Dungeon Raiders

27 Apr 2008: Campaign Season Five Report

Congratulations to the Dungeon Raiders for completing Campaign Season Five “Vortex of Madness”, adapted from a 2^nd Edition module of the same name written by Chris Pramas.

Thrown across the planes, the adventurers encountered sentient machines, ancient gods, alien races, and historical figures. They travelled to all manner of exotic locations while trying to make sense of it all. When they finally found their way back to Greyhawk, they returned to a waste land void of life as they were a hundred years too late to prevent the Apocalypse. With nothing left to lose, the adventurers forfeit everything in their desperate gamble to change the fate of the world.

13 Apr 2008: Down to the Last Man

The party gave everything they had, their possessions and their lives, to fight their way deep into the sacred site.

There they finally meet the Dark / Fairest God, as he tries to seize the Gem, which was guarded by the Death of Gods. Clearly, the latter was outmatched and the party tried everything in their power to avert the inevitable.

6 Apr 2008: Intruders in the Mausoleum of the Gods

Before the Apocalypse
The party rushed back to the village to evacuate the villagers and gather reinforcements for the showdown with the ancient guardian. With the aid of the village's guard captain the party was able to lay the monster to rest.
Unable to find a use for the ancient melody, the party was unable to unlock an ancient secret that could have changed their fate.

After the Apocalypse
Bearing their gift from the wise one at the monastery, the ones-who-had-chosen resumed the sands of time that froze an ancient war that could have torn the lands asunder.
There they face the toughest challenges of their lives as mortals who intrude upon the Mausoleum of the Gods. This is their last chance to stop the Dark God from consuming the world.

23 Mar 2008: A Ghostly Song and a Silver Harp

The party decided to help a ghostly elven choir, who saved their lives from undead, to lift an ancient curse. Their quest led them into a swampy cavern where they fought and defeated a covey of hags. There they retrieved a silver musical harp which they returned to the elven ghost maiden, and learned an ancient melody.

The curse is lifted, but an ancient guardian of the forest was also unleashed, enraged and ready to trample the village.

16 Mar 2008: Back before the World was destroyed

Back before the Apocalypse, a party of adventurers came to a village to find it being terrorized by bandits and a ghostly song in the nearby woods. The party proceeded to investigate and found there was indeed some truth to all the gossip.

9 Mar 2008: One and only one card per person

The party made their way into the heart of the pyramid. There the party members had their fortune told through a deck of Tarot cards. Each party member drew a card fom the deck, for better or for worse.

The party was cursed to wander the world for ten years. All they found was desolated wasteland. In the end, they reached a grand monastery on a high plateau beside an ancient east-west trade route.

All but one party member chose to discard their worldly possessions to learn the nature of the Dark God and his revenge upon the world. The remaining party member is the wealthiest person in the world.

Dungeon Raiders experience a glimpse of the past:
Part II: Of the Fairest of Them All
His race and His revenge upon the World

2 Mar 2008: Welcome back to The End of Greyhawk

The party members finally found themselves back in the world of Greyhawk. However a fiendish treachery brought them into the far future, a hundred years too late to save the world from Apocalypse. The heroes returned to a desolete and barren land, totally void of life. No more cries, no more screams, and no more pleads for their aid, except in their nightmares.

The party tried to find anyone who could tell them where they were and what happened. Their efforts were futile, for there is no one left. Not even an animal, an insect or a goblin. Eventually, they came across a toppled over pyramid (apparently the pyramid seemed to have fallen from the sky, topmost tip first) and entered to search for anything that might be useful.

17 Feb 2008: The Story So Far

The planes are a mess. It appears the situation in the world of Greyhawk is but a reflection of the chaos that prevails in the worlds out there.

Michael and Angelo have found their way back to Greyhawk and reported that the object of their quest, the Black Grail, is gone forever. It merged with the Black Acropolis and returned to life a long forgotten god in the form of a Black Colossus. Its only motivation is revenge.

The Sword of Truth, Light, Justice and Salvation was rumored to be found but cannot be recovered, and the Sealed Codex was lost during the attempt to retrieve it from Ravenloft.

A baron, long disappeared from Greyhawk during an epic battle in the past, has found renewed vigour to seek his nemesis and resolve their final battle. With him is the most powerful artifact of mass destruction that the world has ever known.

Rumors that the lich-queen has launched an armada of warships, followed by the githyanki's Captial City “Tu'narath”, to invade the Material Plane seems not so impossible now when it came from the mouth of a githyanki rebel who claims to be Gith Reborn.

In their darkest hour since the resistance halted the advance of the Dark God, the world once again calls upon its heroes, but all attempts to locate the heroes failed, and it seems all hopes were lost as the world plunges towards Apocalypse.

Be prepared for the final chapter of Campaign Season 5.

30 Dec 2007: From plane-shattering news, to darkest nightmare, to history best remain lost, and into Hell

For all the help that the party provided, the rebels revealed plane-shattering news on the lich queen's true intentions. Without delay, the party followed the footsteps of the chief librarian into the nightmare realm where they were tested individually.

The party finally found their way back to the unknown entity and discovered its true identity: an ancient figure and his machine long forgotten in the history of Greyhawk. The party was subsequently dismissed in a most fiendish fashion.

Dumped unceremoniously in a hellish battleground, the party struggled to find their way out. Along the way they shared food with a mad witch, waded through a river of blood, bargained with the Pillar of Skulls, and evaded a horde of fiends before they located an exit portal.

16 Dec 2007: The party helped to repel common threat of the rebels and lich queen's scouts

At the request of the rebel leader, the party helped the lich queen's scouts against their common threat. The battle seemed to go badly for the party, but they were saved by the occurrence of a natural hazard. The lich queen's scouts took refuge in the floating citadel and there was a temporary truce.

After some rest, the party engaged the common threat, who tried to force their way into the bottom of the floating island, in close combat and emerged victorious.

Nautiloid (Illithid) a.k.a “Naughty Boy”

A Tight Squeeze

9 Dec 2007: Interlude: Back in the World of Greyhawk

Meanwhile, back in the World of Greyhawk, a lone young elf was entrusted with the Codex that was retrieved from Ravenloft (Worldwide D&D Games Day 2006). His journey to deliver the artifact soon developed into an adventure. Along the way, he rescued a princess, defeated the goblin village champion, recruited a bard, and escaped from a lich.

That is only half of the story.

The Lone Ranger

2 Dec 2007: The party helped to defend a floating citadel from attack

The party were accepted by the leader of the rebels but were unwelcomed by the troops. Due to a lack of restraint, the party started a fight that resulted in a trooper's death and heightened the tension between the two groups.

The lich queen's scouts arrived soon after and engaged the party in a skirmsh as they tried to land, but were repelled. While the rebel leader and the party were discussing the next step, a bigger threat arrived on the scene.

25 Nov 2007: The party left a plane in chaos and arrived in another

The party managed to find an exit portal and escaped, almost losing another party member in the fight against the guardian.
Once again, the party failed to obtain the unknown entity's object of desire.

After being accused of mass slaughter by hordes of undead, the party was thrown into yet another quest, this time to retrieve the essence of a dead god.
Arriving at a floating citadel, the party found themselves in the middle of a racial war: A rebel who claimed to be a legend reborn against the might of a lich queen.

11 Nov 2007: The party realised that they have been deceived yet again, with the land collapsing around them

Despite the giants' best efforts, the party managed to win the competition, although with some insider help. They claimed the artifact as their prize and raced back to the black temple with the giants hot on their trail.

At the temple, the party found that they have been deceived yet again, but they had the last laugh when the unexpected happened. Instead of providing an escape for the scheming immortals, the plane was thrown into chaos when a revenge-seeking ancient being was awakened.

28 Oct 2007: The party participated in the ancient competition of the giants

The party decided to raid the giant's living quarters after the latter set off for the event. Alas, there were some guardians that remained behind. It would have been an easy battle, if the party had not blindly blundered into a dead end, resulting in the death of another arcane caster.

The remainder of the party arrived late on the second day of the event. They participated in the some of the remaining events and did rather well, much to the dismay of the giants.

7 Oct 2007: The party learned the story behind the Black Temple and the Black Artifact

The party did a thorough investigation of the black temple and learned much of the story behind it. They decided to help imprison an immortal tyrant for eternity and were told that they must first acquire an artifact that will facilitate the imprisonment in a competitive event.

Next the party solved the problem of lack of food and proceeded to find news of the artifact and the event.

30 Sep 2007: The party forced to become slaves and work in the mines

The party were forced to work as slaves together with other captives in the mines operated by the giants. In their daily routine, they mined black rock from the mines and transported them to a black temple as construction materials. Soon the party realised that the slaves served as workers as well as food.

Luckily, with some help from a tiny animal, the party managed to regain their memories and escape.

23 Sep 2007: Another day, Another mission, Another two deaths

After being tricked into “rescuing” a pair of tanar'ri, the party was tasked to go on another mission on another plane. The party came across a pair of giants who demanded tribute for answering their questions. The arcane caster panicked and separated himself and another member from the group, resulting in the death of the latter. Failing to learn from their mistake, the party blundered into the giant encampment, resulting in the death of another. The remaining party members drank the ale offered by the giant chieftain unsuspectingly and lost their memories.

9 Sep 2007: Found a way out but it is guarded

The party finally found the object of their quest and convinced him to seek freedom by following them out of this plane. The party fought hard to overcome the guardian of the exit portal, but a false move led to the death of another party member.

Alas, misled by the party, one's quest for freedom ended in tragedy.

Interlude
The bards sing a new song, that of an innocent machine with a thinking mind, who believed in the words of those who knew none better, and finally ended in tragedy.
[The Price of Freedom]

2 Sep 2007: Another party member bites the dust

The party tried to rescue a group of gnomes under attack. A lack of tactical coordination turned an easy encounter into a fatal one. The lone surviving gnome fixed some flying machines which allowed the party to reach the floating tower of the powerful creator.
Annoyed by the party who insisted on asking him about his failure, the creator dismissed them to an arena in the middle of the artifical island, but only one arrived there safely.

26 Aug 2007: The party was defeat by the machines and lost their storyteller

The party came across two different tinker gnome outposts. One was trying hard to create machinery and devices that can function similar to those already in this world, while the other believed that only the God in this world can grant the true power of creation. The party learned of an artifical island in a black water lake and set forth to investigate. They confronted its guardians and were defeated, losing a member in the process.

19 Aug 2007: The party arrived at a strange world of mechanical junk

The party found themselves in a strange enclosed area. Unable to determine where they were, the party played with toys in an attempt to fathom the meaning of things.
After being examined by an unknown entity, the party were shifted to a world filled with mechanical junk on a mission of unknown purpose.

12 Aug 2007: Campaign Season 5 starts off with a bang out of this world

The party joined in the festivities of a city celebrating its victory in the last battle. They eagerly participated in a contest to test the skills of adventuring parties. They soon realised that their adventuring skills are well below many other parties and discovered a deadly secret, by blundering into a trap.

Party Score in Challenge of Champions IV = 210 / 400

Interlude
Before the event was over, the party found themselves flung across the planes, not knowing where they are headed, without any hope of returning to their own world.

1 Jul 2007: Character Creation Rules for CampaignSeason 5

The Good News:
The party had been successful in mustering the dwarven and elven races and achieving victory in the battle at Brindol, thereby halting the advance of the dark forces.
The confidence of these races have been restored and they emerge from their hiding places in order to fight alongside the humans once more. It seems the time is ripe for an alliance to be reforged anew.
The following subraces are now available for unlock:
Dwarf: Deep Dwarf {MM}
In addition, mountain dwarves are considered freely available.
Elf: Gray Elf {MM}, Wild Elf {MM}, Wood Elf {MM}

And the Bad News:
Finally it became clear to those who watch that this war between light and darkness is not restricted to the Prime Material Plane. The enemy consist of extraplanar creatures that came from beyond.
Something is happening out there, and there is only one way to find out.
But what manner of gods, celestials, demons and devils will be waiting?
In this season, party learns more of what they have learnt in Season 3 (The Banewarrens).
There is a multiverse out there, but is there a single truth or are there multiple truths?

The following Secondary Sources are approved for this season:
1. Players Handbook II
2. Miniatures Handbook
3. Complete Warrior
4. Complete Divine
5. Complete Arcane
6. Complete Adventurer
7. Complete Scoundrel
8. Spell Compendium
9. Magic Item Compendium
As usual, the choices are subject to approval due to the nature of the campaign setting.

A character has the following number of Action Points. Because of the episodic play environment, action points refresh with each adventure module.

A character can spend action point(s) once in a round either to add to a single d20 roll, activate a class feature or to stabilize.

Player Points can be used to purchase Campaign Cards shown below.

At the start of each adventure module, the number of Actions Points that your character has is equal to:
(Maximum Action Points – Action Points spent on Campaign Cards) or Starting Action Points, whichever is lower