The Campaign So Far...
With summer quickly fading and Auril noticing the lowlands again, The SBF stride onwards with too many paths ahead of them. Knowing they have adventures to go on, but creating all manner of mishaps in their wake, they often find that adventure comes and interrupts their initial plans...
25th Eleasis, 1372.DR
After fleeing from the rampant and carnivorous vegetation of the devil-controlled Blacknight Manor, The SBF teleport to the outskirts of Elversult, the open city notorious for its Cult of The Dragon and Harper presence. Covered in filth and looking the worse for wear, they party enters the city under close watch by The Maces, Elversult's elite guard. Almost immediately, the party splits. Ochette heads towards a small shrine to Mielikki for recuperation after beingswallowed and partially digested by a massive carnivorous plant akin to a flytrap which spewed a fog of acidic death. The Hand of Justice and Athelhelm sought out replacements for the equipment they lost in their battle against the cowardly erinyes and her vegetable minions. Death followed them, for the elf which had travelled with the SBF for a brief time was slain and consumed by mysterious bipedal plant creatures, capable of firing a barrage of quills from their very bodies. After they had finished with Elias, all that was left was a raggedly torn foot, complete with boot.
Ochette notices that the strange, horn like growths from his skull are slowly growing longer. He is justifiably concerned about the curse laid upon him by The Cow.
Hand receives a dream from his god, Hoar, commanding him to journey to Mulhorand and slay a newly risen Hierophant of Anhur, if he is ever to gain the same position under Him. Such is the way of long held thoughts of vengeance.
Athelhelm finds a comfortable inn called The Boenstag where they hold nightly bear-wrestling competitions, but this form of gambling is a little too soft for his tastes. he also notices that the custom grip on his mighty adamantine blade is starting to crack and wear away.
Elias rises as a Revenant, determined to hunt down the party that abandoned him at Backnight Manor.
26th Eleasis, 1372DR
Whilst recovering in Elversult, a number of things occurred. Ochette was approached by One Who Harps within the Temple of Mielikki, and asked to watch over the path that the newly named "Judge Of Justice" will soon walk. Athelhelm is approached by a Wearer of Purple, and told that a dragon egg is worth 20,000gp to his "organisation". Bill Bogswater runs into Athelhelm, they strike up a quick friendship over a dozen beers and a lethal brawl with a bullying squad of Zhentarim. During the battle, the inn floor collapsed, and Athelhelm quickly cut the throats of the dazed, helpless and defeated Zhents half-buried in the cellar. Talking to his WOP contact outside, he organised to have the bodies "disposed of" for the barkeeper, and the corpses are hauled into the sewers by a number of orcs wearing dark purple clothing.
Heading out to make a strike upon the Erinyes and her gathering of fiendish needlefolk, they spot an ambush before it can strike. The party gorily fights its way through half a dozen greatclub wielding ogres and even an overconfident ogre mage, before a wyvern, attracted by the smell of blood, attacks. Ochette was snatched and stung, but his druidic powers prevented any poison effects. Eventually the party took down the wyvern, but not without expense.
27-29th Eleasis 1372DR
Brushing off the dust from their last encounter, the party continues along the trail south. As they reach a point on the hills where they can see across an expanse of fertile fields below, plumes of thick black smoke fan into the humid air from a number of hamlets that had been ransacked can be seen. Judge casts a fly spell and takes off to have a closer look. As the remaining three characters continued onwards, the run afoul of two more wyverns, and in a battle of ill luck, Ugly Bill is snatched into the air and slain by the poisonous sting of the flying monster. Never the less, Athelhelm and Ochette defeat the beasts, and wait for the return of Judge to raise their compatriot.
Meanwhile, Judge had problems of his own. He arrived to find a small hamlet in chaos, fire erupting everywhere and the commoners just about helpless to do anything to stop it. With a display of raw faith and power, Judge defended a mother and children against attackers after their father is slain by a hail of spines from 3 hidden needlefolk - with a blade barrier. After annihilating his opposition, he checked that the villagers were safe...ish... and flew back to find the disastrous scene.
With his canny wilderness lore skills, Ochette found a perfect cave for rest and recuperation, to raise Bill and prepare for the battle tomorrow. They rested, brought Bill back, and made haste to intercept the convoy 30 minutes to the south. They arrived at a scene of slaughter. Needlefolk hurling spines at desperate men holed up in their wagons. The horses had bolted, and they used crossbows rather ineffectively against the camouflaged remorseless killers.
A long battle ensues and eventually the Erinyes appears and is defeated, despite trapping ochette in a precarious situation high in the sky. SBF mops up and celebrates. They met a gnome travelling with the convoy, who wielded a powerful magic crossbow very effectively. There is an instant distrust between him and Athelhelm (but that's nothing unusual). The remaining commoners after the atack were escorted by SBF out of the cornfields into the hills, where the remaining villagers were taking shelter. Celebrating with them, a number of small "incidents" occur. Judge and Athelhelm are outwitted and outplayed by the gnome, and the gnome gets the girl. Athelhelm knocks out a retarded boy because "he patted my head, he had to go down". Athelhelm and Bill throw a rock at the gnome when he is serenading the young girl in the shadows, and as they are running away, Athelhelm trips over the prone kid. Ochette notices that his transformation into a cow is accelerating.
30 Eleasis - 2 Elient 1372DR
SBF teleports back to their Keep and arrange a few things, pick up a few jump potions from a strangely absent Atherial Junior, and check up on the progress of the newly constructed tavern by the Trade Road, called the "Moops and Roots". Bill meets a hugely muscular elf lass who is completely inebriated (just the way he likes them) and they start talking. The barkeeper drops a few hints that they will need a "classier" style of alcohol to suit many of their merchant customers, and remembering that Scintar is presiding in Wyrm's Hamlet Keep, they set off to collect the treasure trove of rare and exotic alcohol from its cellar, presuming Scintar has no use for it.
On arrival, Scintar greets them and eyes Athelhelm suspiciously. But he brushes it off and takes them in for dinner as SBF states its case. Scintar agrees, however he also needs them to check on a rift in the cellar floor from which masses of hairy spiders have poored. SBF enter the cellar with an anti-vermin spell and enter the rift using ethereal travel. Underground they find hordes of ravenous giant spiders, and are introduced to the underdark. Cave fishers, darkmantles, angler worms and the environment are among the foes they face and defeat, not without effort. They reach a point where they are fighting the largest spider any of them had ever seen, and it had them against the wall (literally) until Judge blended it with a blade barrier. Residing in the next cavern was a kobold (actually an Urd - a winged kobold, but his wings had been cut off) and his family of Myconoids. Possessing druidic and sorcerous powers of a highly variable nature, the so called "Crink" told them the reason why the ground had torn above was because a giant purple worm was moving through this area, making the ground unstable. Any time a powerful spell made vibrations, it would draw the worm closer to the place they were. Fearing for his Myconoid brethren, he pleaded that SBF help him kill the beast before it ate or crushed everything.
After a few minor problems, Ochette decided to explore the surrounding caverns using a blindsight spell and the shape of a owl. While cruising through a massive chamber which contained a lake 1500feet long and 750ft wide, he attracted the attention of Crink's ex-tribe of Urds. A fierce battle ensued, but eventually Ochette's spells were exhausted and he was forced to land on the launching spot of the Urd's home. Beseiged by magic-wielding urds, hurt by devious traps and isolated from his allies, he was close to falling when with a great flourish SBF and Crink teleport into the Urd chambers and save him by diverting the attacks. Mercilessly, the party kills the entire tribe, eggs and all. Ochette recovers a sentient pair of Boots of Flying and a cursed Crown of Royalty and the party divides no small amount of jewels and money from the Urd's treasury. Seeing the crown, Athelhelm naturally tries it on for size. Results ensue, with him considering himself the deposed King of Cormyr.
Crink speaks of a "talking snake" within the lake far below the cave. A greedy, malicious Sea Drake lived in the lake, and SBF try to wrangle information from it. It bluntly states its fee for merely "disturbing" it, but through diversion and deviance, SBF escape without bearing the full brunt of the Sea Drakes fury. A roper, allied with the Sea Drake, attacked them while they rested, attempting to get the payment that they owed his master, but they defeated it.
Back in Crinks home, SBF prepare for battle. They had rested in the Urd's cavern for a 9 hours, so they rememorised spells, healed up, and prepared for the upcoming battle. Tracking down the source, they battled and defeated the purple worm, but only after a couple of random swallowings and a couple of near deaths. Even Judge was sorely hurt. The recovered a +3 corrosive dagger from inside the beasts acidic belly, but the day wasn't over yet. Smelling their metals, a xorn had tracked them and was bored with eating the amethyst crystals so prevalent inside the purple worm's castings. Bill bluffed it into reaching for a crystal at his feet, and brought his greatsword down upon its head, sorely wounding it. In turn, it lashed out and nearly eviscerated him. But with a little teamwork, SBF defeated the relatively innocent xorn and headed back to Crink's home, victorious.
On their return, they walked into a one sided battle. A horde of hook horrors had stormed the upper caverns and were carving up the myconoids, despite The Myconoid King's attempts of defense. Slowly the battle turned with the efforts of SBF, and when it was quiet, SBF knew it was time for them to return to the surface.
3-5 Elient 1372DR
With a full cart of valuable alcohol in tow, the SBF head back to Lagaland. They see that the dire elks are stll grazing in the southern Dragon coast prairies, and they also meet an immature and bored Copper Dragon who threatens to steal their cart, alcohol and horses all at once in a poorly timed drunken joke. Eventually, the alcohol-sodden dragon falls alseep in spectacular crashing fashion, and the party debates whether killing it while it was asleep would be a good idea. Poll Results: Yes - Athelhelm, No - Judge, Ochette, Undecided - Bill.
They don't.
6-7 Elient 1372DR
Oh man, I have to say that this game was one of my best and worst at the same time. I have to thank the players for some far above average character development.
Back at "The Moops and Roots" the characters drop off their cart of alcohol and head back to the Keep. They find That Athearial Juniour has just taken one more step towards insanity. An orange resin is oozing through the cracks of his door and a repetitive tapping is sounding from within. They teleport in and find that Atherial is trying to guard a portal to an unknown plane that has opened in his room. At the same time he is making a Helm of Teleportation to assist him to make regular trips to the toilet and kitchen without taking up valuable spells slots which could be used for dismissal. Crazy...crazy as a fox.
Bill has a daliance (somehow) with his drunken elf lass friend, and is enraged to find out that the next night, she has a daliance with a travelling Sembian Merchant Aristocrat of the Pernot family. Athelhelm stirs bill up and tries to intimidate the slimy Sembian into opening a trade with Lagaland. The Sembian is scared and insulted by his threats and tries to walk away.
Nobody walks away from Athelhelm.
Athelhelm spins around, and saps the merchant, knocking him out. He goads Bill on to lay the boot in.
Ugly Bill Bogswater, using a maximised Power attack and a power lunge with his hobnail boots, takes a runoff and shatters the Sembian's ribcage, killing him. Cold-blooded murder. Bill, remorseful, confesses to Judge. Judge is spitting angry, but judges it was manslaughter because "he was jealous and didn't realise that taking a runoff and laying the boot in as hard as he could with a 22 strength would cause anything more than subdual damage." decides to raise the victim. Jives comes out and is insulted by Athelhelm, and quits. Ochette helps him get away before Athelhelm decides to kill him.
He raises him and is unimpressed with the Sembian's bad attitude. He tells him to leave his chapel. Stepping out, Athelhelm smiles EVILLY at him. Recognising Athelhelm, the Sembian throws an insult Athelhelm's way relating to "Dragon Coast scum". Athelhelm draws Blackblade and slices him in half. The pieces fall to the ground, and chaos erupts. Judge gives Athelhelm a chance to surrender to rightful punishment. Ochette challenges Athelhelm to a duel "for insulting Jives and other stuff". Bill gets confused and tries to diffuse the situation. Kahn watches from the church, getting excited to see blood spilt again. Meanwhile, they know that in an hour, the Sembian's guardians will scry on his whereabouts, and rain down punsihment on the perpetrators of this heinous act.
The next entry may be the last of SBF!
8 - 17 Elient 1372DR
Luckily, after much fear, the loss of some magical items, a few deaths, and other such things, the SBF get back to business.
There is much to catch up on, so I will be brief. Essentially, A host of Sembian regulators arrive at the keep, after tracking down the corpse of the 2nd cousin of their employer, and demand retribution. Ugly Bill attacks one of the priests, and is promptly and effectively paralysed. The bargaining price for Bills life is an item of considerable value, a magical curved dagger which drips a vile acid. The SBF pass it over, and the transaction is complete.
The SBF travel to Wyrm's Hamlet, the town overlooked by Scintar the Mighty Orb-Bane ( Also known as "The Glory-Hog" to those of few manners). There they find a breach in his wine cellar to the Underdark, where they battle flying sorcerous kobolds, giant worms and hook-horrors, and a have a battle of wits with a massive lake-serpent in a huge lightless lake. Escaping wth their lives and leaving depthless caverns unexplored, the SBF close the hole, collect some fine wines, and nearly lose it all to a soaring, irresponsible bronze dragon on the Trade Way halfway home.
A celebration marking a holy day for Hoarites is held, and a number of Wemic and Lizardfolk representatives join the festivities, their barbaric nature scaring no small proportion of the villagers of Lagaland. A proposal by the lizardfolk chief to open a trade route to Nathlehk across the Long Arm Lake is kept in mindKeeping in mind that the village of Nathlehk is roughly straight across the moops and the Long Arm Lake, the party head, on foot, directly across the moops, which have become even more deadly lately. Athelhelm is shredded and swallowed by a hideous Lernaen Hydra, and the SBF haul his corpse back to dry land and safety to raise him.
As he raises Athelhelm from the state of death, chaotic spirits fly from the inert body, and Judge has a strange feeling, realising that something has changed in the shift of power which includes Hoar. Flying high into the sky, he witnesses a mighty battle of avatars (Hoar, and the newly resurrected demi-avatar of Ramman his ancient nemesis) far above roiling stormclouds. He is battered away like a feather in a cyclone, but the party see a meteorite slash through the sky from above, crashing far away towards the distant, hidden Osraun Mountains. Judge receives a new imperative, and is obliged to hunt down and destroy this being before it gains enough followers to develop demi-god status again.
In an attempt to kill two birds with one stone, the party takes the safe, windwalking route south to the newly constructed barge, and up again following small tracks. They purge goblin ambushers and collect some ears to show their goodwill towards the town, and enter the village.
Arriving at Nathlehk, a beautiful forested hamlet in the southern reaches of The Gulthmere, they meet a few personalities, like Gommarah the talking eel. The SBF are beseeched by the awakened eel to return the town druid to his normal state, who is presentl stuck as a parge blue carp in the same pond as thew snake-like sarcastic fish. Only a powerful scroll can achieve this, and the only such scroll in the vicinity is in the lair of Choliromentos, a vicious and sadistic green dragon who has kidnapped the high ranking priests of Nobanion and Sharess, holding them for ransom for the entirety of the the towns fortune in rubies. The SBF agree to vanquish the dragon.
The SBF go head to head with the dragon, and a masterful and SIGNIFICANTLY OVER-FUCKING-POWERED miasma spell by Ochette, nearly suffocates the fell beast before it plunges into its abandoned mine lair into black, oily water. A vicious drawn-out battle occurs, in which for the first time in living memory The Judge fell, bleeding to death in knee deep water. Athelhelm lands a mighty blow on the beasts head and lays it low. The elation and adrenaline of the fierce battle somehow makes him think that he "saved the day", although no one was ever quite sure who this "Betty" person was. Maybe his mother, in a long lost past regression into his childhood of careless parentage. The SBF collapse the lair, return with the booty and the hostages, and are further rewarded by the town in the form of rubies.
19 - 20 Elient 1372DR
No sooner are the SBF back when they hear that a malarite cult has attacked and taken over a holy site for Nobanion, the Mountain Cat Temple. To the rescue they go! On the way, they are attacked by orcs, hill giants, dire wolves and ettins, but keep their footing in the dangerous hill lands despite some very close calls. In a strange, magical turn of events, SCINTAR THE MAGNIFICENT ORB-BANE arrives to aid in the cause. Deadly woodland traps hamper their progress, as well as natural obstacles, evasive figures in the distance, an interesting river journey for Bill, a pummelling in the waterfall for Ochette and Athelhelm, packs of tiny-evil-possessed woodland creatures, illusions, and barbaric cultist guardians - they all take their toll on the weary group (except for Scintar- he is never weary when their is justice to uphold).
The climactic point of the day arrives when The SBF meet with Malar's Bastards, an adventuring party of evil and chaotic bent. A half-orc barbarian lass with looks that rivalled Bills, a foul-odoured troglodyte druid, a bugbear with a poisoned blade, and a scholarly, unpredictable minotaur wizard waited in ambush. Alas, no lessons were learnt, and Ugly Bill attacked without assistance, nearly dying in the process. A grizzly battle ensued, the monstrous evil adventuring mercenaries at a disadvantage due to their chaotic bent towards each other, but even so the towering hulk of a bugbear, who knew well the arts of stealth fled from the battle, leaving his fellows to die. But the battle was not without its losses. Valuable spells were wasted, vitality was severely drained, and tension in the party rose like an omnipresent and unstoppable wave of FURY.....
