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Day Two

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After defeating the advance patrol of dwarves, Sergeant Kothvan and his squad line up and prepare to attack more dwarves. Eight of them walk down the road and stop in a line. They are holding strange tubes. The Mezhen soldiers charged them. One dwarf fell to the ground dead.

But then, the dwarves pointed their tubes at the attackers. They each squeezed a small lever. Suddenly loud bangs and plumes of smoke erupted from the tubes. To their amazement, the Mezhen soldiers found themselves hurt and bleeding. They looked at all of their comrades. Some were actually dead. Sergeant Kothvan ordered a retreat.

They managed to escape, but were completely separated from the army. They healed their wounds and walked back to the bridge towards Mezhen. Then they left the road and traveled to Little Mezhen. They planned on trying to evacuate the villagers.

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Instead, they found that the remnants of the army were already there. With the help of Sergeant Kothvan pulling rank, they managed to speak with the commanding officer. He said that the dwarven army was camped on the hill to the south of Mezhen. They planned on attacking the hill from the south and bringing the fight to the enemy from behind.

He ordered Sergeant Kothvan to find a unit rejoin the ranks. He ordered the other five to utilize the aqueduct connecting the city with the river to get behind the walls. The Mezhen army wants the secret of the dwarves strange and powerful weapons. He expects that by the time they enter the city, the dwarves will have breached the walls. Their mission is to acquire some of those weapons.

The group spent some time in the town of Little Mezhen honing their skills (spending experience points) after which they hit the road. They arrived at the entrance to the aqueduct without any trouble. They climbed inside and walked to the end where it entered the city.

It was too dark to see anything, but they did encounter six dwarves guarding the entrance. They fought in the dark. Two dwarves were thrown into the water by a sorcerous wave of water. One drowned, but the other escaped into the city. Another dwarf escaped down the tunnel. The others were slain by the soldiers.

Day One

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War has broken out in the nation of Renölm Sech to the East. The nomadic race of dwarves living there have conquered the City-State and are raiding the towns and villages.

As citizens of the nation of Mezhen, every able bodied man and woman has been called to duty. Five people from the village of Little Mezhen (just ten miles south of the City-State) have been taken from their homes by the Conscription Agents. They were taken to the City-State to the north.

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The next day, they arrived in Mezhen and started training. They were assigned to Sergeant Kothvan's squad. Thirty days passed as they were trained. They learned some basic fighting skills. They were given equipment and uniforms. Those five people are:

Attrina, trained as a woodswoman
Sohlost, trained as a priest of Nozhomo
Nematzvet, trained in several skills (Vagrant)
Rowan, trained in Sorcery and Spellcraft
Zhovoa, trained as a mercenary

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The training period was over and these five people joined the Mezhen army. That very day, the army was sent into Renölm Sech. They marched for only ten miles before they ran into a contingent of dwarves. Sergeant Kothvan's squad was put in the front with many other squads.

A squad of eight dwarves approached the Mezhen line and was soon decimated. Kothvan ordered his people to gather up, receive healing and form a line again. There were more dwarves coming.

Day Fourteen

(Continued from the previous entry)

Hilda ate a bean and suddenly shrunk down to half her size. We found a secret door that led into a hallway that was only 3' x 2'. The rest of us ate beans and we entered the hallway. Whilst exploring it, we were attacked by three clockwork rats, but easily defeated them.

The hallway took us to a room with a toy gatehouse in it. Standing before it were four ogres of different colors. We noticed that we had returned to normal size. We approached the table that the toys were on. We then heard the green ogre say that Yellow was not first. The pink ogre said that green is between pink and yellow. Then white said that pink is between green and white. The yellow ogre said that we must choose an order quickly, do not touch and we will avoid a fight.

We figured out the puzzle and Solathis spoke the order aloud. White, Pink, Green, Yellow.

The roof of the toy gatehouse opened up. Inside we found a blue key. We found a secret door that took us back to the very first room of this tomb. We walked back to the god room. Laranthir placed his lock picks in the bowl in front of the god of thieves. He received a +4 bonus to his Dex. Hilda put a piece of armor in the bowl before the god of strength and received +4 to her Strength. Vikathra placed her morningstar in the bowl in front of the god of slaughter and was cursed. Tambar removed the curse.

Vikathra then removed the lock picks from the bowl and put them back in. She received the bonus. Everyone else did the same and got the bonus. Hilda tried it too, but did not receive a bonus.

Next, we went to the Blue door that had sprayed acid on us. We put the blue key in the keyhole and a secret door opened to our right. We entered this room, opened a door and found a room filled with various bits of equipment including Solathis's ring, weapons, armor and a climber's kit.

We went back to the room with the coin puzzle and the red sphere. We found a secret door in the alcove to the north. Laranthir and Solathis walked down the hallway. It ended in a dead end, but when they were within five feet of the end, gravity reversed and they fell thirty feet upwards into a shaft in the ceiling. There was a door to the east here. Tambar walked over to the edge of the gravity reversal field and threw an end of his rope up into the pit. Laranthir tied the climbing equipment to it and Tambar hauled it up. He attached a piton to the wall, tied the rope to it and we all climbed up into the pit.

We took the door into a room. On the east wall was a carving. It was a box divided into a 6x5 grid.

Y S T S A
U G H I N
T U I S E
O N Y S A
I T P U Z
S I E L Z

We figured it out pretty quickly. We followed the letters in a strange way and read the phrase, "This is an easy puzzle is it not you guys."

After saying the phrase aloud, the letter blocks recessed into the wall and slid aside to reveal a shelf. On the shelf were a sword and a book. The cleric cast Detect Magic. Only the sword was magical. The bard picked it up and was overwhelmed by feelings of sadness and melancholy. The cleric picked up the book. It had many pages, all of which were blank except for the first one. It read:

This sword is a reaper of evil (+5 to hit, +10 vs evil creatures, INT 18, EGO 18), a weapon placed on this plane to demolish the foes of good and order. It can turn undead 3 times per day as a 15th level cleric, it can cure disease with a touch, and it can allow the user direct contact with whatever good deity he or she worships, once per year. Sadly, however, it behaved in Yeager's hands as a mere longsword +1, as it is currently in a state of catatonia. Upon claiming this weapon from a dragon's hoard, he used the blade to fell a skunk, remove dragon poo from his shoes and clear a path through a field of bile-weeds. After the sword fully ascertained that this warrior was the last person on earth who should be allowed near magical items, it attempted to leap from his grasp, accidentally ending the life of a rather saintly monk who was picking flowers nearby. It is believed that the sword will need years of therapy or a miracle to return to its full strength.

We returned to the cistern. The soldiers were done piling up bodies. The corpse piles had been burned and were now smoldering. We spoke to some of the guards briefly, telling most of the tale of what happened. We spoke of Victor, puzzles and traps, but did not mention the holy weapon we had claimed. We returned to the city and found an inn. We ate, drank and rested.

(And so ends the chapter of Jeff's Campaign "Lost in Sembia." This campaign will be put on hold to give Jeff a break. Jim will start his new game in a few weeks time when our personal lives have settled down and we have a moment's peace in which to game.)

Day Thirteen

Immediately after the battle, reinforcements arrived to relieve us. We heard that the fighting was worse at the West gate. They had hill giants over there helping the other enemy soldiers, but they fought them all off. There was no news of the fighing underground at the cistern. We decided to head down there to check on Victor.

We went to the guard house in the middle of town and headed down to the cistern. The cistern was a large pool of water in a massive cavern. There were dead kobolds everywhere. We asked a guard for news of Victor. He said that he was there and fighting. He said that we need to be careful down here, he thought he saw Drow casting spells at them, but he is not sure. The guard mentioned that he spoke of Froderick's Tomb being down here. That there was a sacred treasure inside. Froderick was a thief that set up tombs all over the world that have treasure. He said that when he mentioned that there may be a treasure of the gods there, Victor demanded to be taken there immediately. We asked the guard to take us there, we needed to find our friend. He acquiesced.

We arrived at the tomb and walked through an archway into a room. (We started in the room at the bottom on this simple map I drew.) We approached the East door. An illusory face appeared and said, "Choose another path, this way leads to death."

We checked the north door and the same face appeared and said the same thing. We went back to the east door and got through it. We walked down the hall, the Ranger in the lead. Just before the first hallway to the north, he fell into a pit trap with spikes at the bottom. He took some damage and was suddenly teleported back to the first room. His only magic item, a ring of accuracy, had vanished. From this point forward, the cleric led the way, prodding the floor in front of him with his pole arm. We checked the first hall to the north and found a circular room. The walls were rotating and the doors to the north and south were only open when the corresponding openings in the wall aligned with them.We could see a lever on the wall outside of the north door.

We then checked the next hall to the north. It turned east and led to a dead end. We checked for secret doors. We found one, but could not open it. It seemed like it opened from the other side.We checked the last bit of hall that led east from the first room. It ended in a door. The bard checked for traps and picked the lock. He opened the door and found a blank wall behind it. Then we heard the trap activate. A panel dropped from the ceiling behind us. Three crossbows were mounted on it. They fired and two of us got hurt. The other bolt missed.

We returned to the circular room. The bard tried a mage hand spell to flip the lever, but there was a silence spell on the room. We couldn't get close enough to the room to dispel it. We returned to the first room and went north through the illusory face. (This door is labeled with an A on the above map).

We walked down the hall towards the T intersection. There was a pit trap that the cleric sprung with his pole arm. We skirted around it and walked to the right. This hallway led to a door with a marble plaque on it upon which was carved, "To pass this warded portal, you must face a challenge mortal." The cleric cast detect magic. The door was indeed magical. He then successfully cast dispel magic.We entered the room (B).

By this time, we were pretty tired, having fought all day in the city above. We spent the night here and woke the next morning well rested.

We went through the North-East door. The hall led to a blue door with a golden plate on it that had a keyhole. The golden plated keyhole was magical. The sorcerer cast Knock on the door. The door unlocked and swung open. Behind it was a blank wall with a spout in it. Acid sprayed out and struck the sorcerer in the face and chest. She was gravely wounded by it, but the cleric restored her to full health. We returned to room B.

We went through the North West door and followed the hall to a red door. There were no traps or locks on the door, so we opened it. The room was oddly shaped. On the north wall, there was an altar with the statues of three deities. On the left was a good god of strength. In the middle was a neutral god of slaughter. On the right was an evil god of thieves. In front of each was a bowl.

The cleric suggested that the barbarian flex in front of the first one. The cleric pricked his finger and dropped blood into the bowl of the middle one. The bard swiped the bowl of the last one. The only result was that the bard was cursed. The cleric fixed that and the party went back to room B. We took the north door to room C.

This room was full of water. On the far side was a platform with a door. The bard stepped into the water and a large snake appeared. He ran out of the water. The cleric cast a speak with animals spell and entered the water. The snake appeared. The cleric said, "Wait! Let us speak!"

The snake replied, "DIE!"

We fought the snake and triumphed. We opened the door on the platform. We followed the hallway to room D. Inside was a sarcophagus on the south wall. Above it were embedded two large rubies and two large diamonds. We detected magic and the gems were indeed magical.

We opened the sarcophagus and found only a pile of dust and a scroll. The scroll read, "Congratulations, you have found one of Uncanny Froderick's false tombs."

The barbarian got mad and struck the sarcophagus. This shifted the ashes around. Buried under them was a set of clothing and jewelry reminiscent of those that Victor wore. We figured that he touched one of the gems and was burned to ash.

We returned to the T intersection after the first room. We entered room E. It was full of toys. There was also a bowl containing five beans labeled with "Eat me." The beans were clearly magical, though none of the toys were.

We were at a loss. The cleric prayed for guidance. He suddenly had the notion of "we are not yet strong enough, we need to collect more things."

We went back to the spinning room. The ranger managed to jump through the openings in time and flip the lever. The room stopped spinning and the openings aligned. The rest of the party walked through. This way led to room F.

In room F, there were two alcoves to the north and south. To the east was a table with a red sphere wrapped in chains hanging above it. On the table were eleven coins. Embossed into the table was a circle with ten circles surrounding it. The bard touched the coins and we all heard a voice say, "Ten and eight. Eight and ten. Arrange the coins or face death again."

We thought about the puzzle for a while. Eventually, the bard figured it out just before the sorcerer did. Each coin had to go in a circle, with one in the middle. Each line of coins had to equal eighteen. Once the coins were in place, the sphere opened and a red key fell out. We took it and returned to room E. Hilda ate one of the beans and shrunk down to half her size. Her equipment did not.

To be continued...

Day Twelve

We walked for three days before arriving in Derelune. Upon arrival, we found that the army was there and the city was almost in a panic. A guard told us that they were expecting to be attacked by the monster army that had conquered Cormyr. We entered the city, sold some gear and re-equipped ourselves.

Having no other leads, or any idea of what to do next, we decided to try to speak with the mayor to offer our services to the city, since we are experienced warriors.

We ended up talking to someone from the army. He told us that a few months ago, monsters had swarmed out of the Storhorn Mountains into Cormyr. They quickly ravaged the land and conquered the country. Now, they are marching on the city and only one day away.

He told us to go to the east gate of the city to aid in the defense. Victor decided to leave us and go to an underground cistern and aid in defense that way, to avoid the sunlight.

We finished out the day with various small tasks. The cleric visited the temple, the bard put on a small show for some soldiers, etc.

That night, we climbed up to the wall over the east gate. We could see torches approaching. They grew closer and then stopped. Soon thereafter, campfires were kindled. The attackers had arrived.

The next morning, the attackers broke camp. While they were doing that, our bard cast an illusion of the god Garl Glittergold to appear over the camp. The kobolds and goblins started to panic, but the orcs in charge restored order after a few hours.

At midday, they began marching on the city.

A line of kobolds led the charge, followed by goblins, followed by orcs bringing up the rear. Once they were in range, the archers on the wall with us began to attack. We joined in with our missile weapons and various spells used to confuse them or hinder them.

Eventually, they arrived at the wall and started putting up ladders. We tried pushing over the ladders, but the goblins at the bottom were holding them in place. The cleric dropped a fire bomb on one and killed a few goblins and destroyed the ladder.

We couldn't hold them off though and they gained the wall. We killed off most of the attackers, but the bard ended up getting surrounded. He cast a spell to hypnotize them and ordered them to jump off of the wall to their deaths. The sorcerer killed the last remaining goblin and it was over. At least for the moment.

Day Eleven

From the bedroom in the keep, we entered the door. We walked a hallway to the west exploring each of three rooms to the south along the way. In the second room, we fought two vampires and prevailed. At the end of the hall, we passed a spiral staircase going up and entered the final room.

There was a large feces smeared dais that also sported a few dead rats. There was a door to the north that we suspected lead outside. There were also two doors to the west. We entered the first one and found a hallway leading to a circular room. We checked the other door and were attacked by five vampires. After this fight some of us were pretty beaten up. Some had suffered vampire bites and their constitution was dropping. We decided to rest in this room.

Unfortunately, we forgot to lock the door and a vampire broke in. Victor slew him with one attack. This time we locked the door and piled some broken chairs in front of it to hinder any intruders. We slept through the night without any more attacks. However, we periodically heard scratching at the door, followed by pounding at the door. A little later, we heard a squishy thump at the door. After that there was a chopping at the door, but no one got in.

The next morning, we opened the door and a dead feral vampire slumped into the room, his head smashed in. There was some superficial damage to the door. There was no other evidence of what had transpired. We walked back to the spiral staircase and went upstairs. We were in a hallway leading north and south. We proceeded north and entered a door. This was the master bedroom, but there was a coffin in the middle of the floor.

Being daytime, we tore all of the curtains off of the walls and opened the coffin. The vampire inside instantly turned to dust. We looted the remains and obtained the Amulet of Abyssal Warding. We cheered heartily.

Still weak from the day before, we decided to leave the keep rather than explore the rest of it. We left the keep and walked far away before discussing our options. We knew that we were somewhere in Sembia. The bard suggested that we head west towards Cormyr. We walked for two days whereupon we found a road. It led to the southwest and we followed it. Upon evening of that day, we found a farmhouse.

The farmer showed us much hospitality. We had dinner and then he sent his kids to bed. We asked for directions to the nearest town or settlement. He said that if we walk east across the fields for two days, we would reach the main road. If we took that to the southwest for two days.


He suggested that we swap some tales. We spoke briefly before finding out that that Cormyr had been overrun by goblins months ago. We were quite puzzled because we had not been gone for that long. Apparently, refugees have been coming into Sembia.

We spent the night there and in the morning, we had breakfast. The cleric offered to bless the man's well and livestock. He accepted. We decided to head to the closer town, Holka, to the east. We walked thirty miles that day and arrived in Holka.

We spent the night in Holka and looked at a map that one of the villagers had. We decided to walk back the way we came towards Derelune, 75 miles to the southwest along the road. We wanted to get close to Cormyr and plan our next step.

Day Ten

Tyr and Lathander opened a portal that took us to Sembia. We stepped through and arrived in a forest near a keep where the Pendant of Abyssal Warding was supposed to be. We approached the keep and found an open gate that led into it. Unfortunately, we could not open the gate without force. We wanted to be quiet, so we climbed the vine covered wall to get in. Two of us stayed up on the walkway to cover the area with ranged weapons and the other three descended steps into the courtyard.

There were five doors leading into various buildings down there. The three on the ground checked the first one, were attacked by a vampire and staked it. We dragged it into the sun to let it cook.

We checked the second door. There was a terrible, pungent odor of dookie emanating from behind it. We moved on. The next door opened into a hallway that probably led to a tower next door. We decided to save this for later.

We headed over to a fountain to check for secret triggers, items, etc. Buried under leaves and muck in the dried out fountain we found a portable hole. We rejoiced.

Next we entered the first door on the other side of the courtyard. Inside were three vampires. The cleric turned them and after a brief fight, they were staked and dragged out into the sun.

We noticed a door within the room and decided to examine it next.

Day Nine

We passed through the mysterious one way portal to the unknown and arrived in a desert of black sand. There were mountains in the distance and red lightening piercing the sky. Nothing else could be seen. Victor told us that we had arrived in Banehold, the realm of Bane. We took this opportunity to rest.

The next 'morning,' we readied ourselves and discussed plans on how to get out of this place. Before we left the spot of arrival, we noticed a demon charging us. Our sorcerer recognized it as a Glabrezu, a humongous entity with four arms, two with blades for hands and two with pincers.

Victor suggested that we don't attack it right away and instead let it talk.

The Glabrezu stopped before us and did indeed speak. It offered us whatever we could want in return for service to it. Victor warned us to not head any of its words, they were all lies and it was trying to trick us. We attacked it.

The fight was hard. Most of our attacks either missed or were repelled by its thick skin. We did little damage to it. Then, the demon stopped the fight and again offered us the chance to serve it. We refused. Our cleric said, "I have sworn an oath to serve Lathander. I shall never serve you."

At the mention of the name of the Morning Lord, the Glabrezu went insane with rage. It leaped at the cleric and attacked him fiercely. When the blows stopped, he was almost dead (3 HP). The rest of the party took that opportunity to strike the distracted demon. The cleric healed himself (up to 17 out of 25 HP). The attacks mostly failed.

The Glabrezu again attacked the cleric with each of his arms. The four attacks killed the cleric of Lathander (-10 HP). The demon then ran off, its rage expended.

The party stood around the body of their fallen comrade, wondering what to do. Some wanted to try first aid, but he was beyond any help.

But then a portal appeared behind the body. The party sensed an aura of beauty and goodness emanating from the portal. Hilda picked up the cleric and they went through the portal. Victor stayed behind.

They found themselves in a beautiful realm. Before them lay a lake and beyond it were mountains. Two enormous figures stood there, across the lake. They heard in their minds a request to swim across the lake. They did so and found the water to be holy. Their bodies and minds were healed. They climbed from the water at the feet of the two figures. They were the gods Tyr and Lathander.

Lathander revived his cleric. Tyr explained that Bane is attempting to enter the material world and take it over. Lathander told us that we are the chosen few that must stop him. One of us will eventually find the power with which to combat him and kill the god. We have certain tasks that we must accomplish first. The first task is to claim the Pendant of Abyssal Warding, an amulet that wards off demons.

We asked about Victor. Tyr said that though he is a vampire, he is on their side. He is a devoted servant of Tyr. He is to be trusted. We will be returned to the world and will see Victor again soon.

Day Eight

Apparently, we met up with a goblin in a cell last time. His name was Splug. We charmed him and spoke with him. He said he would lead us to Victor.

He led us through the dungeon until we came to a glyph painted on the floor. Splug warned us that these glyphs summon things. We questioned him all about it. He said that when he touched one once, he heard all these sounds around him, but never saw anything. He got scared and ran away.

We touched it and immediately heard moaning coming from the distance. The sound kept getting closer. Eventually we lost our nerve and ran. Splug led us through the halls until we ended up in a large room filled with zombies. D'oh.

We fought them. We prevailed. Huzzah!.

Splug attempted to lead us out of the room up a staircase, but it was blocked by fallen boulders and rubble. We searched around a found a secret door that led into an armory. We searched the room, found nothing of interest/use. After an argument about whether or not to tie up Splug, we spent the night in the room.

The next day, we followed Splug some more until we eventually found ourselves in a room with four sarcophagi in it. After a detecting magic and searching for traps, we opened them. Three were empty, but the fourth had four platinum dragon statues in it. They were clearly idols to the dragon god Bahamut. In this room was a set of double doors that exuded a dreadful, ominous aura of doom. We of course investigated. Nothing seemed out of place, so we opened them.

In the next room, we saw a sight we were ill prepared for...

There was a large demon, a ghour, standing within a circle. Behind him was a headless, disemboweled corpse in black robes. We entered the room and spread out. Then we saw that the demon was actually conversing with a vampire, Victor.

Victor attacked the demon with bats. We helped him defeat the demon. It wasn't easy. Three of us almost died, but in the end, we prevailed. An interesting highlight of the fight: the party cleric decided to summon a monster. The party bard suggested that he summon it to fall right on top of the demon. He prays up a Fiendish Squid that fell right onto the ghour. It suction cupped itself to the demon and wouldn't let go. Eventually the ghour ripped it from its head and threw it against the wall where it fell down like a wacky wall walker.

Victor told us that this was his home. Kaladril the cleric (the dead guy in the room) and his goblins invaded it. The cleric had drawn the circle of containment and then summoned the demon. However, he made a mistake in the circle and the demon got out and killed him.

Just before he died, the cleric had opened a portal on the wall to try to escape. We toss a bit of rope in the portal, it is severed. It seems to be a one way portal. We turn to take the doors out of here, but they are gone.

We ask Victor where the doors went. He says that he doesn't know. We say that this is his house, but this room isn't part of it. The party cleric says that he's heard of this sort of thing. It's a place outside of reality that a magic user can create. Victor confirms this, calling it an extra-dimensional pocket. We have no choice.

We jump through the portal with Victor the Vampire in tow.

Day Seven

We left the room and entered another room from whence the goblins had come. They had been eating in here. We picked the lock on the door to the south and entered a long hallway that ended in locked double doors.

Day Six

We left the place of our fight with the kobolds and soon found ourselves in a clearing with ruins in it. There was a staircase descending underground. These were the remnants of Stormtower Keep.

We entered the keep and found ourselves in a room with a pit in the center. We slew the nearby goblins and headed towards the room to the south. From there we found stairs to the west and an empty room to the east.

We returned to the first room and went east where we fought some goblins that were excavating something (we don't know what). Back in the previous hallway, we found a secret door that led down stairs. This area was the goblin barracks. We killed a sleeping goblin and then a few more.

Day Five

We ran through the woods for two days and then stopped to rest, eat and feed Tomas. The next day, we continued our walk to Suzail.

We arrived in Suzail and were promptly taken to see Bhereu. He took Tomas off of our hands so that he could be interrogated. We were given 500 gold each and promised new armor as a reward. We spent a while resting in the lounge. Eventually, we were summoned back to Bhereu.

Vandergast was here with him. He told us that Tomas and Redbeard were devoted servants to the evil god Bane. Tomas had been commanded to summon a demon to wreak havoc on the world, but only managed to summon a Dabus. He said that there is a more experienced cleric living in Stormtower Keep that will be summoning a demon army now that Tomas has failed.

Bhereu is going to move two legions to Welloon to combat the goblins and guard against anything else. He wants us to go to Stormtower Keep and slay the cleric before he can summon anything. The cleric’s name is Kalarel.

We took our leave to purchase supplies. We then returned to Bhereu to collect our new armor. After that, we left the city and traveled for three days.

We stopped in Gladehap village to replenish our food supplies and to rest for the night. Our bard performed in Wrafton Inn to pay for our food and lodging. Lady Wrafton directed us to one of her patrons, Valthrun the Prescient, for directions to Stormtower Keep.

He gave us directions to the keep, but warned that it was built over the Rift to Shadowfell. The empire destroyed it years ago and sent the undead back from whence they came, but they are seeping back into our world. We say that we have to go, we have dire business to tend to.

The next morning we leave Gladehap and walk towards the keep. It’s only a few miles away. On the road, we were attacked by kobolds, but triumphed.

Day Four

We traveled to the capital city of Suzail. We spoke with the guards outside the city walls and got ourselves registered. The guard asked our business. We said that we suspected Lord Redbeard of Welloon of treason. We wanted to report this. The guard suggested that we speak with Lord Magistrate Sthavar.

We then went to an inn to have a nice meal. After that, we replenished our supplies. The innkeeper gave us directions to the nearest barracks.

We walked to the barracks and spoke to an officer. He left to look into our request. He returned a bit later and led us to Lord Magistrate Sthavar’s manor house barracks.

Apparently, Sthavar has been suspecting Redbeard of treason. He wants to speak with Lord High Marshall Duke Bhereu about our news. The two of them have plans.

We went downstairs to a lounge and had some drinks and rested up. A little bit later, we are called back to Sthavar’s office. Inside is Bhereu and Royal Magician Vandergast.

We receive orders to find, capture and return with Tomas. Failing that, we are to find proof of Redbeard’s treason. Vandergast gave us rings of accuracy and potions of invisibility.

The next day, Vandergast opens a portal inside our inn. We walk through and are in a settlement just outside of Welloon. We enter town and visit a temple for Lathandor. Everyone inside is in a panic because they were attempting an initiation ceremony and Lathandor did not speak with them. We use the temple as a base because Redbeard’s manor is across the plaza.

We spend that day casing Redbeard’s manor. That night, we made plans for entry.

The next morning, we drank our potions and walked across the plaza and into the manor, successfully passing the guards. We sneak through the house, find Tomas and try to capture him. Our Web spell failed and we fought him. Eventually, he was cut down, but not dead. The cleric gave him first aid to keep him from bleeding out.

In his study, we try to open a door, but the knob activated a portal which summoned a Dabus. We spoke with him.

He said that he works for the Lady of Pain, in the city of Sigil. She wants Tomas because he has been summoning her workers, such as himself. He summons them and questions them before sending them back to Sigil. The spell ended and the Dabus vanished.

We tried the doorknob again, but nothing happened. We then sneaked out of the house, but got caught at the front door. We killed the two guards and fled town with the still unconscious Tomas.

Day Seven

After vanquishing the orcs, we continued our walk to the Old Keep. Soon, though, we heard some noises coming from the forest. We attempted to hide, but before we could get anywhere, two ogres approached us.

We fought them and won. It being early evening, we decided to make camp for the night.

Ahara was on watch when she heard footsteps going down the road. A little bit later, she heard them again going back the way they came. She ventured away from our camp to see who it was.

It was the etten.

We broke camp the next morning and continued on to the keep. We arrived shortly and saw that it had writing on the wall. Most of the words were illegible, but we could make out a few. They turned out to be from the riddle.

Tindome suggested that we wait for nightfall and then break into the keep. That is when the nice head would be in control.

Dane suggested that we knock on the door so that he could talk to the etten. We decided on this course of action because of Dane’s religious proclivities. Tindome drank an invisibility potion and went with him.

Dane knocked and we heard from inside a roar followed by someone shouting NO!!!

The door opened and the etten came out. Fearing for our lives, we immediately attacked. After a few tense minutes of fighting, we slew the etten. We then proceeded to loot the keep.

Day Six

We were traveling to the town of Hommelet to work on locating the Crown of Horns for our scholar friend.

On our way, we arrived at a hamlet called New Keep which was currently under attack by an Etten. The Etten smashed a house, stole a cow and wandered off into the woods.

Apparently, New Keep has been having a problem with this Etten during the day. But at night, another Etten comes to town and looks around. It causes no damage and runs away if approached.

There was a riddle in the local temple that we attempted to decode. We decided to head towards the old keep a ways off in the forest to see what is going on.

We left town and about a quarter mile into the woods, we were attacked by eight orcs. We fought them and slew them all.

Day Three

Tomas met us in a tavern where he told us that they found the goblin’s headquarters. He thinks that the tribal leaders are there. The goblin army is elsewhere, so now would be a good time to attack the leaders. They will pay us 150 GP each to do this. He gave us a map that shows us going past Briarhill, past the Bugbear’s cave and to a fort.

We left Wellune and travelled Briarhill. We examined the Mayor’s house again, but found nothing.

We then walked to the goblin’s fort and proceeded to invade.

In one room, we found scrolls with orders for raids as well as some maps. These had all been sealed with wax, but were broken. We also found a paper with some unbroken seals on it.

We killed a few goblins and hobgoblins. Eventually, we made our way to the mess hall where we fought and slew fifteen goblins and emerged victorious. The mission was accomplished. We left for Wellune.

On our way back to the city, we found a survivor from Briarhill named Edwin. We told him that we would help him get to Wellune.

Further on our way, Tomas found us. He said that Redbeard thinks that the mayor of Briarhill was involved in the goblin attacks. He said that he will take us south to where the mayor is so that we can catch him and bring him to justice.

Tomas led us to a clearing with a large cliff wall in it. There was graffitti all over the wall. We went over to it to read it. It looked like goblin scrawl. Suddenly, Tomas cast Web on us from a wand. We were all stuck to the wall.

Tomas said that we were supposed to die in the attack on Briarhill. Redbeard wanted us to perish so that the national army would be sent out to deal with the goblin problem. Then, he would take control of them and use the army to overthrow the rule and take over the nation.

Tomas slew Edwin. Some of us broke free from the web and attacked Tomas. He lost an arm vanished. We lost all of our loot except for a few weapons and the one paper with unbroken scrolls.

We decide to head to the capital and press our case for action against Lord Redbeard.

Day Two

We left the inn and walked through town looking for attackers. We fought and killed nine goblins.

Then we noticed that new fires were erupting on the far side of town. We ran over there and saw a small army of around 70 goblins hacking apart the dead. The village was lost.

We fled town and ran to the west. The mayor had said that their cave was this way.

We found a cave, but all that was inside was a bugbear. We demised it. This was clearly the wrong cave. We spent the night there.

In the morning, we saw plumes of smoke from many cookfires in the distance. We waited for them to go away.

We made our way back to town and it was completely destroyed, except for the mayor’s house. There were 15 or so survivors in there. We escorted them back to Wellune. We also found that the goblins came from the north and left to the northeast.

We talked about the situation amongst ourselves. We think that the mayor was involved in the goblin raids. We are also suspicious of Lord Redbeard, since these attacks are happening all over the place.

Thomas found us and paid us for our services. We told him about our suspicions. He said that he would inform Lord Redbeard. He said that Lord Redbeard has more work for us. We accept, thinking that if we stay close to the situation, we may find some answers.

Day One

Five travellers met in the Grey Goose Inn in the town of Wellune, Cormir. We were eating, drinking and swapping tales.

We introduced ourselves as:

Laranthir, a bard

Tambar Ghavir, a cleric to the Morning Lord, Lathandar

Vicathyra, a sorcerer

Hilda, a barbarian

Silatas, a ranger

As we enjoyed ourselves, we noticed a strange man watching us. We beckoned him over. He introduced himself as Thomas, clerk to Lord Redbeard, who had a request for us.

Thomas took us to see Lord Redbeard. He explained that the area has been attacked frequently by marauding bands of goblins. He was hiring people to travel to the outlying villages to protect them for one month at a time.

We agreed to help. We were sent to the village of Briarhill, about 40 miles away.

On the first night of our journey, we were attacked while we slept by a band of nine goblins. We slew them, taking only minor injuries ourselves.

Upon examination of the bodies, we noticed that they were carrying well made short swords, such as the kind made by humans. Also, each of them wore studded leather armor with an X adorning the nape of the neck.

We thought it strange, of course.

Eventually, we arrived at Briarhill and talked to Mayor Jelson. Apparently, the goblins have a cave nearby that they use as their base of operations. The issue forth from there every few days to raid the village.

We decided to go have some food and drinks at the inn. After that, we were going to ask around town for some information about the inside of the cave. We were planning to travel there the next day.

However, while we ate, we heard shouts and screams from outside. Briarhill was under attack.

An Apology

I have been lax in my duties of recording the campaign. I just can’t keep up with all of it, what with everything else I’ve got going on. So, I’ve missed a lot of stuff. From now on, the things I note here will be significantly briefer. This will allow me to still record our adventures and hopefully not fall behind again.

In brief, here is what we’ve accomplished:

We met with a scholar that wanted us to retrieve a sacred dagger for him and his society to study. It was located in the tower of Kimrey the Mad, a long dead mage.

We acquired the item and returned it to the scholar. He has another quest for us, a new item to collect. This is our next task.

Day Two

Gunther ditched his tabard. He no longer stinks as much.

We went through the west door back at the beginning. We walked down a short hallway; and entered a room with a small stone chest. Ahara and Earen checked it for traps. It was not locked, so we opened it.

Many darts shot from the chest. Ahara jumped out of the way. Earen jumped out of the way. Dane took a dart to the face.

Inside the chest was a leather handbag, two pearls and a bag of 100 gold coins. Tindome checked the headband for magic. It was indeed magical. It radiated an aura of abjuration, which is protective magic (+1 to will saves).

We left the room and went to the east door in the first room. There was a sarcophagus like statue. It’s head came to life, grew wings and attacked us.

(At this point, my voice recorder batteries died. I’m doing the rest from memory. -Ed.)

Ahara stabbed the creature with her rapier and it promptly died.

We left the dungeon and walked to a nearby city, Dane’s hometown. There, we sold our loot, made some cash and proceeded directly to a tavern for some drinks.

Day One

There was a massive storm terrorizing the wilderness somewhere in the Forgotten Realms.

Five individual wanderers made their ways to a rocky outcropping on a hill seeking shelter from the storm. There was a massive stone arched entryway into the hill. Everyone passed through the door to escape the storm.

We introduced ourselves to each other and then noticed that there were three doors in this room. Just then, the doors crumble with a thunder clap. A bunch of rats come running out of the center doorway and attack us.

We quickly made a plan and started the fight.Eären fired an arrow at a rat and killed it. Ahara fired an arrow at a rat and killed it. Dane moved forward a bit and shot a crossbow bolt at a rat. He missed and the bolt skittered across the floor. Tindome moved forward some and fired his crossbow. The bolt struck the rat, killing it instantly. Gunther moved up some and shot at a rat. His arrow missed.

The remaining rats moved towards us. They started biting at us, but their teeth could not penetrate our armor. Tindome suffered a small bite wound on his leg, but he was only wearing regular clothes.

Eären stabbed at a rat with her long sword and slew it. Ahara ran up to a rat and stabbed one with her rapier. It died on her blade. Dane ran to a rat and smashed it with his mace, cracking the flagstone beneath. Tindome stabbed a rat with his spear. It died with much pain. Gunther promptly slew the last rat with his bastard sword.

We went through the center door, walked down a hall and entered a room. There were several tables containing rusted iron implements of torture. There were blood stains. There was a hole in the roof through which rain was falling. The water went down a drain in the floor. There was a door on the opposite wall. As soon as we entered the room, two hobgoblins walked through that door.

Dane drew his crossbow and fumbled with it. The bolt flew off and embedded itself in the wall to his left. Tindome ran towards the hobgoblins and from a few feet away stabbed with his spear. The hobgoblin dodged out of the way. Gunther fired an arrow and missed the hobgoblin. Eären fired an arrow and it whizzed by close to Tindome, but struck the hobgoblin, killing it. Ahara fired an arrow and struck the hobgoblin, but he didn’t fall.

The remaining hobgoblin ran at Tindome and swung his sword at him. Tindome was terribly wounded and he fell to the ground, unconscious and bleeding profusely.

Dane the Cleric ran over to Tindome. He used his skills to stop the bleeding, but Tindome was still unconscious. Gunther stabbed at the hobgoblin and missed. Eären ran at the hobgoblin. She stabbed and missed. Ahara ran along the wall and stopped behind a table. She fired an arrow and missed.

The hobgoblin swung his sword at Eären, but missed. His slash was checked by his arrow wound.

Dane moved between Tindome and the hobgoblin. He raised his mace and crushed the hobgoblins’s skull with a mighty blow.

The battle was won!

Dane cured Tindome with Cure Light Wounds.

We looted the bodies and obtained two sets of studded leather armor, Dane rifled through their pockets and found 8 gold coins. We also obtained a short sword and a javelin.

Tindome took a rune covered belt. He cast a Read Magic spell on it and found that it helped him to carry more weight. He put it on.

We looked around the room and found that the iron implements were useless. Dane cleaned the blood, bone and brains from his mace in the rain falling into the room.

We went through the door into a hall. Ahara and Eären sneaked silently down a branching passage to the right. They stopped at the doorway and noticed that there was a single thread strung across it. Inside the room were a few lumps wound in silk that looked a lot like bodies.

They came back to the rest of the group and told us what was up.

We went back to the room. Ahara and Eären crept under the thread and into the room, hiding in shadows in the corners. Gunther threw the torch into the room and Dane cut the thread. A huge spider dropped from the ceiling right in front of the doorway.

Eären shot an arrow at the spider and missed. Ahara ran up to the spider and stabbed it with her rapier. Gunther squeezed past the spider into the room. He stopped behind it and stabbed it with his sword, doing some damage. Dane pounded the spider with his mace, doing critical damage to it. It perished under his mighty blow. He spat upon the corpse.

Gunther cut off a leg for a trophy. Gunther, Dane and Tindome cut open the body bags and rooted through the goo inside looking for loot. We found 75 gold pieces and a pearl. Dane took the pearl and offered it to Ahara and Eären. Ahara took it with gratitude. Dane is smooooth!

Tindome suggested that we share carrying the loot, but split the proceeds. All agreed.

Ahara and Eären left the room and went down the other hall way. They found another room. they saw the corpse of a knight laying on a table. There were gold pieces scattered around the floor.

They came back and told us about it. We all entered the room. As soon as Gunther and Eären set foot in the room, the zombie came to life and shuffled towards us.

Gunther ran at the zombie, stabbing at it, but just nicking it slightly. Eären ran around to the far side of the table and shot at the zombie, missing greatly. Ahara ran to the side of the zombie and thrust with her rapier, cutting the zombie. Dane entered the room and unveiled his holy might, wounding and scaring the (un)living piss out of the zombie. Tindome fired a crossbow bolt at the zombie, but missed.

The zombie ran towards a wall, cowering in fear.

Gunther approached the terrified zombie and stabbed it in the back with his bastard sword. Eären fired an arrow at the zombie, striking it’s back. Ahara moved towards the zombie and fired an arrow, missing. Dane ran at the zombie, shouting the name of his goddess, “Temora!” He struck with his mace and slew the zombie.

We collected 250 gold pieces from the floor. The zombie’s morningstar and javelin were rusty and worthless. Strapped to his back was a masterwork rapier, which Ahara took. Gunther claimed the zombie’s tattered tabard. He immediately began to smell worse than usual.

The Party

Günther Stormblade, human fighter

Eärendil Tauremorna, moon elf ranger

Ahara Isil, moon elf rogue

Tindome Ingole, moon elf sorcerer

Dane Redhammer, human cleric

The World Arrives

The below two sections were written by Ron, but preserved here.

Introduction

It’s been about 8 years since I’ve played a tabletop RPG, and well over a decade since I’ve run a game. Considering this, I’m clearly going to need some prep time before we can begin adventuring.

We’ll be playing Dungeons & Dragons third edition (D&D 3E), and using the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. The reason we’re using 3E instead of 4E is simple: 3E is considerably more affordable. There’s also the fact that, with 4E now on the market, we can safely assume that 3E is complete. Everything that is/was/will be available for 3E has already hit the market. This will drastically reduce the “Ooh! New book!” syndrome that gamers are all too familiar with.

I’ve begun reviewing the 3E game mechanics. I’m partway through the Player’s Handbook (PHB) now, and I’ll be moving on to the Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG) next. The Forgotten Realms source-book will have to wait a bit – I just ordered it today (my favorite used bookstore didn’t have any copies available).

This is going to be fun.

The World Arrives

My Forgotten Realms campaign setting arrived today. The timing is good, as I’m going through the DMG pretty quickly. I’m really looking forward to reading through this book and seeing how much the Realms changed between 2E and 3E.

In other DM prep news, I have created a spreadsheet to allow me to keep track of the PC’s, both in game and out. It consists of 6 tabs. 5 of these tabs are character sheets, one for each player. The sixth tab is four mini (3×5) character sheets (I’ve already printed out a few of these and glues them to index cards).

I’m planning to get all of the players together some time after the new year for a “character creation party.” I figure this will allow the more experienced players to assist the rookies in creating their characters, as well as allowing the players to discuss the party’s composition. I already know that one player is looking to play a Sorcerer, and another is leaning toward a Rogue. No news on character races, though.

About the RPG Log

The RPG Log chronicles the adventures of a group of friends in three different campaign settings run by three different Dungeon Masters.

Both Jeff and Ron are using the Forgotten Realms campaign setting with Dungeons and Dragons Third Edition Rules. Jim created his own campaign setting and home brew rule system.

Regarding the post titles, each of the posts are titled with Day One, Two, etc. This refers to actual play sessions, not days within the game.

Jim's Campaign

Jim's Campaign consists of a constructed world and home brew rules utilizing some lists taken from Wizards of the Coast Open Game Content.

There is a wiki and a blog.

All Posts

To War

Ron's Campaign

All Posts

Introduction

The Scholar

Jeff's Campaign

All Posts

Marauding Goblins

Finding Traiters

The Chosen Ones

Lost in Sembia