Re: Digger's AD&D

[Renny]

Awesome write up, Hiss. Sorry I missed it but at least I know what's occurred.

[kevinrolfe]

"Rogar bravely fought the beast single handedly".. Brother Armitage was behind you shouting hit the silly cow

[rogartheranger]

Have you ever had one of those days where you’ve been feeling exceptionally pleased with yourself for accomplishing a difficult feat only to then find that the rug has been pulled from under your feet to leave you red faced and empty handed? Well I have, and this just so happened at the beginning of our recent AD&D gaming session on 20th April. Having just brought the other party-members up to speed regarding the ‘triumphant’ events of the previous session, (the one where Rogar secured the next shield-gem from the Minotaurs), the following dialogue exchange then took place:-

Rogar: “....so I threw in the Dwarven statuette as an offering to the deity residing within the lava pit, which in turn caused a giant pillar of molten magma to erupt, and solidify into a giant stone fist. Clenched within its grasp was a gemstone shaped in the form of a deers’ head. Having retrieved the gem, (which we believed to be the next shield gem – of Lightning Bolt) we then retreated back out of the pit to find ourselves ambushed by a group of minotaurs....."

Canonfoder: “Hang on a minute, you’re telling me that you threw away ‘my’ dwarven statuette, which was one of our shield gems!?”

Rogar: (confused look) “What do you mean it was a shield gem? The only shield gem I was aware that we possessed was the gem of water breathing which we had located in Koshens Keep?”

Canonfoder: “No the dwarven statuette was a shield gem too.” (at which point our DM gives me a satisfied nod to confirm this...bastard )

Rogar: “So you mean to say that we gave away a shield gem and then received another one in return?”

DM: “No, what shield gem would that be? “

Rogar: “The one shaped like a deers head.”

DM: “Have you verified this?”

Rogar: “Err, well no, we didn’t have any magic-user PCs with us last session and Kevin had already used-up most of his clerical spell-points, so we were drawing upon the conclusions you were pointing us to that this was the next shield gem – and the presence of the Minotaurs clearly indicated that we were in Yatem where it was rumoured that the gem of Lightning Bolt was hidden?”

(Cannonfoder at this point helpfully casts Detect Magic on the Deers Head gem – which sadly radiates no magical energies. It’s just an ordinary gem stone)

DM: (Dm hint time): “Think, what race does a deer’s-head represent?.....Elves?....Drow!”

At which point the penny finally dropped. With a sickening realisation I now knew that we had just been set-up by the Drow, Greldak and the Orcs, who had joined forces to deceive us into following a fruitless trail (unheeded) into the Black Mountains, (courtesy of Mr Skaggs), that would lead us towards the ‘lava pit’ where an elaborate illusion had awaited us, with the bubbling lava and the stone-fist (yep – the Minoauturs were fake too and we were not in Yatem either) to entice the party into unwittingly giving-up a shield-gem in return for a fake, and then leaving the mines to continue upon our quest none-the-wiser for having assisted the enemy!!! The DM was looking decidedly smug at this point at how devious he had been, and the poor old party were now left empty handed in the company of one seriously fuming Ranger.

Now if you’ve ever wondered how an 8th level Ranger reacts when he’s having a bad day such as this one, then look no further then my bad-ass account of the ‘Revenge of Rogar’:-

With an abrupt ‘about-heel’, Rogar charged back into the Minotaurs lair, to find the room deserted with no visible sign of any trace of the lava-pit which had clearly been an illusion. Having cast ‘stone-skin’ on the Ranger, and ‘Haste’ upon the whole party, Canonfoder then used’ Locate Object’ to pinpoint that our stolen shield gem was now moving away up one of the nearby passageways. Rogar wasted no time sprinting off in hot pursuit, leaving the other PCs standing in his wake. Fuelled by blind rage, Rogar dashed up a winding stairwell until he caught sight of a grey skinned figure running ahead of him. This was clearly a Drow, but undeterred from the danger he faced Rogar nimbly kept pace, using his stealth to gain ground on his quarry without being detected. By the time the Drow became aware of his presence, it was already too late! With a roar of fury, Rogar’s blade swung forth cutting the Drow down with a double blow, (slash: 24 points of damage). As the Drow hit the deck, Rogar spied an object fall out of its grasp. Recognising this as our stolen shield-gem, he leapt forth and retrieved it. The Drow used this distraction to clamber to its feet and, snarling with rage, it drew forth a black, envenomed blade, which it threw at the Ranger with pinpoint accuracy – only to bounce off his ‘stoneskin’ leaving Rogar unscathed! Opting to resort to spellcasting, the Drow then began to chant, but by this point it was far too late. There were going to be no second chances with the mightily pissed-off Rogar on this occasion, and having won the initiative he unleashed 3 mighty blows for a further 43 points of damage. With its attempt at spell-casting now wasted, the drow was doomed, and Rogar wasted no time in finished off his prey with another 23 points of damage. Final score; Rogar 90 : The Drow: 0. The two clear morals of this story: If it’s too good to be true it probably is, and that hell hath no fury like a Ranger scorned.

Once the other party-members had caught up, we proceeded to search the body of the Drow to find a spider shaped pendant (made of a black metal) with a red-gemstone set within its thorax, together with the dagger – both of which radiated evil energies. Despite the temptations proffered by the DM, Rogar decided to cast away these artifacts into the pit.

It was at that this point that the PCs were joined on their travels by a wandering Halfling thief, who had been seeking his fortune beneath the Black Mountains. Joining forces, we decided to follow the trail used by the Drow to find out what sort of reception committee awaited him. Canonfoder cast Invisibility 10’foot radius upon the Party, and we then stealthily crept up the passageway. After a short-distance the tunnel opened out into large cavern where a group of about a dozen or so Orcs lurked. Listening into the their conversation, we realised that these were Black Hand Orcs led by none-other then the chieftain we had been seeking – Melgrim. Clearly suspicious that his Drow ally had not yet returned, he sent two Orc runners to investigate. Unaware of the PCs presence the two Orcs ran straight past where the players were lurking and down into the passageway from whence we had come. Realising that we only had a few minutes to spare before they located the dead body of the drow, the PCs swung into action. Our magic-users agreed to simultaneously cast the spells fireball and hold-person, which they unleashed amongst the unsuspecting Orcs. Although Melgrim successfully resisted the Hold Person Spell, the effects of the Fireball unleashed hell and incinerated many of his bodyguards. Fearing for his life, Melgrim fled up a giant stone stairway, calling upon his reinforcements to finish us off. Those Orcs that had managed to survive the effects of the fireball, moved to attack the PCs but weakened from their ordeal they stood little chance before the might of Rogar whose berserker fury proved too much for them to handle. Meanwhile, the two Orc runners (having discovered the body of the drow), returned to warn their chieftain only to find a waiting reception committee of PCs standing amongst the carnage of the char-grilled Orc carcases. Their defiance was short-lived and within a few rounds they soon they lay dead before us.

However, this victory was short-lived as from high up-above their came the battle-cries of an Orc-horde numbering in the region of 150 warriors – all of whom were now stampeding down the great stone-stairway intent on killing us!! Rogar certainly wasn’t bothered by the odds and proffered a verbal challenge to the cowardly Orc chieftain to come down and face him in single combat. His challenge unanswered, Rogar vowed to cut a path through every Orc warrior until the mountains rang with the screams of his dying foes, (nb: Orcs are his ‘species-enemy’ don't you know)!! Turning their attention to the incoming Orc forces, our resident magic-users and thief derived a cunning plan to quickly swing the battle back in our favour. Discreetly casting the ‘grease’ spell upon part of the great stairwell and also setting-up a trip-wire nearby, we waited for the Orc-hordes to charge-down the stairwell into a partially concealed tunnel, and straight out into our trap! The consequences were devastating as scores of Orcs tripped on the rope, slid-upon the greased causeway, and collided with one-another – all with the inevitable result of then falling pitifully to their deaths in the deep chasm below!!!! We estimated that only 30 Orcs survived the trap, and their ordeal was far from over as they then found themselves facing off against a skeleton-army – conjured up in our hour of need by Canonfoder which soon held them at bay.

Then from high up-above the cavern came a mighty roar as hundreds more Orc reinforcements came charging down to fight us. With our magic-powers nearly spent, we opted for a heroic retreat back down the passageway towards the ‘minotaur-lair/pit’, and from there to retrace our steps back to where we had started this session - where we hoped would be an exit from the mountains. Our survival instincts proved well-founded and unheeded by any further ambushes we emerged from the Black Mountains-into the cool midnight air (now on the Western side of Llanos Celyn – near the Razcan Empire) with the sound of Orc boots hot in pursuit. Rogar cast “pass-without-trace” upon the party, and we then moved to a higher vantage point where we could rest-up safe from the Orc search-parties which moved down the mountain towards the settlement of March. We spent the next few days resting up whilst the Orcs fruitlessly searched for us, until finally (when day-broke) we agreed to move from our hiding place and carefully navigate our way down the mountainside, choosing to keep off the path and skirt round the settlement of March so as not to alert any spies to our whereabouts. The gaming session ended as we successfully cleared the borders of March, and found ourselves nearing a rocky outcropping on which stood the remains of a mysterious stone-table. Carved into the table was an ancient engraving which we ominously translated as “Lichfield”.....(to be continued)

[Renny]

Neat write up Chris. Excellent way to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

[Renny]

Oh, and i'm back next session

[Digger]

Hurrah!

Well Done Chris!

D.

[Renny]

Take a seat. Here's my extensive write up of the last session. Warning! There may be some sarcasm!

Tramathar was on watch when he heard someone creeping around the ruins of Lichfield Keep. He woke the others who complained mightily. We crept around a bit until discovering that the intruder was a lad from the village doing a bit of pilfering. We sent him on his way. We explored the keep a bit until we got into the great hall where we found a dried corpse tied up in spider webs. We prodded the webs until a bunch of small, poisonous spiders came after us . We were then attacked by a hybrid spider-wight creature who was most unpleasant. Canon Fodder cast some useful spells to make the part more effective. Rogar took some (alright, quite a lot) damage and ran away. Tramathar and Bron goaded Rogar until he came back. Tramathar inflicted some damage on the spider-wight. Tramathar was then paralysed by the spider-wight. Rogar realised that due to his awesome arsenal of magic doo-dads he was nigh-invulnerable and then thumped the spider-wight who promptly died. Canon Fodder kindly released Tramathar from his paralysis. We realised that the Wight had taken residence and sent Lord Lichfield and his retinue packing. We now apparently have a keep, which although a bit of a fixer-upper, is a nice little place.

[Digger]

Excellent - Short and sweet; straight to the point!

Please accept a bonus 2,000 XP

Speak Soon

D.

[Renny]

Well, I wasn't after the Xp but accepted, gladly.

[Renny]

I believe i'm right in saying that tomorrow night is AD&D. Perhaps Mr D can confirm?

[Renny]

As Zen would say, ++CONFIRMED++.

[rogartheranger]

Look forward to seeing you all there. Russ do you need a lift?

[Great Teufel]

Look forward to seeing you all there. Russ do you need a lift?

Please.

[Digger]

Don't forget guys, bring you chilli spoons and spare underwear! It's a hot one - Although cooling beer will be available for the weak of stomach!

[kevinrolfe]

i am going to try and get to you, but cannot promise anything don't wait for me.

[Digger]

Great game guys! Really enjoyed last night; the picture is starting to clear in Llanos Celyn, the evil forces are almost ready to strike.

Now is the time for action, but what to do. . . . . .

[Renny]

Being a meandering retelling of the misadventures of our ragged band in the last two sessions -

So, having acquired a Keep, the party began to explore their new acquisition. It is not long before Tramathar discovers that the Wight has left behind more than a bunch of spider webs. Several large eggs are found in what was once the wine cellar, holding more of the loathsome creatures. The party reasonably decide to do a bit of remodelling by torching the wine cellar and all contents thereof. Having dealt with this latest incursion, although being uncomfortably aware that one of the eggs may be missing, the party are made aware by the nearby villagers that a group of armed men, consisting of two knights and assorted men at arms are asking for them in the village. The group have the villagers send the knights to the keep where they are greeted with all possible civility. This is until the knights become disparaging about the peasants in the village. At this point our noble band sent them packing with some well placed threats, harsh words and a few arrows. All the party learned was that the Razcan Emperor wanted them to carry out some task but declined to learn more due to the Knights delivering the message being gits.

Canon Foder felt that the group had been a little unfair and decided to pursue the knights and placate them with an apology. The rest of the party followed at a discreet distance i.e. out of bowshot. It took only a minute for the Canon to learn that the group's initial conclusion had been correct and the knights were, in fact, enormous gits. The party, having made arrangements with the villagers to maintain the Keep, shadowed the knights for a while before finding an appropriate spot in which to waylay them in effort to learn more of their true intentions. True to form the Knights ignored our admittedly half-hearted diplomatic overtures and the fight was on. Bron the Barbarian attacked the group of men-at-arms and wreaked bloody havoc amongst the pike and bowmen. The remainder of the group fought hand-to-hand with the two Knights. The leader of the two was soon brought to the ground by a cleaving blow from Foder which lightened his knightly load to the tune of one leg. As Tramathar fought to finish the brute, the Knight revealed his true Vampiric form and charmed the half elf into turning on the good Canon. Thus distracted, the Canon was unable to finish the bloodsucker while he regenerated the formidable damage caused by Tramathar's lightning wand. The second Knight stood over his liege lord, protecting him. Tramathar regained his senses long enough to attempt to move the second Knight but the Vampire turned to mist before he could be dispatched for good. The remaining Knight was dispatched by a spell from Foder and the men-at-arms had fled into the woods, pursued by a bloodied Bron. The barbarian caught a captive who readily told the part that the Vampire was in fact the Baron, highly placed in the Razcan Empire and close ally of an old enemy, Father Slinkus who seems to be behind the Emperors throne.

After some debate, the group headed for Razcan and came across a newly crafted transport stone which deposited them a mere two days from Razcan itself. Stopping at a waystation, the group talked with a friendly barman while Bron managed to spend all of his cash on a posh bed for the night. The group learned that the newly crowned Emperor had brought order and efficiency to the Empire in many ways, although fear of the ruling order was also evident. The group resolved to proceed onwards to Razcan.

[Digger]

Excellent Steve - Please can you put a link on the Facebook page and award yourself 5,000 XP

Hope you enjoyed last night as much as I did!

[Renny]

Will do. Had a very enjoyable evening, thank you.

[Digger]

Don't forget chaps - AD&D is on again this Tuesday - Chilli and beer provided!

D.

[Renny]

The party signed up with a caravan heading for Razkan to provide additional protection for the weary merchants. The trip into Razkan was uneventful apart from the sight of all the moldering corpses hanging from gibbets along the roadside, warning travellers of the penalty for crimes great and small. Once in Razkan, the caravan leader advised the group to lodge in the Eastern quarter as strangers were more welcome there. The group first checked the public noticeboards in the market square and realised that every crime was punishable by death, pretty much. Having found appropriate lodging, the group headed for the arena to watch the pointless slaughter of petty criminals. Much like the roman colisseum, a baying crowd watched criminals put to death in brutal ways. Firstly the group watched a high placed assassin despatch one poor unfortunate and then a sergeant of arms killed another with an axe. The atmosphere was more WWF than Ridley Scott. The remaining miscreants were then done in by various wild beasts. During the show, we noted someone unidentifiable using the Emperor's box. Once the show was over, the group left the arena but on the way out, Bron was accosted by a member of the secret police force who didn't take kindly to the towering barabarians Simon Cowell - like assessment of the evening's entertainment. Bron silenced him quickly, acquiring the poor fellow's credentials and possessions in the process. Once back in the room, the group resolved to approach the arena manager and offer to supply unusual beasts for the shows. In this way, they hoped eventuaklly to gain favour with the Emperor and access to his inner circle. After some discussion with the manager, the group agreed to supply some giant scorpions, a hydra and eventually a t-rex to replace the arena's current elderly sample. The manager agreed terms and supplied some storage space in the arena. With this in place, the group left and resolved to acquire the specimens within the next two days. Tramathar will use monster summoning to produce the hydra and scorpions, although the t-rex will require a more traditional field trip. Watch this space.

[Digger]

Excellent as always - Please award yourself 2,000 XP

D.

[kevinrolfe]

sorry i got your email a day too late and didn't realise

[Renny]

Are we gaming tomorrow night as usual?

[Digger]

Unfortunately I am in Scotland this week, but can do the 31st if people are up for it. Can you ask them Steve as I only have blackberry access at the moment. Apologies to all. Digger.

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