DnD Recap: New Additions

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The PCs decided to stay in the superbly urban Ouestpolis to find Jareth, having to leave Roto behind across seas to pursue other growingly important life pursuits.

Atreyu did some reconnaissance to find a place where Jareth was known to hang out.  Instead, Escrow found an old (and strange looking bat-like) druid friend of his named Pippy, who was travelling with Oakland Bash, cleric of many missions. Escrow invited them along, though the urgings of Atreyu and Bram prevented them from revealing their true reasons as to why to seek out Jareth.  Pippy had seen Jareth the other day in another inn, and the PCs head over there.  Indeed Jareth was there, and he was joined by two bodyguards, who didn't seem to be natural creatures.  After observing him for a while, Atreyu approached him and with a little help from Bram, learned a little bit about who may have bought young Teleport Mavericks for nefarious reasons.  The team was sent on the trail of a coin.

A particularly thin coin of Vidrigan origin was found in a shop where Jareth restrung his ukelele, that was originally from a brown haired gentleman.  The druids did scrying to find that the man was someone who was talking to a notable man in Vidrigan politics.  The team decided it was best to not follow the man and start acts of war.

Instead, they headed back to the capital, where Pippy and Oakland were introduced to Queen Elish before being excused while the other three shared their findings.  They were dismissed and after a couple hours the group was about to meet up where Atreyu was enjoying his house arrest on the Hughes estate when there was an attack in the front of the castle.  More undead with long arms, talking and preaching, before the team, old and new, defeated them.

Recap Session 7 though...???: A clear enemy emerges

So It's been forever since I posted about my D&D campaign, but it has not died off! We had a couple of unfortunate long breaks and lost one player, but the story still forges on with some interesting developments.

Again, legal jargon for all characters and setting that I, d20sapphire, have created.

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Last time, it was quite apparent that Ingard, the head of the city guard, had Prince Aeriche in his custody.  The next session Atreyu finally confronted him, when Ingard said the man was found drunk in the woods, recovering from a stupor.  Atreyu called him out for his treachery and sent him along to the capital, where he privately talked to the King Aust.  Ingard was executed, with his wife and child sent to opposite ends of the country, and the party was handsomely rewarded before heading back to the Cornwellian Kingdom, where Queen Elish asked some questions about the state of the Vidrigez kingdom.

After a couple days of rest, Samsana, the holy fighter blessed from a relatively unknown goddess, wanted help from the party to investigate the organization of the Yuan-ti armies.  The party was willing to investigate for the good of the crown, even without the promise of pay.  Samsana navigated the jungle with them, bumping into a couple of monsters and taking a rest at a tribe before they found themselves at half power after a tussle with some Yuan-ti.  Dreamatar and Roto had to head back early due to complications, and the rest of the team realized they weren't strong enough to do it on their own.  They headed back to see the tribe they had stayed with had been attacked, and Samsana found one lone scared child to save.  Another Yuan-ti scuffle on the way before they could go back to the capital and report their findings.

Continuing with their investigation when the first king of Cornwell's body had been stolen, the party made way to the Xephs lands, which border the Monster's Forest.  With the help of one of Bram's old adventuring friends, the adventurers traveled deep into the forest and fought some monsters.  They talked to some minotaurs about people in black robes, and were pointed in the direction of the dangerous range, the thick jungle that no empire or kingdom has ever been able to conquer due to dangerous flora and fauna as well as disease.  A couple days more journeying and they were in the jungle, one that is thicker and more dangerous than the Amazon.  A perfect hiding place.

There they found individuals, later proven to be connected to the Yuan-ti and the Vidrigez Kingdom, training tweens and teenagers of previously unknown origins to be spies.  In fact, these young people could easily change their appearance, and the training improved their metamorphoses as well as their strength.  They killed most of the trainers, sparing one to take back for questioning.  The children went off on their own, except for one who is almost a young man, and decided to follow Escrow back to the Cornwellian Kingdom.  The party went back to Queen Elish to report what they found, only to find Queen Elish would only greet them veiled, gloved and completely covered.  She didn't reveal what ailed her but was very appreciative of the information.

In the meantime, Escrow gave the changeling child a new family,  Roto started a temple for his rare dragon god, Atreyu began to court Swan Hughes with Councilman Fox's close eye, and Bram began to miss the taste of seafood while inland.

Councilman Fox Hughes asked the party to investigate shipments that had been coming in around the South-Eastern ports, in ships seemingly small with cargos reported from all over the place.  The PCs travelled to what was called the "beard" of the continent.  They set up shop very close to the coast and kept watch.  In the wee hours of the morning they noticed a strange shipment come in.  Following it, they lead to an empty building that should've been stacked with 20ft cube boxes.  Finding ribbon  to scry made locating the foreign Teleport Mavericks in the Cornwellian Kingdom easy, and the surprise attack on them in the slums of the capital even easier.  And the Warforged Chargers bursting out a floor below to attack our heros, proving to be the cargo in the crates, only was a minor setback.

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Oh man, that was a lot of typing.  Luckily next session will be less catch up and more "Oh, so about Vidrigez... what are we going to do about it?"

Yeah, I love being a DM.

Recap, Session 6: Good Spy, Bad Spy

Today's game was short because of previous obligations by players. Real life does come before game, which is something that you have to do if you want to be a functioning adult. But we did get a lot done.

Again, regarding the world and characters that I created:

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Before the party could leave the capital of Vidrigez to investigate the disappearance of Prince Aeriche, Escrow the druid came down with a horrible stomach ailment again, unable to join his associates in the trip to Everterre.  After a random attack by some wandering trolls, the party was able to get to Everterre mostly in tact, although the trolls certainly weren't.

Atreyu confirmed that the man they were looking for was actually the head of the guard, who's named Ingard.  He proceeded to find the man and tail him for a while.  Dreamtar took another approach and actually filed a missing person's report with the guard, giving the exact description of Aeriche.  In the process of revealing himself and some of his assignment, the guard ended up arresting him, telling him they needed to protect him as a witness while telling Bram and Atreyu that he had been arrested due to implicating himself in that crime (that they were also investigating).

Atreyu continued to follow Ingard into the night and saw that he with another fellow guard went back into his home's cellar.  Atreyu quickly went back in town and roused Roto and Bram to see if they could catch Ingard and his coworker in the act.  Instead they came back to an empty cellar, where amongst the stored food were the leavings of someone living there.

The three went back to the inn at the night, knowing that Ingard had been keeping someone in there.  In the morning Atreyu scolded Dreamatar for putting Ingard on their trail.  Dreamatar defended his tactics.  Meanwhile Atreyu also received a note from the guard's office...

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I am sad that we were only able to get three hours in, but we're hoping to find a new space that is less restricting on time than the local library.  If any of you know of any place where gaming for long hours is acceptable in Chicago, leave a comment.  We have some ideas in mind. the question is convenience at this point. (we seem to live in totally opposite corners of Chicagoland)

Next time, will we figure out where Aeriche was?  Did Ingard have him?  Will the PCs go to King Aust empty handed? Find out next game session... which is going to be a while from now.

Recap, Session 4: Change is in the Heir

I've been using puns a lot.  Cake Wrecks is proving to be a bad influence.  Or a good one, depending on who you are.

Once again, pertaining to the characters and world I personally created:

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The players continued their investigation into the destruction of the royal tombs, and had gained some rest after that long day of questioning and investigation.  The next day Escrow found himself doubled over in stomach pains, unable to join the rest of the party as they went around town searching.  There was more questioning of the minotaur, and research into the Teleport Maverick system and seeing who could do the right amount of teleportation skills.  Before midday, they were called in by Councilman Hughes and asked to help assist an announcement made by Princess Elish.  Bram acted as a bodyguard of hers, letting the gleem of his skin show as she spoke.  The rest of the party stayed on the ground, monitoring the reaction of the crowd to the announcement.

Princess Elish let the public know that the issue of an heir to the Cornwellian throne had been resolved.  The crowd celebrated.  Many went to the local inns and taverns, others went to the streets.  There was music and singing and dancing.  A couple of the PCs decided to observe this in multiple areas.  Roto was suspicious of the situation and asked Councilman Hughes about the situation, but was assured that the situation was not related to the previous incident at the tombs.  Dreamatar and Atreyu appreciated a late night with some common folk, Bram enjoyed the festivities on the streets, and Roto began to investigate ways to locate the King.

After a late morning the PCs returned to Hughes' office for another investigation: signs posted all over town merely asking "Where is the king?"  After Dreamatar annoyed Hughes by demanding to see the King, and being repeatedly reminded that he was indisposed at the moment, the PCs proceeded to do their own research.  Roto spoke with a calligrapher, Atreyu tried to get word off the street, and Bram decided to research the whole heir situation since he was not familiar with the fascination.  Roto discovered that the job had been done by someone with little to no experience, and possibly not even part of the calligrapher guild.  Bram figured out that the heir had to bear the last name Cornwell of the royal family, and had to be of male descent.  Such had been the way for 300 years.  Bram also talked to the minotaur again, and with his natural (psionic) skills of persuasion, was able to gain a better rapport, even if he didn't get much more information.

That evening, Dreamatar and Atreyu staked out an area of town not covered in signs yet, and caught up with a small boy posting signs.  He admitted he got paid to and described the man who gave him the money and signs, before running off a little frightened.  The next day, the party went to the Teleport Maverick Academy and quite easily obtained the names of Teleport Mavericks that could produce 4 teleports in one day.  They also went to the make-shift temple of Olidammara, where they enjoyed spirits as the cleric there performed a divination for them.  Then, that evening while at the Hughes' guest house, Danacia informed them that King Franklin had died that evening, and his burial will be the next morning, followed by the crowning of his heir.  Councilman Hughes asked that they will guard the casket and then the heir during the rite, and all the PCs agreed.

The next day, the PCs marched alongside the casket, with a grieving public around the procession.  When the casket went in to the tomb, the coronation ceremony inside revealed that Princess Elish was crowned as the new ruler of the Cornwellian Kingdom, and a shocked and confused citizenry had no time to react to the female heir as the guards forced them to bow.  Seeming that the grave danger had been avoided, those assurances had been cast aside as a tall, skeletal creature in black robes came towards the procesion, holding its long arms close to it's body.  The PCs readied to fight...

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 Of course it was 20 minutes to when the library closed so combat will begin next game, possibly with the whole party together.  It was the smoothest game we had yet!  Woot!  We'll see what happens with this new Queen, and her first assassination attempt within minutes of ascending the throne.  And what about all that other stuff happening?  It's crazy really.

Enjoy the D&D tales.

Recap, Session 3: Foes Small and Large

Let's just get to nitty-gritty, shall we?  And again, for anything pertaining to the world I have created:

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After ending last session divided, the PCs discussed not only how to conduct spells on each other (preferably not without permission), but what should they do to the meenlocks.  Starting last session with a common goal, they finally decided to destroy the meenlocks and make sure they did not come back to the dromites.  With stone shapes it took them two days to finally see where the meenlocks had finally ended up.  Escrow and Roto jumped in first, only to be paralyzed by the creatures.  Luckily, the rest of the group rallied and killed a good number of the foes, especially Bram with his psionic shredding crystals, causing the rest of them to run away.

Some investigation of the space revealed another room with a slain Dromite, which looked as though it was taking on some meenlock qualities.  The group followed the meenlock tracks for some time until the trail was completely lost.  Feeling that the threat to at least the dromites was gone, the PCs returned the next day to the Capital of the Cornwellian Kingdom.  Dreamatar brought with him some new dromite workers for his new plot of land, Roto wrote a report of his faith for Councilman Pullman (councilor of Religious Affairs) and Atreyu decided to pursue research on these creatures, in hopes of understanding them in case they came back.

In the middle of the day, Atreyu was told to assemble his team immediately to a disturbance that was happening in the royal  tombs.  As swiftly as possible everyone was found and ran over to the tomb to see 3 minotaurs running amok.  The PCs did some swift justice, killing two and saving one that had passed out.  And then the horrifying discovery: the tomb of the founding King of the land had been raided and left empty.  Atreyu immediately told the situation to Councilman Hughes, who told him he'd reconvine with the team possibly for witness statements later.  Questioning the lone Minotaur took a while, since Dreamatar decided to let out his anger on the beast with random blows.  Atreyu was finally able to get out that he and his brothers had been hired to merely make a ruckus.  All he could tell was that his employers were from the desert.  The day ended with research, questions, and some old fashioned government cover-up.

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The PCs are slowly getting toward the meat and potatoes of the world, but they haven't discovered what a delicious buffet it is yet.  I'm excited to see where the investigating leads them.  

In other news, I don't know when the next session is going to be considering the first weekend of September is Labor day weekend.  Will there be game?  Who knows.

Recap, Session 2: All together now

Hey all!  Even though I'm trying to do only the first and third weekend of the week for game, I decided to do the first weekend of August so that way we can get the schedule going.

And Dan Eastwood mentioned this, so I don't have to put an annoying IP announcement up!  This of course applies to the work I put into making the campaign:

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When we last left Roto, Atreyu and Escrow they were in the midst of battle with a gang of men blocking the road with arbitrary tolls.  The PCs decided that kicking their asses into shape was the right step, and noticed one exhibiting powers that were not spells, but seemed to be magic. Unfortunately that one got away when the fight was over, along with another man.  They saved one of the fighters from death to get info, and then decided to let him free after they scared him enough.  The trudged along and found the base that Samsana had mentioned.  Two Yuan-ti battled them (one with snakes for arms), but fell.  Trying to question one proved fruitless, and so they killed him for being uncooperative.  The three searched the base, and discovered a secret room to a basement.  In this basement was a chest full of silver and copper that was guarded by a viper.  Escrow talked the viper away from the chest, and after splitting the spoils of war they found a couple letters that seemed to be en route.  Both shared interesting information, but was not sure as to whom each letter was intended.

Meanwhile, the King had hired two more adventures to the group.  Bram was a well adventured professional, a Maenad from their native island.  Dreamatar is a local teamster who has a plethora of useful contacts through his work.  The two had a formal dinner with King Franklin and his family, where they proved to be at least civil enough to work for the crown.

When Roto, Atreyu and Escrow returned they were introduced to their new team members and all awaited to here their next mission.  In the meantime, Dreamatar asked Escrow to use his very recent contacts to obtain a whore from the Jolly Hallow and buy her outright.  After Escrow was succesful in this endeavor, meeting a very strange but seemingly important figure at the Jolly Hallow, Dreamatar explained to the new hireling Jezabel what was and wasn't expected of her.

With that finished, the PCs embarked on their next mission in the northern part of the Cornwellian Kingdom, in the duchy of Garrison.  Immediately they were led through the snow covered plains to the underground domain of the Dromites, small ant-like people who have a hive structure in their subterranean home.  Recent expansions in their hive has caused some strange events to happen.  Workers and dromites living near the site have inexplicably become paralyzed with fear and had many paranoid delusions.  Three of the workers from the site were missing.  Dreamatar gathered some miners to continue some work (in hopes of evening the odds), and the party waited in the small rooms, knowing the incident would happen again.

Within a couple hours the miners were fearful and ran away from the site, and with a perfectly laid trap outside a suspicious hole, they caught one of the creatures and proceeded to shred it to bits.  Atreyu recognized it as a meenlock, and relayed what little information in his dungeoneering research he had discovered.  Quickly, Escrow stone shaped the small hole so the entire party could get through.   Dreamatar had a short, telepathic conversation with them and from that decided the best course of action was to fight.  While he, along with Atreyu and Bram, began to fight with the ones that did not disappear with simple Dimension Door spells, Escrow and Roto began to have thoughts of diplomacy.  Escrow merely walked away from battle, but Roto decided to cast Calm Emotions on the party in hopes of facilitating peaceful talks.  Melee ended quickly thereafter, with an argument following.  Should the meenlocks be killed outright, or are the dromites expanding into the rightful home of the meenlocks?  Roto and Escrow wish to talk things out, Atreyu and Bram wish to defend the dromites from hostile outsiders.

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It was a crazy session this Saturday, with the group in full force and a lot of people anxious to show how awesome their characters were.  We'll see if they destroy the meenlocks outright or not.  Of course, that's not the only thing I have in store for them come next session... what?  I'm not that devious.

Most of the time.  

Recap, Session 1: Meeting (most of) the team

I have decided to post the recaps of my D&D sessions on the blog!  It encourages me to write on the blog a little more, about more than just video games (I'm always afraid this blog talks too much about video games) and it's also a great way to keep track about what happened in the campaign.  I find that as the DM you have to remember what happens in a campaign a lot, partially because your players won't remember the things they need to know later on.  At the same time, as a DM you want to keep some info to yourself before the PCs find it out.  Blabbing would be bad.  So recaps are my solution.

NOTE: ALL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY REGARDING THE DND CAMPAIGN IN THE CORNWELLIAN-VIDRIGEZ UNIVERSE BELONGS TO ME, D20 SAPPHIRE.  THIS INCLUDES NPCS, COUNTRIES, AND ADAPTED CONTENT FOR A D20 RPG.

Feel like I have to post that just in case there are some thieves amongst you honest readers.  Sorry.

Roto, Atreyu, and Escrow (names maybe mispelled) first met each other on an overcast winter day in the Hughes Estate, home to Councilaman Fox Hughes, and his wife, Danancia.  Danacia actually greeted them, a strange sight with her violet hair and a halo over her head, along with being very pregnant.  She greeted the PCs since her husband was busy.  She explained that the Cornwellian Kingdom was concerned of reports of the Yuan-ti starting with organized attacks in the Unconquered Lands, south and west of the Cornwellian sovereign land Ashland.  They would be working for King Franklin Cornwell directly, and were told that the next night they would swear their allegiance with him.

The three decided to try out some of the not so prestigious faire and entertainment, so all three took a visit the the Jolly Hallow, an inn that is really a dirty brothel.  Escrow, a druid dwarf, decided to get information from some of the whores. Atreyu, a secretive half-elf, decided to enjoy the inn.  Cleric of a lesser known god Roto left early out of displeasure of the situation.  Roto and Escrow did join the Hughes for dinner, and only Roto spent the night in the Hughes guest house while Escrow and Atreyu spent the night at the Jolly Hallow, not participating in the obvious extracurriculars.

The next evening the three went to a small affair with King Franklin, his family, the councilman and their families.  All three swore to serve the Cornwellian Kingdom, and enjoyed the evening with great conversation and dancing.

Next day in the morning the PCs used one of the King's Teleport Mavericks to get to Ashland, and after meeting up with their contact in the Greeting's Inn, where they met Samsana, former Yuan-ti fighting partner with Danacia.  She said that she needed to be able to sneak by and see what's going on deeper in the Dangerous Range, where the Yuan-ti are now.  They have been attack her people and their tribes, and now the attacks are more organized than the ones years before.  The PCs were asked to distract the thugs on the road from Samsana sneaking past them, and then investigating a base not far off.  They decided to start the next morning.

Finally, the day of actual kicking butt began.  When they got to the road, Samsana stayed behind to let the PCs serve as the distraction.  And in the midst of a battle where animals were summoned and arrows were shot, things were not as they seemed.  Most seemed like local thugs, but one seemed to have powers that none of the party could recognize...

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And then we realized the library was closing so we had to stop in the middle of battle.  Luckily I have graph paper recording how we left it.  The next session is next week, where we will hopefully have more people and be able to introduce more players to the game.  This is going to be an interesting campaign, and I'm pretty excited to see where it goes.  You readers will of course be hearing more about this.