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My Recent Posts · Nov 9 03 5:09 AM

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Hi everyone,

I've been lurking on these forums for the last 12 months or so (ever since I picked up Rappan Athuk, plus a bunch of other modules).

My main campaign is focused on Rappan Athuk & Tomb of Abynsthor, but I'm currently running the group through Siege with some alternative characters.

Given how useful I've found other people's perspectives on the various modules I thought I would give a little report on how the Siege is going as a way of saying thank you.

I'd just start off by saying I love the storyline to this module; especially how the layers of the story are peeled off like an onion as the story progresses.

I'm also in love with the Constructs/Brain Gear - they remind me a lot of the Borg. If Orcus gets his hands onto the brain gear I fully intend to step the nastiness level of the constructs up. I'm thinking something like the Borgs's assimilation nanites - a disease like mechanic which turns you into a clockwork rather than killing you when you hit Con 0 (or whatever).

Please forgive the spelling & grammar, but go ahead & enjoy....

Varchilde

A bit of background
-------------------

The characters are a motley collection of adventurers drawn together for employment by the Royal Chamberlain. They have been commissioned to act as caravan guards for a supply caravan travelling to the fort of Durnam's Folly, which they have been informed is the current base of operations for the Royal Artificer Theodocius.

Once they have arrived at the Folly they are to take receipt of 2 magic items which the royal family has had commissioned & then return them to the Chamberlain. The reason given to the characters for this is so as to avoid sending large number of troopers & drawing undue attention to the caravan/items on their return. Whether this is the truth is still to be seen however.

The characters
--------------
Wanda - Human F3/C3 - A military officer recently commissioned into the Raven Host - the ceremonial bodyguards of the Royal Princess. She has been charged with overseeing the mission to completion.

Brad - Human Bd 6 - A travelling musician & minstrel he is the public "face" of the group - well practiced in diplomacy & interpersonal skills he is a well liked & popular figure.

Torin - Elf F5/W1 - A surly elven warrior mage, Torin aspires to walk the path of the arcane archer. Outspoken & blunt, Torin is not afraid to voice his opinions - tact is not a strong point.

Calim Sureshot - Elf W6. A travelling mage & maker of potions & scrolls. Calim also walks the path of the bow, but relies on his magic to make sure his arrows fly true.

Cade - Halfling F5/Nomad 1. A seasoned warrior Cade is a fighter whose size belies his skill. He rides a trained war dog & is more capable on his mount than many human knights.

The Adventure begins
--------------------
The party meet with Lord Hugo the Chamberlain & are taken to a well guarded trading coster.

Here they are introduced to Trina the Caravan Mistress & wizard. They also meet a Uli & Thevik, the two sergeants in charge of the 20 or so guards. There is an almost instant dislike to Uli & party members immediately begin to plot how to make the journey as miserable as possible for him.

Trina is glad of extra guards but wary that they have been added to the caravan by some one other than herself or Theodocius. The party are told the caravan is under control & not to get in the way.

A certain amount of investigation reveals strange artifacts in the caravan - spell components & ornate metal work.

An evening spent in the local inn reveals that merchants have been delivering supplies to the coster for some time - certainly more than just the usual supplies needed for the Folly's garrison. The locals have had great fun guessing what must be going on there.

The following morning the caravan heads out. The guards are confident - they have run the supply caravan many times before & the journey is familiar to them. The party take the
instructions to not get in the way to heart & ride on wagons (or dogs !) and enjoy an easy days' travel.

As night falls the caravan approaches the village of Hansonburg. A keen eyed outrider notices no smoke or lights from the village. The caravan is called to a halt and a number
of guards & party members approach the town to investigate. They find the place abandoned & signs of violent struggle.

Worried the caravan circles up for the night before a full investigation takes place in day light. The town has suffered a vicious & well organised raid by ogres. A number had entered the town while a second group encircled the houses to capture anyone who attempted to flee the village.

A number of villagers had sought sanctuary in the church. The doors had been blasted from it's hinges by a magical force (looking like frost damage) before a final fight had taken
place in among the pews.

Villagers & food had been taken off by the marauders. This discovery struck a terrible note with guards - many had friends & family living here.

2 guards were dispatched on horses back to town to report the attack & the caravan continued on it's way.

More alert now Uli & some of the guards discovered a drunken ogre on the roadside. They roused it to conciousness & started berating the ogre, demanding to know what had happened & where the villagers were.

As Trina & the PCs arrived they found Uli & several guards pointing bows at the ogre, threatening to kill it in revenge for the terrible attack.

The ogre starts rambling about the Folly, an ogre horde & a powerful ogre mage. He also points out he doesn't want to die & promises to be good now if they let him go.

Trina & the PCs decide they need the ogre alive & sober to find out more information from him. Trina orders Uli to stand down - he ignores her & shouts about how he can't let the
murdering b*****d live.

Torin points his bow at Uli & tells him to drop his weapon. Uli turns his bow on Torin & makes some very unsavoury comments. Mexican stand off. The other guards lower their bows.

Trina orders him to stand down again & threatens to have him disciplined if he doesn't.

Seeing himself outnumbered Uli lowers his bow, threatens to 'get' the elven bow man & rides off to the back of the caravan in a terrible rage. He does his best to keep clear of PCs & Trina for the rest of the day.

The ogre is hauled back to the caravan & hog tied in a wagon. Calim sits as a guard to ensure the ogre doesn't have an unfortunate 'accident' at Uli's hands.

The caravan progresses under a dark cloud - Brad tries to keep the mood light as the group makes camp for the evening. Watches are posted & the evening passes as best it might.

On the second watch the moon is darkened by a great flying shape. A huge bird of prey descends into the camp, tearing into one of the wagons & sending horses & guards into panic.

Trina and the sergeants try to bring guards to order whilst the party turn missile fire onto the beast.

Unable to find what it was looking for, the great bird flings the wagon across the campsite, crushing guards & nearly killing the poor caravan mistress.

Magic starts to fly - flaming arrows & magic missiles impact into the Roc. Screeching in frustration it turns it's attentions on the mass of humans, killing more guards & striking a

terrible injury to Calim. Wanda is saved from a savage mauling as her platemail fends off multiple blows (the dice really did favour her tonight !).

At last the torrent of missile fire is too much & the Roc is driven off. A desperate attempt to snatch a morsel to eat misses & the bird escapes empty handed & barely alive.

The party & caravan have lost half a dozen or so guards plus a wagon to the bird. Theywonder why it attacked a wagon & not the horses directly. There is speculation that something might be behind the attack. The DM keeps quiet at this point :evil

An investigation of caravan wreckage finds a number of bits of strange armour. On further inspection they appear to be metallic limbs. Trina confesses that Theodocius is xperimenting with a new, cheaper form of golem or construct. She insists the broken metalwork is taken along so Theodocius can study how it performed under the strains of the roc attack.

As the caravan is brought back to order & the injured are healed Trina approaches the party & asks them for their help in re-organising the remaining resources. Where it not for their prescence the entire caravan would have been lost, and she is in need of their counsel.

The caravan is set up with all the party acting as outriders front & back. The group continue on their way.....

(Until the next time....)

My Recent Posts · Nov 9 03 9:24 AM

Keep going. Seems like you had fun! SoDF is a very underestimated module. The final encounter is a blast.

I wonder why Mike Mearls and NG haven't work togheter after SoDF. I would jump on anything produced by NG and Mearls. Also, too bad small 32 pages modules aren't profitable in this business. It's so easy and fun to insert such a small module in a already established campaign as a small hook. Nothing against big 224 pages "campaign" module, but I prefer modules with a page count under 100 $:\$

My Recent Posts · Nov 11 03 9:41 AM

Thanks for the feedback - I'm definitely enjoying running Siege. Hearing the Bard's player muttering about how "unreasonable" the roc attack was made the session worthwhile

(especially as its the ogres next sesh !)

I can't say I really follow the "personalities" side of the 3e hobby too much, but I do rate the NG modules generally.

Certainly anything with the NG logo on the cover is worth a look at.

NG do seem to be catering to the smaller modules with compendium style products - I've got both Devils & Demons and Raise the Dead - so that's 7 or 8 shorter length adventures in 2 products. Definitely worth the cash !

My Recent Posts · Nov 15 03 5:00 AM

When Ogres attack !!!!!

The party & caravan continue their travels towards the Folly. Trina has informed the players of some caves near the castle where the caravan can be hidden from site. From there the group will investigate the castle & see if an assault to remove the ogres is possible.

The third day passes uneventfully & as the evening descends the party are unaware of being watched from the trees (a disastrous round of spot rolls left the party oblivious to the clockwork scouts).

Trina again asks the party for advice - should they camp 'circled wagons' as the night before or try something different. Fearing the Roc may return the party & guards cut back some of the undergrowth from the road side and park the wagons under tree cover. An area is roped off as a coral for the horses and the guards set for the night. The whole contingent camps off the road & eats cold rations - no fires lit to warn enemies.

The party set watches along with the guards. On the second watch Calim's hawk familiar perched up high in a tree notices a group of 4 tall figures skulking up the road towards the camp.

Word is passed up the camp & guards & PCs are ready when 4 ogres come into view. At the point the ogres notice the wagons the ambush is sprung - bow fire is fired into the monsters & Cade charges the lead ogre on his war dog.

In moments 2 ogres lie dead & 2 flee back down the road screaming as they go. Rounds later the hawk reports 'there are more coming - lots more'. More than a dozen ogres came charging down the trail swinging huge great clubs. Trina casts a scare spell which causes 3 to panic & Calim fires a lightning bolt through a group although none fall.

More bow fire from the defenders peppers the ogres. Throwing caution to the wind the ogres break into a full blown run to close the distance & engage in melee.

Soon there are half a dozen or so separate fights raging across the camp.

Cade & Wanda melee with ogres, Wanda getting help from a spiritual weapon she had cast & Cade using his spirited charge to devastating effect.

Calim & Torin use thier bows to great effect - Torin taking precise shots into melee with his great accuracy & Calim "machine gunning" the ogres having cast haste & greater magic weapon upon his arrows.

Brad raises the morale of the group, singing of great exploits of past heroes before wading into melee himself helping out the beleagured Trina who had found herself caught by two of the ogres.

After the terrible & bloody battle, the defenders found themselves victorious, but at great cost - all but four of the caravan guards had been slain, along with Uli & Trina. One of the groups of guards had been broken & were slain as they attempted to flee the ogres.

Trina's death had perhaps been the bitterest blow of all; caught in the middle of the main melee, in the sight of many of the guards she had taken but a single blow which had killed her instantly (a 47 point confirmed critical !!!!).

Brad & Thevik had also fallen in the fight, but Wanda's healing powers had saved them before they bled to death.

Staring at the path strewn with dead bodies before them, the party considered what their next step must be....

DM Note: I was a tad concerned before running this encounter about how exactly it would pan out since Ogres are on the 'harsh' end of being a CR2 monster !!! However, since I had already decided to run the adventure pretty much as written I thought I'd let it run & see how it worked out.

It was an epic battle which I really enjoyed running. The party got to let rip & unload - the mage blew all his spells, the hobbit went bananas with Ride by attack & spirited charge, loads of fun.

I was pretty impressed with the bards' inspire courage ability - the extra point of damage made the difference to actually downing ogres on more than one occasion.

The party's foresight & planning also paid off. Spotting the ogres early made a real difference - I suspect that if the ogres had caught the party unaware there would have been a lot more bodies.

The party have also grown attached to the NPCs. I think they took the loss of Trina (& even Uli) personally. I look forward to the next session.

My Recent Posts · Nov 15 03 8:16 AM

Great story. Keep em' coming.

------------------------------------
DM and fan of the DragonLance 4th Age campaign setting.

Coming soon: IceHaven D&D online chat game.

www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=536
Beyond Babylon 5 (D20 campaign)

My Recent Posts · Nov 22 03 6:30 AM

Beer !!!
I thought after the Roc & the Ogres I'd give the party a spot of light relief. Boy was I wrong.

The party cleared up after the Ogre attack, taking the time to Detect Magic across the corpses. Some goodies turn up on Trina which the party intend to return to her family, but decide to keep to hand just in case things turn tricky.

The caravan sets off at first light, not even taking the time for spell casters to pray or memorise spell, as they are desperate to reach the safety of the caves.

A couple of hours later they turn off the road & head up the small valley to the hidden caves. Cade scouts ahead and finds the cave occupied - strange smoke is coming out of the exit and he hears strange high pitched chittering voices.

Brad & Wanda approach the cave with Cade & the 2 elves close behind. Inside the cave is a strange sight. 3 small gnome like creatures are tending a huge cauldron. A fourth gnome is raking algae from a near by rock pool into a huge bucket. Strewn across the floor are dozens of glass bottles, some full some empty.

The party have encountered a group of brewer gnomes in the middle of a cooking session.

Unfortunately the characters have never encountered such strange creatures before.

Brad calls out & a gnome tentatively approaches him. 2 of them guard their precious pond scum.

A difficult conversation ensues since neither side can understand the other. Calim approaches and attempts to touch the gnome to cast a comprehend languages. He misses & the gnome disappears invisibly, afraid of the elf's intent.

A second gnome takes a slug from a bottle (actually a dose of Pond Scum stout - makes you immune to fear effects, but bold & reckless). He swaggers up to the players & starts to berate them for abusing his colleagues offer of hospitality. Calim finally gets the comp languages off & understands that the gnomes are offering the players drinks.

Brad obligingly finishes a bottle - Int, Wis & Dex drops & he thinks a second might be a good idea when offered.

Wanda & Calim attempt to trick the gnomes that they have drunk the booze. A series of bluff & sense motive rolls later & the gnome angrily tells the elf & the cleric to leave since they are so rude.

Brad downs a second bottle. This leaves him with another drain on his faculties & a bad case of double vision - everything he can see gets a free unremovable mirror image.

The mage declares that they are not leaving the bard behind especially since he didn't appear to be in control of his faculties (the bard meanwhile was starting to look for drink number 3...). THe mage advances boldly into the cave. The gnomes disappear from sight & initiative is rolled.

The mage & cleric are stuck to the floor courtesy of a glue spell. 2 smoky forms appear from no where & advance towards the characters (bottle imps).

Chaos ensues.

The imps attack the mage and cleric. Torin advances into the cave & is promptly stuck to the floor by a second glue spell.

Seeing smoky leash like tendrils coming from the imps the bard goes looking for source of the smoke. Seeing it coming from a pile of bottles he starts smashing.

Cade charges in from outside the cave on his wardog, unaware of the glue.

Although he runs an imp through with his lance, the poor dog is stuck fast.

A sleep spell goes off in the middle of the players, taking the war dog down. A flaming sphere is rolled onto the cleric & the glue ignites like greek fire. There is lots of burning as both patches go up.

At least there are visible targets now. Calim defensively casts acid arrows. The gnome discovers that throwing himself in the rock pool doesn't help.

Calim takes a crit from an imp & goes down.

Wanda's lucky platemail comes into it's own again as the second imp cannot connect no matter

how it tries. Wanda recognises there is something 'of the grave' about these imps & attempts to turn them. The imps retreat to their bottles.

Not wanting to see their pets homes' smashed one of the imps casts blindness on Brad. He relies on his alcohol-fuelled wisdom for judgement & pulls out his crossbow, shooting where he can hear noise. This impresses the players no end

Wanda heals the poor mage back to conciousness.

Glue spells wear off & the players move to take the rest of the gnomes out, but not before the mage also receives a blindness spell (he'd taken two gnomes out with acid arrows by this point, so the gnomes weren't keen to receive more !!!).

Battered & bloody the party look amongst the bottles looking for the imps. It's impossible to tell which bottle is which, so the party dunk every bottle in the cave in holy water

before throwing them in the rock pool. As a final measure the cleric blesses the pool.

"That should keep the little buggers in !"

DM Note.
So I digressed from the plot.

I hadn't expected the encounter to turn out like this. I'd pictured a comedy role playing

session with a few drunk PCs & monster hangovers. I'd purposely intended the fight to be hard if things did turn nasty, but the fact that the players hadn't rested or recovered from the ogre fight made things really brutal.

The brewer gnomes & bottle imps come from the scarred lands creature collection. They are unusual monsters and worked thematically well together. I als used a bunch of the Relics & Ritual spells too. The party didn't get to discover a whole bunch of those 'cos they made saving throws & the gnomes missed with their ray attacks

(Enkili's prank & Bulls' grace are great little spells). Never mind, there's always next time...

As a final thought, the fey booze would have made an interesting way to deal with the ogres in the Folly. Who knows, perhaps they will still think of it ?

They have more pressing problems to deal with at the moment - a blind bard & a blind mage, and no one capapble of casting remove blindness. How will they cope ? Wait until next
report...

My Recent Posts · Nov 22 03 8:33 AM

Intentional or not, that sounds like it was a fun session anyway.

I haven't used Brewer Gnomes yet and this is the first time I've of them being used. Great fun by sounds.

------------------------------------
DM and fan of the DragonLance 4th Age campaign setting.

Coming soon: IceHaven D&D online chat game.

My Recent Posts · Nov 22 03 10:12 AM

Magoo wrote:
I wonder why Mike Mearls and NG haven't work togheter after SoDF. I would jump on anything produced by NG and Mearls.
----------------

Hey,

It's all come down to scheduling. I *loved* working with Clark, Bill, and the Necro gang, and I'm a big fan of their work. I started playing D&D in the early 80s, and their style really appeals to me. My name is on the cover of Siege, but without Clark's guidance it wouldn't be half as good as it is.

Unfortunately, my schedule has been pretty jammed lately. I solo author a lot of 128 page sourcebooks, and those take up a lot of time but they're easier on my schedule (and bank account; I currently do freelance RPG design full-time.) I love writing adventures (just ask my players! They're stuck in a fire temple at the moment, cornered by a small orc army, fire giants, fire elementals, and some pretty nasty orc-forged war engines) but my schedule just hasn't agreed with that.

My Recent Posts · Nov 22 03 10:14 AM

BTW, I love the write up. It's always cool to hear how people use the adventure. The gnome encounter sounds like a lot of fun, and it's further evidence of how utterly unpredictable players can be. My players me crazy. They sometimes overlook really obvious stuff, but then come up with cool tactics or completely solve an adventure based on little more than guesswork.

My Recent Posts · Nov 22 03 11:17 AM

Mike! It's very cool to see you post here... my players and I really enjoyed Seige and I just want to say thanks!

Frost
"...he was a wondering mercenary, roistering, brawling, guzzling, adventuring, with no thought of the morrow, and no desire save sparkling ale, red lips, and a keen sword to swing on all the battlefields of the world." - The Hour of the Dragon, Robert E. Howard
The Mausoleum of Frost - Character Sheets and other evil treats
http://groups.msn.com/TheMausoleumofFrost/mausolemoffrosthomepage.msnw

My Recent Posts · Nov 22 03 1:49 PM

Aye. My group and I had great fun playing SoDF. I hope to see you writing for NG again.

------------------------------------
DM and fan of the DragonLance 4th Age campaign setting.

Coming soon: IceHaven D&D online chat game.

My Recent Posts · Nov 23 03 1:25 AM

Thanks for the encouragement !

I have to say that until recently I've kept away from published modules, but the quality of the NG stuff has really impressed me.

My group has been meeting once a month to play my Rappan Athuk/Tomb of Abynsthor campaign and weekly for a long running ShadowRun campaign (try 8 or 9 years on & off !!!).

We've had such a blast playing the RA game we've put the Shadowrun on ice and started running through some of the pile of other NG modules I've acquired. Top of the pile is siege to be followed with Halls of the Rainbow Mage.

Needless to say I shall try to keep people informed of progress on the forums.

My Recent Posts · Nov 29 03 4:39 AM

A time to rest & reflect.

Much briefer session this time due to cars not starting in the crummy weather we've been having.

The party bring the caravan into the now vacant cave and ponder their options. Wanda casts her last few healing spells & the characters begin to rest. The realisation soon dawns that the blindness spells aren't going away any time soon.

Wanda remembers a magic item she was given when first commissioned to go on this adventure - a silver statuette of a raven which if commanded would carry a message to Lord Hugo.

A message is sent to the effect of - caravan attacked by ogres, folly taken by same. Many casualties, including people afflicted my magical blindness.

Overnight the raven returns carrying a message from Lord Hugo. The guards sent back from Hansonburg had returned safely & the town watch along with Hugo's personal troops had ridden to the village to see what had happened. The militia had been mustered to defend the town.

A group of soldiers have been dispatched to trail the ogres, and a second group sent after the caravan to see if anything had happened to them. The second group contains a cleric capable of dealing with the magical blindness.

The party await the troopers, and intercept them at the road. The detatchment is small (4 troopers including the 2 caravan guards originally sent to raise the alarm plus a rather officious cleric from the town & a woodsman/scout), but offers some useful skills to the party.

The party decide to not make a move against the folly until the cleric has learnt healing prayers & removed the blindness, but emboldened by the reinforcements, Cade & the Woodsman go to spy on the fort for the first time.

They are rather worried by what they see; a 500 foot killing ground around the castle, but no signs of activity & the gate standing open. Tracks around the area indicate ogres are still very much around, but they do not seem to move around in the daylight.

No other entrances apart from the main gate seem apparent, & none of the troopers are aware of underground entrances to the castle. The front door seems the only way...

The party question Raulg again:
"How did the ogres take the castle ?"
"We walked straight in - the Bosses servants under the ground helped deal with the humans"

"How many ogres are in the castle ?"
"Hundreds"

"How many tribes have united ?"
"Hundreds"

"Where are the ogres ?"
"Living in big hall"

"Where are the prisoners ?"
"In the tower"

"Which tower ?"
"Raulg not remember"

The party continue discussions - the basis of the plan being to sneak into the hall during daylight & kill as many of the sleeping ogres as possible. Little do that they know that
Grimulak is also making plans - his caravan raiders have not returned & the clockwork scouts have reported the caravan is hidden somewhere near the Folly. With discipline breaking down amongst his troops & obviously powerful humans near by he needs to act quickly. An idea to smoke the humans out of hiding & act before they are ready comes to mind.....

Until the next session.....

(Gonna break for a couple of weeks as family commitments & Christmas do's interrupt the tale for the next couple of Fridays, but the story will continue)

My Recent Posts · Jan 4 04 3:44 AM

Breakout.

The NPC priest learns remove blindness spells & cures the wizard and bard. Several of the more sneaky members of the party including the newly arrived woodsman go searching the woods for signs of a secret entrance into the castle.
They discover a fresh trail to the north of the castle (signs of a deserting ogre) & decide to watch the trail via the wizard's hawk familiar to see if it is used.

In the early evening the hawk notifies the wizard of activity in the vicinity of the castle - some prisoners have escaped the castle & are being chased by a gang of ogres.

The party leap to the rescue & swifly deal with the handful of ogres. They rescue 2 guards and a villager from the town of Hansonburg.

Sure that they are not neing followed the party take the men back to their cave. They are suspicious of their new 'friends' but decide not to act.

The guards tell how they were attacked unawares by the golems from the dungeons below the cave & were locked up in the guard tower. The ogres then arrived & have been taking prisoners away on a daily basis. They do not know the villager, but none of the Hansonburg folk were locked in with the guards.

Earlier that evening 4 of the guards had been taken from the tower by a group of ogres when they spotted the opportunity to make a break - they had then run from the castle, the villager appearing during the general chaos.

During the second watch Cade hears a strange noise. He alerts Torin the archer, but cannot make any more detail out.

The world is suddenly very frosty as a cone of cold lets rip from the cave mouth. Horses & guards die. The NPC cleric & Brad the bard fail saves & go very negative. The ogre mage stands grinning at the cave mouth.

Initiative is rolled.

A magic missile & a crit from Torin's sword strike the ogre mage before he acts, almost downing him. He disappears from sight.

Searching the cave reveals many dead bodies (Thevik, the ranger, the freshly rescued guards), but no villager !!!

The party are quick to break camp & leave, healing the worst of their wounds before fleeing into the woods & the ogres arrive, taking some rations and the 2 living horses.

They rest deep in the woods, fearing ogres but none come.

The following day is spent healing - the NPC cleric casts his clairvoyance domain spell on the cave revealing that the ogres have looted it, but they seem to have also found the Gnome Brew. Chase doesn't seem quite so imminent !!!

The cleric volunteers to head back to Hansonburg with details of what is going on. The offer is accepted & he leaves with the horses.

The party decide to search the trail they had found, but it provides no real help beyond indicating an ogre had left this way & had not returned.

The wizards hawk overflies the castle & reports that 2 ogres are leaving - also deserting it would appear, and that no other activity seemed to be taking place.

Emboldened by the lack of activity the party enter the castle via the open gate. All is quet. They make for the guard tower & free the prisoners. All leave the castle not wishing to risk the prisoners in a fight with the ogres.

The prisoners are armed with a few meagre weapons from the guard tower, given some of the party's rations & sent back to Hansonburg. This leaves the party with little food for themselves, so they must find supplies quickly.

Flushed with the first luck they have had in along time, the party's attention is turned back to the castle....

My Recent Posts · Jan 15 04 7:24 PM

Please continue. I am also currently running this adventure, but you are about 2 sessions ahead of me, so seeing how you are running things helps my own DMing.

Not to mention it's a great tale that you write.

Thanks again!

"The ebb and flow of the Atlantic tides, the drift of the continents, the very position of the sun along its ecliptic...these are just a few of the things I control in my world."

My Recent Posts · Jan 18 04 4:05 AM

The Castle retaken.

Emboldened by their success in freeing the guards the party decide to try an attack on the castle. Still not sure of exact numbers of opponents, the party are cautious but the lack of apparent defences instills some chance for success.

At sun up the wizard's familiar spies the castle. The ogres have obviously found out the prisoners missing because a group of the brutes are patrolling the castle grounds. This
state of readiness doesn't hold the ogres attentions for long. Soon 3 of the ogres are settled into a game of dice, whilst the forth continues the patrol.

The party approach the castle & enter with a plan. Cade enters first & sneaks around behind the ogres. Calim approaches next intending to lightning bolt the group. The rest of the party wait by the gate some round or two behind to rush in if trouble occurs.

Cade sneaks in, but as he passes the gate house door hears the sound of ogre voices coming from inside. Calim is now sneaking into position & Cade is unsure how to alert Calim to the second group without alerting the ogres as well.

The fourth patrolling ogre is now advancing the length of the keep towards the heroes.

A gaming ogre looks up from the dice & notices the halfling & mage.

"What's that there ?" he shouts.

Once more initiative is rolled.

Calim steps out into the court yard & fires his lightning bolt, hitting the group still say by their dice but none of them drop. Cade charges into combat.

Over the next couple of rounds a mass melee starts, centred around the gambling brutes. 4 more ogres charge out of the gate house to join the fight. The patrolling ogre runs to join the fight bellowing as he goes.

The remaining characters move into the castle & join the fun. Wanda casts her favourite bless & spiritual weapon spells, & Brad & Torin use bow fire & spells.

At the centre of the melee is the unfortunate Calim. He defensively casts mage armour & haste but a series of blows from the ogres lay him low. Luckily a round later he stabilises.

The cleric & bard join the melee (everyone notices how brave Brad suddenly becomes after a mirror image & mage armour spell)

The melee is hard fought but the party emerge victorious - Cade has taken many wounds, & some of the other characters have also been injured in the fight.

Wanda heals the mage with one of her valuable cure moderate wounds spells.

The party start making various requests to cure up but are informed to stay in rounds/initiative order. This makes people worried.

A round or so later the reason why becomes apparent - the main door of the keep bursts open and 6 more ogres appear. Unbeknownst to the party they are followed by an invisible ogre mage.

These ogres give the party some concern; 4 of them are wearing piecemeal scale mail armour fashioned from the suits in the castles supplies. They also using scavenged large shields & each has a number of spears to be used as missile weapons.

The two ogres behind them are carrying hunks of castle masonry the size of bowling balls.

The heavy troops have arrived.

The ogres advance on the party & exchange missile fire for a couple of rounds before the brutes charge into the main group. Cade drinks potions of cure light as fast as he can - the cleric is too far away to help at the moment.

Calim is wisely to the side of the main fight this time casting his acid arrow & magic missile spells. Unfortunately a well aimed hunk of castle wall from an ogre takes him negative for the second time. His bad luck continues & he does not stabilise.

Another hard fight & again the party are victorious, killing five of the ogres & having the last flee suffering the effects of an acid arrow.

As the last ogre falls, Grimulag reveals himself, appearing from his invisibility between the fallen mage & the party whilst casting his cone of cold. There are tense moments as the saving throws are rolled - fluffs here will kill characters - no one has the 32 hp to spare this late in the fight.

Everyone gets lucky & attention is turned to the ogre mage.

Wands attempts to melee with him but misses. Other people try to get to Calim to help him.

Grimulag knows how powerful these adventurers are & does not want to risk an open fight.

He steps back 5' and drops a globe of darkness around him. The fallen mage is somewhere in the blackness.

The party desperately attempt to find the mage whilst Cade tries to hit the ogre mage.

Grimulag turns invisible & runs. The party hear an outbuilding door slam shut.

The mage is eventually located but it is too late - he has bled to death in the darkness spell.

The fight over the party take stock - the castle has been retaken - there are no other ogres to be found. But the victory is not without cost - the party have lost their first member & the ogre mage is still at large.

What will they do next ?

My Recent Posts · Feb 7 04 5:08 AM

A new friend ?
The party retire from the castle, taking the body of their fallen comrade. Having no means to raise him from the dead they bury him after checking his gear for anything that might prove useful.

Unbeknownst to the party they have been followed to their camp by another survivor of the constructs attack - a mage by the name of Tramir. He spies on them to see if they are friendly and upon their return to the keep the following day he announces himself to the group.

He explains that he had been hired by another wizard - the legendary Rainbow Mage Londar Brightrain to deliver a set of documents concerning the construction of golems & was to return with a similar set from Theodocius. He had been in the castle the night the golems had risen from the labs and attacked. He had hidden with the aid of his invisibility spell & had been hiding out ever since. His reason for not leaving ? Tramir had been hired by Londar for a second mission to retrieve a copy on a unique magic spell that the Artificer had researched - this fact Tramir has chosen not to announce.

The party cast a series of detect spells & are convinced that the mage is at least not the ogre mage in disguise even if he isn't telling the full truth.

The mage joins the group and are once again at full strength.

They check the prison block & find the locked trapdoor, quickly opened with a wizard lock spell.

The party descend stairs into a room containing a table and two high backed chairs as well as a set of statues against the walls. Some concern is raised as the statues begin to move to attack the party. The concern is turned to fear as they appear to be bizarre constructs formed of flesh, metal & wood. Tramir recognises one of the creatures as once being a guard from the keep !

A lightning bolt dispatches a group whilst the warriors hack others apart, but the creatures raise ground, regenerating the wounds; small silver roaches can be seen knitting the flesh back together. The mage takes a series of blows & is forced to drink his magical curative. The party look to burn the monsters, using the small amount of oil they carry with them. Upon realising they don't have enough oil, a character rushes to the warehouse to return with more flasks whilst the rest of the party keep the fiends down.

Soon the room is thick with smoke & the smell of burning flesh & wood.

Moving on through a door to the north the party find a macabre scene - a half finished construct tied to a table feebly trying to reach the characters to attack them. A pile of tools (a mix of surgeons cutters & smith's hammers & tongs) can only begin to hint at what goes on here.

The party move on through a door in the west wall revealing a more grisly scene - a pile of dead bodies with parts missing - limbs, heads, organs. As the party look to leave bodies begin to rise and move to attack.

The cleric presents the power of her god, but to no effect; these beasts are not powered by undeath but small mechanical beetles burrowed deep into the flesh.

The corpses lack of mobility proves to be their undoing as a grease spell from the bard blocks their progress to the party. The corpses are hacked apart, but like the clockworks found earlier they rise from the most grevious wounds.

The party split in two; one group keeps the creatures at bay whilst the second drags wood through from the earlier rooms to start a fire. The table is overturned & a number of small fly like constructs fly off into the darkness.

As the corpses fall the party drag them to their impromptu pyre.

It is at this point Torin notices a beetle scuttling across the floor to dig into the pile of bodies; another warrior rises. The party really begin to fret; although no one has been hurt by these beasts yet it is only a matter of time - they are running low on spells & their precious oil.

Tactics change and the party start to fire bomb the pile of bodies with the remaining oil. Lit torches are thrown into the room & the stench of burning flesh again fills the air.

The party retreat from the complex; they rest, learn new spells & again raid the warehouse for more supplies of oil & torches.

Their arson spree seems to have solved the infestation in the early rooms. Moving west the party enter a series of corridors which soon reveal themselves to be a maze.

There is consternation as a wall appears to move behind them, blocking the way back. Strange clanking noises are heard from ahead. As Cade looks to investigate he almost walks into a transparent shimmering in the wall. As he retreats the shimmering slowly advances towards him and the rest of the party. It is soon revealed to be a bizarre gelatinous beast that attempts to engulf all before it.

A grease spell proves no defense as the beasts traction on the walls roof allow it to advance. The party reign blows & spells, but the poor hafling is engulfed & and the bard is paralysed.

The beast is killed & the party quickly dig their comrade out before the beasts acid's dissolve him.

Their woes continue as the wall begins to advance on the group; two ways are now blocked - advancing wall & dead gelatinous cube. From the only available way forward in the maze a second wall begins a steady advance. Things don't look good.

Wanda pushes her weight to the first wall. *SLAM* The wall pushes back

As the walls begin their advance the party attack the first wall, hoping to get to the mechanism behind which they had seen as the wall advanced. The walls slam into the group causing damage as they they are sandwiched against the real stone walls. But luck is with the party as they score a series of heavy blows, breaking through the false walls & destroying the mechanisms behind.

There is a palpable sense of relief, but also a sense of worry - is there nothing in this dungeon as it appears ?

Searching the rest of the maze reveals two doors. The party must choose their way forward....

DM Note. Apologies for the delay between posts. This write up is an amalgamation of the last 3 sessions; it has been quite slow going, but the party have started to be very cautious given the surprises they keep uncovering.

The grand melee with the ogres was awesome fun - real seats of the pants stuff & has set the tone for the dungeon encounters.

The constructs are freaking the party out if only for the fact the monsters are forcing them to think on their feet. The lack of attacks to deal fire or acid damage has been a real problem & they have had to improvise a lot (like pulling table legs off the furniture to make impromptu torches).

The maze encounters were really great fun to run; the party were very worried at the thought of being squished, and were very relieved to discover the walls weren't as tough as they thought they might be. As Tramir's player confessed - "we're trying to be too clever, thinking of ways to defeat the walls when we didn't try the basic approach of whacking it until the very last moment."

I'm looking forward to next sesh - they are due to meet Orcus' little helper & he's been given some tweaks to tie into Torin's background.

Til next time...

My Recent Posts · Feb 14 04 6:05 AM

The prisoner of the maze.

Having worked out the secrets of the maze the party discover two exits from the labyrinthe.

Opening the westernmost door reveals a dark corridor with a room beyond. Moving towards the party from the darkness appear 2 of the clockwork warriors; lumbering behind them a huge metallic crab with massive battering ram like devices in place of it's claws.

Melee soon ensues and the party are surprised by the tactics; instead of attacking the characters directly the warriors support the crab like titan, aiding his powerful attacks.

Piledriver like blows rain down on the party - Cade is wounded & Torin is barely capable of standing by the time the enemies have been dispatched.

As Wanda moves forward to heal the warriors a second titan and another warrior appear. Cade is knocked unconcious and Wanda & Brad (emboldened once again by his mirror image spell) are forced into the front line. Wanda is beaten several times and it is only the confusion added by the illusionary bards that prevent the casualties being more severe. The melee fighters buy the time for Torin to fell the mighty beast with his long bow.

The party retreat from the dungeon another time to lick their wounds; Wanda & Torin were doubtful if they could take another blow from the mighty clockworks; Cade had come within a whisker of death; only Wanda's determination not to lose a second party member (& thus timely healing) had saved him.

--DM Note.
Such a harsh encounter. The titans are very hard. Honestly thought we were going to lose multiple characters this fight. The bards mirror image probably saved at least one character. Only EL 7 ? but one of the toughest fights of the dungeon so far.

On their return to the dungeon the party move through the chamber of the clockwork titans into the corridor beyond; a door to the left reveals a storage chamber with lumber and iron.

More interestingly are a suit of mail and a strangely carved battle axe with a demonic face.

A cursory detect magic shows nothing of interest; the party move on. The door opposite reveals a strange sight; a blue mist hangs in the room obscuring vision. In the centre of the chamber a circle of runes glows with power. Within the circle a figure stands in chains.

Brad, Cade and Tramir advance - the figure is a 6 1/2 tall humanoid with canine features - something akin to a werewolf or (as I point the picture out in the MM) a hound archon.

Tramir recognises the circle as relating to the containment of otherworldy creatures, but not a summoning circle per se.

DM Note - so this is something of a digression from the plot. Torin has an otherwordly background in his history & a bad case of amnesia. Gorrush Kar is a good way for me to feed him some plot hooks. The description change of the NPC serves two purposes; the party would never fall for the description as written, and Torin is basically 'hunted' - I want some demonic hounds to chase him. Looks like he's been found.

A dialogue follows and the creature reveals he is called Gorrush Kar, an otherwordly creature summoned to the dungeon. When asked why he was summoned he replies that it is common for wizards to summon extraplanar creatures for information. He tells the party he was imprisoned by the constructs and left here. He tells the party the wizard Theodocius is no longer in charge, but the dungeon is controlled by a being known as the Brain Gear.

He remarks about the extraplanar creature in the party. No one knows what he is talking about; he points out Torin who denies being anything more than a mere elf. Gorrush talks to
him in a foreign language (Celestial). Torin understands him but does not know why. Gorrush promises to tell him more if they release him. Torin is very keen.

The others are not so sure. They do not know what he is & they voice their concerns to Gorrush Kar. He says simply that he is at their mercy; however he has information about both the brain gear and their comrade and he will not part with that information until he is freed.

The party agree amongst themselves that should this strange creature betray them or run free to cause havoc then they must take the responsibility to deal with him. Gorrusk Kar is released and his armour and axe returned to him.

The questions begin...

My Recent Posts · Feb 16 04 6:37 AM

Very interesting to read. I can't wait to see how they are going to manage with the stone golem. It is still, the "best" moment so far in the campaign I run. Good luck!

My Recent Posts · Feb 22 04 4:11 AM

The Archmage at last.
The party question Gorrush Kar. He reveals that the clockworks are controlled by a central brain unit which directs their actions. He tells Torin that his people are planar travellers called the 'Hakeem' (no direct translation) who have been hunted for generations.

They take the form of more usual races to hide from their enemies. Torin is now convinced he will become a shapechanger .

The wolfman agrees to travel with the party to destroy the brain gear.

Moving on through the dungeon the party encounter another workshop containing a macabre clockwork dressed in mage robes; blood pouring from the orifices of it's metallic face.

This really impressed the mage's player, busy eating pizza at the time

The party advance & the machine casts a spell, blurring it's outline. As the party set about it with sword & axe 3 of the warrior clockworks advance from the room beyond to join the

melee. However the party have become very proficient in fighting these beasts. As one falls to the fighters, the cleric & mage set light with oil & fire lighting cantrips. No real damage is done to the party.

In the room beyond the party encounter another construct in mage robes. Tramir recognises the poor thing as what was Theodocius. Also in the room is a shiny metallic construct; the mage's fabled shield guardian.

A rather one sided conversation ensues as the mage can no longer speak. But through the power of mime the party learn that the mage wishes to die, and that he has useful information hidden about his person. However to kill him the party must first deal with his guardian.

The archmage denies summoning the wolf creature.

The party take position and the guardian is soon felled. A single blow deals with the unfortunate mage.

Searching his body reveals an arcane scroll upon the back of which the mage has written a series of notes, describing how he had created the brain gear. All had gone well until an attempt to extend his labs by disintegrating some rock revealed older chambers beyond the current rooms. Not long after the brain gear seemed to achieve a level of sentience,
controlling the monsters in the dungeons.

The scroll also reveals that the gear makes use of a servitor stone golem. Also on the mage's person are two crossbow bolts which the mage had intimated would be of use in
destroying the brain gear.

The party translate the scroll on the other side of the notes. Tramir reveals that this is a particular spell he was due to take back to his employer, the Rainbow Mage.

Cade challenges the wolf man to reveal his true identity. The monster looks to cast some sort of spell and the halfling cuts him to ribbons in a flash.

The party are split on this action, but the majority seem happy the creature is no more. Of course Torin still has more questions...

My Recent Posts · Mar 7 04 3:56 AM

Trouble in the trash.

Moving beyond the Wizards, chamber the party discover a room used as a huge garbage tip; the whole room is two foot deep in trash save for a five foot wide pit in the middle of the room. Another door leads off from the chamber.

Nothing is spotted in the room so Card advances to look beyond the exit. As he crosses the trash seems to animate and pulls him off his feet throwing him into the pit. The trash oozes in after him.

The party move to help the halfling. Torin jumps in the pit after the trash monster !

As Wanda goes to ensure nothing advances from the corridor ahead a second pile animates in front of her. A third appears in front of the mage. The party go into their routine of chopping the monsters down then burning them with oil. They are worried when the monsters shrug off the oil and seem to regenerate at an obscene speed. After many rounds of struggle the party determine the monsters recuperative powers seem to be inhibited by magic (the first monster went down to Tramir's wand of burning hands and a series of sword blows from bard). Tramir uses his wand on the other monsters and the fighters are rescued from the pit.

>>DM Note. A couple of these fights with the clockworks have been quite frustrating to run and for the players to take part in. The clockworks regeneration can drag the fights out
for an extended period for no real benefit. The monsters have a reasonably low number of HP so fall over quite quickly. They regen to 1 or 2 HP and the fighters just beat them down again. Frustrating. I don't think my party's characters are particularly min-maxed but the fighters throw out a lot of melee damage. Cade is d8+6 or so per blow (2h longsword+1
spec'ed); Torin is 2d6+5 or so (+1 greatsword).

I think if I were to re-run this encounter I'd play the swarms differently - I'd let them regen *everything* on a round provided there is enough raw material available to rebuild the mass. That'd scare 'em pesky players.

OK. Back to the story.- north and west. Continuing their advance the party head west through another twisting corridor into another empty chamber, this time with two huge bronze doors to the north and a single bronze door to the south.

Cade looks through the key hole of the door to the south and sees an eye peering back. The party open the door and a huge beast formed of many corpses stitched together rises from his stool, roars incomprehensibly at them at rushes to engage them. The brave halfling is first to the fray and rains powerful blows on the beast who returns in kind. The rest of the party jostle to take position and part in the battle.

The northern doors open and a huge stone construct looms in the opening. The party can make out a room beyond. The characters closest feel a wave of magical energy emanate from the beast but none of them succumb. As Cade finishes the flesh golem off (taking serious damage in the process) others turn to battle the new foe. Brad casts a grease spell in the doorway.

Tramir fires a lightning bolt which has no visible effect.
The beast slowly advances and hits Torin with a powerful blow. Already weary & wounded from the other battles in the labs the party beast a hasty retreat. Thankfully the beast does not follow them beyond the entrance chamber.

The characters take time to formulate a plan as they rest and heal. The crux of the plan is for Wanda and Cade to receive magics to boost their fighting prowess. They intend to engage
the beast in melee whilst Torin true strikes the magical crossbow bolts they had found on Theodicius in an attempt to destroy the beast.

The party advance into the complex and many magics are cast; Wanda & Cade receive endurance and Haste. Wanda casts bless and shield of faith. The bard and mage cast mirror image and mage armour. The bard sings his rousing war march as the party return to the chamber with the double doors.

The doors are opened and the fighters advance to battle. Both Wanda and Cade are dismayed to find their enchanted weapons are not powerful enough to hurt the beast. The construct fires a wave of energy at the fighters and begins to beat on Wanda with his powerful fists.

The party see an old church beyond, complete with pews, altar and demonic image looking down upon them. Another bronze door indicates a further exit beyond.

Torin true strikes the first quarrel and the bolt flies true. The beast is visibly injured but not significantly.

The beast continues to swing at the cleric with it's huge hammer like fists. The second bolt is blessed with the true strike and again strikes home. Another hit, but again not significant enough to stop the beast.

Wanda is hit again and is dropped. The halfling braves the attack of opportunity to pick up his fallen comrade and the party begin to flee. The golem advances again casting his wave of arcane power. The effect is revealed as Brad succumbs to a slow effect !

As the party flees back down the corridor the Bard's luck seems to fail him as he is picked out of his half a dozen image. Lady Fate smiles both ways as the hammer like blow misses however !

The beast again does not follow.

For the second time the party flee and lick their wounds. How will they beat this impossible foe ? The key they decide must be to find and destroy the brain gear...

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