Thursday, May 31, 2012

The Tournament - Part 1

Sunday May 27, 2012

Dungeon Master: Tom
Player Characters:
  • Half-Elf Paladin, Valcrith Fletcher (David, me)
  • Dragonborn, Igneel Baaz (Matt)
  • Paalk the Barbarian Minotaur (Steve)
  • Cog the Warforged Swordmage (Jeff) introducing his new character Eladrin Wizard, Elric Ridcully
Our Absent Player Characters:
  • Quintus Fabius, Voidsoul Genaisi (Alex)
  • (Deven)

This is the campaign that we are currently in. So we had a re-cap of what happened thus far (as it had been quite a few months since we had last gotten a chance to play with everyone at the table) and Tom decided to take control of the characters absent from our table. Unfortunately, we didn't have Deven's nor Alex's character sheets so we had to improvise. Nonetheless, we were in the town of Winterhaven and it was going to have its annual combat tournament. That night most of the party had wandered about the town enjoying some of the pre-ceremonial festivities. The tournament was to be held the next day but nearly everyone except for Delgryn and Valcrith had decided to browse the local shops and perhaps purchase some supplies. They also registered to enter in the tournament itself with a grand prize of 2,000 gp for the champion. Afterwards, they retired to the inn for the night but, there was a little bit of a dispute, which ended up becoming an all out bar room brawl.

Meanwhile, Valcrith Fletcher rode into town on his black horse, (which I'm now naming
Blackberry. It's not a warhorse, so it's not trained for combat. It's just a light horse I use for transportation.) I meet the guards at the north gate and they ask who I am and what my business is with the city. I tell them that I bare them no ill will and that I am merely a paladin looking for a safe place to rest for the night. They open the gate and let me in.

I secure my horse in the nearby stable and take a quick look around town. I talk to a young boy who is the apprentice to the blacksmith in town. I show him my carrikal because he asked about the fine workmanship. I chat a little bit more but then I too decide to retire for the night at the local inn. However, to my surprise and utter disbelief, the bar is in total disarray. It's clearly evident that there was some sort of scuffle that had taken place and at the bottom of the staircase is an unconscious Igneel. It was then that I promptly decided to drag his drunken ass up the stairs, toss him upon the bed, and pour a bucket of ice cold water over his face. (I got a great roll for that!!!)

I explain to him that I refuse to take the blame this time around for his participation in the destruction of the bar (I wanted to create another scenario in which maybe we'd learn more about Igneel's character because we still don't know how all of our characters met. Maybe force him into a history check or something. Valcrith can speak Draconic, but that doesn't explain how Igneel knows him). Nonetheless, I then proceed to talk to Quintus and Deven, but I'm interrupted by a commotion in the streets. We immediately rush outside and find a bunch of guards knocked unconscious with single blows to the back of their heads. We also discover that the prize money set aside for the tournament was stolen from the storehouse. I decide to take Paalk aside and I tell him to get his horse and we'll follow the tracks out of the city (I was hoping we'd intercept the perpetrators before they got too far). Deven and "Wolfy" decide to follow suit. Simultaneously, Cog, Quintus, and Igneel decide to follow the tracks that diverged from the majority. They end up in an underground Kobald nest while my half of the party has stopped in front of Winterhaven cemetery. Delgryn had spent the night at the house of the scholar, aiding him in his research of the Shadowfell.

Cog, Quintus, and Igneel light a sunrod down below (although we came to realize later that it was completely unnecessary for Jeff to do that considering that he had an ability) and they continue to walk in the dirt padded catacombs. Suddenly, a Kobald leaps out of a patch of grass!!!


End of Part 1

Editor's Note: I'm currently attempting to record our adventures, edit them, and then post them on Blogger so you can listen in as it happens. There are some technical issues still that I have to work out though. Stay tuned!!!


Friday, May 25, 2012

The Maiden in the Mirror

This is another adventure with Tom as the Dungeon Master. Typically, we have a standing rule that if you're the DM, you can not play as your own character too (as it sort of ruins the experience if the DM's character reveals hidden secrets, passages, riddles, et cetera). However, we made a small exeption to this rule this time around as there were only two other players (Steve and myself) available. We are still working on the timeline as to when these events actually transpired seeing as it was a memorable experience and that it doesn't quite fit into Tom's fully-fleshed out campaign yet. We were thinking that this would happen AFTER certain events. This is a part of the "official" timeline though. (I'll make a diagram of the timeline in the near future because of these multiple "branching" storylines).

This is actually one of my favorite exploits thus far. (These are basically just highlights of the adventure. I don't remember too much of the finer details, but most of the story here is intact.)

Dungeon Master: Tom
Characters Involved:

  1. Paalk the Minotaur (Steve)
  2. Valcrith Fletcher (Me, Dave)
  3. Delgryn (Tom playing as himself despite being the DM)

So we are sent to look for the whereabouts of this wizard/mage guy because he had not been heard from in quite a while. At the entrance to this cave/dungeon are a bunch of big monsters. I had completely forgotten that Tom had said that they were orcs. I had imagined larger man-eating giants/trolls and saw an immediate threat, one in which we would have no shot taking head-on. (This is why it's best to pay close attention to details). Luckily, they were all asleep.

Unfortunately, there were a bunch of twigs and other things strewn about that could wake them up at any given moment so we had to be extremely cautious. So, at the risk of getting turned into a new form of hero paste all across the floor, we decide to tiptoe around them to the next door. Then meta-game, we realize that it would probably be better to tie up these orcs so that we could live to see another day (this was especially true considering that I'm wearing heavy armor). So, we decide to make an elaborate plan. Valcrith would get into his swordsman's stance (just in case something went awry) while Paalk would work on the door. All the while Delgryn, using his agility and assassin's repertoire of skills would bind up the orc's limbs so that they'd have little chance to catch us. The plan was fail proof. However...we ran into a bit of a dilemma. Our CHARACTERS didn't know the plan!!!

Monday, May 7, 2012

One of the Greatest Stories Never Told

So, this is one of the "alternate" storylines that happened with Tom's campaign. The reason I say "alternate" is because after playing in it for a while, the party (and the DM) decided that it was sort of a bad start and we wanted a "re-do" if you will. So now this entire story shall be forever archived as "one of the greatest stories never told".

What happens here is that some of our players wanted to change or modify their characters (ever since Steve went from a Half-Orc to a Minotaur). It was still early in the campaign so we were cool with it. Plus, Dave was able to help us pick better weapons and abilities. All the events that occur however were wiped from our memories and it has been left to speculation as to what actually occured in the timeline. Alternate dimension? The Twilight Zone? Nobody truly knows...

So anyway, here's what happened (as best as I can recall):

Alex became a VoidSoul Genasi named Quintis Fabius.

Delgryn the Drow (Tom), Valcrith Fletcher the Half-Elf (Myself), and Igneel the Dragonborne (Matt) remained the same characters as before.

Steve changed from a Half-Orc into a Minotaur named Paalk in the last campaign. Thus far, he has remained as such, but as of recently he wants to be a human that can turn into a Titan by the use of magic or meeting certain conditions...we're strongly discouraging that notion. (There are a LOT of balancing issues with that idea...)

Jeff's character was to be properly introduced into the campaign. He chose to be a Warforged named Cog. (Upon reading what a Warforged was, my jaw hit the floor. He's basically Iron Man without Tony Stark. Just Jarvis. FREAKIN' AWESOME.)

I think this is where our friend Deven came into the D&D sessions, but I'm not quite certain. He used his own pre-made character (a Halfling ranger I think) and his loyal pet "Wolfy".

So after Valcrith Fletcher's most humiliating and irresponsible fumble, the group is permitted to wander about this town we are in for a little while. I decide to hang with Igneel and get totally wasted at the local bar/tavern (because I brought shame upon myself, Bahamut and my compatriots). I try to get a bit more backstory out of Matt as to how his character and mine met (maybe having a nostalgic moment by creating one on the spot since we've just been playing it all by ear at this point...), but to no avail. I felt like I nearly bought the whole place out in alcohol before I'm FINALLY drunk and I take Igneel with me and we go to the local church to pray to Bahamut for forgiveness and a time travelling power so I could go back in time & stop the petty theft before it happened. Unfortunately, my prayers fall on deaf ears (I did a roll, but it failed). Just my luck...

No Hero is Complete Without a Weakness...

Ok, so this was my first D&D adventure with the guys (we're playing 3.5e with a few elements of 4th edition. No lightsabers or modern technology have been permitted though...at least not thus far...) and we were all a bit unfamiliar with how to play (I had NO idea what I was doing but the guys had a bit of experience reading the rules from what I gathered.) We had about six guys total that first night with one of us, Jeff, acting as the Dungeon Master (DM). We all created our characters that night and immediately hopped into a campaign. I chose to be a Half-Elf Paladin named Valcrith Fletcher. The full party consisted of two Dragonbornes (If I recall correctly. That's Alex & Matthew), a Drow named Delgryn (That's my buddy Tom. More on him in a minute...), and a Half-Orc named Orent (Steve, Tom's younger brother). We had been sent to explore a mysterious dungeon and draw a map for our client while clearing it out, so that it would be safe for exploration. As we were all level one characters, I figured that it wasn't going to be too difficult to complete the mission and save the day. Well, I was in for a surprise...