Adventure Log Stammnian War 221
These Adventure Logs are the most complete records of the Stammnian War campaign. They were written in between sessions as we were laying the campaign. Unfortunately they stop half way through the campaign. When they were written the synopses were really just an exercise for the DM to help me solidify what happened in my memory. All in all the Adventure Logs are a sad state of affairs but are included here for archival purposes.
I have also included some recollections from 2 of the players at the end of the Adventure Logs. Since its well known that players are a duplicitous bunch, you should take them with a grain of salt.
I have also included some recollections from 2 of the players at the end of the Adventure Logs. Since its well known that players are a duplicitous bunch, you should take them with a grain of salt.
Session 1
Fictional Date: 07/14/0221
Real Date: 01/24/2017
Play started in Linporth, Perseverance sought out the party to help him recover a powerful weapon from the tomb of King Rig. His mother (who fled the Stamm as a child) told him of the legend of King Rig, including these facts; his tomb’s general location, that entering it will trigger a curse, the spirits that haunt the Three Mothers can turn invisible, their touch causes paralysis, and putting the tears of a child in your eyes can let you see them. Perseverance asked Vinn to help because Vinn had spread the false rumor that he had climbed the Three Mothers, Ex. Alonne agreed to come with Vinn.
Perseverance acquired a scroll of Remove Enchantment, and he sought out Ex. Josiah to use it. Quin decided to follow Ex. Josiah. After debating using an onion to make children cry (a great idea) Ex. Josiah collected the tear of his child parishioners after telling them he was leaving. Vinn hung around an orphanage and collected the tears of toddlers who were crying anyway.
On the way to the Three Mothers, the party encountered a beggar with an extreme hair lip named Becket near Middleworth. He responded positively to the party based on their lack of fear/disgust of him. He offered Quin some alcohol. Quinn never having had alcohol before (and failing a Fot check), coughed and gagged and dropped the flask. This enraged Becket and he tried to start a fist fight, Quin pulled his club off his back and everyone was sort of shocked at him pulling a weapon in response to a punch. Ex. Josiah then brokered a boxing match. Quin outclassed his opponent (partially by the PC cheating), but Becket noticeably had a lot of hit points for a beggar. Becket ended up unconscious with a fractured knee, Quin lost quit a few hps. Towards the end of the fight the DM faked a critically failed attack role by Becket, and said that Becket botched a hook and Quin elbowed him in the mouth, cutting up Quinn's elbow (I mentioned this twice). I don't think anyone took notice of this, but it was critically important.
After the fight Quinn tried to look through Becket's belonging, he saw that Becket had a large amount of money (6g plus change) and some bronze-colored cylindrical item in his bag. Despite how odd this was for a beggar, Vinn stopped Quinn because it was rude. Party consensus agreed. Ex. Josiah healed Becket and he hobbled away saying he may see Quin again. In fact, Becket is a werebat in human form and when Quin cut his elbow on Becket's mouth Quinn contracted lycanthropy.
Fictional Date: 07/14/0221
Real Date: 01/24/2017
Play started in Linporth, Perseverance sought out the party to help him recover a powerful weapon from the tomb of King Rig. His mother (who fled the Stamm as a child) told him of the legend of King Rig, including these facts; his tomb’s general location, that entering it will trigger a curse, the spirits that haunt the Three Mothers can turn invisible, their touch causes paralysis, and putting the tears of a child in your eyes can let you see them. Perseverance asked Vinn to help because Vinn had spread the false rumor that he had climbed the Three Mothers, Ex. Alonne agreed to come with Vinn.
Perseverance acquired a scroll of Remove Enchantment, and he sought out Ex. Josiah to use it. Quin decided to follow Ex. Josiah. After debating using an onion to make children cry (a great idea) Ex. Josiah collected the tear of his child parishioners after telling them he was leaving. Vinn hung around an orphanage and collected the tears of toddlers who were crying anyway.
On the way to the Three Mothers, the party encountered a beggar with an extreme hair lip named Becket near Middleworth. He responded positively to the party based on their lack of fear/disgust of him. He offered Quin some alcohol. Quinn never having had alcohol before (and failing a Fot check), coughed and gagged and dropped the flask. This enraged Becket and he tried to start a fist fight, Quin pulled his club off his back and everyone was sort of shocked at him pulling a weapon in response to a punch. Ex. Josiah then brokered a boxing match. Quin outclassed his opponent (partially by the PC cheating), but Becket noticeably had a lot of hit points for a beggar. Becket ended up unconscious with a fractured knee, Quin lost quit a few hps. Towards the end of the fight the DM faked a critically failed attack role by Becket, and said that Becket botched a hook and Quin elbowed him in the mouth, cutting up Quinn's elbow (I mentioned this twice). I don't think anyone took notice of this, but it was critically important.
After the fight Quinn tried to look through Becket's belonging, he saw that Becket had a large amount of money (6g plus change) and some bronze-colored cylindrical item in his bag. Despite how odd this was for a beggar, Vinn stopped Quinn because it was rude. Party consensus agreed. Ex. Josiah healed Becket and he hobbled away saying he may see Quin again. In fact, Becket is a werebat in human form and when Quin cut his elbow on Becket's mouth Quinn contracted lycanthropy.
Session 2
Fictional Date: 07/16/0221
Real Date: 01/31/2017
After maiming a beggar, the party continued. Outside of Middleworth they ran into 2 local bandits pretending to be guards. The party never believed it. Quick action by Alonne, and a 'hold at bay' maneuver, caused the pair to not attack the party. The two bandits, Bill and Tom/Tim, never gave up their story but did turn on each other. Perseverance found 2 containers of illumination powders, and money. The bandits each admitted that the other killed and robbed a wealth traveler from Gent of the strange powder. In town Vinn bought some drinks to find out that Nafferton Cole was expecting a traveler from Gent who was overdue.
Nafferton turned out to be the de facto leader of Middleworth. He has no legal authority, but he is a well-liked, skilled leader and no one complains even when he collects taxes. The party then told Nafferton and returned the powders without asking for a reward. Nafferton took a liking to the party because of their honesty, and Alonne bonded with him over the project Nafferton started to create 2 great illuminated books (Alonne is an historian). Nafferton loaned the party the Gem of Friendly Item after they told him the particulars of what they were doing. He also told they about the Hamlet of Juxtapons suggesting the party could get better info there. After sleeping the night in Nafferton manor house the party left, they were given a small wing of the house with 8 very small bedrooms and a common room. After traveling most of the day the party saw the Wooden Watchtower and we stopped playing.
Fictional Date: 07/16/0221
Real Date: 01/31/2017
After maiming a beggar, the party continued. Outside of Middleworth they ran into 2 local bandits pretending to be guards. The party never believed it. Quick action by Alonne, and a 'hold at bay' maneuver, caused the pair to not attack the party. The two bandits, Bill and Tom/Tim, never gave up their story but did turn on each other. Perseverance found 2 containers of illumination powders, and money. The bandits each admitted that the other killed and robbed a wealth traveler from Gent of the strange powder. In town Vinn bought some drinks to find out that Nafferton Cole was expecting a traveler from Gent who was overdue.
Nafferton turned out to be the de facto leader of Middleworth. He has no legal authority, but he is a well-liked, skilled leader and no one complains even when he collects taxes. The party then told Nafferton and returned the powders without asking for a reward. Nafferton took a liking to the party because of their honesty, and Alonne bonded with him over the project Nafferton started to create 2 great illuminated books (Alonne is an historian). Nafferton loaned the party the Gem of Friendly Item after they told him the particulars of what they were doing. He also told they about the Hamlet of Juxtapons suggesting the party could get better info there. After sleeping the night in Nafferton manor house the party left, they were given a small wing of the house with 8 very small bedrooms and a common room. After traveling most of the day the party saw the Wooden Watchtower and we stopped playing.
Session 3
Fictional Date: 07/17/0221
Real Date: 02/07/2017
Perseverance climbed the stairs to the Wooden Tower. He found the door ajar and went in. He quickly found a dead body face down on the floor. He moved closer to it but did not touch. After seeing droplets of blood on near the body’s face he left and got Josiah, who moved the body to a dignified position. In doing so he saw that the man had died of the Blood Pox (hemorrhagic Small Pox). Already exposed Josiah decided to explore the rest of the tower.
The party found the equipment and ballista on the roof. They also found Jaccob’s body and the First Strike Dagger and First Strike Crossbow. Alonne was the first to put on a suit of coat of plates, noticing the bloody discharge on the inside only after it was 90% on. Quinn also started putting on a suit. They did not find the, 20g, 300s, 400c in a compartment in the bottom of one of the water barrels. The party started a fire and burned the bodies, they also burned the magic item and the coat of plates in an effort to purify them from the Pox. Quinn buried the metal remains of the armor. Perseverance had Josiah scratch “Pox” in charcoal on the door. Perseverance made an effort to stay away from the rest of the party for the remainder of the journey.
Vinn tried to use the crane to bring his horse up the cliff (Vinn road up as well). The platform was too small and things turned tragic immediately, 12 feet up the horse panicked and both of them fell to the ground. Vinn killed his injured and unconscious horse.
The party continued to Juxtapons but did not enter. The hamlet knew about the Pox. The leader Steadfast Gloryhold was kind and gave the party food, water, and herbs Josiah needed to make a tonic against the bloody pox, and 13 bolts. Josiah cast Ameliorate Distemper on some people that lived outside of Juxtapons. Steadfast also told the party Blessed or magic weapons are more effective against the disquieted spirits on the Three Mothers.
The party continued and camped at the base of the Three Mothers
Josiah, Alonne, and Vinn have the Bloody Pox.
Fictional Date: 07/17/0221
Real Date: 02/07/2017
Perseverance climbed the stairs to the Wooden Tower. He found the door ajar and went in. He quickly found a dead body face down on the floor. He moved closer to it but did not touch. After seeing droplets of blood on near the body’s face he left and got Josiah, who moved the body to a dignified position. In doing so he saw that the man had died of the Blood Pox (hemorrhagic Small Pox). Already exposed Josiah decided to explore the rest of the tower.
The party found the equipment and ballista on the roof. They also found Jaccob’s body and the First Strike Dagger and First Strike Crossbow. Alonne was the first to put on a suit of coat of plates, noticing the bloody discharge on the inside only after it was 90% on. Quinn also started putting on a suit. They did not find the, 20g, 300s, 400c in a compartment in the bottom of one of the water barrels. The party started a fire and burned the bodies, they also burned the magic item and the coat of plates in an effort to purify them from the Pox. Quinn buried the metal remains of the armor. Perseverance had Josiah scratch “Pox” in charcoal on the door. Perseverance made an effort to stay away from the rest of the party for the remainder of the journey.
Vinn tried to use the crane to bring his horse up the cliff (Vinn road up as well). The platform was too small and things turned tragic immediately, 12 feet up the horse panicked and both of them fell to the ground. Vinn killed his injured and unconscious horse.
The party continued to Juxtapons but did not enter. The hamlet knew about the Pox. The leader Steadfast Gloryhold was kind and gave the party food, water, and herbs Josiah needed to make a tonic against the bloody pox, and 13 bolts. Josiah cast Ameliorate Distemper on some people that lived outside of Juxtapons. Steadfast also told the party Blessed or magic weapons are more effective against the disquieted spirits on the Three Mothers.
The party continued and camped at the base of the Three Mothers
Josiah, Alonne, and Vinn have the Bloody Pox.
Session 4
Fictional Date: 07/18/0221
Real Date: 02/13/2017
The party started up the Three Mother’s cliff. After falling once, Vinn made it to a ledge and while trying to set up something so the rest of the party could get up he was attacked by a Stamm Spirit. Perseverance made his way up to the fight as quickly as he could but got there right as Vinn was knocked unconscious and nearly died. On the way up the first of the Three Mothers the party was attacked again, and a third time on the top of the cliff. Against everyone's advice Quin insisted on tying the magic crossbow on the end of his chain and then attacking with the odd weapon, because then it would count as magically). This resulted in disaster (roll of 100, 97, XX).
Every time the party was attacked the spirits approached at M:25, invisible. If they were attacked before they entered into melee combat the spirits retreated (at M 25) but they retaliated if pursued and attacked. No one realized this, forcing more and longer battles then needed. And causing significant problems because the Spirits attack with negative energy so injuries cannot be healed magically. Which caused the party to try and find the Abbey that Quin visited in his character background, hoping for a safe place to rest be cured of the Bloody Pox (which they are still unsure if they have contracted).
Quin was able to find the Abbey, but on the way the party stumbled on a Stamm tomb, but they moved on wanting to get to the Abbey first.
Fictional Date: 07/18/0221
Real Date: 02/13/2017
The party started up the Three Mother’s cliff. After falling once, Vinn made it to a ledge and while trying to set up something so the rest of the party could get up he was attacked by a Stamm Spirit. Perseverance made his way up to the fight as quickly as he could but got there right as Vinn was knocked unconscious and nearly died. On the way up the first of the Three Mothers the party was attacked again, and a third time on the top of the cliff. Against everyone's advice Quin insisted on tying the magic crossbow on the end of his chain and then attacking with the odd weapon, because then it would count as magically). This resulted in disaster (roll of 100, 97, XX).
Every time the party was attacked the spirits approached at M:25, invisible. If they were attacked before they entered into melee combat the spirits retreated (at M 25) but they retaliated if pursued and attacked. No one realized this, forcing more and longer battles then needed. And causing significant problems because the Spirits attack with negative energy so injuries cannot be healed magically. Which caused the party to try and find the Abbey that Quin visited in his character background, hoping for a safe place to rest be cured of the Bloody Pox (which they are still unsure if they have contracted).
Quin was able to find the Abbey, but on the way the party stumbled on a Stamm tomb, but they moved on wanting to get to the Abbey first.
Session 5
Fictional Date: 07/18/0221
Real Date: 02/21/2017
(A player could not start playing as early as everyone else so I ret coned the party back to the large stone door of the Stamm Tomb so they could investigate while his PC was unconscious).
Perseverance checked the door but could not open it because it was jammed. Quin was recruited and opened the door easily. A spirit of the Stamm attacked, it had a sword and did more damage than unarmed spirits had done (I don't think anyone noticed). No one looked into the tomb until after the battle, at which time the party found the urn and bronze short sword. They noticed that the sword in the tomb looked identical to the spirit's sword (a clue that taking away grave goods takes that item from the spirit). The party pushed the urn over while trying to avoid traps. Ex. Josiah, not wanted to desecrate a grave, replaced the remains but also sprinkled the remains and area with holy water.
The party then continued to the Abbey Suffragium. The party took every precaution to try and avoid spreading the Bloody Pox to the Abbey. They met the Parson of the abbey, Maltheus. Who was happy to see Quin again. The party stayed in the hospice of the abbey taking bed rest and tending from Josiah. The abbey supplied Time Heals All spells as needed. Maltheus wanted to wait for most of the party to show signs of the Bloody Pox before casting Cure Disease. Alonne needed very little healing so Maltheus cast Cure Disease on him within the first few days. He then left the hospice and spent the rest of the time in the abbey proper. Vinn and Josiah showed signs of the Bloody Pox, but not Quin and Perseverance.
During Alonne's time in the abbey he helped with both spiritual and practical concerns. At one point he was retrieving a bag of beans from the larder, he was surprised to stumble across a goblin armed with a pointy stick rummaging around the larder (the goblin was also surprised). Alonne grabbed the goblin and eventually subdued it. He then carried it to Maltheus who said they knew about the goblin living in the abbey but had no way to kill it (because of their vow of pacifism). Alonne then immediately carried the goblin to the edge of the plateau and threw it off the cliff.
The party then started searching for King Rig's Tomb, eventually finding it but fighting Stamm Spirits along the way. They figured out that the tears work for ~12 hours and that the spirits will withdraw if they are hit before they enter melee combat (any evidence that the victim can see them will do this).
Fictional Date: 07/18/0221
Real Date: 02/21/2017
(A player could not start playing as early as everyone else so I ret coned the party back to the large stone door of the Stamm Tomb so they could investigate while his PC was unconscious).
Perseverance checked the door but could not open it because it was jammed. Quin was recruited and opened the door easily. A spirit of the Stamm attacked, it had a sword and did more damage than unarmed spirits had done (I don't think anyone noticed). No one looked into the tomb until after the battle, at which time the party found the urn and bronze short sword. They noticed that the sword in the tomb looked identical to the spirit's sword (a clue that taking away grave goods takes that item from the spirit). The party pushed the urn over while trying to avoid traps. Ex. Josiah, not wanted to desecrate a grave, replaced the remains but also sprinkled the remains and area with holy water.
The party then continued to the Abbey Suffragium. The party took every precaution to try and avoid spreading the Bloody Pox to the Abbey. They met the Parson of the abbey, Maltheus. Who was happy to see Quin again. The party stayed in the hospice of the abbey taking bed rest and tending from Josiah. The abbey supplied Time Heals All spells as needed. Maltheus wanted to wait for most of the party to show signs of the Bloody Pox before casting Cure Disease. Alonne needed very little healing so Maltheus cast Cure Disease on him within the first few days. He then left the hospice and spent the rest of the time in the abbey proper. Vinn and Josiah showed signs of the Bloody Pox, but not Quin and Perseverance.
During Alonne's time in the abbey he helped with both spiritual and practical concerns. At one point he was retrieving a bag of beans from the larder, he was surprised to stumble across a goblin armed with a pointy stick rummaging around the larder (the goblin was also surprised). Alonne grabbed the goblin and eventually subdued it. He then carried it to Maltheus who said they knew about the goblin living in the abbey but had no way to kill it (because of their vow of pacifism). Alonne then immediately carried the goblin to the edge of the plateau and threw it off the cliff.
The party then started searching for King Rig's Tomb, eventually finding it but fighting Stamm Spirits along the way. They figured out that the tears work for ~12 hours and that the spirits will withdraw if they are hit before they enter melee combat (any evidence that the victim can see them will do this).
Session 6
Fictional Date: 07/04/0221
Real Date: 02/28/2017
No session summary was made at the time. This was written after the fact.
During this session the party tried to recover that lost weapon of King Rigg from his tomb. During the fight Quinn and Alonne were reduced to 0 hp and Vinn was killed. As the battle was going poorly, a desperate Perseverance overturned the Cauldron of Lightning, destroying it, vaporizing himself, and burning off the frescos around the room that explained what the Cauldron was and hinting that it might be usable to kill Ballicus (whom they haven’t met yet).
Perseverance believed the Cauldron was part of some ‘puzzle’ to find the lost weapon. He had no way to know that it was the weapon itself, except for I don’t know, entering the room it was in and looking around at the frescoes.
The party never returned, as the character with the tie to this location was killed (Perseverance).
Fictional Date: 07/04/0221
Real Date: 02/28/2017
No session summary was made at the time. This was written after the fact.
During this session the party tried to recover that lost weapon of King Rigg from his tomb. During the fight Quinn and Alonne were reduced to 0 hp and Vinn was killed. As the battle was going poorly, a desperate Perseverance overturned the Cauldron of Lightning, destroying it, vaporizing himself, and burning off the frescos around the room that explained what the Cauldron was and hinting that it might be usable to kill Ballicus (whom they haven’t met yet).
Perseverance believed the Cauldron was part of some ‘puzzle’ to find the lost weapon. He had no way to know that it was the weapon itself, except for I don’t know, entering the room it was in and looking around at the frescoes.
The party never returned, as the character with the tie to this location was killed (Perseverance).
Session 7
Fictional Date: 07/01/0221
Real Date: ???
Josiah started dragging the unconscious bodies of Alonne and Quin back to the abbey. He worked through the night scaring the spirits of the Stamm away with rocks and holy water before they enter into melee combat. At the abbey, what was left of the party rested for almost a week to heal.
At which point Xelavir "the Great" and Adny, two wizards, come running up to the abbey yelling that an army of the Stamm were following them (replacement PCs). The Priests of Heb including Maltheus Well were skeptical and waited to see. Keeping the wizards where they were. The Stamm did indeed show up and attack. With only a few rounds to prepare, Quinn tried to destroy one of the two rickety wooden bridges that are on the narrow path up the plateau to the abbey. He succeeded in pulling the railing off and destroying about half the actual bridge, making fighting on the bridge very dangerous for the enemy. After a dozen Stamm started up the path to the abbey, Josiah cast Darkness at the base extending about half the way up the path. This dramatically slowed the speed at which the Stamm could get up the path.
When the fighting on the path started Quinn and Alonne held the path at the damaged bridge, Xelavir effectively targeted archers using his longbow, and Adny ineffectively tried to drop oil on the bridge and light it on fire. Alonne smashed the damaged bridge, damaging it further and knocking several Stamm off of it. The Stamm were armed with bronze short swords, bronze brigandine armor and wooden shields.
It quickly became apparent to the Stamm that the abbey was mounting a defense and that the Darkness would make it impossible to move troops up the path faster than they could be killed, so the force retreated to a small nearby hill (350'). The Stamm regrouped recovered their injured and scouted around the plateau. Matheus told Alonne of a 'climbing path' on the rear of the plateau. Alonne had Adny climb down and destroy handholds and whatnot to make the path more dangerous and weaken others to act as traps (with the skill set traps).
Fictional Date: 07/01/0221
Real Date: ???
Josiah started dragging the unconscious bodies of Alonne and Quin back to the abbey. He worked through the night scaring the spirits of the Stamm away with rocks and holy water before they enter into melee combat. At the abbey, what was left of the party rested for almost a week to heal.
At which point Xelavir "the Great" and Adny, two wizards, come running up to the abbey yelling that an army of the Stamm were following them (replacement PCs). The Priests of Heb including Maltheus Well were skeptical and waited to see. Keeping the wizards where they were. The Stamm did indeed show up and attack. With only a few rounds to prepare, Quinn tried to destroy one of the two rickety wooden bridges that are on the narrow path up the plateau to the abbey. He succeeded in pulling the railing off and destroying about half the actual bridge, making fighting on the bridge very dangerous for the enemy. After a dozen Stamm started up the path to the abbey, Josiah cast Darkness at the base extending about half the way up the path. This dramatically slowed the speed at which the Stamm could get up the path.
When the fighting on the path started Quinn and Alonne held the path at the damaged bridge, Xelavir effectively targeted archers using his longbow, and Adny ineffectively tried to drop oil on the bridge and light it on fire. Alonne smashed the damaged bridge, damaging it further and knocking several Stamm off of it. The Stamm were armed with bronze short swords, bronze brigandine armor and wooden shields.
It quickly became apparent to the Stamm that the abbey was mounting a defense and that the Darkness would make it impossible to move troops up the path faster than they could be killed, so the force retreated to a small nearby hill (350'). The Stamm regrouped recovered their injured and scouted around the plateau. Matheus told Alonne of a 'climbing path' on the rear of the plateau. Alonne had Adny climb down and destroy handholds and whatnot to make the path more dangerous and weaken others to act as traps (with the skill set traps).
Session 8
Fictional Date: 08/14/0221
Real Date: 03/14/2017
After successfully repulsing the first attack by the Stamm, the party concentrated on making battle plans and fortifying the plateau. Everyone was healed. The abbey had almost nothing of use in the upcoming battler, but a priest (a former brigand) gave the party 2 sets of Brigandine armor and some weapons.
The players decided to divide into groups containing 1 combatant (party member) and 1 noncombatant. Xelavir and Josiah would sleep in their group and others would cat nap. The players choose where each group would be and they choice to have Quinn at the back side of the abbey with no party members close by.
Being a full moon, Quin turned into a were-bat and killed the noncombatant that was with him. I rolled to see if any of the napping PCs were asleep. I told the players that Quinn was asleep (no one could see him). The were-bat then flew the body of the noncombatant up to the top of the abbey and dropped it. The were-bat swooped down and engaged Alonne, Xelavir, and Josiah.
A brief fight in suede where the were-bat 'strafed' Alonne, Alonne badly injured it with a hold at bay maneuver. It flew around the abbey and out of sight, but not before Josiah cast a Light spell letting the party get a pretty good look at it. The party jogged around the corner, but it had flown around a second corner and was transforming back into Quinn. The party gathered to heal and wait for another attack. When it became clear that no attack was coming (a few rounds) they ran to where Quinn was sleeping and found him sleeping still. When they realized that the person the bat creature killed was Quinn's non-combatant, Quinn erroneously concluded that the were-bat silently killed the non-combatant and flew the body away so as to not wake Quinn for the fight with the party. The party took this as a sign of high intelligence.
The party then decided to have everyone except the PCs retreat to inside the abbey (Josiah slept inside the abbey too, right next to a door), while the party patrolled the edge of the plateau. A complete circuit taking around ~15 minutes. Later that night the party encounters a group of Stamm climbing the plateau. Three infantrymen and 2 archers are on the plateau and a few more are still climbing, the party is 80 feet away.
Fictional Date: 08/14/0221
Real Date: 03/14/2017
After successfully repulsing the first attack by the Stamm, the party concentrated on making battle plans and fortifying the plateau. Everyone was healed. The abbey had almost nothing of use in the upcoming battler, but a priest (a former brigand) gave the party 2 sets of Brigandine armor and some weapons.
The players decided to divide into groups containing 1 combatant (party member) and 1 noncombatant. Xelavir and Josiah would sleep in their group and others would cat nap. The players choose where each group would be and they choice to have Quinn at the back side of the abbey with no party members close by.
Being a full moon, Quin turned into a were-bat and killed the noncombatant that was with him. I rolled to see if any of the napping PCs were asleep. I told the players that Quinn was asleep (no one could see him). The were-bat then flew the body of the noncombatant up to the top of the abbey and dropped it. The were-bat swooped down and engaged Alonne, Xelavir, and Josiah.
A brief fight in suede where the were-bat 'strafed' Alonne, Alonne badly injured it with a hold at bay maneuver. It flew around the abbey and out of sight, but not before Josiah cast a Light spell letting the party get a pretty good look at it. The party jogged around the corner, but it had flown around a second corner and was transforming back into Quinn. The party gathered to heal and wait for another attack. When it became clear that no attack was coming (a few rounds) they ran to where Quinn was sleeping and found him sleeping still. When they realized that the person the bat creature killed was Quinn's non-combatant, Quinn erroneously concluded that the were-bat silently killed the non-combatant and flew the body away so as to not wake Quinn for the fight with the party. The party took this as a sign of high intelligence.
The party then decided to have everyone except the PCs retreat to inside the abbey (Josiah slept inside the abbey too, right next to a door), while the party patrolled the edge of the plateau. A complete circuit taking around ~15 minutes. Later that night the party encounters a group of Stamm climbing the plateau. Three infantrymen and 2 archers are on the plateau and a few more are still climbing, the party is 80 feet away.
Session 9
Fictional Date: 08/15/0221
Real Date: 03/28/2017
Continuing where we left off, the party attacked the group of Stamm soldiers, Josiah was sleeping in the abbey. The Stamm were quickly routed, the last few tried to run, but were killed. The last was shoot in the back as he ran. After some discussion the party continued patrolling around the edge of the plateau. Less than halfway around the party encounters a larger group of Stamm formed into a defensive shield wall. This fight was a little more difficult and several Stamm successfully ran away. The party chased but stopped short when Xelavir saw a much larger force standing by the path up the plateau.
The group was composed of Lord Ballicus the Indefeatable (sic), archers and footmen, around 20 in total. Xelavir, Quinn, and Alonne ducked behind a nearby 'corner' of the abbey. Xelavir peeked around the corner and saw Ballicus who was talking to several of the fleeing soldiers. Xelavir shot him, scoring a critical hit to his torso. The arrow pierced his armor but then fell limp with the head still stuck in the armor but no sign of injuring Ballicus. Ballicus then charged the group pointing at the archer and calling him a coward. The 3 party members engages him. After 2 critical hit that showed no sign of injuring Ballicus he pushed past Quinn to get at Xelavir, who fled. Ballicus again called him a coward and continued fighting Quinn and Alonne. He had won honor by forcing an enemy to flee. Quinn and Alonne scored several hits against him but Ballicus seemed unaffected. They party thought he had some kind of Stoneskin type spell. But Allone noticed that on the very mightiest blows Ballicus did seem to suffer a few points of damage.
When Xelavir saw that Ballicus wasn't chasing him he turned and continued to shoot. Insulted by Xelavir pretending to flee and then turning to fight again when Ballicus let him go, he again pointed at Xelavir and say, "flee or die, archer." Xelavir continued shooting and Ballicus ran at him, leaving Alonne and Quinn. Disheartened that his mightiest blow did nothing against Ballicus, Quinn was going to head into the abbey but Alonne convinced him to chase after Xelavir.
The group made 1/2 a circuit around the Abbey when Xelavir decided he wanted to try and trip Ballicus up and try to get him to fall off the cliff. Quinn and Alonne decided to stop running and enter the abbey, not sure why. With no clear way to get Ballicus to fall off the cliff, Xalaver's plan changed to trying the flee from Ballicus down the secret path at the back of the abbey. The path that was trapped by Adny and Xelavir.
Ballicus grabbed for him but couldn't get there in time. Satisfied again that he had won honor by forcing an enemy to flee, as Xelavir left Ballicus said, "Tell me your name so I might know who flees from me." Xelavir responds, "Wizards don't share their names." To which Ballicus replied, "Your no wizard". Xelavir's reply was, "Piss off" which made the honor fueled Ballicus fly into a rage and fling himself down the cliff after Xelavir. He grabbed him, nearly sending them both down the cliff, which now Xelavir had decided he didn’t want to happen and we stopped playing because Xelavir's player seemed upset and changing his mind again was going to try and hurl Xelavir and Ballicus off the cliff, which everyone thought would not hurt Balius.
(During all this you might ask where was Joshia and Adny? The answer is that they were inside the abbey running back and forth between two doors. Every time they got to one door the party had already left of fled that area leaving no sign of where they were. Joshua and Adny would then run back to the first door, but by the time they got there the battle had moved on again. This amazing occurrence happened 4 times.)
Fictional Date: 08/15/0221
Real Date: 03/28/2017
Continuing where we left off, the party attacked the group of Stamm soldiers, Josiah was sleeping in the abbey. The Stamm were quickly routed, the last few tried to run, but were killed. The last was shoot in the back as he ran. After some discussion the party continued patrolling around the edge of the plateau. Less than halfway around the party encounters a larger group of Stamm formed into a defensive shield wall. This fight was a little more difficult and several Stamm successfully ran away. The party chased but stopped short when Xelavir saw a much larger force standing by the path up the plateau.
The group was composed of Lord Ballicus the Indefeatable (sic), archers and footmen, around 20 in total. Xelavir, Quinn, and Alonne ducked behind a nearby 'corner' of the abbey. Xelavir peeked around the corner and saw Ballicus who was talking to several of the fleeing soldiers. Xelavir shot him, scoring a critical hit to his torso. The arrow pierced his armor but then fell limp with the head still stuck in the armor but no sign of injuring Ballicus. Ballicus then charged the group pointing at the archer and calling him a coward. The 3 party members engages him. After 2 critical hit that showed no sign of injuring Ballicus he pushed past Quinn to get at Xelavir, who fled. Ballicus again called him a coward and continued fighting Quinn and Alonne. He had won honor by forcing an enemy to flee. Quinn and Alonne scored several hits against him but Ballicus seemed unaffected. They party thought he had some kind of Stoneskin type spell. But Allone noticed that on the very mightiest blows Ballicus did seem to suffer a few points of damage.
When Xelavir saw that Ballicus wasn't chasing him he turned and continued to shoot. Insulted by Xelavir pretending to flee and then turning to fight again when Ballicus let him go, he again pointed at Xelavir and say, "flee or die, archer." Xelavir continued shooting and Ballicus ran at him, leaving Alonne and Quinn. Disheartened that his mightiest blow did nothing against Ballicus, Quinn was going to head into the abbey but Alonne convinced him to chase after Xelavir.
The group made 1/2 a circuit around the Abbey when Xelavir decided he wanted to try and trip Ballicus up and try to get him to fall off the cliff. Quinn and Alonne decided to stop running and enter the abbey, not sure why. With no clear way to get Ballicus to fall off the cliff, Xalaver's plan changed to trying the flee from Ballicus down the secret path at the back of the abbey. The path that was trapped by Adny and Xelavir.
Ballicus grabbed for him but couldn't get there in time. Satisfied again that he had won honor by forcing an enemy to flee, as Xelavir left Ballicus said, "Tell me your name so I might know who flees from me." Xelavir responds, "Wizards don't share their names." To which Ballicus replied, "Your no wizard". Xelavir's reply was, "Piss off" which made the honor fueled Ballicus fly into a rage and fling himself down the cliff after Xelavir. He grabbed him, nearly sending them both down the cliff, which now Xelavir had decided he didn’t want to happen and we stopped playing because Xelavir's player seemed upset and changing his mind again was going to try and hurl Xelavir and Ballicus off the cliff, which everyone thought would not hurt Balius.
(During all this you might ask where was Joshia and Adny? The answer is that they were inside the abbey running back and forth between two doors. Every time they got to one door the party had already left of fled that area leaving no sign of where they were. Joshua and Adny would then run back to the first door, but by the time they got there the battle had moved on again. This amazing occurrence happened 4 times.)
Session 10
Fictional Date: 08/15/0221
Real Date: 04/18/2017
The rest of the party was in the abbey and got no word from Xelavir (His player could not play).
At the start of the session, the party decided to set the abbey on fire before the Stamm started their attack in an attempt to cover their retreat. The party and the 35 people from the abbey went down a secret passageway that exited 250 feet from the abbey. The Stamm had found the exit, which was inconspicuous but not hidden. Two guards were posted near the exit, but they were distracted by the fire. Adny backstabbed one, and Quinn and Alonne shot the other with crossbows. The killing made some noise, but nothing come of it.
The group left at best possible speed (it was night). They saw the Stamm rushing around the abbey, perhaps trying to put it out. Eventually Adny saw that the Stamm were pursuing, but the group had a large head start because of the distraction of the abbey.
The party decided to go to Middleworth as opposed to Jutxapons, thinking that Juxtapons was likely over run. Above halfway the party saw a something in the distance, upon investigation it turned out to be several dead goblins. Soon after they encountered a long drag mark in the dirt perpendicular to their path. They followed it and found a single goblin dragging a claymore in the dirt. (the goblins had been given the claymore by the Stamm, and where moving it who knows where, had a fight and all but one was killed. The last goblin quickly tired of carrying the claymore and started dragging it). The goblin was quickly killed and the claymore was taken, and recognized by Alonne as one of the lost Claymore's of Abolition (it is actually a cursed Stamm copy of those claymores), Alonne recognized that the colored gem stones were not in the same configuration as history say the Claymore's of Abolition where, but doesn't know what to make of that.
Outside Middleworth, Quinn ran ahead to make sure the village hadn't fallen to the Stamm. Before he got their Zuy the mage and Amberth the priest saw him from hiding. Amberth cast Paralysis on Quinn, but no violence ensued. The group caught up with Quinn and everyone entered Middleworth, which seems to be on high alert. Amberth seems like a questionable priest, basically admitting he tries to do as much good as he can so that he can have a vice filled life and still be in Valroon's good graces. Quinn believes that Zuy paralyzed him and thinks he is an ‘evil wizard’.
Fictional Date: 08/15/0221
Real Date: 04/18/2017
The rest of the party was in the abbey and got no word from Xelavir (His player could not play).
At the start of the session, the party decided to set the abbey on fire before the Stamm started their attack in an attempt to cover their retreat. The party and the 35 people from the abbey went down a secret passageway that exited 250 feet from the abbey. The Stamm had found the exit, which was inconspicuous but not hidden. Two guards were posted near the exit, but they were distracted by the fire. Adny backstabbed one, and Quinn and Alonne shot the other with crossbows. The killing made some noise, but nothing come of it.
The group left at best possible speed (it was night). They saw the Stamm rushing around the abbey, perhaps trying to put it out. Eventually Adny saw that the Stamm were pursuing, but the group had a large head start because of the distraction of the abbey.
The party decided to go to Middleworth as opposed to Jutxapons, thinking that Juxtapons was likely over run. Above halfway the party saw a something in the distance, upon investigation it turned out to be several dead goblins. Soon after they encountered a long drag mark in the dirt perpendicular to their path. They followed it and found a single goblin dragging a claymore in the dirt. (the goblins had been given the claymore by the Stamm, and where moving it who knows where, had a fight and all but one was killed. The last goblin quickly tired of carrying the claymore and started dragging it). The goblin was quickly killed and the claymore was taken, and recognized by Alonne as one of the lost Claymore's of Abolition (it is actually a cursed Stamm copy of those claymores), Alonne recognized that the colored gem stones were not in the same configuration as history say the Claymore's of Abolition where, but doesn't know what to make of that.
Outside Middleworth, Quinn ran ahead to make sure the village hadn't fallen to the Stamm. Before he got their Zuy the mage and Amberth the priest saw him from hiding. Amberth cast Paralysis on Quinn, but no violence ensued. The group caught up with Quinn and everyone entered Middleworth, which seems to be on high alert. Amberth seems like a questionable priest, basically admitting he tries to do as much good as he can so that he can have a vice filled life and still be in Valroon's good graces. Quinn believes that Zuy paralyzed him and thinks he is an ‘evil wizard’.
Session 11?
Fictional Date: ???
Real Date: ???
Adny slept in the one inn in town, the rest of the party stayed at the temple. Nafferton found out the party was back and sent a messenger to get them (slightly insulted they didn't come to him for lodging). Nafferton was saddened to hear of the deaths in the party. Quinn inquired about the illuminated manuscripts and was told about an upcoming artist who become trapped in Middleworth. Alonne got permission to keep using the Jewel of Friendly Item.
Nafferton tried to convince the party to stay in the Middleworth, as he thought an attack was imminent. The party was planning on going with Zuy and Amberth to see what was going on in Juxtapons. The party discussed and decided to go to Juxtapons. On the way to Juxtapons that party foiled a poorly executed ambush by the Stamm killing around 10. Zuy charmed one.
Via Zuy, the party questioned the Stamm soldier. They found out about Ballicus the Undestructable, and how he and his family are specially blessed by Valroon and he has been given sovereignty over everything he sees.
Fictional Date: ???
Real Date: ???
Adny slept in the one inn in town, the rest of the party stayed at the temple. Nafferton found out the party was back and sent a messenger to get them (slightly insulted they didn't come to him for lodging). Nafferton was saddened to hear of the deaths in the party. Quinn inquired about the illuminated manuscripts and was told about an upcoming artist who become trapped in Middleworth. Alonne got permission to keep using the Jewel of Friendly Item.
Nafferton tried to convince the party to stay in the Middleworth, as he thought an attack was imminent. The party was planning on going with Zuy and Amberth to see what was going on in Juxtapons. The party discussed and decided to go to Juxtapons. On the way to Juxtapons that party foiled a poorly executed ambush by the Stamm killing around 10. Zuy charmed one.
Via Zuy, the party questioned the Stamm soldier. They found out about Ballicus the Undestructable, and how he and his family are specially blessed by Valroon and he has been given sovereignty over everything he sees.
Session 12?
Fictional Date: ???
Real Date: ???
The party continued to interrogate the prisoner and found out that elves live in the Stamm culture, acting as advisers but not being useful, not fighting in the army. They also learned that Ballicus the Undestrucable has ruled for 2 years and this 'blessing' is new and is what caused this Stamm aggression.
The party plus Zuy the Mage and Amberth the Priest approached Justapons. Some crops were still in the fields around Juxtapons, 20% of the outlaying farms were burnt, all were looted of portable food and all iron implements. But the non-burned farmhouses still seem relatively neat, not violently ransacked. This is because most of the people moved into Juxtapons before the Stamm arrived. The party (Quinn's player) thought it might mean that people surrendered and packed up their stuff and left. During this process the party killed 3 or 4 Stamm soldiers who were still scavenging.
The party then found a good vantage point to look into the village and saw female villagers walking around and many Stamm soldiers but no male villagers. When planning Zuy and Amberth always enthusiastically backed plans that were slow and cautious. So much so that Alonne has become suspicious of them. (baselessly, they are just very cautious being used to having a party of 2).
Fictional Date: ???
Real Date: ???
The party continued to interrogate the prisoner and found out that elves live in the Stamm culture, acting as advisers but not being useful, not fighting in the army. They also learned that Ballicus the Undestrucable has ruled for 2 years and this 'blessing' is new and is what caused this Stamm aggression.
The party plus Zuy the Mage and Amberth the Priest approached Justapons. Some crops were still in the fields around Juxtapons, 20% of the outlaying farms were burnt, all were looted of portable food and all iron implements. But the non-burned farmhouses still seem relatively neat, not violently ransacked. This is because most of the people moved into Juxtapons before the Stamm arrived. The party (Quinn's player) thought it might mean that people surrendered and packed up their stuff and left. During this process the party killed 3 or 4 Stamm soldiers who were still scavenging.
The party then found a good vantage point to look into the village and saw female villagers walking around and many Stamm soldiers but no male villagers. When planning Zuy and Amberth always enthusiastically backed plans that were slow and cautious. So much so that Alonne has become suspicious of them. (baselessly, they are just very cautious being used to having a party of 2).
Session 13?
Fictional Date: ???
Real Date: 05/18/2017
The party decided to sleep in a cellar with two entrances, outside of Juxtapons. They continued to scout that night and found a dead body with several arrows sticking out of it. The arrows had striped black and purple fletchings. Later they found a bundle of similar arrows hidden outside of town. The party correctly assumed that Stelmus the Archer-Prince would use them as extra ammunition in a fight. Zuy and Ambert convinced the party to wait a few days to gather more information. After 2 days a group of 4 Stamm swordsmen came out of Juxtapons and started searching the outlaying farmhouses.
The party waited for the Stamm to find them and killed the group of Stamm. However, they were seen by Stelmus. Adny was watching Juxtapons and saw the small gate open and close but no one came out. Everyone realized this meant an invisible person had exited. The party fled, Adny stayed behind to set a trap. Quinn (who Zuy made invisible) stayed under cover 100 feet away wanting an opportunity to kill the invisible Stamm.
Adny decided the use his set trap skill to... set a trap and placed a bucket of blood (from the Stamm) atop the door to the house. Stelmus, pushed the door open and was spattered with enough blood that he could be seen. Stelmus started fleeing back to Juxtapons, but Quinn sprinted towards him and was able to wrap his chain around him. For several rounds Stelmus tried to escape, but the die roles went against him. During that time Adny stabbed him in and around the neck. The rest of the party ran towards the fight. Josuha cast Paralysis (didn't work) and Alonne got the killing blow with his magic claymore, which activated its curse. The party mistakenly believed this was a property of Stelmus dying not the Claymore.
The party didn't understand Stelmus was dead, because the invisibility was not dispelled as would happen with a spell when you die. They carried his body away; they weren't chased but were tracked. The party is heading back to Middleworth.
Fictional Date: ???
Real Date: 05/18/2017
The party decided to sleep in a cellar with two entrances, outside of Juxtapons. They continued to scout that night and found a dead body with several arrows sticking out of it. The arrows had striped black and purple fletchings. Later they found a bundle of similar arrows hidden outside of town. The party correctly assumed that Stelmus the Archer-Prince would use them as extra ammunition in a fight. Zuy and Ambert convinced the party to wait a few days to gather more information. After 2 days a group of 4 Stamm swordsmen came out of Juxtapons and started searching the outlaying farmhouses.
The party waited for the Stamm to find them and killed the group of Stamm. However, they were seen by Stelmus. Adny was watching Juxtapons and saw the small gate open and close but no one came out. Everyone realized this meant an invisible person had exited. The party fled, Adny stayed behind to set a trap. Quinn (who Zuy made invisible) stayed under cover 100 feet away wanting an opportunity to kill the invisible Stamm.
Adny decided the use his set trap skill to... set a trap and placed a bucket of blood (from the Stamm) atop the door to the house. Stelmus, pushed the door open and was spattered with enough blood that he could be seen. Stelmus started fleeing back to Juxtapons, but Quinn sprinted towards him and was able to wrap his chain around him. For several rounds Stelmus tried to escape, but the die roles went against him. During that time Adny stabbed him in and around the neck. The rest of the party ran towards the fight. Josuha cast Paralysis (didn't work) and Alonne got the killing blow with his magic claymore, which activated its curse. The party mistakenly believed this was a property of Stelmus dying not the Claymore.
The party didn't understand Stelmus was dead, because the invisibility was not dispelled as would happen with a spell when you die. They carried his body away; they weren't chased but were tracked. The party is heading back to Middleworth.
Session 14?
Fictional Date: ???
Real Date: 06/01/2017
The party went back to Middleworth, while being tracked by a party of Stamm. The Stamm never approach and you never get a good idea of how many Stamm there are. You do see several Stamm on horseback. We make it to Middleworth on the 24th.
The village is swollen with people from outlaying farms and hamlets and the food and livestock they brought with them. Mercenaries, adventurers, and other unsavory characters have been attracted to the village by the hope of jobs, plunder, or the opportunity to legally kill people. Such opportunities have not presented themselves and with Middleworth’s lack of official government the village has grown tense with so many idle sword hands around.
Nafferton Cole is happy to see the party back safely and puts the party up in his guest wing, he also will store the body of the archer-prince. Almost a week passes while the party rests, repairs equipment, trains, learns about the magic items (below), etc. Alonne asks the local Parson, Alric, to call for an Eluciator to come to Middleworth, because the Stalmus' body (the Archer-Prince) has remained invisible long after his death and the magic detects as Old Way magic. Ex. Josiah wants to learn the Stamm language and finds out that a wizard in town named Golt is a language savant and can speak it. He initially declines but agrees if Alonne will sell him his minor magical Stamm dagger.
Prelate Jordis the Eluciator shows up in town and his grizzled appearance and serious manner intimidates most NPCs, particularly Ex. Amberth. Alonne finds him and tell him what is going on, and asks to join the Eliciators, Jordis says he will think about it. Meanwhile Jordis says he wants to learn a little of the Stamm language and Alonne points him to Golt and Josiah. Jordis learns from Golt directly. He memorizes the writ to convert someone to the Church of Ignimius (phonetically in Stamm) and is very interested to words that are in both languages but have different means in both. I give the players the example of the word 'course' means chicken in Stamm. This is foreshadowing, but I'm sure no one will remember.
One night while the party was at the tavern (no name), and Josiah was learning Stamm from Golt, a severed head smashed through the thatched roof and splattered onto the floor. The party (and a bunch of other adventurers) ran out into the streets. It became apparent that Middleworth was being bombarded with poorly targeted catapults. The next shot hit Golt in the neck, killing him. Adny picked up his spell book, pouch, and magic ring, he passed a check and noticed his bracelet, but missed his wand.
The party ran to the temple, then decided to at least try and find the catapults. Quinn left to try and find Zuy, against the party's wishes. The rest of the party went out the south gate, and around the wall to the east, but then waited for Quinn to catch up. The party got the attention of guards on the wall and told them to rally the other adventurers in town. The party united and left to find the catapults.
Fictional Date: ???
Real Date: 06/01/2017
The party went back to Middleworth, while being tracked by a party of Stamm. The Stamm never approach and you never get a good idea of how many Stamm there are. You do see several Stamm on horseback. We make it to Middleworth on the 24th.
The village is swollen with people from outlaying farms and hamlets and the food and livestock they brought with them. Mercenaries, adventurers, and other unsavory characters have been attracted to the village by the hope of jobs, plunder, or the opportunity to legally kill people. Such opportunities have not presented themselves and with Middleworth’s lack of official government the village has grown tense with so many idle sword hands around.
Nafferton Cole is happy to see the party back safely and puts the party up in his guest wing, he also will store the body of the archer-prince. Almost a week passes while the party rests, repairs equipment, trains, learns about the magic items (below), etc. Alonne asks the local Parson, Alric, to call for an Eluciator to come to Middleworth, because the Stalmus' body (the Archer-Prince) has remained invisible long after his death and the magic detects as Old Way magic. Ex. Josiah wants to learn the Stamm language and finds out that a wizard in town named Golt is a language savant and can speak it. He initially declines but agrees if Alonne will sell him his minor magical Stamm dagger.
Prelate Jordis the Eluciator shows up in town and his grizzled appearance and serious manner intimidates most NPCs, particularly Ex. Amberth. Alonne finds him and tell him what is going on, and asks to join the Eliciators, Jordis says he will think about it. Meanwhile Jordis says he wants to learn a little of the Stamm language and Alonne points him to Golt and Josiah. Jordis learns from Golt directly. He memorizes the writ to convert someone to the Church of Ignimius (phonetically in Stamm) and is very interested to words that are in both languages but have different means in both. I give the players the example of the word 'course' means chicken in Stamm. This is foreshadowing, but I'm sure no one will remember.
One night while the party was at the tavern (no name), and Josiah was learning Stamm from Golt, a severed head smashed through the thatched roof and splattered onto the floor. The party (and a bunch of other adventurers) ran out into the streets. It became apparent that Middleworth was being bombarded with poorly targeted catapults. The next shot hit Golt in the neck, killing him. Adny picked up his spell book, pouch, and magic ring, he passed a check and noticed his bracelet, but missed his wand.
The party ran to the temple, then decided to at least try and find the catapults. Quinn left to try and find Zuy, against the party's wishes. The rest of the party went out the south gate, and around the wall to the east, but then waited for Quinn to catch up. The party got the attention of guards on the wall and told them to rally the other adventurers in town. The party united and left to find the catapults.
Session 15?
Fictional Date: ???
Real Date: 06/07/2017
The party had a long fight with the catapult’s defenders. The catapults were protected by a half ring of sharpened stacks, 11 swordsmen, 8 spearmen/workers, a 10th level Priest of the Old Way (Quills), and the niece of Ballicus the Undescructable, sister of Stalmus the Archer-Prince, called Seelera Elf-Joined. The area around the catapults had been cleared of all brush, rocks, etc. so that Seelera could use her divine speed without having a chance of tripping. I mentioned the fact that the ground was unusually free of brush.
The party almost immediately retreated, swordsmen in tow, the spearmen and Quillis followed after a few rounds. Seelera attacked with her supernatural speed (x10) and Ad (108) soon after. Spreading out the enemies helped, but they rolled well for damage. The one or two attacks the party got off on Seelera missed badly. The party had an even, hard-fought battle (except that no one could touch Seelera). The Stamm's morale broke and the survivors ran. Leaving the party to fight Seelera, who killed Josiah.
Quinn ran after Quillis, once Quinn was alone, Seelera attacked and reduced him to negative hit points with a double damage critical, slitting his neck. She then told Quinn to surrender. He did. As they moved away Quinn's injury was aggravated prompting Seelera to have him stop. She got Quillis is come and heal him (showing compassion).
The rest of the party returned to Middleworth where they found many adventurers milling around the gate. Alonne berated them for their cowardice.
Fictional Date: ???
Real Date: 06/07/2017
The party had a long fight with the catapult’s defenders. The catapults were protected by a half ring of sharpened stacks, 11 swordsmen, 8 spearmen/workers, a 10th level Priest of the Old Way (Quills), and the niece of Ballicus the Undescructable, sister of Stalmus the Archer-Prince, called Seelera Elf-Joined. The area around the catapults had been cleared of all brush, rocks, etc. so that Seelera could use her divine speed without having a chance of tripping. I mentioned the fact that the ground was unusually free of brush.
The party almost immediately retreated, swordsmen in tow, the spearmen and Quillis followed after a few rounds. Seelera attacked with her supernatural speed (x10) and Ad (108) soon after. Spreading out the enemies helped, but they rolled well for damage. The one or two attacks the party got off on Seelera missed badly. The party had an even, hard-fought battle (except that no one could touch Seelera). The Stamm's morale broke and the survivors ran. Leaving the party to fight Seelera, who killed Josiah.
Quinn ran after Quillis, once Quinn was alone, Seelera attacked and reduced him to negative hit points with a double damage critical, slitting his neck. She then told Quinn to surrender. He did. As they moved away Quinn's injury was aggravated prompting Seelera to have him stop. She got Quillis is come and heal him (showing compassion).
The rest of the party returned to Middleworth where they found many adventurers milling around the gate. Alonne berated them for their cowardice.
Session 16?
Fictional Date: ???
Real Date: 06/14/2017
Alonne and Adny decided to go back out and attack the catapult as soon as possible. They were healed by Malthus and the other Priests of Heb. And started having a few towns people produce make-shift caltrops with nails and small blocks of wood.
Meanwhile Quinn, captured by See'le'ra, had a conversation with her where he learned that a larger army was coming to siege Middleworth and that the Stamm don’t know that Stelmus' body is in the town. See'le'ra wants the body back.
Ex. Amberth and Zuy attacked the catapults, Ex. Amberth was killed when his Cursed Claymore of Abolition shocked and stunned him when he attacked the Stamm Priest Quillis, Quinn saw this and reported it to the party. No one suspects that the claymores are cursed.
Alonne and Adny made quick work of Quillis and routed the spearmen, who were not regular soldiers, See'le'ra eventually left Quinn in the hands of a spearmen and attacked. This time after a few attacks Alonne and Adny hunkered down in the fortifications made for the catapults and laid down caltrops around them. When See'le'ra ran in (at 200mph) she stepped on one, lost her footing, and her momentum carried her forward until she hit one of the stakes and was bisected. She then started tumbling along the ground shirring off her arms and legs and most of her head.
Ex. Josiah was raised from the dead by Malthus, and Josiah went out and used See Magic to search for any magic items she made, which were scattered over a large area.
Fictional Date: ???
Real Date: 06/14/2017
Alonne and Adny decided to go back out and attack the catapult as soon as possible. They were healed by Malthus and the other Priests of Heb. And started having a few towns people produce make-shift caltrops with nails and small blocks of wood.
Meanwhile Quinn, captured by See'le'ra, had a conversation with her where he learned that a larger army was coming to siege Middleworth and that the Stamm don’t know that Stelmus' body is in the town. See'le'ra wants the body back.
Ex. Amberth and Zuy attacked the catapults, Ex. Amberth was killed when his Cursed Claymore of Abolition shocked and stunned him when he attacked the Stamm Priest Quillis, Quinn saw this and reported it to the party. No one suspects that the claymores are cursed.
Alonne and Adny made quick work of Quillis and routed the spearmen, who were not regular soldiers, See'le'ra eventually left Quinn in the hands of a spearmen and attacked. This time after a few attacks Alonne and Adny hunkered down in the fortifications made for the catapults and laid down caltrops around them. When See'le'ra ran in (at 200mph) she stepped on one, lost her footing, and her momentum carried her forward until she hit one of the stakes and was bisected. She then started tumbling along the ground shirring off her arms and legs and most of her head.
Ex. Josiah was raised from the dead by Malthus, and Josiah went out and used See Magic to search for any magic items she made, which were scattered over a large area.
Session 17?
Fictional Date: 08/10/0221
Real Date: 06/22/2017
The party found out that when the catapults attacked Middleworth from the north, Tayo and Jordis checked the south and found a small group of Stamm infiltrators and killed them. Alonne talked to Jordis (who is a Prelate), and Jordis agreed to ordain him into the Elutriators. Jordis said he had been deciding on the issue up until recently, but he had vestments that had been altered to fit Alonne ready.
The Stamm that had Middleworth surrounded started a fire behind their line that gave off a pure white smoke. Ex. Josiah somehow correctly guessed that this meant that they wanted to negotiate. Josiah, know wearing a red sash, went out. Tayo wanted to go with him but Josiah convinced her not to. For 5 days (10 Oct to 15 Oct) XXX and the twins BBB and AAA along with a priest called the 'Auger' met with Josiah. Each day they sacrificed a goose (a chaotic and bloody affair) to see if Valroon had declared it a 'day of auspicious' or not. Each day the answer was no, and they would not negotiate. When Ex. Josiah tried to talk about what might be on the table in the negotiations, they took this as a trick to try and get them to negotiate on a day when it would anger Valroon.
On the night of the 15th, Quinn turned into a werebat. I did not mention it was a full moon, no one asked about the lighting. Quinn attacked a random house; Ex. Josiah ran out to try and help whoever was injured. Adny followed, without armor. Alonne stopped to put his armor on (9 rounds), Tayo who also heard, stopped to put her armor on as well (7 rounds). It took Josiah and Adny 7.25 rounds to get to the house. When they ran up to the door the werebat/Quinn throw a dying man out the closed door breaking one of the hinges.
Fictional Date: 08/10/0221
Real Date: 06/22/2017
The party found out that when the catapults attacked Middleworth from the north, Tayo and Jordis checked the south and found a small group of Stamm infiltrators and killed them. Alonne talked to Jordis (who is a Prelate), and Jordis agreed to ordain him into the Elutriators. Jordis said he had been deciding on the issue up until recently, but he had vestments that had been altered to fit Alonne ready.
The Stamm that had Middleworth surrounded started a fire behind their line that gave off a pure white smoke. Ex. Josiah somehow correctly guessed that this meant that they wanted to negotiate. Josiah, know wearing a red sash, went out. Tayo wanted to go with him but Josiah convinced her not to. For 5 days (10 Oct to 15 Oct) XXX and the twins BBB and AAA along with a priest called the 'Auger' met with Josiah. Each day they sacrificed a goose (a chaotic and bloody affair) to see if Valroon had declared it a 'day of auspicious' or not. Each day the answer was no, and they would not negotiate. When Ex. Josiah tried to talk about what might be on the table in the negotiations, they took this as a trick to try and get them to negotiate on a day when it would anger Valroon.
On the night of the 15th, Quinn turned into a werebat. I did not mention it was a full moon, no one asked about the lighting. Quinn attacked a random house; Ex. Josiah ran out to try and help whoever was injured. Adny followed, without armor. Alonne stopped to put his armor on (9 rounds), Tayo who also heard, stopped to put her armor on as well (7 rounds). It took Josiah and Adny 7.25 rounds to get to the house. When they ran up to the door the werebat/Quinn throw a dying man out the closed door breaking one of the hinges.
Session: 18?
Fake Date: ???
Real Date: 07/05/2017
Second Werebat Attack
The session started with Josiah and Adny standing in front of (what they inturprited as) the gargoyle-demon-bat, Adny was concealed. Ex. Josiah dropped his shield and ran, the gargoyle followed. The leg and hip anatomy of the werebat (Quinn) makes it a poor runner, and it was not able to fly in the narrow allies of the Middleworth neighborhood. The fact that Josiah could outpace the werebat surely saved his life. When the bat got to a small open section it flew up, got ahead of Josiah and then landed in front of him. Josiah turned and ran, again forcing the creature to pursue on foot (rolling a 96 on a running check). Josiah was able to stay ahead of the bat until Tayo found him (having rolled less time to put on armor but failing a PS check to get to Josiah efficiently). A fight ensued but was over before it began when the creature failed (99) a Wil check against Josiah's Paralysis spell.
During the fight I started describing what the PCs saw, then said "Wait, its dark". I then rolled a dice for cloud cover and 'consulted' my calendar to find the phase of the moon. I complained that the calendar had water damage right on the stop where the phase of the moon was listed, and it was hard to see. Making the players think that I didn't not know the phase of the moon which means that it must not be important to the plot. However, after they killed the werebat they got a clear look at it and could see that it was some kind of man-bat. (They also tried holy water and it did nothing)
During the fight Alonne activated the cursed Claymore of Abolition. The party is still unsure of when/why this happens, but at least put forth that the claymores might be cursed/imitations/etc., and that they had never actually been Identified. They almost had Adny try, until they found out he would suck at it being 2nd level. Also, during the fight, they saw that the werebat regenerated, even after death, so they cut its head off. They then put the body in the temple basement (where Stelmus and See'le'ra's bodies were kept before they were destroyed). The priests were not told to take any special precautions and the party specifically said they were not setting a watch. The werebat (Quinn) regenerated a new head in a few hours and opened the door and left the temple, returned to the priests of Heb and turned back into Quinn (his throat injury totally healed).
Quinn's player was present for this game (he was supposed to miss the session). After this attack I told the players point blank that the priest of Heb examined Quinn's wound and said the wound had "miraculously" healed, and that there was no way the wound could have healed this quickly. Even though this happened immediately after the werebat attack, no one had any idea that Quinn was the werebat, thinking this was a plot device to allow Quinn's player to start playing again. Even though this doesn't make allot of sense because Quinn's player was scheduled to start playing again next week.
Fake Date: ???
Real Date: 07/05/2017
Second Werebat Attack
The session started with Josiah and Adny standing in front of (what they inturprited as) the gargoyle-demon-bat, Adny was concealed. Ex. Josiah dropped his shield and ran, the gargoyle followed. The leg and hip anatomy of the werebat (Quinn) makes it a poor runner, and it was not able to fly in the narrow allies of the Middleworth neighborhood. The fact that Josiah could outpace the werebat surely saved his life. When the bat got to a small open section it flew up, got ahead of Josiah and then landed in front of him. Josiah turned and ran, again forcing the creature to pursue on foot (rolling a 96 on a running check). Josiah was able to stay ahead of the bat until Tayo found him (having rolled less time to put on armor but failing a PS check to get to Josiah efficiently). A fight ensued but was over before it began when the creature failed (99) a Wil check against Josiah's Paralysis spell.
During the fight I started describing what the PCs saw, then said "Wait, its dark". I then rolled a dice for cloud cover and 'consulted' my calendar to find the phase of the moon. I complained that the calendar had water damage right on the stop where the phase of the moon was listed, and it was hard to see. Making the players think that I didn't not know the phase of the moon which means that it must not be important to the plot. However, after they killed the werebat they got a clear look at it and could see that it was some kind of man-bat. (They also tried holy water and it did nothing)
During the fight Alonne activated the cursed Claymore of Abolition. The party is still unsure of when/why this happens, but at least put forth that the claymores might be cursed/imitations/etc., and that they had never actually been Identified. They almost had Adny try, until they found out he would suck at it being 2nd level. Also, during the fight, they saw that the werebat regenerated, even after death, so they cut its head off. They then put the body in the temple basement (where Stelmus and See'le'ra's bodies were kept before they were destroyed). The priests were not told to take any special precautions and the party specifically said they were not setting a watch. The werebat (Quinn) regenerated a new head in a few hours and opened the door and left the temple, returned to the priests of Heb and turned back into Quinn (his throat injury totally healed).
Quinn's player was present for this game (he was supposed to miss the session). After this attack I told the players point blank that the priest of Heb examined Quinn's wound and said the wound had "miraculously" healed, and that there was no way the wound could have healed this quickly. Even though this happened immediately after the werebat attack, no one had any idea that Quinn was the werebat, thinking this was a plot device to allow Quinn's player to start playing again. Even though this doesn't make allot of sense because Quinn's player was scheduled to start playing again next week.
Session 19?
Fictional Date: ???
Real Date: 07/18/2017
Negotiations
The party discussed two plans with Prelate Jordis and Nafferton Cole. The first was to infect the Stamm troops with The Bloody Pox, through various means, and then stretch out negotiations until the army started getting sick. The Second was to cut a deal with the Stamm to either allow some of the town to escape and let the Stamm take some as slaves, or some kind of arrangement where the Stamm take over the town and keep the community intact.
Exemplar Josiah and Tayo were very against the first plan (Josaih was excluded from the talks at first, but Tayo left to get him). Everyone else was more or less for the plan, although the particulars hadn't been worked out yet. Ex. Josiah convinced Prelate Jordis that the first plan would not be Valroon's will, be pointing out that disease is not the work of Paradise. Jordis switched sides, not wanting to fall into a trap set by Nurgyl. Alonne then also started supporting the second plan.
Without anyone else's knowledge, Adny used linens from the priests of Heb and collected Bloody Pox scrapings. He then had Zuy cast Invisibility on him and contaminated the Stamm food supply with Pox covered grain. In the process he caught the Bloody Pox (but was cured by Malthus) and then gave it to Tayo (who hasn't started showing symptoms).
A deal was struck with the Stamm that the people of Middleworth would invite the Stamm to rule over them as their legitimate authority. Ten percent of the populous could leave (people who had killed Stamm or otherwise had reason to fear this change). The priests and all mages would also leave. Alonne, Quinn, and Josiah became guarantors of the peace, honor bound to support this peace treaty for a month, stay in Middleworth, and become Tribunes of Middleworth. Having authority to stop any common soldier up to mischief and wait until a Stamm official can come and sort things out. Tribunes are sacrosanct. Also, those three had to swear to tell the Stamm if Adny cast a spell (he had to swear not to).
The session ended with the sounds of children screaming in the main town square. The PCs ran there and saw Stamm soldiers branding or cutting a group of 20 children.
Fictional Date: ???
Real Date: 07/18/2017
Negotiations
The party discussed two plans with Prelate Jordis and Nafferton Cole. The first was to infect the Stamm troops with The Bloody Pox, through various means, and then stretch out negotiations until the army started getting sick. The Second was to cut a deal with the Stamm to either allow some of the town to escape and let the Stamm take some as slaves, or some kind of arrangement where the Stamm take over the town and keep the community intact.
Exemplar Josiah and Tayo were very against the first plan (Josaih was excluded from the talks at first, but Tayo left to get him). Everyone else was more or less for the plan, although the particulars hadn't been worked out yet. Ex. Josiah convinced Prelate Jordis that the first plan would not be Valroon's will, be pointing out that disease is not the work of Paradise. Jordis switched sides, not wanting to fall into a trap set by Nurgyl. Alonne then also started supporting the second plan.
Without anyone else's knowledge, Adny used linens from the priests of Heb and collected Bloody Pox scrapings. He then had Zuy cast Invisibility on him and contaminated the Stamm food supply with Pox covered grain. In the process he caught the Bloody Pox (but was cured by Malthus) and then gave it to Tayo (who hasn't started showing symptoms).
A deal was struck with the Stamm that the people of Middleworth would invite the Stamm to rule over them as their legitimate authority. Ten percent of the populous could leave (people who had killed Stamm or otherwise had reason to fear this change). The priests and all mages would also leave. Alonne, Quinn, and Josiah became guarantors of the peace, honor bound to support this peace treaty for a month, stay in Middleworth, and become Tribunes of Middleworth. Having authority to stop any common soldier up to mischief and wait until a Stamm official can come and sort things out. Tribunes are sacrosanct. Also, those three had to swear to tell the Stamm if Adny cast a spell (he had to swear not to).
The session ended with the sounds of children screaming in the main town square. The PCs ran there and saw Stamm soldiers branding or cutting a group of 20 children.
Session 20?
Fake Date: ???
Real Date: 07/20/2017
Tribunes
It turned out that the Stamm were burning the children in order to collect their tears so that the Stamm could travel over the Three Mothers. This is something that they do to their own children and it is thought to make them strong and brave. The people of Middleworth were not placated by this and several were on the brink of violence when the party suggested that the Stamm use onions to induce tears, instead of burning... Everyone liked this idea (the Stamm had never thought of it).
The party did its duty as Tribunes, while at the same time gathering information on the Stamm and seeing who in town would be willing to fight the Stamm (just in case). First the party learned that the Stamm were changing their plans from leaving a small force in Middleworth to leaving the entire legion in the area. Soon after large numbers of Stamm were pulled out of the houses they were being quartered in because the soldiers were coming down with the Blood Pox and the Stamm didn't want it to be known that the army was infected.
Ex. Josiah agreed to teach the Stamm a treatment for the Bloody Pox in exchange for stopping the quartering of troops in Middleworth. It would ease suffering and prolong the life of an infected person. One of the ingredients of this treatment was the herb Lavender, which was in relatively short supply (it being December). Adny (secretly) immediately went about stealing as much dried Lavender from the people of Middleworth as possible and hiding it in the abandoned temple. Ex. Josiah also suggested to Nafferton that he should keep back some lavender to ensure that the Stamm don't take it all. XXXX noticed that the party was wearing some of the equipment of his slain children. He seemed upset but excepted it as part of war.
After a while the Stamm started to realize Lavender was in suspiciously short supply. A meeting was called to address the issue attended by the party, Nafferton Cole, 2 'other towns people', 5 Stamm guards, XXXX, XXX2, and XXX3. It was going fine until Prelate Jordis sent Parson Alonne a Vision (everyone there can see and hear it). In the Vision Prelate Jordis told the players that the Stamm had taken control of nearly all of the colony of Lin Porth, and that the physical presence of Ballicus the Undestructable on the battlefield is making a huge difference.
Prelate Jordis asked the party to come to the town of Lin Porth as soon as they can because the Prelate thinks he has discovered the location of the Greater Claymore of Abolition. Which may allow the party to defeat Ballicus. Prelate Jordis also mentioned that it was the party's goal to kill Ballicus. XXXX attacked the party because of this news and because the party killed his (adult) children.
Fake Date: ???
Real Date: 07/20/2017
Tribunes
It turned out that the Stamm were burning the children in order to collect their tears so that the Stamm could travel over the Three Mothers. This is something that they do to their own children and it is thought to make them strong and brave. The people of Middleworth were not placated by this and several were on the brink of violence when the party suggested that the Stamm use onions to induce tears, instead of burning... Everyone liked this idea (the Stamm had never thought of it).
The party did its duty as Tribunes, while at the same time gathering information on the Stamm and seeing who in town would be willing to fight the Stamm (just in case). First the party learned that the Stamm were changing their plans from leaving a small force in Middleworth to leaving the entire legion in the area. Soon after large numbers of Stamm were pulled out of the houses they were being quartered in because the soldiers were coming down with the Blood Pox and the Stamm didn't want it to be known that the army was infected.
Ex. Josiah agreed to teach the Stamm a treatment for the Bloody Pox in exchange for stopping the quartering of troops in Middleworth. It would ease suffering and prolong the life of an infected person. One of the ingredients of this treatment was the herb Lavender, which was in relatively short supply (it being December). Adny (secretly) immediately went about stealing as much dried Lavender from the people of Middleworth as possible and hiding it in the abandoned temple. Ex. Josiah also suggested to Nafferton that he should keep back some lavender to ensure that the Stamm don't take it all. XXXX noticed that the party was wearing some of the equipment of his slain children. He seemed upset but excepted it as part of war.
After a while the Stamm started to realize Lavender was in suspiciously short supply. A meeting was called to address the issue attended by the party, Nafferton Cole, 2 'other towns people', 5 Stamm guards, XXXX, XXX2, and XXX3. It was going fine until Prelate Jordis sent Parson Alonne a Vision (everyone there can see and hear it). In the Vision Prelate Jordis told the players that the Stamm had taken control of nearly all of the colony of Lin Porth, and that the physical presence of Ballicus the Undestructable on the battlefield is making a huge difference.
Prelate Jordis asked the party to come to the town of Lin Porth as soon as they can because the Prelate thinks he has discovered the location of the Greater Claymore of Abolition. Which may allow the party to defeat Ballicus. Prelate Jordis also mentioned that it was the party's goal to kill Ballicus. XXXX attacked the party because of this news and because the party killed his (adult) children.
Session 25
Fictional Date: ???
Real Date: 09/06/2017
(I have a this record, It is from Quinn's player. ITs pretty much an out of character bulleted account of a session, and includes what people are thinking about the werebat)
Trying to get to Urna by ship
We bought some barrels and clothes and I got a fancy hat.
The head priest of Heb from monastery said he wanted to talk to me and warned me that I might not be well equipped to go to Urna... mentally
I told him I had to go to help defeat the stamm. He said stay the night near him and he would make me a healing potion which he did. It's a potion of Quin healing-not universal
Then we met back up in the morning to head to boat. We found another werebat attack and asked some CSI questions about victimology. Only thing we think we figured out is that all the attacks were on or 1 day adjacent to full moons.
I made some comment about what if The DM made Quin the werebat and didn't tell me because it's something he'd do.
Then mark got waay into the idea because it might be possible that I've never been present during a fight with it (even though I thought I had).
So we went back to talk to the hebs to see if they noticed me doing werebat stuff when my thrust was slashed (and I was away ona trip). They said no but I wasn't under guard
Then heb guy said well it's easy to know, Quin were you ever attacked by a werebat? And Quin says yes We all were
Which just feeds into the suspicion. And Quin (purposely) does nothing to help his case.
I suggest they tie me up next full moon
Then we get on a dinghy to get on the main boat with a comically large number of barrels to keep our stuff dry and armor float
And Quin sees his good friend Wayne that belongs to the boat
Wayne furiously tries to convince Quin that his name is really Robert but Quin says we'll just have to agree to disagree (I was offered a roll to see if I understood but declined). Wayne is so enraged that he runs into rocks a couple of times and nearly capsizes us before the trip even begins
Then we sail uneventfully for 7 days. Tayo is learning seamanship, Josiah is learning Ghent and prepping me for visiting Urna and who I can't kill (dwarves, hobgoblins, wizards, practically nobody)
Day 7 The DM rolls a 99 for weather which means worst storm the crew has ever seen
We have 25 minutes to choose to row ashore or sail further out to sea to deeper waters. Captain suggests #2 so we go for it. Plus no guarantee we could make it ashore in time
At some point one of the sails starts to come unfurled and captain sends Red Shirt to fix it
He rolls in the 90s and falls in water. I do nothing because they have people for this. Alonne says well send the next guy.
Josiah casts water walk on himself, Quin, and Alonne and hops into water with a rope tied around himself and a barrel flotation device and the glowing Stamm axe (dagger?)
He very heroically tries to save the guy who rolls 96+ at every opportunity.
He finally sinks below the surface and Josiah tries to grab him but can't penetrate the water because of walk on water spell. Very dramatic. Then Josiah in a last attempt thrusts the axe under the surface (which works) and the guy rolls another 96+ and drowns.
Oh, I forgot he fell in because he rolled 100 even after we used your boots to give him +25 to Agl check
Then The DM vengefully rolled more 90s to make our topsail break and boat sink imminently. Seamanship check 75%, 15% chance damage 10% chance destroyed. +1% for bless on sailors.
It was mentioned that Adny was in a strangely compassionate mood :)
So, we had to figure out how to abandon ship and not drown or freeze in water.
You cast fly to at least save yourself but also to help us. Josiah, Quin, and Alonne still had some time left on walk on water
We had to get Tayo and some crew on boat and to shore.
Turned out the storm actually pushed us closer, so it was possible for you to make multiple trips to from boat with lifeboat to save everyone.
Everyone except the guy Josiah failed
So now we are on the other side of mountains from Urna.
Fictional Date: ???
Real Date: 09/06/2017
(I have a this record, It is from Quinn's player. ITs pretty much an out of character bulleted account of a session, and includes what people are thinking about the werebat)
Trying to get to Urna by ship
We bought some barrels and clothes and I got a fancy hat.
The head priest of Heb from monastery said he wanted to talk to me and warned me that I might not be well equipped to go to Urna... mentally
I told him I had to go to help defeat the stamm. He said stay the night near him and he would make me a healing potion which he did. It's a potion of Quin healing-not universal
Then we met back up in the morning to head to boat. We found another werebat attack and asked some CSI questions about victimology. Only thing we think we figured out is that all the attacks were on or 1 day adjacent to full moons.
I made some comment about what if The DM made Quin the werebat and didn't tell me because it's something he'd do.
Then mark got waay into the idea because it might be possible that I've never been present during a fight with it (even though I thought I had).
So we went back to talk to the hebs to see if they noticed me doing werebat stuff when my thrust was slashed (and I was away ona trip). They said no but I wasn't under guard
Then heb guy said well it's easy to know, Quin were you ever attacked by a werebat? And Quin says yes We all were
Which just feeds into the suspicion. And Quin (purposely) does nothing to help his case.
I suggest they tie me up next full moon
Then we get on a dinghy to get on the main boat with a comically large number of barrels to keep our stuff dry and armor float
And Quin sees his good friend Wayne that belongs to the boat
Wayne furiously tries to convince Quin that his name is really Robert but Quin says we'll just have to agree to disagree (I was offered a roll to see if I understood but declined). Wayne is so enraged that he runs into rocks a couple of times and nearly capsizes us before the trip even begins
Then we sail uneventfully for 7 days. Tayo is learning seamanship, Josiah is learning Ghent and prepping me for visiting Urna and who I can't kill (dwarves, hobgoblins, wizards, practically nobody)
Day 7 The DM rolls a 99 for weather which means worst storm the crew has ever seen
We have 25 minutes to choose to row ashore or sail further out to sea to deeper waters. Captain suggests #2 so we go for it. Plus no guarantee we could make it ashore in time
At some point one of the sails starts to come unfurled and captain sends Red Shirt to fix it
He rolls in the 90s and falls in water. I do nothing because they have people for this. Alonne says well send the next guy.
Josiah casts water walk on himself, Quin, and Alonne and hops into water with a rope tied around himself and a barrel flotation device and the glowing Stamm axe (dagger?)
He very heroically tries to save the guy who rolls 96+ at every opportunity.
He finally sinks below the surface and Josiah tries to grab him but can't penetrate the water because of walk on water spell. Very dramatic. Then Josiah in a last attempt thrusts the axe under the surface (which works) and the guy rolls another 96+ and drowns.
Oh, I forgot he fell in because he rolled 100 even after we used your boots to give him +25 to Agl check
Then The DM vengefully rolled more 90s to make our topsail break and boat sink imminently. Seamanship check 75%, 15% chance damage 10% chance destroyed. +1% for bless on sailors.
It was mentioned that Adny was in a strangely compassionate mood :)
So, we had to figure out how to abandon ship and not drown or freeze in water.
You cast fly to at least save yourself but also to help us. Josiah, Quin, and Alonne still had some time left on walk on water
We had to get Tayo and some crew on boat and to shore.
Turned out the storm actually pushed us closer, so it was possible for you to make multiple trips to from boat with lifeboat to save everyone.
Everyone except the guy Josiah failed
So now we are on the other side of mountains from Urna.
This is a Campaign synopsis written by Perserverance's Player written for another Player that stopped playing half way through the campaign. It was written 2 years after that campaign's end. I (the DM) will insert corrections I am relatively sure of (and clarifications) in red. I will leave most of the crazy stream of consciousness formatting alone.
here's what i remember;
before Xelavir's Player checkingout:
(BBC) - perseverance (half stamm half almuria rogue), alonne (warrior in church), quin (lab created human warrior), vintage (rogue/fighter), josiah (heb priest)
broad strokes: met up, percy got everyone to go on quest for legendary artifict [weapon]
everyone but josiah made kids cry meanly, he did it nicely.
quin cheated in fighting a werebat and got bit [Quin's player cheated, not Quinn. the werebat was in human form and no one know what it was]
met rich guy nafferton cole working on illustrated manuscript
found tower with smallpox infected armor and some magic weapons
met priests of heb outpost
went to stamm king's ghost, who killed vintage , knocked out alonne and quin? persy then ran through him and knocked over bowl, giant explosion [this was the Cauldron of Lightening]
josiah retreated with alonne/quin bodies , got back to heb priests
two mages that couldnt use magic show up with stamm chasing them: adny (rogue/mage) and xelevir (archer/mage). xelevir promptly obliterates like 800 stamm at range
that night, as stamm attack, werebat appears, is driven off. quin not with us ,but is found asleep fully clothed (DM cheated here, the clothes should've been torn). [nope, per the monster description clothes are not torn, clothes are removed, werebates can dislocate bones if needed to remove clothes/binding]
xelevir taunts stamm king, gets hunted down and captured
rest of us flee through secret exit after lighting monastery on fire. priests come with us
10 total sessions, 6 with percy/vintage
post Xelavir's Player leaving
adny, quin, alonne and josiah retreat to where naferton is.
at some point we take a stamm captive prisoner, josiah treats him well and is able to get information about what towns are overrun and about the stamm royal family's powers.
meet up with a priest (amborth) & a mage (zuy) , and the priest's prostitute companion.
the priest has pretty much every vice possible but is gung ho about fighting enemies of the faith because in his view, as long as he is just a tiny bit good overall, he gets go to paradise, so killing enemies of faith outweighs everything.
we also find goblins dragging off a magic claymore, [a fake cursed version of one of the Claymore's of Abolition]
around this time we talk to prelate jordis, an older priest of elutriators. [Jordis was a Prelate in a priestly order called Elutriators]
4 of us + zuy + priest + whore go off to attack a stamm occupied town. after hit and runs we see a door open in wall and nothing come out [a door in the wall opened and closed. Not like a magic door appearing] , we realize its likely the invisible archer prince. adny rigs up a bucket of blood to fall on him, while we all hide a distance away. it does, prince runs back to town, but quin runs in at full speed and grabs him & binds him with chain, adny follows and stabs him to death with dagger. we haul body with us. notably, no one else fights him (this is important) . the body never becomes visible.
we draw lots and split his gear, zuy gets the bow, adny some nice boots. and return to town hyping up quin's bravery
shortly after, more stamm attack the town with catapults (killing a mage adny is talking to, who immediately grabs all the mage's stuff, including a bracer that lets him basically be permanently faded rest of campaign), we go out to fight. it gets super muddled with everyone spread out, and quin gets nearly killed with a critical effect by the super fast stamm princess, and josiah is killed by an arrow spell from her priest. alonne and adny retreat. zuy makes his priest invisible, who dies after attacking the speedster, as hitting her with his sword creates a magic explosion that stuns him
somehow? [This sword must have been the fake Claymore of Abolition, but players believed the affect was the result of killing the Stamm Princess]
we raise josiah. dont recall how this goes down. jordis is missing, alonne+adny make caltrops (with Josiah's player's advice to use nails and lumber) and go back out to fight. when the speedster runs in, she trips and crashes into a fortification and basically explodes horrifically. her magic boots remain undamaged [the boots had nothing to do with her magic speed which was the result of a powerful Blessing]. we rescue quin who was hoping to bang the princess
back to town we meet tayo, who with jordis were protecting the other side but rumors were that they were cowards, this gets resolved quickly
pause in hostilities: we confirm the vice loving priest is in paradise, dont raise him. jordis leaves? rest of us stay to defend . giant stamm army shows up lead by a guy who cant be survived [if he hits you, you die], one who can't miss, and one who can't be hit.
we burn the bodies of the prince/princess. quin recuperates from crit effect with priest of heb.
werebat shows up and gets his ass kicked because josiah paralyze it. alonne hits it with claymore which does the explosion in his face and stuns him but doesnt matter. i believe we cut the werebats head cut off ? [werebats regenerate, I believe at this piont the party though this was a gargoyle or something demonic so were not thinking about regeneration] werebat body put in temple but door not locked. later we find out the werebat got up and walked away and quinn no longer has his crit effect. no one thinks anything of this because of crazy out of game timing where Quinn's Player announced he was going to miss a session then made it and his crit healed at that exact moment so he could play
stamm demand surrender, we agree and are required to stay for a while for some reason [this was a condition of the surrender, the party became 'guarantors of the peace']. throughout this time the bloody pox is hitting everyone. adny discusses using it as a weapon with the party, alonne initially agrees then realizes its evil. adny says fuck this and gets zuy the mage to cast invis on him, and goes out and uses 0th level magic + sneaking to dig a hole under the grain storage shed the stamm has, places smallpox infected grain in the hole under the wall, and casts infest so vermin show up to spread it to main food supply. then adny steals most of the herbs needed to slow infection and destroys them
some time later, we're at a weekly meeting with the royal family and jordis sends a vision to alonne about a sword that can kill the stamm king. fight ensues. alonne parries the guy who cant be survived over and over, quinn stupidly tries to hit the guy who cant be hit before switching to attacking guy who cant miss (who he tries to parry too). josiah paralyzes main guy and an accompanying soldier with us is able to kill him, then alonne kills the guy who cant miss and quinn ? is able to stop the guy who cant be hit from leaving by slamming a door in front of him, who then surrenders. quinn tries to hit him and cant. i cant recall what tayo did in all this. missed probably. adny did nothing besides stab some random soldier and then whiff, plus was wearing armor per agreement with stamm to not use magic. at some point in all our talks we find out that the stamm have elves living with them + halflings (the latter is never verified)
stamm army attacks, we immediately burn the bodies of royal family. negotiate with last guy to not burn him if he lets eveyone leave in the middle of winter. somehow through legalese josiah is able to work out a way to get the townspeople safe to the next city instead of dying in the cold
at some point here i miss a session. i believe everyone went to the major city on the coast, DLC (dont remember what it stands for [De la Crest]) and talked to jordis to go find this claymore that can kill the king. quin gets in an insane argument with a boatswain and calls him wayne over and over until they almost sink. later there's a huge storm and adny (i wasnt playing him) uses fly? to pull everyone to shore while they're in a boat. we also unsuccessfully tested claymores on adny to see what would happen.
we fight some ogres and a magic bowl shows up that lets tayo summon a small earth elemental constantly, she uses this a lot rest of campaign. she doesnt tell anyone this elemental has a connection to her family which leads to campaign ending disaster much later.
we swing by [the City of] urna and true sight reveals the Lesser Claymores of Abolition that alonne and ambert had were fake and if you used them on anyone level 10?20? or higher or on stamm royal family the user gets stunned and if priest a big electrical explosion that only hurts ignimius followers
adny asks about making a pact with the plague demon but backs out and thinks hes too smart for the evil mage hes talkin to. wrong.
we temple jump to find a hydra that can lead us to the claymore. fight a big orc encampment and fuck em up.
go searching for hydra in swamp. frogmen attack, nothing spectacular. eventually find the right area, roughly ,and everyone waits while adny scouts using levitate and a pole to push himself on water. cant find the hydra. eventually adny throws a grappling hook into the water and the hydra pops out and bites off his arm, adny bleeds out over rest of battle. the only way we had to seal hydras head was adnys acid spells, woops. tayo fucks up casting in range of hydra and gets interrupted, then uses the earth elemental to tackle its leg. the two fighters go wild taking out heads and are down to the last head when it flees. josiah? uses a water elemental to try to get the loot from hydras lair, some sort of argument happens between the earth and water elemental to make this actually work. get a club that quin uses rest of campaign that cancels all toughness and aa.
adny's silver dagger gets crushed down by earth elemental and used to raise him, now with one arm.
josiah makes friends with a water buffalo? to use as warmth at night while moving to the Stallion Forest.
run into hundreds of terror birds (flying lizards). we hide under a tree, quinn stands out in open hitting them like baseballs as they divebomb him, kills dozens. tayo rain of arrows the rest and drives them off
adny has some sort of staff that is single target fireball by burning a spell slot, and since he can barely cast he uses that most of time. he also gets a sword that makes the owner taller. (this is important for later)
everyone but allonne is invised or faded most of this trip.
one night a dark and creepy wind shows up and vanishes, unbeknownst to anyone, adny finds a wand that lets him plague people
we find the lair of this malivar guy who has the Greater Claymore of Abolition, quinn intelligently uses his boots of leveling that gets rid of plants to magically erase a huge thicket that we couldn't get through.
lot of poisonous insects in it. go through some remarkably easy to access tunnels and drop down and fight a demon that takes the shape of a wasp. adny eats absolute shit against a bunch of insects and gets KOed, everyone else gets spellcasting stopped by a giant insect swarm. josiah kills the demon as its about to win by running over the top of a pile of rubble with a million penalties that he passes and slamming holy water into it. adny chooses this moment to reveal his wand, alonne gets super pissed and attacks him repeatedly, adny doesn't defend but is at very low hp and doesn't get healed. adny explains he's ok with destroying it and will take magic lie detector that he has no demon pact.
after this we use the club to break malivar's tomb. he pops out and taunts us for freeing him, this whole thing was a setup where he made the tomb easy to get into so he could be freed. c ya later buddy
as we're leaving we hear a digging sound and some giant monster is trying to get after us. we flee but it follows. eventually it attacks and we realize its a basilisk, quin tries to do something with magic darkness that fails and it bites him and runs off with him. he clubs it?? so it drops him and charges back in and slams into tayos earth elemental and breaks its face
just after this we take refuge in a cave on a thin ledge 20' up. we are worried quin is the werebat so tie him up. [the 'worry' is just a joke, the players think its funny that their character's think Quinn might be the werebat. No one seriously thinks that a PC could have been a lycanthrope for the whole campaign without knowing] suddenly he casts magical darkness , we hear bones popping and hes gone . adny cant see him anywhere, sneaks to look around and instantly gets spotted and thrown off the ledge and killed. [Adny, and his player never thought Quinn was the werebat, Adny was looking for the werebat, not Quinn]. quin shows up next morning naked (proof DM cheated at monastery) [nope, quinn was naked because the werebat did not want to go into the cave with the party to get get the clothes because it knew at this piont that the party could kill it]
party goes back to urna dragging adny's body. he's raised and everyone talks to some church leader who is incredibly perplexed that adny would agree to do this, he thinks adny charmed everyone or something. regardless the wand is destroyed. adny trades a magic item to have quinn's club enlarged for a year so he can use it two handed and do way more damage
adny also gets in argument with his family about all this and tells them he believes the church will protect him per alonne's promise and gets thrown out of conclave. [Adny's family is an important family of wizards that is very powerful in the Conclave]
also during all this , higher up with priesthood [not sure what this means he was a minor noble not a priest if I recall] accuses party of cursing him. he used commune to determine this. turns out he shrunk 4 inches and is disfigured!! horrible!! party works through lawyer to return sword, tayo commissions holy water fountain of partys deeds [the Fount of Many Blessings]. adny is depicted as unnamed, unclassed hooded figure pulling people to shore. dont recall rest its in an email somewhere
everyone goes back to DLC to fight stamm. some sort of revolt going on because stamm are throwing in plagued bodies and everyones starving, we stop big fight between townspeople and whoever else. the mainlanders want to make the port deeper but this'll make the colony not independent so alonne refuses. bunch of church drama i cant recall
suddenly, Thanicians [heathen death worshippers] show up, we assume there to help stamm. instead, stamm attack the Thanician ships. we go fuck up the stamm once their priests are depleted. quinn decides to fly across water and gets dispelled and is about to drown when he gets lucky and uses his armors blink ability to land where he wants and lives. most stamm surrender as they're cast out . take them back and their hands are broken so they cant cast
next morning, adny has to memorize for hours. giant magic attack happens on wall and everyone but adny rush in. fuzzy on what happens next:
tayo sends an elemental out to attack and its met by a celestial being that had attacked wall. suddenly, another celestial being lightning bolts into where the elemental was. both beings do fake attacks at each other, have a staredown, and leave. [they did not do 'fake attacks' they just charged at each other, seem to stair at each other and both disappear]
alonne (reasonably) takes this as a sign that we shouldnt fight , following celestial being's behavior, and capitulates. jordis flips out and excommunicates him [the excommunication wasn't from Jordis, it happens once the High Priest of the West finds out. The entire population of the colonies is excommunication which becomes an important historical event]. party betrays adny and says he can be executed by stamm for plaguing them. adny repents of his ways and magery ,balicus lets him leave but adny cant get magically forgiven by tayo due to bullshit from DM regarding rules. [betray is a strong word, Adny was a genocidal mass murderer]
turns out the celestial being was tayo's family's personal friend and thats why this behavior happened, not a sign to not fight. ooops!
here's what i remember;
before Xelavir's Player checkingout:
(BBC) - perseverance (half stamm half almuria rogue), alonne (warrior in church), quin (lab created human warrior), vintage (rogue/fighter), josiah (heb priest)
broad strokes: met up, percy got everyone to go on quest for legendary artifict [weapon]
everyone but josiah made kids cry meanly, he did it nicely.
quin cheated in fighting a werebat and got bit [Quin's player cheated, not Quinn. the werebat was in human form and no one know what it was]
met rich guy nafferton cole working on illustrated manuscript
found tower with smallpox infected armor and some magic weapons
met priests of heb outpost
went to stamm king's ghost, who killed vintage , knocked out alonne and quin? persy then ran through him and knocked over bowl, giant explosion [this was the Cauldron of Lightening]
josiah retreated with alonne/quin bodies , got back to heb priests
two mages that couldnt use magic show up with stamm chasing them: adny (rogue/mage) and xelevir (archer/mage). xelevir promptly obliterates like 800 stamm at range
that night, as stamm attack, werebat appears, is driven off. quin not with us ,but is found asleep fully clothed (DM cheated here, the clothes should've been torn). [nope, per the monster description clothes are not torn, clothes are removed, werebates can dislocate bones if needed to remove clothes/binding]
xelevir taunts stamm king, gets hunted down and captured
rest of us flee through secret exit after lighting monastery on fire. priests come with us
10 total sessions, 6 with percy/vintage
post Xelavir's Player leaving
adny, quin, alonne and josiah retreat to where naferton is.
at some point we take a stamm captive prisoner, josiah treats him well and is able to get information about what towns are overrun and about the stamm royal family's powers.
meet up with a priest (amborth) & a mage (zuy) , and the priest's prostitute companion.
the priest has pretty much every vice possible but is gung ho about fighting enemies of the faith because in his view, as long as he is just a tiny bit good overall, he gets go to paradise, so killing enemies of faith outweighs everything.
we also find goblins dragging off a magic claymore, [a fake cursed version of one of the Claymore's of Abolition]
around this time we talk to prelate jordis, an older priest of elutriators. [Jordis was a Prelate in a priestly order called Elutriators]
4 of us + zuy + priest + whore go off to attack a stamm occupied town. after hit and runs we see a door open in wall and nothing come out [a door in the wall opened and closed. Not like a magic door appearing] , we realize its likely the invisible archer prince. adny rigs up a bucket of blood to fall on him, while we all hide a distance away. it does, prince runs back to town, but quin runs in at full speed and grabs him & binds him with chain, adny follows and stabs him to death with dagger. we haul body with us. notably, no one else fights him (this is important) . the body never becomes visible.
we draw lots and split his gear, zuy gets the bow, adny some nice boots. and return to town hyping up quin's bravery
shortly after, more stamm attack the town with catapults (killing a mage adny is talking to, who immediately grabs all the mage's stuff, including a bracer that lets him basically be permanently faded rest of campaign), we go out to fight. it gets super muddled with everyone spread out, and quin gets nearly killed with a critical effect by the super fast stamm princess, and josiah is killed by an arrow spell from her priest. alonne and adny retreat. zuy makes his priest invisible, who dies after attacking the speedster, as hitting her with his sword creates a magic explosion that stuns him
somehow? [This sword must have been the fake Claymore of Abolition, but players believed the affect was the result of killing the Stamm Princess]
we raise josiah. dont recall how this goes down. jordis is missing, alonne+adny make caltrops (with Josiah's player's advice to use nails and lumber) and go back out to fight. when the speedster runs in, she trips and crashes into a fortification and basically explodes horrifically. her magic boots remain undamaged [the boots had nothing to do with her magic speed which was the result of a powerful Blessing]. we rescue quin who was hoping to bang the princess
back to town we meet tayo, who with jordis were protecting the other side but rumors were that they were cowards, this gets resolved quickly
pause in hostilities: we confirm the vice loving priest is in paradise, dont raise him. jordis leaves? rest of us stay to defend . giant stamm army shows up lead by a guy who cant be survived [if he hits you, you die], one who can't miss, and one who can't be hit.
we burn the bodies of the prince/princess. quin recuperates from crit effect with priest of heb.
werebat shows up and gets his ass kicked because josiah paralyze it. alonne hits it with claymore which does the explosion in his face and stuns him but doesnt matter. i believe we cut the werebats head cut off ? [werebats regenerate, I believe at this piont the party though this was a gargoyle or something demonic so were not thinking about regeneration] werebat body put in temple but door not locked. later we find out the werebat got up and walked away and quinn no longer has his crit effect. no one thinks anything of this because of crazy out of game timing where Quinn's Player announced he was going to miss a session then made it and his crit healed at that exact moment so he could play
stamm demand surrender, we agree and are required to stay for a while for some reason [this was a condition of the surrender, the party became 'guarantors of the peace']. throughout this time the bloody pox is hitting everyone. adny discusses using it as a weapon with the party, alonne initially agrees then realizes its evil. adny says fuck this and gets zuy the mage to cast invis on him, and goes out and uses 0th level magic + sneaking to dig a hole under the grain storage shed the stamm has, places smallpox infected grain in the hole under the wall, and casts infest so vermin show up to spread it to main food supply. then adny steals most of the herbs needed to slow infection and destroys them
some time later, we're at a weekly meeting with the royal family and jordis sends a vision to alonne about a sword that can kill the stamm king. fight ensues. alonne parries the guy who cant be survived over and over, quinn stupidly tries to hit the guy who cant be hit before switching to attacking guy who cant miss (who he tries to parry too). josiah paralyzes main guy and an accompanying soldier with us is able to kill him, then alonne kills the guy who cant miss and quinn ? is able to stop the guy who cant be hit from leaving by slamming a door in front of him, who then surrenders. quinn tries to hit him and cant. i cant recall what tayo did in all this. missed probably. adny did nothing besides stab some random soldier and then whiff, plus was wearing armor per agreement with stamm to not use magic. at some point in all our talks we find out that the stamm have elves living with them + halflings (the latter is never verified)
stamm army attacks, we immediately burn the bodies of royal family. negotiate with last guy to not burn him if he lets eveyone leave in the middle of winter. somehow through legalese josiah is able to work out a way to get the townspeople safe to the next city instead of dying in the cold
at some point here i miss a session. i believe everyone went to the major city on the coast, DLC (dont remember what it stands for [De la Crest]) and talked to jordis to go find this claymore that can kill the king. quin gets in an insane argument with a boatswain and calls him wayne over and over until they almost sink. later there's a huge storm and adny (i wasnt playing him) uses fly? to pull everyone to shore while they're in a boat. we also unsuccessfully tested claymores on adny to see what would happen.
we fight some ogres and a magic bowl shows up that lets tayo summon a small earth elemental constantly, she uses this a lot rest of campaign. she doesnt tell anyone this elemental has a connection to her family which leads to campaign ending disaster much later.
we swing by [the City of] urna and true sight reveals the Lesser Claymores of Abolition that alonne and ambert had were fake and if you used them on anyone level 10?20? or higher or on stamm royal family the user gets stunned and if priest a big electrical explosion that only hurts ignimius followers
adny asks about making a pact with the plague demon but backs out and thinks hes too smart for the evil mage hes talkin to. wrong.
we temple jump to find a hydra that can lead us to the claymore. fight a big orc encampment and fuck em up.
go searching for hydra in swamp. frogmen attack, nothing spectacular. eventually find the right area, roughly ,and everyone waits while adny scouts using levitate and a pole to push himself on water. cant find the hydra. eventually adny throws a grappling hook into the water and the hydra pops out and bites off his arm, adny bleeds out over rest of battle. the only way we had to seal hydras head was adnys acid spells, woops. tayo fucks up casting in range of hydra and gets interrupted, then uses the earth elemental to tackle its leg. the two fighters go wild taking out heads and are down to the last head when it flees. josiah? uses a water elemental to try to get the loot from hydras lair, some sort of argument happens between the earth and water elemental to make this actually work. get a club that quin uses rest of campaign that cancels all toughness and aa.
adny's silver dagger gets crushed down by earth elemental and used to raise him, now with one arm.
josiah makes friends with a water buffalo? to use as warmth at night while moving to the Stallion Forest.
run into hundreds of terror birds (flying lizards). we hide under a tree, quinn stands out in open hitting them like baseballs as they divebomb him, kills dozens. tayo rain of arrows the rest and drives them off
adny has some sort of staff that is single target fireball by burning a spell slot, and since he can barely cast he uses that most of time. he also gets a sword that makes the owner taller. (this is important for later)
everyone but allonne is invised or faded most of this trip.
one night a dark and creepy wind shows up and vanishes, unbeknownst to anyone, adny finds a wand that lets him plague people
we find the lair of this malivar guy who has the Greater Claymore of Abolition, quinn intelligently uses his boots of leveling that gets rid of plants to magically erase a huge thicket that we couldn't get through.
lot of poisonous insects in it. go through some remarkably easy to access tunnels and drop down and fight a demon that takes the shape of a wasp. adny eats absolute shit against a bunch of insects and gets KOed, everyone else gets spellcasting stopped by a giant insect swarm. josiah kills the demon as its about to win by running over the top of a pile of rubble with a million penalties that he passes and slamming holy water into it. adny chooses this moment to reveal his wand, alonne gets super pissed and attacks him repeatedly, adny doesn't defend but is at very low hp and doesn't get healed. adny explains he's ok with destroying it and will take magic lie detector that he has no demon pact.
after this we use the club to break malivar's tomb. he pops out and taunts us for freeing him, this whole thing was a setup where he made the tomb easy to get into so he could be freed. c ya later buddy
as we're leaving we hear a digging sound and some giant monster is trying to get after us. we flee but it follows. eventually it attacks and we realize its a basilisk, quin tries to do something with magic darkness that fails and it bites him and runs off with him. he clubs it?? so it drops him and charges back in and slams into tayos earth elemental and breaks its face
just after this we take refuge in a cave on a thin ledge 20' up. we are worried quin is the werebat so tie him up. [the 'worry' is just a joke, the players think its funny that their character's think Quinn might be the werebat. No one seriously thinks that a PC could have been a lycanthrope for the whole campaign without knowing] suddenly he casts magical darkness , we hear bones popping and hes gone . adny cant see him anywhere, sneaks to look around and instantly gets spotted and thrown off the ledge and killed. [Adny, and his player never thought Quinn was the werebat, Adny was looking for the werebat, not Quinn]. quin shows up next morning naked (proof DM cheated at monastery) [nope, quinn was naked because the werebat did not want to go into the cave with the party to get get the clothes because it knew at this piont that the party could kill it]
party goes back to urna dragging adny's body. he's raised and everyone talks to some church leader who is incredibly perplexed that adny would agree to do this, he thinks adny charmed everyone or something. regardless the wand is destroyed. adny trades a magic item to have quinn's club enlarged for a year so he can use it two handed and do way more damage
adny also gets in argument with his family about all this and tells them he believes the church will protect him per alonne's promise and gets thrown out of conclave. [Adny's family is an important family of wizards that is very powerful in the Conclave]
also during all this , higher up with priesthood [not sure what this means he was a minor noble not a priest if I recall] accuses party of cursing him. he used commune to determine this. turns out he shrunk 4 inches and is disfigured!! horrible!! party works through lawyer to return sword, tayo commissions holy water fountain of partys deeds [the Fount of Many Blessings]. adny is depicted as unnamed, unclassed hooded figure pulling people to shore. dont recall rest its in an email somewhere
everyone goes back to DLC to fight stamm. some sort of revolt going on because stamm are throwing in plagued bodies and everyones starving, we stop big fight between townspeople and whoever else. the mainlanders want to make the port deeper but this'll make the colony not independent so alonne refuses. bunch of church drama i cant recall
suddenly, Thanicians [heathen death worshippers] show up, we assume there to help stamm. instead, stamm attack the Thanician ships. we go fuck up the stamm once their priests are depleted. quinn decides to fly across water and gets dispelled and is about to drown when he gets lucky and uses his armors blink ability to land where he wants and lives. most stamm surrender as they're cast out . take them back and their hands are broken so they cant cast
next morning, adny has to memorize for hours. giant magic attack happens on wall and everyone but adny rush in. fuzzy on what happens next:
tayo sends an elemental out to attack and its met by a celestial being that had attacked wall. suddenly, another celestial being lightning bolts into where the elemental was. both beings do fake attacks at each other, have a staredown, and leave. [they did not do 'fake attacks' they just charged at each other, seem to stair at each other and both disappear]
alonne (reasonably) takes this as a sign that we shouldnt fight , following celestial being's behavior, and capitulates. jordis flips out and excommunicates him [the excommunication wasn't from Jordis, it happens once the High Priest of the West finds out. The entire population of the colonies is excommunication which becomes an important historical event]. party betrays adny and says he can be executed by stamm for plaguing them. adny repents of his ways and magery ,balicus lets him leave but adny cant get magically forgiven by tayo due to bullshit from DM regarding rules. [betray is a strong word, Adny was a genocidal mass murderer]
turns out the celestial being was tayo's family's personal friend and thats why this behavior happened, not a sign to not fight. ooops!
Epilog
The PCs end up having to stay in Stammnia their entire lives. The Church, and the wider world view the peace made by the party as a fundamental and heinous betrayal of the core values of humanity. The Old Way faith, and the ‘freedom’ it grants its members is seen as the root from which all other evil in human culture grew. The Church is never willing to re admit any of the party.
Unfortunately, the reputation for evil in the Stamm culture turns out to be largely true. They are not evil like orcs are evil, they are evil like real world cultures can become horribly evil (human sacrifice in south America, the caste system of India, slavery in the US or Sparta, etc.). Over and over things happen like, a starving family on the frontier eat 2 or their children. The ‘colonists’ are horrified, the Stamm verbally agree with the horror, but just never quit seem outraged enough. The composite culture is plagued with more vice and evil then seems normal.
Stammnia and the party in particular become the target of adventurers and privateers trying the overthrow Balicus, recover magic items from the party, or just kill people (the party, other priests, government officials etc). It becomes a real problem and further divides the church of Edry from that of Urna, as powerful people in Stammnia are forced to kill priest and adventures from Urna.
Balicus turns out to be a just ruler, and you never have any problems from him. He is true to his word and does not interfere with the colonies or prevent you from trying to spread your faith.
That being said everything the party wants to accomplish in Stammnia more or less works out. A new church is formed that spreads quickly, the priests of Heb from the ministry stay and help. But many other priests leave. Despite Josiah’s letters no other priests of Heb are willing to come to Stammnia, and many write back urging him to renounce his heretic ways and rejoin the Church. Alonne becomes the High Priest of the Church of Edry. Tayo is made a Prelate if she wants. Alonne functions as a high priest for the purposes of spell components, legitimizing his authority. However, none of the priests in his church get the benefits of being in the Church of Ignimius (their elementals are not celestial, their Divine Presence spells are weaker etc.). Only Tayo is able to summon celestial elementals, but it is always Duk.
Together or separately the party continues to adventure for years and they hunt down and kill the mage that imprisoned Quinn, and rescue many of his family and friends. All of whom don’t know what to do with their lives and shouldn’t be let loose in the world, so they stay together, fighting evil for Stammnia (the only skill set they have). The ritual is worked out to remove Quinn lycanthropy. But Quinn leaves Stammnia soon after because he is not sure the new church can guaranty his place in Paradise.
High Priest Alonne does not want priests using magic to ‘check if their new church is in the right’, or if their dead go to Paradise. But over the decades rumors start to circulate and by about the year 265 it is common knowledge that no one from the Church of Edry that has died has gone to Paradise.
I have made encyclopedia entries that fit the campaign into a larger historical framework.
Adny:
When Adny explains that he is a mage that won’t cast spells and wants Forgiveness/Atonement cast on him, not only do priests not agree to do it, but several try and kill him on the spot. With money but no spell casting ability or organizational support Adny is killed by Nurgyl cultists within a few weeks of returning to Urna.
The PCs end up having to stay in Stammnia their entire lives. The Church, and the wider world view the peace made by the party as a fundamental and heinous betrayal of the core values of humanity. The Old Way faith, and the ‘freedom’ it grants its members is seen as the root from which all other evil in human culture grew. The Church is never willing to re admit any of the party.
Unfortunately, the reputation for evil in the Stamm culture turns out to be largely true. They are not evil like orcs are evil, they are evil like real world cultures can become horribly evil (human sacrifice in south America, the caste system of India, slavery in the US or Sparta, etc.). Over and over things happen like, a starving family on the frontier eat 2 or their children. The ‘colonists’ are horrified, the Stamm verbally agree with the horror, but just never quit seem outraged enough. The composite culture is plagued with more vice and evil then seems normal.
Stammnia and the party in particular become the target of adventurers and privateers trying the overthrow Balicus, recover magic items from the party, or just kill people (the party, other priests, government officials etc). It becomes a real problem and further divides the church of Edry from that of Urna, as powerful people in Stammnia are forced to kill priest and adventures from Urna.
Balicus turns out to be a just ruler, and you never have any problems from him. He is true to his word and does not interfere with the colonies or prevent you from trying to spread your faith.
That being said everything the party wants to accomplish in Stammnia more or less works out. A new church is formed that spreads quickly, the priests of Heb from the ministry stay and help. But many other priests leave. Despite Josiah’s letters no other priests of Heb are willing to come to Stammnia, and many write back urging him to renounce his heretic ways and rejoin the Church. Alonne becomes the High Priest of the Church of Edry. Tayo is made a Prelate if she wants. Alonne functions as a high priest for the purposes of spell components, legitimizing his authority. However, none of the priests in his church get the benefits of being in the Church of Ignimius (their elementals are not celestial, their Divine Presence spells are weaker etc.). Only Tayo is able to summon celestial elementals, but it is always Duk.
Together or separately the party continues to adventure for years and they hunt down and kill the mage that imprisoned Quinn, and rescue many of his family and friends. All of whom don’t know what to do with their lives and shouldn’t be let loose in the world, so they stay together, fighting evil for Stammnia (the only skill set they have). The ritual is worked out to remove Quinn lycanthropy. But Quinn leaves Stammnia soon after because he is not sure the new church can guaranty his place in Paradise.
High Priest Alonne does not want priests using magic to ‘check if their new church is in the right’, or if their dead go to Paradise. But over the decades rumors start to circulate and by about the year 265 it is common knowledge that no one from the Church of Edry that has died has gone to Paradise.
I have made encyclopedia entries that fit the campaign into a larger historical framework.
Adny:
When Adny explains that he is a mage that won’t cast spells and wants Forgiveness/Atonement cast on him, not only do priests not agree to do it, but several try and kill him on the spot. With money but no spell casting ability or organizational support Adny is killed by Nurgyl cultists within a few weeks of returning to Urna.