Each player gained 400 experience for the session.
Total XP: 6950 (level 6 at 7500xp)
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
XP for Slaves of the Old Empire Session #6
Each player gained 450 experience for the session.
Total XP: 6550 (level 6 at 7500xp)
Total XP: 6550 (level 6 at 7500xp)
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Thorn is betrayed... again
In the morning, I enchanted a rapier for Treble, and tried my hand at brewing a couple of potions. The potions are a new craft for me, and I'm pleased with the results. I gave one to Brogar and one to Morangan. We made a rough plan for the others to follow somewhat behind, and I headed up to the lodge, dressed as one of the battleragers. An orc was there, with a white flag of surrender. When he saw me, he ran up and shouted with relief "Brock! I'm so glad to see you. What happened?" ...so I guess that made me "Brock." Check. He said he was trying to find Agrawal, to give him a message from Thorn, but since I reported being unable to find Agrawal, he suggested that we go together to give Thorn the update. I was a little worried when he looked expectantly at me, being as I didn't know the layout of the place, so I told him to lead the way. We passed a hall on the right where it's clear that slaves are being kept... I saw their cages out of the corner of my eye and heard the ruckus from the room. And right down the hall we went, through a door into an office. Behind a large desk sat Thorn, dressed in black chain. There were two warforged against the wall behind him, holdin' quarterstaves. To the right of his desk was a striking Eladrin archer lady, and to the left of the door was an ogre, noisily chugging some foul-smelling concoction from a mug the size of a bucket, his giant club resting on the wall next to him.
Thorn asked what happened, and I relayed (uh... basically) the truth: that Agrawal must have betrayed him, that he and his men had drawn "our" guys out with a ruse and then stormed the lodge, killing most of its occupants, with only a few of us left to drive him out. I told him I had been searching for him and his crew but had been unable to find them. He was extremely angry, and ordered me and Murg (oh, so that's the guy who led me in here...) to clean the place up.
Murg helped me carry one of the bodies out of the lodge to the river. Next time I disguise myself as such a high-ranking officer, I should remember to give orders with more confidence to avoid arousing suspicion. Thankfully, Murg was naive and stupid, so he didn't catch onto my blunder. As we exited the lodge with a body, I said somewhat loudly, "Let's take him over to the mouth of the river and give him a water burial," unsure of whether my allies were within earshot. Apparently they were, though; that shiny rapier I'd just enchanted and polished for Treble appeared, sticking through Murg's chest before we even reached the river. I shouted "Murg, get down!" and brandished my greataxe. I fully intended to take a swing at Treble if need be, to keep my cover, but Murg was running like hell for the lodge and I swung at a post instead, to give the appearance of attacking our "common foe."
Poor Murg never made it to the door. I did a quick once-over on his pockets to see if he held any keys of any type but found only a few silvers, which I left on his person. I stood guard in front of the lodge, where Aurora approached and asked what she should do, posing as one of the shifters we had fought the previous day. I ordered her loudly to search for the intruders, and in a softer voice I told her to relay to the others what we had seen.
Shortly after, Thorn roared down the hall, ordering me back to his room. I obeyed, and he was properly livid. He accused me of working with Agrawal, and I denied it. He said he had just seen Murg be killed, a magic I will have to investigate when I have the time to devote my attention to it. The lies dripped glibly from my mouth as I told him Agrawal's guys were out there launching an assault on our lodge while I was trying to defend the outer doors. He totally bought it; although he seemed somewhat confused, he couldn't help but believe my convincing story. Then, to my surprise, he told me to go find Agrawal or whoever was in charge, and send 'im in.
I headed back to the front, and found my party there, about to launch an assault on the lodge. I told 'em that the boss wanted to see whoever was in charge, and backed away from them into Thorn's office, where he told all of 'em to come in, which they did. Brogar posed as the fellow in charge of us all, and told Thorn that he intended to take the slaves. Thorn didn't appreciate this too well, and ordered us all to be killed, as by now he had begun to believe that Brock had betrayed him. (First Agrawal, then Brock... Thorn wasn't having a good day.)
The ogre attacked Brogar, and battle ensued. Soon into it, Thorn escaped to save his own skin. Between the two warforged and the eladrin, we found ourselves often knocked to the ground. Some of the others got up, just to be knocked down again. I saved myself the trouble and stayed down. I think I need to work on my tactics a bit, but the others did well here: Phelaia launched a round of devastating attacks, Colvin erected a wall of bolstering light, Brogar bravely fended off the ogre and a tiger as well (until the ogre finally crushed him, at which point I healed him and he got back up and kept fighting), Aurora whirled her blades around like a madwoman, Morangan shot arrow after arrow, and Treble teleported to flank the ogre and bring the massive creature down. This battle was another tough one; at one point we had Phelaia, Morangan, Brogar, and Treble all bloodied before Colvin healed them with his wall, saving Morangan from falling unconscious the next round. In the midst of all this was the Eladrin, shooting pot shots at us from down the hall until Colvin went to chase her down as the battle wound up.
In the end, Colvin, Phelaia, Brogar, and Morangan went after the eladrin while Aurora and Treble searched the two rooms in the back. I was somewhere between the two sets of my allies, waiting to act as a reinforcement. After several minutes, we all rejoined together. Colvin, Phelaia, and Brogar brought the eladrin back with them as their prisoner, Treble reported finding a secret passage behind a bookcase in Thorn's bedroom, and Aurora reported finding some papers, a secret lever that opened a trap door to a fifteen-foot-deep pit in front of the desk, and an odd mirror (which I plan to investigate further).
We all healed up, and the questioning of the prisoner commenced, as I rifled through the papers that Aurora had found and examined the eladrin's magic items: a ring and an amulet. I think we'll be going after Thorn through the secret passage next, to try to stop him from getting away. The next likely plan is to free the slaves.
Thorn asked what happened, and I relayed (uh... basically) the truth: that Agrawal must have betrayed him, that he and his men had drawn "our" guys out with a ruse and then stormed the lodge, killing most of its occupants, with only a few of us left to drive him out. I told him I had been searching for him and his crew but had been unable to find them. He was extremely angry, and ordered me and Murg (oh, so that's the guy who led me in here...) to clean the place up.
Murg helped me carry one of the bodies out of the lodge to the river. Next time I disguise myself as such a high-ranking officer, I should remember to give orders with more confidence to avoid arousing suspicion. Thankfully, Murg was naive and stupid, so he didn't catch onto my blunder. As we exited the lodge with a body, I said somewhat loudly, "Let's take him over to the mouth of the river and give him a water burial," unsure of whether my allies were within earshot. Apparently they were, though; that shiny rapier I'd just enchanted and polished for Treble appeared, sticking through Murg's chest before we even reached the river. I shouted "Murg, get down!" and brandished my greataxe. I fully intended to take a swing at Treble if need be, to keep my cover, but Murg was running like hell for the lodge and I swung at a post instead, to give the appearance of attacking our "common foe."
Poor Murg never made it to the door. I did a quick once-over on his pockets to see if he held any keys of any type but found only a few silvers, which I left on his person. I stood guard in front of the lodge, where Aurora approached and asked what she should do, posing as one of the shifters we had fought the previous day. I ordered her loudly to search for the intruders, and in a softer voice I told her to relay to the others what we had seen.
Shortly after, Thorn roared down the hall, ordering me back to his room. I obeyed, and he was properly livid. He accused me of working with Agrawal, and I denied it. He said he had just seen Murg be killed, a magic I will have to investigate when I have the time to devote my attention to it. The lies dripped glibly from my mouth as I told him Agrawal's guys were out there launching an assault on our lodge while I was trying to defend the outer doors. He totally bought it; although he seemed somewhat confused, he couldn't help but believe my convincing story. Then, to my surprise, he told me to go find Agrawal or whoever was in charge, and send 'im in.
I headed back to the front, and found my party there, about to launch an assault on the lodge. I told 'em that the boss wanted to see whoever was in charge, and backed away from them into Thorn's office, where he told all of 'em to come in, which they did. Brogar posed as the fellow in charge of us all, and told Thorn that he intended to take the slaves. Thorn didn't appreciate this too well, and ordered us all to be killed, as by now he had begun to believe that Brock had betrayed him. (First Agrawal, then Brock... Thorn wasn't having a good day.)
The ogre attacked Brogar, and battle ensued. Soon into it, Thorn escaped to save his own skin. Between the two warforged and the eladrin, we found ourselves often knocked to the ground. Some of the others got up, just to be knocked down again. I saved myself the trouble and stayed down. I think I need to work on my tactics a bit, but the others did well here: Phelaia launched a round of devastating attacks, Colvin erected a wall of bolstering light, Brogar bravely fended off the ogre and a tiger as well (until the ogre finally crushed him, at which point I healed him and he got back up and kept fighting), Aurora whirled her blades around like a madwoman, Morangan shot arrow after arrow, and Treble teleported to flank the ogre and bring the massive creature down. This battle was another tough one; at one point we had Phelaia, Morangan, Brogar, and Treble all bloodied before Colvin healed them with his wall, saving Morangan from falling unconscious the next round. In the midst of all this was the Eladrin, shooting pot shots at us from down the hall until Colvin went to chase her down as the battle wound up.
In the end, Colvin, Phelaia, Brogar, and Morangan went after the eladrin while Aurora and Treble searched the two rooms in the back. I was somewhere between the two sets of my allies, waiting to act as a reinforcement. After several minutes, we all rejoined together. Colvin, Phelaia, and Brogar brought the eladrin back with them as their prisoner, Treble reported finding a secret passage behind a bookcase in Thorn's bedroom, and Aurora reported finding some papers, a secret lever that opened a trap door to a fifteen-foot-deep pit in front of the desk, and an odd mirror (which I plan to investigate further).
We all healed up, and the questioning of the prisoner commenced, as I rifled through the papers that Aurora had found and examined the eladrin's magic items: a ring and an amulet. I think we'll be going after Thorn through the secret passage next, to try to stop him from getting away. The next likely plan is to free the slaves.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
XP for Slaves of the Old Empire Session #5
Each player gained 550 experience for the session.
Total XP: 6100 (level 6 at 7500xp)
Total XP: 6100 (level 6 at 7500xp)
Every Rose has its Thorn... or something
Agathor--
Surely, from my last correspondence, you must be wondering what has been happening with our little party. I apologize for the delay in reporting since our cleansing of the Stormcrow Company's old hideout.
On the way back from the hideout, we encountered a band of pilgrims that had been attacked by bandits. We tracked down the bandits and recovered some of the property that was stolen, and in the process uncovered a strange plot involving the smuggling of many slaves. Since then, we have been dealing with that problem, tracking the operation to a compound located on the Dagger River. Through clever tactics and Derrick's profound skill at disguise, we have rescued many poor souls from bondage, and inflicted large casualties and property damage on the slavers.
In particular, we have made an enemy of an orc named Thorn, who is the head of the operation. In the past few days, we cleaned out his "Dagger River Compound," killing a good many of his grunts, including some higher-value minions, such as an ogre, some bloodrager orcs, a few pet tigers, and two warforged spellcasters. Alas, Thorn escaped through a secret tunnel in the middle of the battle. After he fled, the battle slowly turned to our favor, Brogar bravely holding off the ogre (and suffering gravely for it) while the rest of us dealt with the others, including a female eladrin archer with some skill in stealth and arcana, presumably his second in command. During the entire battle, the eladrin woman proved to be quite a nuisance, firing at us from a distance with sorcerous burst attacks that repeatedly knocked us prone. When the ogre and the eladrin were our only remaining threats, I decided I had had enough, and chased after her, determined to give her a drubbing, or at least keep her busy so the rest of the team could handle the ogre.
To make a long story short, the others killed the ogre, and the eladrin woman led me on a game of hide-and-seek. Phelaia was the only one close enough to assist me, but together we flushed out the woman and coerced her into surrendering. We have agreed not to kill her in return for any information she can give us (an easy promise to make, since we are law-abiding citizens).
Tonight, we shall see what else she has to tell us. I have a feeling that this wasn't Thorn's only base of operations, and an even stronger feeling that we have not seen the last of him.
I hope you are well, and look forward to seeing you, Balthazar, and the others again. Walk always in the light of the Flame,
--Colvin
Surely, from my last correspondence, you must be wondering what has been happening with our little party. I apologize for the delay in reporting since our cleansing of the Stormcrow Company's old hideout.
On the way back from the hideout, we encountered a band of pilgrims that had been attacked by bandits. We tracked down the bandits and recovered some of the property that was stolen, and in the process uncovered a strange plot involving the smuggling of many slaves. Since then, we have been dealing with that problem, tracking the operation to a compound located on the Dagger River. Through clever tactics and Derrick's profound skill at disguise, we have rescued many poor souls from bondage, and inflicted large casualties and property damage on the slavers.
In particular, we have made an enemy of an orc named Thorn, who is the head of the operation. In the past few days, we cleaned out his "Dagger River Compound," killing a good many of his grunts, including some higher-value minions, such as an ogre, some bloodrager orcs, a few pet tigers, and two warforged spellcasters. Alas, Thorn escaped through a secret tunnel in the middle of the battle. After he fled, the battle slowly turned to our favor, Brogar bravely holding off the ogre (and suffering gravely for it) while the rest of us dealt with the others, including a female eladrin archer with some skill in stealth and arcana, presumably his second in command. During the entire battle, the eladrin woman proved to be quite a nuisance, firing at us from a distance with sorcerous burst attacks that repeatedly knocked us prone. When the ogre and the eladrin were our only remaining threats, I decided I had had enough, and chased after her, determined to give her a drubbing, or at least keep her busy so the rest of the team could handle the ogre.
To make a long story short, the others killed the ogre, and the eladrin woman led me on a game of hide-and-seek. Phelaia was the only one close enough to assist me, but together we flushed out the woman and coerced her into surrendering. We have agreed not to kill her in return for any information she can give us (an easy promise to make, since we are law-abiding citizens).
Tonight, we shall see what else she has to tell us. I have a feeling that this wasn't Thorn's only base of operations, and an even stronger feeling that we have not seen the last of him.
I hope you are well, and look forward to seeing you, Balthazar, and the others again. Walk always in the light of the Flame,
--Colvin
Friday, March 5, 2010
I think they're on to us...
Treble went to check out the stream... there he found a portcullis in the mouth, which he didn't swim down to investigate. In the meanwhile, Phelaia, Colvin & I dragged bodies away from the lodge while Aurora and Brogar smashed the archer's gallery so that it could not be refortified before our return. I was just in the middle of picking up the feet of a dead orc when the door opened and a Harrier looked at us, mouth agape, and ran out shouting. While he was looking, I did my best to look menacing at my... uh, teammates, and look like I was cornered. But I have to admit that my position looked pretty bad and probably ruined my cover. We attacked the guy, managed to pierce him bloody, but he still ran into a door shouting for backup.
From two directions came a total of four of the wimpy guys, three harriers, two bloodragers, one mage, and one alchemist type. The son-of-a-bitch mage cast those damned flies again. I hate those. At least I was outside the zone this time, and we managed to kill him before he had a chance to do much else. I did plant my Battle Standard of Might, so all of our attacks were just a bit more deadly. One of the Bloodragers was wearing an amulet and a set of fancy armbands, and I heard several among the party exclaiming over how nice they'd be to have among our loot. The alchemist started throwing these vials at us which were pretty annoying in their own right (ongoing damage, penalties to our ability to attack accurately), but he kept cover behind his allies so he lasted longer than he otherwise would've.
This battle overall was somewhat of a challenge, I'd say. A bunch of us had to use healing potions (and I had to use mine on Colvin). Not to mention that at some point in the battle, Brogar, Aurora, Colvin, Phelaia, and Morangan were all openly bleeding. For awhile there, Colvin looked like he was barely standing. But we came through, even though it wasn't easy. It woulda been an easier time if we'd had a chance to rest first, but I guess next time we need to ask our demolition crew to try to hack a little more quietly lest we rouse the whole lodge.
When it was all over, we had found a bunch more mundane weapons: scimitar, longbow, spear, greataxe, club, and quarterstaff. When we came upon the quarterstaff, Colvin snatched it up excitedly, saying he had plans for it. We also found some of the alchemical potions: acidic fire, alchemist's spark, eyesting, and stink bomb. Lastly but certainly not least, we had come upon the following, on the bloodrager: Amulet of Life, Belt of Sacrifice, and Iron Armbands of Power. I claimed the belt for myself, as Colvin took the amulet and Brogar snatched up the armbands. We dragged a few of the bodies out and retreated to the ship to rest.
Before resting, we divided up our loot and traded among ourselves for Arcana components. Even though I was tired, there was still work to do today, but the crafting is a comfortable work for me and isn't too taxing. I actually found it somewhat relaxing to be alone with my tools and my art. I crafted Phelaia a fine pair of gloves, that would have looked finer had I better materials at hand, but I had to work with what we found at the compound. I did my best to dust them off and repair any holes before empowering them with magic. I took Colvin's new quarterstaff and imbued it with the power of lightning, sanding down the rough edges and balancing its heft. My own crossbow was next. I enjoy working most on items that I've crafted myself, and this was a special case, as taking a precision item like this and improving its effectiveness even more requires a lot of skill and challenge, which makes it a rewarding task. After that, I decided to call it a night, and start fresh the next day.
My plan? Is to go into the lodge, by myself, disguised as the bloodrager. Not sure what I'll do after that. Hrm.
From two directions came a total of four of the wimpy guys, three harriers, two bloodragers, one mage, and one alchemist type. The son-of-a-bitch mage cast those damned flies again. I hate those. At least I was outside the zone this time, and we managed to kill him before he had a chance to do much else. I did plant my Battle Standard of Might, so all of our attacks were just a bit more deadly. One of the Bloodragers was wearing an amulet and a set of fancy armbands, and I heard several among the party exclaiming over how nice they'd be to have among our loot. The alchemist started throwing these vials at us which were pretty annoying in their own right (ongoing damage, penalties to our ability to attack accurately), but he kept cover behind his allies so he lasted longer than he otherwise would've.
This battle overall was somewhat of a challenge, I'd say. A bunch of us had to use healing potions (and I had to use mine on Colvin). Not to mention that at some point in the battle, Brogar, Aurora, Colvin, Phelaia, and Morangan were all openly bleeding. For awhile there, Colvin looked like he was barely standing. But we came through, even though it wasn't easy. It woulda been an easier time if we'd had a chance to rest first, but I guess next time we need to ask our demolition crew to try to hack a little more quietly lest we rouse the whole lodge.
When it was all over, we had found a bunch more mundane weapons: scimitar, longbow, spear, greataxe, club, and quarterstaff. When we came upon the quarterstaff, Colvin snatched it up excitedly, saying he had plans for it. We also found some of the alchemical potions: acidic fire, alchemist's spark, eyesting, and stink bomb. Lastly but certainly not least, we had come upon the following, on the bloodrager: Amulet of Life, Belt of Sacrifice, and Iron Armbands of Power. I claimed the belt for myself, as Colvin took the amulet and Brogar snatched up the armbands. We dragged a few of the bodies out and retreated to the ship to rest.
Before resting, we divided up our loot and traded among ourselves for Arcana components. Even though I was tired, there was still work to do today, but the crafting is a comfortable work for me and isn't too taxing. I actually found it somewhat relaxing to be alone with my tools and my art. I crafted Phelaia a fine pair of gloves, that would have looked finer had I better materials at hand, but I had to work with what we found at the compound. I did my best to dust them off and repair any holes before empowering them with magic. I took Colvin's new quarterstaff and imbued it with the power of lightning, sanding down the rough edges and balancing its heft. My own crossbow was next. I enjoy working most on items that I've crafted myself, and this was a special case, as taking a precision item like this and improving its effectiveness even more requires a lot of skill and challenge, which makes it a rewarding task. After that, I decided to call it a night, and start fresh the next day.
My plan? Is to go into the lodge, by myself, disguised as the bloodrager. Not sure what I'll do after that. Hrm.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
XP for Slaves of the Old Empire Session #4
Each player gained 350 experience for the session.
Total XP: 5550 (level 6 at 7500xp)
Total XP: 5550 (level 6 at 7500xp)
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