This is a session log for the game described here: http://tgdmb.com/viewtopic.php?t=53556
Warning for players, both threads will contain spoilers.
Session 1:
This is primarily an introductory game. We don't have all the players, and I haven't been given any character sheet files yet. Though it runs fairly late into the evening, the total amount of time spent on the game is probably something like 2-3 hours.
Currently, there are 2 PCs, Fighter and Wizard.
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Wizard
Wizard was an architect/stonemason from Tyrath, born to a family of skilled artisans. He believes that using”unnatural” means to extend one's life is immoral. At the same time, he really wanted to leave a lasting legacy. After seeing a large number of impressive castles and temples in Tyrathian cities, the architects remembered decades after their deaths, he decided that he wanted to become a famous architect like them. Wizard joined the Stonemason's Guild after doing very well on the admittance exam, and was one of the massive team of artisans that rebuilt the Great Bay Bridge over the course of 5 years. He was praised for his work and received a contract to build a new Tyrathian cathedral as his first solo project.
The cathedral itself was quite impressive, and it came in well under budget. This was thanks to a new source of quarryable stone that Wizard discovered and promptly made use of. Unfortunately, it turned out the quarry had been previously left alone because it lay on ground sacred to another religion. When the latest pilgrimage found that their holy site had been torn apart for building materials, they were furious. Costly lawsuits were brought against the Stonemason's Guild, and it was pretty bad publicity. The Guild decided to recoup its expenses by blacklisting Wizard, taking his license away and prohibiting any Guild workers from taking a contract with him in the future. The guild took his commission, the sizable bonus awarded by the church, and even gave all the positive credit for the structure to one of Wizard's noble-born apprentices (the family of whom had made a large “donation” to the guild recently). Wizard would never be able to work in Tyrath (or take many contracts in Sethis or Archon) again.
Wizard was infuriated. The money was something he could have lived without, but the Guild had barred him from fulfilling his dream over a single mistake. He'd show them just how grievously they had errored when they cast him aside. He would unearth the fabled trident of Ghubalak, create a race of servitor masons superior to any human laborers, and then make works of art that would go unforgotten for a thousand years. And if someone tried to ruin his efforts to build the perfect strongholds and temples again, he'd have the power to stop them.
The cathedral itself was quite impressive, and it came in well under budget. This was thanks to a new source of quarryable stone that Wizard discovered and promptly made use of. Unfortunately, it turned out the quarry had been previously left alone because it lay on ground sacred to another religion. When the latest pilgrimage found that their holy site had been torn apart for building materials, they were furious. Costly lawsuits were brought against the Stonemason's Guild, and it was pretty bad publicity. The Guild decided to recoup its expenses by blacklisting Wizard, taking his license away and prohibiting any Guild workers from taking a contract with him in the future. The guild took his commission, the sizable bonus awarded by the church, and even gave all the positive credit for the structure to one of Wizard's noble-born apprentices (the family of whom had made a large “donation” to the guild recently). Wizard would never be able to work in Tyrath (or take many contracts in Sethis or Archon) again.
Wizard was infuriated. The money was something he could have lived without, but the Guild had barred him from fulfilling his dream over a single mistake. He'd show them just how grievously they had errored when they cast him aside. He would unearth the fabled trident of Ghubalak, create a race of servitor masons superior to any human laborers, and then make works of art that would go unforgotten for a thousand years. And if someone tried to ruin his efforts to build the perfect strongholds and temples again, he'd have the power to stop them.
Fighter
Fighter (played by Akula) is a mercenary from a race of genetically enhanced humans that Ghubalak created midway through his first war against the peoples of northern Tyranis. Fighter is some kind of conspiracy theorist that thinks the world is hiding “the truth” and the power of Ghubilak's trident will let him find “the truth” and possibly reveal it to the world.
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The game begins with the PCs having met up in the Ghubalak Atrocity Memorial, a vast field of grave markers in the mostly barren badlands left over from the depredations of Lich King Ghubalak's undead hordes (before they were stopped by the forces of Archon). Initially, the field of graves was less than a third its present size, dedicated to the victims of the first and second Ghubalak Wars. However, a tradition of adding new markers to commemorate deaths seen as wrongful has grown it to the point that people can easily get lost. Archon paladins and sun priests periodically patrol the area. The Atrocity Memorial attracts the restless spirits of the dead, and the presence of many holy warriors is needed to exorcize them in a timely manner. Archon patrols also look out for people that get lost and/or need help, and take criminals to the Archon garrison for judgment.
Having met around a month ago and completed their various preparations before meeting again here, the party sets out for the Great Bay Bridge. The plan is to cross into the edges of Sethis territory and then into the mountains that separate northern Tyranis from the south, (and Ghubalak's old center of power).
Midway through to the edge of the Memorial, the PCs run into a party of three that includes two of Wizard's old apprentices. One of this group is Fernando Aveil, the young noble that ended up taking the credit for Wizard's cathedral. “That insipid shaggy hair, those putrid purple trousers, you'd know him anywhere. It's your apprentice. That apprentice.” Fernando's companions are a cousin in the Aveil family colors and Walter, who Wizard remembers as a commoner-born apprentice that showed promise when he was involved in the construction of the cathedral. Fernando looks like he has been both drinking and weeping heavily, but he recognizes Wizard.
Fernando calls out to Wizard. “I wasn't aware you had anyone to mourn for. Except your career, I guess.” He laughs, and his cousin eggs him on. Walter winces and distances himself from the group. Wizard just stands there, visibly seething. Fighter gets up in Fernando's face, telling him to watch what he says. Fernando says something about Wizard and/or his companion being jumped-up commoners that didn't deserve success to begin with, and Fighter moves in to grab him. Fernando attempts to cast a spell, but his drunken slur causes a miscast that just turns one of his fingers green. Fighter grapples Fernando, takes his bottle and throws it away, knocks him to the ground, and tells Fernando that if he gives them trouble again, Fighter will cut off one of his fingers. Then the PCs leave.
This encounter was pretty important. I figured that Wizard's apprentice actually felt a fair amount of guilt over taking all the credit for the cathedral, primarily tempered by fear of losing face or suffering grisly vengeance if he opened up to his old master and offered to help. Wizard has a reputation for being really devoted to his architectural projects, seeing them as extensions of himself. Without that to live for, who's to say Wizard won't go psycho or something.
The party encountered him grieving at the grave of a beloved uncle, slain by a beholder left from Ghubalak's armies that had been terrorizing a Tyrathine village when he led a war party to stop it. The party's actions had the potential to turn him into an enemy or an ally. At this point, he could end up a recurring antagonist. The way I presented him, I figured antagonist was more likely, but I was open to diplomatic PCs calling him out and guilt-tripping him into offering his apologies. Walter was planned to leave with a friendly disposition to the group as long as the PCs didn't turn the social encounter into actual combat. He's a commoner too, after all. And Fernando was making an ass of himself.
The party encountered him grieving at the grave of a beloved uncle, slain by a beholder left from Ghubalak's armies that had been terrorizing a Tyrathine village when he led a war party to stop it. The party's actions had the potential to turn him into an enemy or an ally. At this point, he could end up a recurring antagonist. The way I presented him, I figured antagonist was more likely, but I was open to diplomatic PCs calling him out and guilt-tripping him into offering his apologies. Walter was planned to leave with a friendly disposition to the group as long as the PCs didn't turn the social encounter into actual combat. He's a commoner too, after all. And Fernando was making an ass of himself.
Fighter questions his right to arrest them, pointing out that Archon is in charge here. The retainer responds that this is why he is putting them under citizen's arrest, and letting the Archon authorities figure out what to do once everyone is at the garrison. Wizard claims that Fernando was drunk and foolish, and that he'll regret giving these orders when he is sober, so the retainer should disregard them for Fernando's sake. The retainer looks a little swayed, but says that he has an obligation to follow orders even if he personally thinks they might be made in error. Wizard claims that Fernando will look really bad if this matter goes to the authorities, and in case it turns out that Wizard was mistaken, he'll give the retainer 30 gold pieces and his signet ring, which should let the retainer track down Wizard later and actually have a good chance of bringing the PCs in. “This is not a bribe” was used to introduce the offer. The retainer is convinced, and he tells them he saw their trail go off the main path, then decided it would be better to go back and make sure his master was protected from further menaces than get lost chasing (possibly literal) ghosts. The deal made, the PCs continue on.
Now in sight of the Great Bay Bridge, Fighter and Wizard begin to argue about the validity of their respective reasons for wanting Ghubalak's trident, and how they'll be able to reconcile each other's goals once the trident is in their possession. Eventually, they decide that Fighter's agenda might require the construction of cult compounds, and that Wizard can scratch his architectural itch by designing the best compounds and flying doom castles ever. Then Fighter can use them in his quest for “the truth”.
They get through Archon customs without incident, and are glad that they no longer have to worry about being asked their business under truth spells. Archon is the only major state without laws protecting people from having those kinds of divinations used on them without documented reason for suspicion. The Archonese claim it is primarily to keep necromancers from sneaking into the Atrocity Memorial and raising havoc, but people have been caught for other crimes through casual use of lie detection magic by authorities. There have been cells of Ghubalak cultists exposed through such means in the past.
I think that airships are going to get added to the setting as technology advances through trade with a technologically advanced state that sent emissaries through an ancient magical portal and met the rest of this setting. Once airports become a thing, I will probably have to do something with the Archon Transportation Security Service. You never know when one of those sneaky necromancers will try to bring one or more bones onto a flight. Gotta search everyone to be sure of public safety.
I get tempted to introduce a clearly villainous NPC with an “art is everything” attitude reminiscent of Wizard's in a later session. Probably a vampire Gore Painter ( http://www.tgdmb.com/viewtopic.php?t=53088 ). I mention the idea to Akula at some point.
The only engraving to get actual screen time is a Chogath work. It depicts a Sethisian Venom Knight battling an amorphous monster covered in eyes and mouths. The Venom Knight in question was a roaming hero who fought evil in the name of the World Serpent. An ancient sealed well near a Gabulk village had been cracked, letting out a poisonous miasma that drove victims violently insane. It was like 28 Days Later, but with amphibious lizardpeople in a swamp. The monster that was the source of the miasma struggled to free itself, further cracking the well and letting its poison spread over an increasingly wide area. Hundreds of civilian deaths threatened to balloon into thousands, and the local militia only able to venture into the infected areas under layered magical protection. Venom Knight Khirasa was the exception. Immune to the harmful effects of all poisons, she scouted the murk, located and resupplied the few pockets of survivors, and eventually managed to weaken the monster that caused the whole mess enough to defeat it in open battle.
There was some debate over Khirasa getting commemorated with the annual Great Bay Bridge engraving. Few disputed that her deeds deserved it, but many feel that certain Gabulk groups went too far in showing support for their hero. One band of notorious lizardfolk pirates, the Azure Claw Raiders, made a public statement threatening to attack villages belonging to nations whose representatives voted for other candidates. Some feel that Khirasa should have been disqualified to show that the Senate will not accede to terrorist demands. One can still find coffeehouse debates over whether such a political action would have been a good idea.
The Venom Knight fighting a notshoggoth is actually an example of a nefarious monster that was not created by or affiliated with Ghubalak. The Great Marshes are filled with horrors from ages past. It's the place to go if you want Mister Cavern to rip off Lovecraft stories blatantly. If the Trident turns out to be super-old, I might tie it in with some of the eldritch abominations in the swamps, but they definitely didn't have anything to do with Ghubalak himself in any of his incarnations.
Sethis customs ask the PCs a few basic questions and cast a divination spell over people in blocks of a few dozen at a time to make sure nobody is carrying in a Bane Venom Talisman or anything. Then they are let into Sethis. Both border crossings went quickly and easily, but the bridge was long and it is now evening. Fortunately, there's a town only minutes away from the Sethis side of the Great Bay Bridge. The gates are held open for travelers, and the party goes in with the rest, aware that immediately setting out cross-country could draw attention they don't want.
When offered the choice between going to the lodgings on the brochure the PCs got after paying the gate tax, camping on the streets, or wandering through random alleys after dark asking people for directions to a cheap inn (about which a few jokes are made), the party opts for the former. They find the Blackscale Hotel fairly easily, it is close to the gate they entered through. The hotel is a multi-story building that is well-decorated in a distinctly Sethisian style. There are many other travelers staying their, and the party gets the idea that this place is semi-fancy, but priced affordably enough to get repeat custom from tourists. At dinner Wizard takes note of an array of paintings that seem subtly off contrasted with the more traditionally Sethisian bronze and green cloth furnishings. He asks, and it turns out the son of the proprietor is an aspiring artist. He's sold a few paintings to other places, though he's still working on technique. They are hoping to get his work displayed at an Archon gallery across the bay in a month or so.
The PCs retire to their room, marvel that the second floor actually has running water thanks to a pump system, and go to sleep. Around midnight, Wizard wakes up to some scratching at the window and sees a pair of green eyes staring at him. They vanish when he glances somewhere else. Wizard becomes worried that a trap or ambush awaits. He goes to the window, carefully looks out, but does not open it. As he bobs his head from side to side to get as wide a view outside as possible, he sees a decorative wrought iron balcony, which looks too fragile to support a human's weight. The window doesn't even open wide enough to let someone walk out. No obvious signs of the eyes, but there's something shiny on the edge of another balcony a little to the left. Wizard wakes up Fighter and asks him to investigate. Fighter opens the window and startles a cat-sized creature, which falls on his head, yowls, and bounds away, fleeing rapidly. Fighter grabs the shiny thing, which turns out to be a glowing scale the size of a fingernail.
The creature was an ordinary feral cat that had grown some scales after drinking potion runoff from an alchemist's workshop.
In the morning, the PCs are notified that there's a letter for Wizard. He investigates it for traps, and opens it after he finds none. The letter was addressed to Wizard at the Blackscale Hotel, and Mister Cavern mentions they probably wouldn't have gotten it if they hadn't stayed at the standard place for travelers. It turns out that the envelope contains both the signet ring he gave to that Aveil retainer and a note saying that Wizard was right about Fernando not wanting to pursue the matter of the assault after he sobered up. The signature of the man-at-arms is illegible. Wizard put his signet back on happily, and both PCs agree that this guy is cool even if his master is a jerk.
Wizard neglects to check for magic on his ring. Like a spell that would let a noble wizard he offended track him with scrying magic. Ha. Ha. Not sure if I'll go through with it, but it would fill in a slight plothole I just realized about the man-at-arms possibly guessing where Wizard was traveling to. I don't remember how much detail Wizard used when he said where he was going if the retainer needed to pursue.
Mister Cavern describes something like an Eberron dolgaunt, but with 4 tentacles, dressed in only a pair of ragged brown trousers. The maggotlike cilia covering its pale body writhe as its eyeless face stares in their direction. The aberration speaks to them in a strange language they don't understand. Fighter responds by asking if it speaks Common. The aberration pauses, says a couple more words, then bolts into the foliage to one side of the path. (Wizard's player hypothesizes that this has something to do with the “magic cat”, but changes his mind when fighter points out that 10 in-game days separate the 2 encounters.)
Somewhat surprising Mister Cavern, the PCs opt to chase after it. The aberration moves with uncanny agility, leaping over boulders and fallen tree trunks, dodging to the sides of thickets, and generally gaining ground. Then it turns onto a game trail and jogs, and the PCs begin to catch up. This continues for a couple minutes, but the creature stops short right before before the path opens into a clearing with a few buildings in it. The PCs see it dive into the bushes again, but this time, there is no trail to follow when the PCs catch up. Either the aberration is hiding, or it pulled some other trick it hadn't displayed before.
The air smells like death. Fighter's memories and senses tell him there are corpses nearby which have had at least a week to decay. Fighter decides to investigate the clearing, and Wizard agrees. There are three thatched cottages, no more than 7 or 8 feet tall each. As Fighter steps forward for a better look, he gets caught in a nearly invisible web of silk that covers the entrance to the clearing. Entangled, he cannot effectively use many of his maneuvers and stances. As he and Wizard struggle to free him from the web, they hear a monstrous chittering from the clearing ahead. A doglike monster covered in long black quills (Howler) steps out from between 2 cottages and howls at them as Fighter gets loose. Wizard fails his save, and begins to take Wisdom damage from a magical curse attached to the sound (hourly saves, so not a huge deal until the end of the fight). Shaken, he almost shuts down and stops acting before Fighter shouts at him to focus.
Wizard casts a web at the howler, but it makes its save and bounds a little closer so the web is strung between the cottages behind it. Fighter charges (fancy stance active), rolls 1 on perception, and hits a web tripwire that triggers a swinging tree trunk that hits him for a bunch of damage and interrupts his attack. The Howler moves in and attacks fighter, but not very effectively. Wizard casts Haste, giving both PCs a boost. Fighter hits the howler a couple times (gets a trip attempt from stance, but the howler has a really high CMD), taking damage from the spines but not letting them stick in him and break off.
Both PCs make the Perception check to see a purple head (Ettercap) peeking out from behind another house. The howler leaps up and onto a house, provoking a successful attack of opportunity from Fighter. It howls again to little real effect. Wizard circles around the houses in the opposite direction he saw the head from, and Fighter uses 2 maneuvers to set his sword ablaze with magical flame and do a leap attack that puts him on the roof with the howler, where he finishes it off with a fourth attack.
Wizard spots and avoids 2 nasty web-based traps, but is surprised when he comes face to face with the ettercap, which had a similar idea to him. It lunges forward, and he dodges the claws only to get bitten and fail his save against the poison. They struggle for a little bit, but the ettercap abruptly pulls away as Wizard feels something fall onto his neck. Wizard tries to brush it off, but the hand-sized spider bites him and he fails a save versus another flavor of poison. Fighter jumps down and finishes off the ettercap.
The party searches the area, but Fighter does most of the strenuous stuff, giving Wizard a dose of antitoxin to help deal with 2 of the sources of ability damage that currently afflict him. It looks like there was a small family of humans here. The bodies are all part-eaten. There's a small pile of treasure the ettercap rigged with an acid trap that leaves only an enchanted dagger unmelted and a number of drawings on the walls showing the happy family. About half of them have a hill giant sized grey-skinned monster with a huge maw and multiple yellow eyes dotting its head in the background, lurking among the trees. Fighter's player gets excited. When he and Wizard pool their knowledge, they know that grey renders were an experiment in creating monsters to act as bodyguards by Ghubalak. The creatures were a partial success, but they sometimes bonded to the wrong things or went violently insane.
The PCs decide to camp in the clearing. Fighter buries the bodies, Wizard prepares a fire in the firepit. That night, the weird dolgaunt from before shows up, slipping through Wizard's Alarm spell and almost seeming to suddenly materialize on the other side of their campfire. It offers them an amulet in the shape of a stylized golden trident. They accept, it leaves, and the PCs pool their knowledge again. It looks like the cults of Ghubalak don't always agree with each other. There are lots of cells with enough differences that they spend more time fighting each other than working to revive their dark lord. The amulet looks different enough than a standard symbol that it probably belongs to a cult with nonstandard beliefs.
In the morning, Wizard identifies the stuff:
- +1 Keen Shocking dagger
- Amulet of Resistance +2, Continual Nondetection effect, 2 mysterious spell effects that use up charges in the amulet when triggered.
Next night, the session ends with an actual grey render showing up, as per Grek's idea.
Grek wrote:The party starts out on the border of the province in question, camped a few days travel from the big bridge at the border. Out of nowhere, a nine-foot tall monster with six yellow eyes wanders into their camp covered in blood carrying a half deer. It starts crooning at them and places the deer by the fire. If they attack, it flees back into the forest. It turns out that they have a friendly grey render trying to give them presents. It comes back each night with more bloody meat.
Considering having the grey render's loyalty attached the amulet possessors. The family had the amulet, and now the grey render wants to protect the PCs since they have it. Not sure whether go with this idea or not.
