Keep on the Shadowfell: Part Eleven

This is part eleven of a continuing series documenting the deeds (sometimes heroic) of the adventurers (sometimes worthy) that I DM for once a fortnight. It's primarily here so I can remember what the hell was going on in the last session. See all previous entries here.

After a considerable hiatus our heroes were back to take on the 2nd level of the Keep. Having reached the hobgoblin guard room they failed to provide the correct passphrase and instantly betrayed that a) They had killed Ninarin, Kalarel's ally, and b) They were the enemy and should be summarily attacked. The attacking did ensue summarily!

No less than 8 hobgoblin grunts and soldiers descended upon Searos, Marroar, Giovana, Scrindrel and Malachi, while one sneaky hobgoblin went to the north to uncage a giant Deathjump Spider. Our adventurers made light work of the hobgoblins, with a combination of sneak attacks, divine lights, warhammers, arrows and thunderous waves. Even the physics-defying spider eventually lost a leg and succumbed to a holy incineration.

Journeying further eastward into the Keep, and then south, Searos triggered a trick flagstone and a portcullis slammed down in front of the party blocking their way. They instead decided to try their luck to the north, where they encountered further hobgoblin resistance in the form of more grunts and soldiers, who this time had an archer and a warcaster amongst them. For a change of pace, Searos decided to hang his warhammer up and unsheath the mighty sword that Sir Keegan had given to him. Upon wiedling it, he felt a strange sensation move through his hands and around the rest of his body. He immediately put the blade to good use slaying hobgoblins.

At first it seemed like a normal encounter, until the warcaster sent forth a magical blast that knocked everyone on their backs and caused them severe damage. Another evil burst came from the warcaster, and Giovana was knocked out and dying. Searos, the only other healer in the group, neglected to tend to her however, and was more distracted with defeating a hobgoblin soldier he had taken a personal dislike to. The fight descended into a punching, spitting, pommelling brawl, with Searos only able to see red as he grew more aggressive and irrational.

Finally, with Giovana close to death, and Marroar and Malachi having taken heavy damage, the warcaster and the remaining hobgoblin soldier were slain. The decision was made to return to Winterhaven again for more supplies and to recuperate.

With more delays in defeating Kalarel, will his evil powers grow ever stronger? What is happening to Searos? Will Scrindrel grab any bargains in Winterhaven? Stay tuned to find out!

Keep on the Shadowfell: Part Ten

This is part ten of a continuing series documenting the deeds (sometimes heroic) of the adventurers (sometimes worthy) that I DM for once a fortnight. It's primarily here so I can remember what the hell was going on in the last session. See all previous entries here.

At the end of the last (basically undocumented) session, our heroes had returned to Winterhaven to find the local graveyard had turned into some sort of recruiting ground for a Zombie army, led my Ninnarin, a mysterious elf who had appeared in the town at the start of the campaign, and was now revealed to be an agent of Kalarel. Long story short - 1 dead elf and a bunch of dead zombies.

The party finally had a chance to rest and recuperate, to explore the town some more and stock up on supplies. Much bartering was done, with Marroar upgrading to a +2 staff of Dubious Suggestibility and Scrindrel failing to bargain his way to a +2 longbow. Searos prayed to Avandra, and Malachi became very interested in exactly how many guardsmen there were protecting the town.

A small fight broke out in Bearwin's shop, forcing him to close early, but oddly Malachi seemed to emerge from the shop's front door some time after it had been locked, looking significantly better off in terms of potions and alchemist's fire. The team set off again, to continue their exploration of the Keep.

Returning to the maze of caves that had previously outwitted them, the party felt fully revitalised and able to dispatch the Kruthiks with ease. Later however, in the chamber of the mysterious pool, the party could still not be drawn to battle the magical ooze, despite the obvious treasure residing in the central island. An ill-thought out mage hand was summoned by Marroar to try to carry some gold back across the acidic water, but it clumsily dropped most of the coins, which instantly dissolved.

Finally, the stairs to the second level were reached. Below, in a large lit chamber, a hobgoblin issued a challenge phrase: "Shadow seeks shadow!" Recalling a note that had been found on Ninnarin and addressed to Kalarel, the party replied: "From the ground, some magic was found!"

However, this phrase had been placed with Ninnarin as a trap, and the hobgoblins knew straight away that their comrade was dead, and these folk were the culprits!

DM Notes: 1. Malachi is the only member of the party who is not Good or Lawful Good, which makes his character lots of fun to DM. I can't give away too much (because my other players are supposed to read this!) but some other gameplay occurred that only Malachi's player is aware of, and to achieve this we used Roll20's whisper functionality. Give it a try. 2. The pool of magical acid is completely different to the one in the published Keep on the Shadowfell adventure, which is a sort of large blob that occupies a 2x2 square and moves around a pool of actual water. A few weeks ago when the players first reached this area, I was underprepared and over-tired (which is pretty much every game) and went with my first recollection of what the pool was supposed to be. It's made it a much harder enemy, that they are yet to defeat, but it's also generated some funny roleplaying moments, and that's more important than accurate combat situations. How many of your players have a prosthetic wooden toe? 3. This session was sponsored (or at least, lubricated) by Potholder, a lovely Cheddar Golden Ale.

The Beastles: Ill Submarine

djBC has released Ill Submarine, a new Beastles mash-up album, dedicated to the memory of Adam Yauch (the Beastie's MCA). Go get it now! It's awesome. And if you're new to the Beastles, here's the back-catalogue (enjoy it before it gets taken down again!)

I remember when I first heard the Beastles on a mash-up special of The Sounds in My Head. I was late to the game, and the 2 albums were difficult to track down anywhere on the interwebs (they had been the subject of take-down notices from those kind record company folk). As I recall, I used that old trick of turning Google into a public-directory-mp3 search engine. Since then I've listened The Beastles and Let It Beast countless times, and these tracks are almost always in my car, either in full-album form or in another mix. Thanks djBC!

Keep on the Shadowfell: Part Nine (sort of)

This is part nine of a continuing series documenting the deeds (sometimes heroic) of the adventurers (sometimes worthy) that I DM for once a fortnight. It's primarily here so I can remember what the hell was going on in the last session. After a 3 week hiatus I have failed spectacularly to document the session, and instead I present here the only surviving record of the evening: the Notes of Searos.

(Note: Tim tired + little drunk)

Keep on the Shadowfell: Part Eight

This is part eight of a continuing series documenting the deeds (sometimes heroic) of the adventurers (sometimes worthy) that I DM for once a fortnight. It's primarily here so I can remember what the hell was going on in the last session. I knew last time was too good to be true (when I wrote it up within 24 hours). It's been nearly 2 weeks now so parts of this are likely to be mixtures of what I can remember, what I wrote down, and what I've watched on YouTube recently. See all previous entries here.

When we last left our heroes they had just been awarded an enchanted sword by the dead yet curiously talkative Sir Keegan. Concluding their conversation, they were distracted by a sound and realised that their occasional ally Splug had followed them!

Malachi, who was particularly interested in reuniting Splug with some of his finer locksmith's tools, led the party as they gave chase to Splug, who seemed to be leading them back towards the excavation site.  When they arrived, they discovered that Splug had disappeared through a previously unknown door to the south. Proceeding through they found a maze of caves, dotted with massive stalagmites and stalactites*. As they attempted to negotiate their way through they were repeatedly beset upon by giant rats.

Finally reaching the end chamber, they were attached by a massive Ochre Jelly, which at one point split into 2 medium size Ochre Jellies, and took repeated poundings before it eventually exploded in a sticky mess. Um... yeah. Okay. Moving on.

Hiding in the corner of the chamber, Splug was detected. and ruthlessly interrogated. Could he offer any more useful information to the group to prove his loyalty? Only that there was a pool of magical healing water to the west. Again he tried to run. "Stop him!" the group cried, and as Splug ran past Scrindrel, the good Elf let loose an arrow, hoping it might skim Splug's calf and slow him down. Unfortunately, Scrindrel was such a good shot that it entered the back of Splug's head and came out through his eye socket.

Splug immediately crumpled to the ground, letting out blood-curdling cries. "Nobody panic!" shouted Malachi, "I'm a locksmith!", and he ran over to provide assistance. Malachi, confused about what constituted sensible medical procedure at the time, wiggled the arrow but to no avail. Splug let out horrific cries of agony, and blacked out. Unable to see over Malachi's back in the cramped conditions, the rest of the group did their best to help by casting magical healing spells towards Splug, and he was revived once more. Malachi seized the opportunity to wiggle the arrow some more, in a clockwise motion, and Splug let out yet more screams that would haunt the nightmares of someone who watched a lot of horror movies and was really quite de-sensitized to that sort of thing.

"It's no good," Malachi sighed, "I can't save him." Having previously picked up Splug's body in a last attempt at medical intervention, he dropped it unceremoniously on the floor, skull first.

Artist's Impression

"I just meant to stop him - I, I..." Scrindrel tailed off, aghast at his terrible actions. "What have I done?" He was immediately sick all up one of the walls.

Recovering from their loss, the group re-grouped (groups tend to do that) and went to investigate the rest of the cavern. Scrindrel took some encouragement to move as he was still horrified by his actions. He continued to protest that the party should abandon their quest, now that he was beginning to question everything they had done.

Towards the west they found a tunnel covered by large bronze doors, into which had been scratched the words: "Stay Out. Really." Venturing in, they beheld a shimmering blue pool, in the centre of which was a small island and an assortment of interesting objects. Assuming this was the healing pool that Splug had described, Marroar dipped his toe into the water. Unfortunately his toe did not return with the rest of his foot, as it was immediately disintegrated by the magical acid of the evil pool.

"Ow my fucking foot!" he exclaimed, hopping away, and a smile spread across Scrindrel's face - Splug truly had been a bastard, so it was okay that he shot him through the face.

Following the subsequent discovery of a lair of Kruthiks, the group decided that maybe they had had enough adventuring for the time being, and decided to limp back to Winterhaven to rest and restock their provisions. However, returning to the town, they found that dead had risen in the local graveyard and some zombie dispatching was therefore required. Can't they catch a break?

* During the writing of this update, I originally mistyped "stalactites" as "stalactittties". However, several Google image searches have been unsuccessful in shedding any light on what these may look like.

Kinshasa - Francis Bebey

Apropos of nothing, I just had to share this little gem with you:

One Page Dungeon Contest 2013 Slideshows

Random Wizard has done an amazing job putting all of the entries for the 2013 One Page Dungeon Contest into browsable flickr and imgur slideshows.

Check it out on his blog!