared her a bit she found her self liking the rush that came with it and the fact that she could kiss those pathetic fools in Shimmerdew goodbye. Life in Vulkannen only tempered her attitude further - today Aludiana is a hardened mercenary with a strong appetite for battle and coin. If it gives her a chance to fight and to make money, Aludiana will do it.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Session #11: The Trouble with Climbing
Iados was not present for this session; in-story, he has been nabbed by spiders and dragged off to God-knows-where. Let's get to the recap.
The party started off the session with three paths to explore - a tunnel passage in the fountain room, and two doors in a room to the south, past a web-choked tunnel. They entered the southernmost door first, and beyond they found themselves faced with a difficult battle against a pair of hulking zombies. The encounter didn't prove very painful for anyone besides Reed, who triggered a pair of pit traps and was nearly killed by the hulking zombies. He was brought into dying twice; the second time he had originally died from a crit, but after initially pronouncing him dead, I remembered the halfling second chance ability, and used it to wipe away the crit, leaving Reed simply dying instead of outright dead, as the 26 damage blow would've originally left him.
The party handled the zombies, and discovered the rest of the pit traps in the room - a total of four. They found another door at the south of this room, but this door was different; a steel door made in the image of a skeleton resting in a coffin, this door's skeleton bore a shield bearing Elven words on it. The words read: "A warning to defilers of Arathelon the Spider Lord's tomb - the Chamber of Cleansing lies ahead. Through its purity
only the dead pass - retreat now, defilers, or join the dead." The party chose to leave this
door for later, and went to check out the nearby eastern door in the previous chamber.
This room was completely dark, and contained a number of mushrooms. As soon as they lit a light, the party was attacked from the darkness - Erik was grabbed by a strand of webbing and dragged through a cluster of the mushrooms, releasing a cloud of spores which poisoned him. He was also dragged into a pit, which he found to be filled with zombies. The group then discovered what had attacked them - a large doomspinner spider.
This encounter proved to take a long time, as the pit obstacle was difficult for the party to traverse, and with 3 of the 4 of them being melee, Gwenn was the only one able to commit any real offense to the doomspinner spider. Things were made more difficult by the doomspinner spider's web blasts, which left Gwenn, Aludiana, and Reed restrained for much of the fight - Aludiana in particular was restrained for the entire length of the fight. After finally defeating the spider, the party opened the chest it stood on - though getting over there proved difficult for some, as Aludiana & Gwenn found the pit especially difficult to traverse with their low Athletics scores. They decided to extended rest on the other side of the pit, as Reed's diseases needed curing and he was out of healing surges.
During the night the party was attacked by an ambush spider and a pair of grasping zombies, but these proved fairly easy to dispatch, aside from the ambush spider's surprise attack on Gwenn, which nearly sent her into negative. This quick encounter out of the way, they checked out the tunnel back in the fountain room. With a trio of Nature checks, the party managed to navigate the tunnels and find their way into a widened passage full of spider webs. As soon as they touched the webs, a number of spiderlings flooded into the passage. These webs again required Athletics or Acrobatics checks, and Aludiana & Gwenn found themselves having more difficulties; the party eventually just decided to let the spiderlings come to them, and quickly wiped the beasts out. After clearing the tunnel of webs, they headed to the other side and found a hole leading down into what appeared to be a hatchery, with a bit of torchlight visible.
Deciding that this was a point of no return they didn't yet wish to cross, they headed back to the skeleton door, and opened it - as soon as they did, poisonous gas began pouring into the room, and they found the origin of the acidic smell they'd detected from the door earlier, as in the room beyond, the "Chamber of Cleansing", they heard the distinct sizzle of acid.
We ended the session here; next week looks to be very exciting, as the party will have to navigate the Chamber of Cleansing. Looking forward to seeing everyone next week!
The party started off the session with three paths to explore - a tunnel passage in the fountain room, and two doors in a room to the south, past a web-choked tunnel. They entered the southernmost door first, and beyond they found themselves faced with a difficult battle against a pair of hulking zombies. The encounter didn't prove very painful for anyone besides Reed, who triggered a pair of pit traps and was nearly killed by the hulking zombies. He was brought into dying twice; the second time he had originally died from a crit, but after initially pronouncing him dead, I remembered the halfling second chance ability, and used it to wipe away the crit, leaving Reed simply dying instead of outright dead, as the 26 damage blow would've originally left him.
The party handled the zombies, and discovered the rest of the pit traps in the room - a total of four. They found another door at the south of this room, but this door was different; a steel door made in the image of a skeleton resting in a coffin, this door's skeleton bore a shield bearing Elven words on it. The words read: "A warning to defilers of Arathelon the Spider Lord's tomb - the Chamber of Cleansing lies ahead. Through its purity
only the dead pass - retreat now, defilers, or join the dead." The party chose to leave this
door for later, and went to check out the nearby eastern door in the previous chamber.
This room was completely dark, and contained a number of mushrooms. As soon as they lit a light, the party was attacked from the darkness - Erik was grabbed by a strand of webbing and dragged through a cluster of the mushrooms, releasing a cloud of spores which poisoned him. He was also dragged into a pit, which he found to be filled with zombies. The group then discovered what had attacked them - a large doomspinner spider.
This encounter proved to take a long time, as the pit obstacle was difficult for the party to traverse, and with 3 of the 4 of them being melee, Gwenn was the only one able to commit any real offense to the doomspinner spider. Things were made more difficult by the doomspinner spider's web blasts, which left Gwenn, Aludiana, and Reed restrained for much of the fight - Aludiana in particular was restrained for the entire length of the fight. After finally defeating the spider, the party opened the chest it stood on - though getting over there proved difficult for some, as Aludiana & Gwenn found the pit especially difficult to traverse with their low Athletics scores. They decided to extended rest on the other side of the pit, as Reed's diseases needed curing and he was out of healing surges.
During the night the party was attacked by an ambush spider and a pair of grasping zombies, but these proved fairly easy to dispatch, aside from the ambush spider's surprise attack on Gwenn, which nearly sent her into negative. This quick encounter out of the way, they checked out the tunnel back in the fountain room. With a trio of Nature checks, the party managed to navigate the tunnels and find their way into a widened passage full of spider webs. As soon as they touched the webs, a number of spiderlings flooded into the passage. These webs again required Athletics or Acrobatics checks, and Aludiana & Gwenn found themselves having more difficulties; the party eventually just decided to let the spiderlings come to them, and quickly wiped the beasts out. After clearing the tunnel of webs, they headed to the other side and found a hole leading down into what appeared to be a hatchery, with a bit of torchlight visible.
Deciding that this was a point of no return they didn't yet wish to cross, they headed back to the skeleton door, and opened it - as soon as they did, poisonous gas began pouring into the room, and they found the origin of the acidic smell they'd detected from the door earlier, as in the room beyond, the "Chamber of Cleansing", they heard the distinct sizzle of acid.
We ended the session here; next week looks to be very exciting, as the party will have to navigate the Chamber of Cleansing. Looking forward to seeing everyone next week!
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Session #10: A Legion of SPIIIDERS!
Had everybody again this week, which is good =) We picked up right where we left off, with the party facing Vagra'kon and his minions.
This encounter proved to be fairly simple, as despite some early hits, the hobgoblins and their ogre pet were unable to penetrate Erik's defenses for most of the fight, and at Vagra'kon's instruction they were attempting to kill him off then pick off the others. This strategy did not succeed, and in the end the hobgoblins were slain. The party collected what loot they could (including a new set of chainmail for Aludiana) and returned to Cairnmoor to tell Mayor Lundgrave what they'd discovered.
They returned with Vagra'kon's head to prove he was dead, and were given a fine reward of 500 gold pieces and a room in the Misty Morning Inn. They questioned whether the hobgoblins were really involved with the warlocks as a result of Grugamug's lack of knowledge of any warlocks, and Lundgrave responded by suggesting that the typical goblins were largely ostracized by Vagra'kon. Satisfied, the party headed off to the inn to check out their room. Iados' paranoia continued to strengthen in this session, as he Arcana-checked the bag the gold was given to them in and became convinced it was speaking to him.
After some discussion on the wisdom of sleeping with a thief & lecher like Reed, the party finally settled down for the night. The next morning, the party found that Smolkin had arrived in town. He explained to them he had a big job in line for them, but he wanted them to do him a favor first - to check on his friend, the gravekeeper of the Cairnmoor graveyard. After being hesitant to give them any details, Smolkin was convinced to explain to them that he was originally the Cairnmoor graveyard's gravekeeper, and that this friend, Lazlow "Laz" Dirgwyn, was his apprentice. He'd been speaking regularly to Laz through correspondence, but recently the letters had stopped - between this and the troubles Cairnmoor had been going through recently, Smolkin was quite worried. The party agreed, and set off for the graveyard.
Upon arriving in the graveyard, the party first checked Laz's cottage, which they found to be choked with cobwebs and spiderwebs. They found a journal within, but had to escape quickly with it when Iados lit his lantern in the highly-flammable conditions of the cottage, causing it to quickly be set ablaze. They read through the journal, discovering that Laz had found a lost tomb while digging a fresh grave. Further entries in broken Elven suggested that there was an entrance of some kind in the mausoleum, and that Laz had decided to take care of the "young one" he had found.
Armed with this knowledge, the party headed into the graveyard - and their first encounter. They spotted a number of small amalgamations of dead matter known as tomb motes, and moved to attack - they quickly discovered that hidden within the open graves were deathjump spiders, who leaped upon them and attacked as soon as they drew close. The spiders managed to knock Iados prone, and immediately leapt upon him to feed. Most of the encounter was spent with the spiders attacking Iados & ignoring the rest of the party. In the end, the beasts were defeated, and the party moved into the mausoleum.
Inside the mausoleum, they discovered a movable sarcophagus, and descended into the tomb. They were immediately greeted by a trio of zombies covered in spider webs, and a particularly mobile gargoyle - an ambush spider eventually added himself to the encounter, sneaking through the webs to get the drop on Erik. This second encounter didn't prove to be terribly difficult, save for the fear factor of the zombies turning out to be walking egg sacs filled with spider swarms, and the gargoyle's devastating hits it made coming out of stone form. They proved to be no match for the party, however, and were defeated in what ended up being a fairly long fight.
After this fight, the party spotted a number of treasures in the room's dark fountain, a piece of Drow architecture. Reed dunked his hand in to scoop out the treasures, and immediately found himself infected with a pair of diseases - filth fever and skinrot. The party then discovered that the water was a cocktail of deadly diseases, and any sort of interaction with it would surely lead to infection. Reed seemed to have trouble grasping this concept, and moved his canteen to scoop out some water - Iados, attempting to stop him, knocked the canteen straight into the water. This made Reed awfully mad, as this was his great-great grandfather's prized canteen. Fortunately, Gwenn was able to clean it with prestidigitation, which (hopefully) cleansed the diseases from it. We stopped there for the night.
The party really seems to be getting a handle on how to handle combat, and with the exception of the Sir Cairnstone encounter and the encounter with the evistros, they haven't found themselves in any great jeopardy. In this tomb, however, they may find that will all change soon...we'll see what happens next time!
This encounter proved to be fairly simple, as despite some early hits, the hobgoblins and their ogre pet were unable to penetrate Erik's defenses for most of the fight, and at Vagra'kon's instruction they were attempting to kill him off then pick off the others. This strategy did not succeed, and in the end the hobgoblins were slain. The party collected what loot they could (including a new set of chainmail for Aludiana) and returned to Cairnmoor to tell Mayor Lundgrave what they'd discovered.
They returned with Vagra'kon's head to prove he was dead, and were given a fine reward of 500 gold pieces and a room in the Misty Morning Inn. They questioned whether the hobgoblins were really involved with the warlocks as a result of Grugamug's lack of knowledge of any warlocks, and Lundgrave responded by suggesting that the typical goblins were largely ostracized by Vagra'kon. Satisfied, the party headed off to the inn to check out their room. Iados' paranoia continued to strengthen in this session, as he Arcana-checked the bag the gold was given to them in and became convinced it was speaking to him.
After some discussion on the wisdom of sleeping with a thief & lecher like Reed, the party finally settled down for the night. The next morning, the party found that Smolkin had arrived in town. He explained to them he had a big job in line for them, but he wanted them to do him a favor first - to check on his friend, the gravekeeper of the Cairnmoor graveyard. After being hesitant to give them any details, Smolkin was convinced to explain to them that he was originally the Cairnmoor graveyard's gravekeeper, and that this friend, Lazlow "Laz" Dirgwyn, was his apprentice. He'd been speaking regularly to Laz through correspondence, but recently the letters had stopped - between this and the troubles Cairnmoor had been going through recently, Smolkin was quite worried. The party agreed, and set off for the graveyard.
Upon arriving in the graveyard, the party first checked Laz's cottage, which they found to be choked with cobwebs and spiderwebs. They found a journal within, but had to escape quickly with it when Iados lit his lantern in the highly-flammable conditions of the cottage, causing it to quickly be set ablaze. They read through the journal, discovering that Laz had found a lost tomb while digging a fresh grave. Further entries in broken Elven suggested that there was an entrance of some kind in the mausoleum, and that Laz had decided to take care of the "young one" he had found.
Armed with this knowledge, the party headed into the graveyard - and their first encounter. They spotted a number of small amalgamations of dead matter known as tomb motes, and moved to attack - they quickly discovered that hidden within the open graves were deathjump spiders, who leaped upon them and attacked as soon as they drew close. The spiders managed to knock Iados prone, and immediately leapt upon him to feed. Most of the encounter was spent with the spiders attacking Iados & ignoring the rest of the party. In the end, the beasts were defeated, and the party moved into the mausoleum.
Inside the mausoleum, they discovered a movable sarcophagus, and descended into the tomb. They were immediately greeted by a trio of zombies covered in spider webs, and a particularly mobile gargoyle - an ambush spider eventually added himself to the encounter, sneaking through the webs to get the drop on Erik. This second encounter didn't prove to be terribly difficult, save for the fear factor of the zombies turning out to be walking egg sacs filled with spider swarms, and the gargoyle's devastating hits it made coming out of stone form. They proved to be no match for the party, however, and were defeated in what ended up being a fairly long fight.
After this fight, the party spotted a number of treasures in the room's dark fountain, a piece of Drow architecture. Reed dunked his hand in to scoop out the treasures, and immediately found himself infected with a pair of diseases - filth fever and skinrot. The party then discovered that the water was a cocktail of deadly diseases, and any sort of interaction with it would surely lead to infection. Reed seemed to have trouble grasping this concept, and moved his canteen to scoop out some water - Iados, attempting to stop him, knocked the canteen straight into the water. This made Reed awfully mad, as this was his great-great grandfather's prized canteen. Fortunately, Gwenn was able to clean it with prestidigitation, which (hopefully) cleansed the diseases from it. We stopped there for the night.
The party really seems to be getting a handle on how to handle combat, and with the exception of the Sir Cairnstone encounter and the encounter with the evistros, they haven't found themselves in any great jeopardy. In this tomb, however, they may find that will all change soon...we'll see what happens next time!
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