Savage Tides of Kalamar - Epilogue

So that last session was dated January of 2009 and we played into October - I'm sure we hit at least 30 sessions in this campaign. Somewhere between March and October we had the greatest adventure finale I've ever been a part of with the climax of the original Freeport Trilogy which became a ferocious running fight up the giant lighthouse in Freeport's harbor and ended with all but one member of the party dead or dying, and that last member was unconscious and at zero hit points but they managed to slay all of the evil cultists and traitors behind the grand plan to summon the serpent god - it was Epic and one of the great confluences of roleplay, mechanics, and die rolls in my gaming history where everything seemed to work out in the most dramatic way possible.

Also during this time Lady Blacksteel and I got married and she joined the campaign (her first time to try this thing of ours) in time to be a part of that epic conclusion, which was cool. The married thing has worked well too. Hi honey, glad to see you're reading the blog.

After the Freeport Finale we moved into playing through the Savage Tide adventure path as the sole focus of the campaign and it seemed to decline for a variety of reasons. I liked that set of adventures but by the time we were making our way across the Isle of Dread I was burning out on 3rd Edition, Kalamar, and my then-current group. Running 3E for 7-8 players at a time was a pretty big load even with a published adventure. With that many players I think the published adventure has some downside as that level of options and resources completely destroys many basic assumptions about encounters and balance, requiring a fair amount of rework to present a reasonable challenge. It would probably have been better to take the concepts and the high points of the adventure and just rebuilt the whole thing from the ground up (kind of like I later did with my 4E Ruins of Adventure campaign) rather than trying to use some version of what was presented. Ah, well ...

So, while some lessons were learned in hindsight we never made it past the Isle of Dread, roughly halfway through the campaign. It would be six months before I ran anything again and that would be Necessary Evil, a completely different kind of game, and then eventually D&D 4th Edition.

I still like both sets of adventures and I think they work well together, intermingled into a single campaign. Maybe Pathfinder, maybe Next - my 4E plate is full for quite a while, thanks - or maybe a non-D&D system altogether will be the framework for the next attempt at them - we will see.

Flashback - Savage Tides of Kalamar - Session 20

 Session 20
Behind the Green Venom-ed Door
January 24, 2009

Players:

Sean – Dorian Windseeker, High Elf Ranger/Rogue

Gary – Katan, Half-Hobgoblin Paladin

Bec – Arianne, Grey Elf Cleric of The Lantern

Rebec – Quillathe, Grey Elf Paladin of The Lantern

Steve – Tylock, Human Fighter

Sherry – Michella, Human Wizard

Will – Solveliss, High Elf Sorcerer

[No Razik – wait a second, WHERE’S RAZIK?! Did anyone hear a splash a minute ago? Hey what are those bubbles in the water?]

We begin in the sea cave in front of a giant, ancient stone door with a serpent head in the middle. In attempting to open the thing, Arianne, Katan, Tylock, and Quillathe have all been poisoned and weakened badly.

Undeterred, Dorian attempts to diarm the venom spray, fails, is blasted by the fountain of green death and collapses like a marionette whose strings have been cut. Tylock, not totally helpless yet, decides to make another attempt and shoves his arm into the mouth of the stony reptile. He is blasted and keels over.

Unafraid but verging on depseration, Quillathe thrusts her arm into the fanged stony maw and releases the catch. The great stone door opens up.

Entering the open room behind the door (and dragging the paralyzed ranger with them) the group sees a large statue of what must be the serpent god Yig. Finding nothing of interest, they approach the stairway leading down and notice it is filled with water. After some experimentation the party swims (or is dragged) through this level and down to another stairway which remarkably is not filled with water.

Descending to the much dryer 3rd level of the place the band notices a shadowy form making passes in the air near an altar to Yig. Watching for a bit (and not being attacked), they decide to attempt to make contact with the being. This turns out to be fairly easy and the being turns out to be the shadow form of the last high priest of Yig, who has been trapped in this tower for millenia. Since he and his fellow priests failed to stop the collapse of the serpentmen civillization, they were cursed by Yig to stay locked in the tower until they could atone for their failure. He is very hopeful that the party represents the chance for release. He tells the party he needs 4 items recovered from the rest of the tower, and that if they can bring him these items then he can recover the Jade Serpent Of Yig, the artifact the party needs to stop Sea Lord Drac and the Unspeakable One. The group agres that they will try to do this, and heads down the next set of stairs…

DM Notes (2012) - This session and the next one were a nice back-to-some-dungeon-crawling sessions after all of the urban and social stuff of the previous few sessions. That poison door trap (just to get into the place!) was nasty, and in hindsight I should have reworked that one. There were several battles, mainly against undead, and at least one magic weapon was recovered in addition to the quest items.

Flashback - Savage Tides of Kalamar - Session 19

 Session 19
The Big Dance
January 10, 2009

Players:

Sean – Dorian Windseeker, High Elf Ranger/Rogue

Gary – Katan, Half-Hobgoblin Paladin

Bec – Arianne, Grey Elf Cleric of The Lantern

Rebec – Quillathe, Grey Elf Paladin of The Lantern

Steve – Tylock, Human Fighter

Sherry – Michella, Human Wizard

Will – Solveliss, High Elf Sorcerer

Dave – Razik, Human Fighter/Rogue

...and the dance begins! As the applause dies down music fills the chamber and couples take to the floor. Our heroes gradualy become aware of the main intrigues at the ball, namely the politicking going on to determine who will replace Lord Verlaine on the council and how this will affect the balance of power in the city.

This part of the session involved a lot of NPC and intra-party interaction, so we’ll hit the highlights here:

- Tylock and later Michela make friends with Lady Elise, Drac’s main opposition on the council. She introduces them to Petra Fricke, leader of the craftsmen’s guild and her candidate to take the opening on the council

- Arianne introduces herself to Gwendolyn, high preistess of the sea goddess.

- Michela and Solveliss spend some time with Tarmon, head of the Freeport Mages’ Guild

- Razik and Michella dance for a while, checking out the crowd of retainers and hangers-on at the dance.

- Quillathe dances with Sea Lord Drac himself and has an interesting coversation

- Michella spends some time with Arias, leader of the elven pirate faction in the city, and quite a fine singer

- Dorian poses as a servant and sets Quillathe up for a dance with the arrogant human Torsten Roth. Later, when she is speaking to Captain Lydon, reformed pirate leader, Dorian points this out to Torsten, who proceeds to intervene and Captain Lydon finishes the ball sitting at a side table under discreet guard.

- A merchant leader, one Brock Wallace, attempts to convince Tylock and the rest of the party to strike at Drac after he is lured away from the ball. The party discusses for a while, then decides to pass.

- At midnight, as the ball is in full swing, a mad prophet appears and speaks a dire prophecy, then disappears. The ball breaks up soon after as the mood is just not the same.

- Thuron departs after telling the party that he recognizes some of what the prophet refrred to and wants to do some research back at the temple. Tylock fears for his life but the old man-serpent survives.

- The party depatrts soon after this and returns to the quill without incident.

Gathering the next day at the Temple of the Mule, the party decides to follow up on some clues. Thuron has found a fragment of a story related to the old pirate Black Dog that looks like it could lead to an ancient temple of the serpent kingdom where the party might be able to recover an item useful against the Brotherhood. Doing some legwork around the town they eventually talk to Old Gareth, who did some pirating with Black Dog in his youth. After a small payment, he tells the group how to find the entrance to the caves described in the log Thuron found. He also tells them where to buy a boat and about the timing of the local tides.

The band gathers their supplies, gets the boat, and heads out to sea.

They soon locate the landmarks described by Old Gareth and venture inside the cave. Handling is tricky inside the cave and a fair amount of bumps and bruises are collected getting through the initial portion of the tunnels. Quillathe and Michella fall out of the boat and are whisked away by the rushing water. Eventually the amphibous members and the boat emerge (albeit backwards) in a large sea cave. They notice something shining in the darkness but before they can investigate a different something bumps the swimmers legs. This rapidly progresses into clawing and biting the swimmers legs and combat ensues as the party faces off against a pair of turtle-crab-things that the group later identifies as Tojandas. The non-swimming members quickly beach the boat near the light they glimpsed earlier but one of the things crawls up into it anyway, as Katan battles the other one in waist deep water near the beach. Dorian, Razik, and Tylock pull the swimmers out of the water while Solveliss blasts away at the creatures from a distance. The creatures are eventually driven off and the group sits down to rest on the small rocky beach they have claimed.

Quillathe investigates the shine they saw earlier and notices that among the bones scattered on the beach there is a sheathed sword stuck into the ground. The golden hilt reflected the partiy’s lights when they entered the cave. The scabbard is battered black leather of some kind. The pommel is shaped like a clenched fist, while the quillions end in sockets that each hold milky white stones that are perfectly round, almost pearl-like. Unable to resist, she draws the blade…

As the sword bursts into flame, she realizes what she has found. As a shape rises from the sand behind her and an insane babbling fills the air, the rest of the party realizes what she has disturbed. The soul-draining unded creature is clearly tied to the sword somehow and attackes Quillathe immediately, draining bits of her soul with every strike. the ghost-like being is difficult to hurt, but the group is persistent and the wizards do their part, soon reducing the the thing to wisps of drifting smoke and an agonized moan as it disperses. Quillathe, satisfied, snaps the blade back into its sheath and fastens it around her waist.

The team presses on, piling back into the boat and moving towards one of the exits from this large cavern.

In the first, they come to another beach, this one sandy, and with several skeletons impaled on spikes decorating it. The group moves on.

Turning down one passage, the boat is caught in a fast current and pulled along until they come to a wooden barrier, waterlogged and decaying, painted with a warning to stay out. Katan smashes it down and the trip continues. They soon emerge on another beach.

This cave is dominated on one side by what is obviously the remains of some kind of building, fused into the rock. it looks like an outer wall, with a large door still accessible from the cave. In the center of the door is a serpent’s head sculpted out of stone. This matches the description found in Black Dog’s log entry describing how he first found his treasure cave. After some debate, Quillathe places her arm in the seprent’s mouth and attempts to open the door. The serpent begins to bite down on his arm and he yanks it back out whereupon a stream of horrible greenish venom sprays out in a massive stream, washing over serveal party members and weakening them to the point of collapse. Shocked, the group pauses to rethink their approach…

By the Numbers:

NPC’s Encountered: 17 Freeport movers and shakers! Plus Thuron the disguised serpent man, Old Gareth the retired pirate, and old Sammy the used boat salesman

Righteous Kills: 1 Allip returned to the dead, plus 2 Tojandas were at least wounded and driven off

Bodacious Loot: 1 Flame Tongue Sword

DM Notes (2012) - This was probably the most fun I have ever had in a pure roleplay type scene - there was enough going on to give every character something to do, every player was engaged, and I had a sizable roster of NPC's with intertwined agendas to keep the conversations interesting. Much was learned, the party's investment in Freeport was turned up a notch, and potential deals were set up. Then of course they got to go on a small nautical adventure and get in some combat before the evening was over. 

Working through these again has made me appreciate (even more than I did at the time) what an interesting spread of encounter types were included in these adventures. I really need to run these again - maybe in Pathfinder. 

Flashback - Savage Tides of Kalamar - Session 18

 Session 18
The Pursuit of Pete
December 27, 2008

Players:

Sean – Dorian Windseeker, High Elf Ranger/Rogue

Gary – Katan, Half-Hobgoblin Paladin

Bec – Arianne, Grey Elf Cleric of The Lantern

Rebec – Quillathe, Grey Elf Paladin of The Lantern

Steve – Tylock, Human Fighter

Sherry – Michella, Human Wizard

Will – Solveliss, High Elf Sorcerer

[No Razik – he was STILL busy skulking about the back streets]

We open in Freeport, at the inn called the Scholar’s Quill, where Quillathe has agreed to help Maggie smuggle Pete out of town. In the pre-dawn hours the group has rested and is eating breakfast. Maggie returns from setting things up and declares that the time is now – follow her to meet up with Pete. The adventuring band heads out into the streets.

Maggie takes a somewhat roundabout way to the docks, apparently attempting to avoid the city watch as much as possible. Approaching one particular dock, the party notices a struggle, and Maggie screams when she reconizes Pete, caught in a net near the end of a dock – a net held by Calybdus, the bounty hunter from the Rusty Hook!

The party springs into action as several thugs acompanying the bounty hunter move to refuse their assistance. A fierce melee ensues where the dock meets the shore as Quillathe, Tylock and Katan engage while Dorian tumbles over the guards and advances towards Pete. Arianne, Solveliss, and Michella assist with various spells. Calybdus turns to face his nemesis from the prior day and engages Dorian in a whirling swordfight. Quillathe manages to get past her opponent and moves in to free Pete from the net. As the guards fall, other party members also advance down the dock.

Once freed, Pete leaps for a small boat tied up at the dock. Calybdus leaps free of Dorian to land in the boat himself, as does Quillathe. Surrounded, Pete disappears from view. Confused briefly, the party focuses on disatching the most dangerous antagonist - clubbed, shot, and hit by several scorching rays from Solveliss, Calybdus is hard pressed and falls, toppling into the water from the small boat. Catching their breath, the team realizes that Pete is nowhere to be found, one last thug is swimming away, Maggie is in tears, and Calybdus needs to be looted before all of his gear drops away.

The party never sees Pete again. Consoling Maggie, Quillathe and Arianne help her board a ship for Sasserine where she plans to start a new life. She does give them a large emerald for the trouble they went through, and promises to use better judgement when it comes to men. the team splits up for a day to purchase weapons and supplies, heal wounds, and Michella investigates the Freeport Mages Guild.

Meanwhile, back at the Quill, a messenger is delivering invitations. Invitations to the Sea Lord’s Ball, where the party will be given medals for their efforts at rooting out the cult hidden beneath the city and exposing the treachery of Lord Verlaine. Surprised but excited at this opportunity, much of the team goes shopping for finer clothing. Dorian wins the prize for most exotic dress when he searches hi and lo for a real griffon feather, not some mock feather or false feather, with which to decorate his hat. He eventually procures one, and makes certain that all within earshot know of his accessory’s authenticity.

The night of the ball arrives and the group is escorted in by the High Chamberlain himself, who is pleased to see that the group has chosen to follow local custom in only bringing bladed weapons to the ball, preferably only in a fine sheath. Speeches are made, drinks are consumed, and Sea Lord Drac personally congratulates and hangs the medal around each members neck. After rousing applause, the real party begins…

DM Notes (2012) - This was another good session - the groups was really on a roll in this part of the campaign - and though they felt somewhat like they had failed on the whole Pete thing they finally felt properly appreciated with the invitations to the Ball and the medals.

Flashback - Savage Tides of Kalamar - Session 17

Session 17
Barfight Tonight!
December 13, 2008

Players:

Sean – Dorian Windseeker, High Elf Ranger/Rogue

Gary – Katan, Half-Hobgoblin Paladin

Bec – Arianne, Grey Elf Cleric of The Lantern

Rebec – Quillathe, Grey Elf Paladin of The Lantern

Steve – Tylock, Human Fighter

Sherry – Michella, Human Wizard

Will – Solveliss, High Elf Sorcerer

[No Razik – he was busy skulking about the back streets]

We open in the Temple of The Mule in Freeport. The party has just assisted in the defense of the temple against an attack by the evil Brotherhood of Yig. As the wounded are tended to and the dead are blessed, the High Priest of The Mule, Thuron, beckons the party to follow him…

Heading down below the temple and into the catacombs where generations of loyal priests lie entombed, Thuron stops at one tomb. Opening it, he reveals the embalmbed and peaceful body of…THURON! He then reveals to the party that he too is a serpent man, but he is not a follower of the evil Yig. He is a priest of a good serpent folk deity who opposes Yig, and he decided to take Thuron’s place when he died to have a better view of the cult’s activities in this city. He pleads with the group not to reveal his secret, and they agree for now. Since more of the cult’s activities are known, he needs a few days to do some research and suggests that the group amuse themselves in the city and prepare for the final push by the cult. Given some downtime the band decides to pursue cash.

One rumor that comes around is that the Captain of the Sea Lord’s Guard is offereng a 2,000 gp reward for a certain human named Pete, who was rumored to be involved with the Captain’s mistriss. Pete disappeared as soon as the reward was offered and hasn’t been seen since. Working the streets, the party decides to investiage the Rusty Hook, where a new bard has been getting good reviews, and Pete was known to be a player.

At the Hook, a near-windowless converted warehouse, the heroes mix with the crowd. Their suspected target is performing onstage and the place is packed. Searching the crowd, Quillathe notices one man near the stage watching the performer intently. When Pete’s false mustache falls off in his lap, the watcher stands and shouts “AH-HA!” and a massive bar fight begins.

This is an old tactical boardgame that I played a lot and has a board and counters perfect for D&D bar fights

Amidst tables, chairs, punches, and thrown mugs, Dorian leaps after their quarry, trying to block the rival bounty hunter. The rest of the group spreads out, trying to block escape routes. Quillathe and Arianne make their way to Pete and ask him to accompany them through the brawl. Being a player and facing two very attractive and heavily armed elven women, and having failed in a charm attempt, he agrees. Katan secures the only door in or out of the place while Dorian duels the bounty hunter and Tylock attempts to clear a path through the center of the room.

Our map was significantly more crowded than this but you get the idea. Having counters for mugs and chairs and  tables opens up the door to a lot of creative action beyond "I hit him with my sword".

As the Elven Ranger and the Bounty Hunter duel, one of the other brawlers gets stabbed. A cry of “They’ve drawn steel!” rings through the dive followed by the sound of bottles breaking and knives being drawn, along with not a few spiked clubs. The brawl gets serious now as the blood starts to flow. Solveliss fires off a few scorching rays to help clear a path as Elven Extraction Team works its way towards the door. Michella Color Sprays several tables wrth of combatants. Katan fights off several attackers who object to his standing near the door.

At one point during the escape Quillathe has Pete turned invisible, and leads him by the hand thinking this will make him less of a target. It does, but the downside becomes apparent once they finally reach the door (Thank you hobgoblin Paladin) and step outside whereupon Invisible Pete promptly snaps his arm free and escapes.

Dejected and bounty-less, the party returns to the Scholar’s Quill and drinks heavily. Later they are contacted by Maggie, Pete’s girlfriend, who wants their help in smuggling Pete out of the city since they treated him fairly even as they attempted to apprehend him. She offers to match the 2,000 gp reward if they will do this. Intrigued, the party begins to plan…

DM Notes (2012): Despite only having one combat this session it was a lot of fun as there was a LOT of RP before, during, and after the bar fight. It was a lot of fun and the players had a blast with it too. I need to dust off the old Swashbuckler set sometime soon too.

Flashback - Savage Tides of Kalamar - Session 16

 Session 16
The Big Brawl
November 29, 2008

Players:

Sean – Dorian Windseeker, High Elf Ranger/Rogue

Gary – Katan, Half-Hobgoblin Paladin

Bec – Arianne, Grey Elf Cleric of The Lantern

Rebec – Quillathe, Grey Elf Paladin of The Lantern

Steve – Tylock, Human Fighter

Sherry – Michella, Human Wizard

Will – Solveliss, High Elf Sorcerer

Dave – Razik, Human Fighter/Rogue

We pick up with the party in a hidden temple somewhere under Freeport…

As Brother Egil finishes his story sounds of movement emanate from the hall. The heroes draw weapons and prepare spells as at least a dozen serpent men rush the temple, enraged. The battle is surprisingly brief as the degenerate fiends are cut down and blasted apart by the now veteran adventurers. None of the creatures survive and they inflict only minor wounds.

Razik notices a secret door behind the idol atop the temple dais. Investigating, the band finds another steep shaft leading upwards. Dorian secures a rope and makes the ascent. he emerges in what appears to be a wine cellar (an unfortunatley poorly-stocked wine cellar, he notes) and drops the rope down to the rest of the party. Moving uptairs, they quickly determine that they are in a house – a rather nice, large house.

On the top floor the group encounters a gang of assassins who appear to have already been at work – but who are not finished yet! Ambushed, the party is pressed at first but then numbers and toughness begin to tell and only one memeber of the gang, the toughest, nastiest one, escapes through a window, slides down the roof, and bounds off into the city streets.

Searching the upper rooms, the heroes find the mangled body of Lord Verlaine, hacked up in his own bed. The party finds some evidence that they are to be blamed for this incident and begin discussing how to deal with that.

Meanwhile, Quillathe has been trying to get Tylock raised from the dead, which is turning out to be a little more difficult than expected. She eventually does find the donations neccessary and a temple that is willing to do it, and 5,000 gp later Tylock is back among the living. Quillathe and the still – recovering Tylock head for the temple of the Mule.

Coincidentally, the rest of the party has also decided to head for the temple and our heroes finally reunite there. Comparing notes, the group is convinced that the serpent cultists of the Brotherhood of Yig will attack the temple soon. Sure enough, bands of priests and acolytes begin showing up bloodied and bruised, saying they were attacked while in the city streets by hooded strangers. As more and more of them show up, the party gets a funny feeling and at this moment the new arrivals throw off their robes and are revealed as bloodthisty cultists!

The real clerics and acolytes attempt to protect their elderly high priest but are taking a serious beating at the hands of the brotherhood. Our heroes target certain leaders of the brotherhood, including one familiar looking fellow from earlier in the day – the assassin! Much magic is used in this vcious fight – blesses, heals, magic missles, even web spells are thrown and ensnare many opponents. Finally though, the superior skill of the party turns the tide and the invaders are defeated. Several followers of the Mule have fallen, but the high priest still stands…for now. Leaning on swords and staves, the party catches its breath.

DM Notes (2012) - Three  big battles in one session! Serpent Men revealed! The safety of the Temple of Knowledge compromised! This session was a lot of fun and while it was close at times and the players felt they were right on the edge, no one died - it was a razor sharp session and everyone was into it the entire time which was hard to do sometimes with a group this size. One of the high points of the campaign.

Flashback - Savage Tides of Kalamar - Session 15

Session 15
Grinding is Such a Chore
November 15, 2008

Players:

Sean – Dorian Windseeker, High Elf Ranger/Rogue

Gary – Katan, Half-Hobgoblin Paladin

Bec – Arianne, Grey Elf Cleric of The Lantern

Rebec – Quillathe, Grey Elf Paladin of The Lantern

Steve – Tylock, Human Fighter

Sherry – Michella, Human Wizard

Will – Solveliss, High Elf Sorcerer

Dave – Razik, Human Fighter/Rogue

This episode begins in the sewers of Freeport as our intrepid band descends into the darkness to help Brother Egil find Brother Lucius. COming to a major intersection of sewer tunnels, Dorian finds a scrap of grey cloth – perhaps a piece of Lucius’ robes.

Continuing to the next major intersection, the way is blocked by a barrier of metal bars put in place to keep the riffraff out of the sewers in the nicer part of town. A quick examination determines that the bars are cut in certain places and can be removed fairly easily. The group slips through though Solveliss only manages to replace the bars after a great deal of noise is made.

Locating fresh tracks on the other side of the grating, the ranger continues to lead the way. While moving along the elves in the party get a funny feeling as they pass a particular section of wall. The group identifies a secret door, determines a way to open it, and sees a small, dark room beyond it. Half of the party moves to investigate while the other half keeps watch in the tunnel.

While waiting, Quillathe notices Brother Egil begins murmuring to himself, making passes in the air, then he looks down the hallway. “Everyone needs to get into the room” he says. Quillathe offers to stay with him but he tells her that he must prepare something alone. She steps inside. Then the door closes behind her and one solid minute of pure hell is unleashed.

A grinding noise penetrates the room as the floor begins to tilt to the east. The only door in the room is locked – there is no way out. The party members begin to search desperately for an exit or at least something to grab on to. Some notice a seam in the roof and begin looking for a way out there. Others spot the eastern wall separating from the floor and seek aid there. Unfortunately for them the eastern wall is the most dangerous part of the room as it opens up and reveals a large set of machinery built to crush rocks, in perfect working order. Half of the party loses their grip and slides towards certain doom, but all manage to grab on to something – all but Tylock that is, who tumbles out of the room and into the nightmare beyond. The heroes are battered and bloodied and all looks lost.

Desperation leads to salvation – Katan finally forces the roof open along the seam and grabs on, as does the ranger. Solveliss uses the final charge from his wand of dimension door to teleport himself, Quillathe (holding onto his leg) and Arianne (holding onto Quillathe) out into the main sewer tunnel. Michella, headed for a painful end, has a moment of insight and manages to get off a web spell just in time, freezing everyone else in place as the noise reaches an indescribable climax…then it begins to subside, the room settles back into place, and soon the remaining team members are in a quiet, dark room trapped in their own web, but safe for now.

Outside, the passage is deserted. Regaining their bearings, Solvelis, Quillathe, and Arianne penetrate the secret door. The sorceror sets the webs alight, freeing the others with only minor damage. Looking around they realize that they have no idea of Tylocks fate. Katan climbs down the machinery and recovers the pulped body of Tylock, who is clearly extremely dead, though he didn’t go without a fight, as several empty potion bottles attest.

Quillathe seizes Tylock’s body and heads for the temple. The others decide to press on, both to avenge themselves on Brother Egil and to recover Lucius, if he is still alive.

In the sewers another secret door is soon discovered and opened, and this one reveals an almost vertical tunnel down into darkness. Dropping down roughly 100’, the party regroups and begins a search, as this is clearly part of some complex. Halls are checked and storerooms explored until the group emerges into a very large underground room, dominated by a large statue of a horrific being and an altar. Behind the altar is a human in robes. Strapped to the altar is…Brother Egil.

The human is no match for the adventuring band and is quickly dispatched and Brother Egil is freed shortly thereafter. He is afraid of them at first, but does calm down long enough to relate his tale – the group learns he was kidnapped, tortured, and anointed as a sacrifice leaving them uncertain of his role in the earlier debacle.

As the wayward cleric finishes his story, the sound of movement is heard from the main tunnel into the room – a LOT of movement.

DM Notes (2012): This was a fun session as the party had complete trust in Brother Egil - until the rock crusher started up. Fortunately it wasn't really him. The pacing was pretty good on this adventure and the way it played out leading from one interesting situation into another. Tylock's player wasn't super happy about being killed by a trap but he did make a go of it - and who is happy about that kind of death, really?

Flashback - Savage Tides of Kalamar - Session 14

Session 14
Terror Comes to Freeport
November 11, 2008

Players:

Sean – Dorian Windseeker, High Elf Ranger/Rogue

Gary – Katan, Half-Hobgoblin Paladin

Bec – Arianne, Grey Elf Cleric of The Lantern

Rebec – Quillathe, Grey Elf Paladin of The Lantern (Previously dead but raised last session)

Steve – Tylock, Human Fighter

Sherry – Michella, Human Wizard

Will – Solveliss, High Elf Sorcerer

Dave – Razik, Human Fighter/Rogue

Our story begins at The Scholar’s Quill, a tavern in the temple district of Freeport, across from the Temple Library of The Mule, god of knowledge. The party is meeting Brother Egil to discuss the new troubles he mentioned in his letter. He tells them that something was in the room he was sharing with his fellow temple worker and that he sees strange things happening all over the city. he is concerned that since Milos was using magic to hide his true form, how much damage did he really do, and how many others like him are in the city right now? he offers 150gp each, plus expenses, plus free room and board and drinks at the Scholar’s Quill, plus one free healing potion from the temple, if the group will loook into these things. The offer is quickly accepted.

Briefed on the situation, the team spreads out. Dorian heads for Milos’ old house, now under guard as the city dismantles the temple underneath it. The rest head for the Black Gull, asking after Milos under his other false identity, but has no luck. Later,after splitting up again, Katan, Razik, Michella, and Solveliss head to the Old City district and track Milos to The Marquis Moon, a somewhat run-down inn. Bribing the innkeeper (his son, really) they gain access to Milos’ old room and thouroughly search it. Discovering a small book, they decide to head back to the Quill and discuss their findings with the rest of the party.

Stepping out of the inn, they see 3 orc pirates accosting a young human carrying a satchel. Seeing some friendlier faces, he turns asks for help. The orcs are not interested in discussing things rationally and a fight breaks out on the darkened street. Once the adventurers gain the upper hand on the thugs, the messenger thanks Michella for the help and leaves. Some minutes later, she realize that she no longer has the book – apparently the messenger in trouble picked her pocket while the fight was going on. Somewhat dejected, they return to the quill.

Dorian has also returned to the quill. He followed a recovery team from Milos’s old house through the city streets until it reached the house of Verlaine, head of the Captain’s Council, the governing body of Freeport, and the Sea Lord Drac’s right hand man. The convoy passed through the gates of the compound and he was not going to try and follow them solo.

Quillathe leads a small team to Verlaine’s to try and get some answers. They are stonewalled by the guards though they do meet the captain of his guards and leave a message requesting an audience.

Another team heads to the city records department and, after establishing a bond with the clerk, manages to get a look at some maps of the city’s streets and sewer systems and determines that the sewers might be involved in how some things are happening.

The next day Verlaine’s guards show up at the quill and ask the party to come with them. The group complies although Dorian, who is not known to the guards, drops back and follows them in the shadows. The troop heads for the justice building, is taken inside, and the company is asked to remove their weapons. Begrudgingly they comply.

A short while later, Verlaine himself walks in. he berates the group for interfering in city business and insulting him by implying that he doesn’t know what he’s doing. He is clearly unhappy with their activities, though he thanks them for their previous service in busting up the serpent cult.

Irritated and insulted, Quillathe is preparing to lead the group out when Brother Egil bursts in and stops the meeting, leading the group out of the building. He has used the power of his temple to intervene, declaring them agents of the Mule and thus free from interrogation. He informs them that someone broke into his quarters and carried off his fellow cleric.

Believing they can follow the thugs, the party drops down into the sewer near the abduction point and prepares to take action.

DM Notes (2012) - There is a certain balance between roleplay and combat that my players want, and this session had a lot of walking and talking and not nearly so much hitting things as had been typical. On top of it the city officials were being very high handed with them and that was guaranteed to annoy Bec and Rebec at least. I was somewhat surprised to get them out of the justice building without violence.

Flashback - Savage Tides of Kalamar - Session 13

 Session 13
Who's going to clean up this mess?
October 25, 2008

Players:

Sean – Dorian Windseeker, High Elf Ranger/Rogue

Gary – Katan, Half-Hobgoblin Paladin

Bec – Arianne, Grey Elf Cleric of The Lantern

Rebec – Quillathe, Grey Elf Paladin of The Lantern (deceased) Liamae, Human Sorceress

Steve – Tylock, Human Fighter

Sherry – Michella, Human Wizard

Will – Solveliss, High Elf Sorcerer

(Party levelled up, most are 4th now)

Our Heroes begin in the basement of the Vanderboren mansion, catching their breath after a hard fight. Searching the area they discover that Liamae, the prisoner, had not managed to kill herself but was instead attempting to fake her own death and had succeeded a little too well, putting herlself into unconsciousness. The party revivied her, Tylock, and Arianne with some spells and healing potions, but nothing could be done for Quillathe. After a few moments of silence, they headed upstairs, leaving the body of their companion behind.

Moving quickly, the warriors moved up to he ground floor, then up additional flights of stairs. Encountering no one, they continued a rapid search of the house.

On the 3rd floor, the group discovered what appeared to be Lavinia’s room, where a fight had taken place, as indicated by the dead bullyug still in the room. Next door they discovered an undisturbed room they suspected might belong to Vanthus. Finally, investigating the last room, they heard noises inside. Readying weapons, Dorian kicked in the door.

Inside was a disturbing scene – Lavinia, the housekeeper halfling, and 2 more members of the “A-team” were tied to chairs in the middle of the room. All of them appeared unconscious and at least one them was injured. A large, heavily muscled and tatooed half-orc was rolling off the large bed in one corner, scimitar at the ready. A huge, bloated frog-man was seated in a chair opposite the door and was already casting a spell of some kind.

Dorian moved to free the hostages, Katan charged the frog-man while the wizards began shooting at the same target. Katan was briefly double-teamed by the half-orc and the frog priest, while a Fiendish Wolverine materialized among the group at the entrance and scattered the magic-users.

Dorian discovered that the housekeeper was dead, throat cut. he moved to free Lavinia who appeared to be awake but pulled back when he realized her chair was trapped. The Half-Orc pulled out of the fight with Katan and ordered the group to hold as he held his blade to Lavinia’s throat.

Aggressive negotiations ensued when the party tried to convince Drevoraz that His captain, Harliss Javell, had sent the party to stop him. Eventually (Need to know who made that last roll) he was convinced and made a deal with the party – let him leave unharmed and the group could do what they wanted. The Bullywug shaman in the room lost it at this point and began attacking the party. Drevoraz held out of this fight while the band quickly dispatched the crazed frog-man. After this, the half orc left to find his captain and the party began freeing hostages.

Lavinia was alive and mostly unhurt, though she was now clearly done with her brother, Vanthus. She thanked the party for rescuing her, put them on a bigger retainer, then asked for some time to consider her options as she was planning to have them hunt down her brother for justice and not a little revenge.

During this aftermath, the group took the opportunity to recover and refit. Wounds were healed, diseases were cured, salvaged equipment was sold and new equipment was purchased. Some special items were even comissioned.

In the middle of these operations, amessage arrived from Brother Egil in Freeport. He requested the party’s aid in solving another problem, as it appeared the evil they encountered previously had returned and was plaging his temple and the city once again. Our heroes finished outfitting and hopped aboard a ship to Freeport on Pelsday, the 2nd of Sowing, Year of the King 1044, almost a month after thay had left that city. Trading stories with the crew along the way, they were unaware of the danger they were about to face…

DM Comments 2012:

The adventure has a sort of rival team of adventurers working for the Vanderborens in the early chapters and the running joke had been that they were the "A" team while the PC's were the "B" team - this clearly changed as of this session. Also there were some "negotiations" between the elf cleric and a member of the A team that might have led somewhere eventually but I don't believe that they ever did.

Flashback - Savage Tides of Kalamar - Session 12

Session 12

Frogs in the House

October 04, 2008

Players:

Sean – Dorian Windseeker, High Elf Ranger/Rogue

Gary – Katan, Half-Hobgoblin Paladin

Bec – Arianne, Grey Elf Cleric of The Lantern

Rebec – Quillathe, Grey Elf Paladin of The Lantern

Steve – Tylock Human Fighter

Sherry – Michella Human Wizard

Our heroes begin in a sea cave in Kraken’s Cove discussing the situation with Harliss Javell, one of the few remaining survivors of a pirate band that was affected by some terrible disease. Having come to her aid, the party has gained her trust and she informs them that her first mate Dravoraz has gone to Sasserine. He is seeking revenge on the family of Vanthus Vanderboren for causing the trouble that nearly wiped them out. She quickly writes a note to Dravoraz that asks him to stop attacking the Vanderborens and rendezvous with her at another location. Harliss mentions she intends to commandeer the only unburned ship in the cove and try to contact other member of the Crimson Fleet. After farewells are exchanged, the party heads for their boat.

Dorian stops off to investigate an unexplored side passage and discovers a few items in what looks like the (now-dead) leader’s room, including a very nice hat.

The party returns to Sasserine hours later with Dorian and Tylock still suffering from their infected bites. The city is in the midst of a major celebration, the Wormfall Festival. The streets are jammed with revelers, complicating travel immensely. A brush with a drunken gnome was swiftly avoided, a runaway parade wagon was dispatched, and things were going well until a group of stilt-walking entertainers turned out to be thugs bent on harming the party for unknown reasons. A short bloody combat began in the streets that sent the crowd fleeing in all directions. The heroes came through in good shape and found that their fight had cleared the way to the Vanderboren estate.

Entering the grounds nothing seemed amiss so the party dispensed with any attempts at stealth. The group ran straight up to the front door, kicked it in, and confronted a trio of frog-like humanoids, clearly warriors, who were occupying the entryway. Battle ensued. Making short work of the creatues (later determined to be “Bullywugs”) the team spread out on the first two floors of the mansion. Lavinia’s office was found to be unoccupied but a trophy room had another threesome of the frog-men who seemed interested in a giant stuffed frog. Another pair were found in an upstairs laundry. There were few clues and little seeming activity in the house until half of the group ventured downstairs to the basement…

At the bottom of the stairs, Quillathe, Dorian, and Tylock saw a human woman wearing a sheet with silverware stuck through it being forced to dance and dodge while a strange-looking creature attempted to bite her. Farther back in the room were 3 more of the frog-men and a hulking frog-man wearing a crown who was clearly in charge. He noticed the intruders, raised his greatclub, shouted “Chunkus – get ‘em”, and a vicious fight erupted in the corner of the basement.

Dorian and Quillathe moved to engage while Tylock went for help. Quillathe went in first and distracted Chunkus long enough for the wounded human to escape through another door. Unfortunately she was the first to find out that Chunkus was a Rust Monster, the party’s first encounter with that type of beast, and he was soon happily munching away on the remains of her armor. She attempted to manuver around behind the hostiles while Dorian took them on from the front two-weapon style, dropping several of the frog king’s bodyguards, and he eventually changed over to paired wooden clubs to deal with the rust-beast.

The other half of the adventuring band soon joined the melee. Michella the wizard had some tough decisions to makeon how to intervene as she was the first one down the stairs. She quickly moved aside and let the heavy hitters step into the fray. Tylock and Katan moved in to help surround Chunkus and the king as Arianne took position at the foot of the stairs and Michella gave supporting missile fire. Chunkus was finally slain after dissolving Tylock’s and Quillathe’s armor. Quillathe was in trouble after losing her armor and was crushed by a mighty swing from the Bullywug King’s greatclub. Not long after, Arianne also met a gruesome fate as she was slammed into the wall by the massive weapon. The rest of the party, enraged, then rallied and slew the frog-man lord with series of brutal hits.

Pausing to survey the scene, the discovered that the human prisoner had committed suicide after locking herself in a closet. Apparently the sounds of carnage were too much for her after the ordeal she had suffered. Katan vaguely remembered seeing her before, possibly a memeber of the “A-team” that was also working for Lavinia.

The troop had defeated the Bullywug King but they had suffered a terrible cost. Quillathe was dead while Arianne and Tylock were both unconscious and bleeding out.

Player comments on the summary:

Steve: At the end it was Quillathe Dead, Tylock at -3, and Arianne at -8. I hope we find so money soon with two cure disease and a raise dead the hospital bill is going to be outrages.

Rebec: I thought it was pretty close except it only got my armor....and the knight went down first  thank you very much. I was just luckier

Sherry: Just to clarify...Katan healed Arianne up to conciousness...not sure what her HP were at that point.

DM: I thought someone was happy about being dead because they were tired of lawful good - was that Rebec?

Bec: No, that was me and I wasn't dead.  Rebec died.

August Begins With a Campaign Flashback

Since we're loading up the moving van here at the Tower this week* I thought I would kick August off with something a little unusual. I recently ran across my old session summaries from my last D&D 3rd Edition campaign and after a few years they are kind of fun to read and recall. Plus there were some really good runs in there. I only have sessions 12-20 so I'm going to post those up one per day  along with some comments from the players (at the time) or from myself (now) to keep y'all entertained while I'm tied up. So if you can forgive me for a bit of timeshifting, it should make for an interesting campaign snippet at the least.

The premise for this campaign was we wanted a good long run (it was about 18 months), hopefully all the way to 20 (we didn't make it), and we wanted to travel around instead of being stuck in one location (as we had done in the previous campaign). I settled on a combination of the Savage Tide adventure path from Dungeon and the Freeport Trilogy. This would give us a lot of nautical adventure options from 1-10, let us wrap up one storyline (Freeport) fairly early in the campaign, then focus in on the epic threat of the savage tide for the higher levels. This is the one where I put together a special soundtrack to play during the sessions.  I still like it as the core of a wide-ranging campaign - maybe someday I will get to run it all the way through. In the meantime though I will share a chunk of the campaign that we did run - I hope you enjoy it.

* and since I'm going to be largely offline for at least a few days in there until the service gets hooked up at the new place - grumble grumble.

Blast from the Past

Digging through the pile of papers and CD's under my desk I came across a soundtrack CD I burned for one of my 3E campaigns. It still worked and kind of got me back in that mindset for a little while.  Here's the track list:

The notation for most of those means "Autumn Thunder" the NFL Films soundtrack collection from a few years ago which is surpisingly handy for a lot of RPG type background music when you've burned out Conan & LOTR and should be useful even for some non-fantasy games.

This campaign was a combination of the Freeport adventures and the Savage Tide adventure path from Dungeon and I was pretty fired up about it. Each character got a track, each adventure got a track, and there were others beyond that. I have more detail in this post.

It went over pretty well, but I have yet to do it again. Accounting for character death and replacement was tricky - new track? Replace the original track? I just left it unchanged for the campaign and decided I would do a "Remastered" version if we ever finished. As it turned out we did not, so I never had to undertake it.

I compiled this one pretty much solo. Next time I might ask for more player input on their personal themes, but that can drag things out. It was pretty satisfying having this ready to go for the very first session, running it in the room while eats and drinks were prepped and dice were warmed up. I'm going to have to take a look at doing it again, just to see if I can improve it.

End of a Campaign

I have been running games for a fairly set group of players since 2000. The core was 5 players (2 female, 3 male) and then 2 to 5 rotating players who came and went through different campaigns. It was a good run but like ll things it eventually had to come to an end.

The first campaign was my first 3rd edition game - set in Greyhawk pre-wars. We began with The Sunless Citadel, ran through a Dungeon update of the old AD&D Monastery adventure, and ended up going to Hommlett and working through Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. It was great and we ran roughly 18 months with those until the party was wiped out on one of the bridges from the outer dungeon to the inner dungeon.

We decided to take a break from the mega-module with a side trip to Kalamar and a new set of low-level characters. That lasted for a few months until the group decided they wanted another crack at the temple.

We made up a new set of characters, some related to members of the first party, and headed out to Hommlett. Another long run with more progress made but it too eventually ended in a TPK.

After this we had played roughly 3 years of nothing but 3rd edition D&D and some of us wanted a break so we took a 6-month detour into Shadowrun which was a lot of fun.

At this point the group was ready to return to D&D but not the temple so we began a new campaign in the Scarred Lands. This began with the traditional 1st lvl party in a free started adventure and wound its way around to the City of Mithril and eventually into the Lost Tomb of Abysthor where we spent a great deal of time. While finally wrapping that up the group moseyed through Goodman's Temple of the Dragon Cult and Bloody Jack's Gold before climaxing with The Blackguard's Revenge and Iron Crypt of the Heretics which ended 2007 in an avoidable, disastrous TPK at about 12th lvl. This left a bad taste in some mouths and was probably the beginning of the end.

We took a 3 month side trip in early 2008 into the insanity that is Rifts until I came to my senses and suggested a new 3rd edition D&D game with most of the 3.5 books. This was heartily approved and we started in April of 2008.

The final campaign was set back in Kalamar and was going to use the classic Freeport Trilogy and the Savage Tide Adventure Path from Dungeon Magazine. This was mainly a reaction to the previous game where much of the action took place in one dungeon and one city - this time we would do some travelling. Things started well enough and the ending of the 3rd Freeport adventure provided a nice initial climax for the campaign as it was a near-TPK with party members dropping one by one as they desperately struggled to slay the big bad and only one member was still breathing at the end.

The Savage Tide part of the campaign really took off after that with long sea voyaging and island hopping and eventual arrival on the isle of dread. After one session on the island I called the game for the holidays at the end of 2009. Some of the group was not thrilled about this and some members ended up starting their own game by the time I started talking about starting things up again in January 2010. It wasn't handled well and spelled the permanent end of what had been a good group. It was a nice long run and I am glad to have been a part of it.

3rd ed Campaigns 2 - Kalamar

This was a rather short campaign that began with the first Kalamar adventure 'The Root of all Evil.' It's not a bad module, but there is a fair amount of railroading. My biggest problem was that the object of the adventure trilogy (a Coin of Power) is statted out and it in no way measures up to the amount of fuss being made over it. This somewhat undercut my enthusiasm for the module but I tried to make the best of it. The party made it into the second module before voting to go back to Greyhawk to try and salvage something from the RttTOEE adventure.

In hindsight, these adventures could have used more customizing by me, but my players were up for the mission. There were some fun moments with the Elf Twins in the party and with the unconscious Paladin being dragged off into the desert by his panicked horse - for all we know he's still wandering out there.

I give Root of All Evil a B-.

One thing that gave me some trouble also was making Kalamar come to life. It's a fairly detailed world if you have most of the books, but there's no big 'hook' that pulled me in. Greyhawk has history and legendary names, the Realms has it's own attractions, Scarred Lands has an interesting take on things, but Kalamar always seemed a little bland. I liked that feature at first, but it has become more noticeable over time as I have run more games set in the world. I'll discuss that more in another post.