April 30, 2022

Superstar! and the Kingpin's Payout

The action below took place between April 9th and June 1st, 2193.

Theft-focused raids have been a longstanding problem in the Medegia region of Western Cromwell, but recently a group has abruptly started killing people, which has led Cromwell to feel it was worth of bringing them to the attention of outside bounty-hunters. “Sneak in and steal food” has turned into “sneak in and murder a whole farming family and their workers in their sleep, vanish with all their stuff”. They have been deftly avoiding engagement with actual security forces, and have been harder to spot and track. They are thought to flee into to the mountains to the southwest. Superstar! was hired by the government of Cromwell to look into these attacks and deal with the threat. With decent horses and carts, we expected the journey out to take just over a month.

Pheraguat decided to fly out to Medegia on his hippogriff for some advance scouting, actually doing this while Magic Lad was identifying items from the party’s prior encounter. He ran into someone he knew at the nearby Cromwellian military outpost (Saer Hills Depot), a “special forces” woman named “Spider”. It was noted that Jennifer Hookhill, a human fighter and Regent’s courtier, and Site Bowlength, an elven fighter/magic-user and Regent’s courtier, were about a week north of here fighting drug dealers**, and could be available for aid if needed.

[** = see also, the Ninth Telvar Open, taking place in Towlemere in the Salt Sea region of Western Cromwell, in which both of these figures appeared.]

Unfortunately, the aid was needed a little closer to home. While Pheraguat was waiting for the party to meet him in Medegia, the party got ambushed on the road halfway there, rendering his actions and most of this engaging backstory largely moot.

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April 23, 2022

Superstar! and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Horse

After the Circle of Ayrless adventure, wherein Superstar defeated the Final Cut (rather brutally at that), the party returned to Depwood in June 2192 and met with its Druidic and Ranger colleagues. Treasure was divided, cash and some minor magic items were handed over to the Druids as payment for the use of some of their items in the fight against the bad guys, arrangements were made for henchmen training, and finally the topic turned to a reward for our help with the small matter of the Circle.

The Druids offered some choices:
1. The Amulet of Spiritual Strength, which gives +1 to Turning and provides 1 hp/level of the cleric. (Cleric only)
2. A folding boat (a small handheld boat which can fold out into a small row boat or a ~dozen capacity small sailing boat)
3. A Robe of Stars, which has some save effects and protection on the astral plane, as well as giving a unique weapon when the stars sewn onto the fabric can be grabbed and thrown as moderately powerful and fast missile weapons.
4. They also had a number of woodland cloaks and boots, which give ~50% bonuses to hide in shadows/move silently abilities when in woodlands or similar environs.

We also discussed the previously offered "weird familiar-like" choices (sprites, etc.) but there were essentially two options: a Wise Old Bird friend for Star (which he could not actually receive until he was 9th level) or they could offer us a chance to be introduced to a Pseudodragon. The chance of success was decent, but by no means guaranteed. If we chose the Pseudodragon the druids would consider throwing in a pair of boots and a cloak or similar.

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September 10, 2021

Stopping to Smell the Roses

Title: Stopping to Smell the Roses
subtitle: Following the Actions of a Misguided but Well-Intentioned Desperate Man

Gram One-Shot Game #1 of 2, 4 Sept 2021 in NYC

Characters:

  • Mark Taylor, bounty hunter woodsman, human male, skilled tracker, no armor, here on vacation; lasso & small composite bow [Korwin Briggs]
  • Tissy, female fox, good tracker, friend of Mark, can ride in a pouch when needed [Korwin & Edwin]
  • Baba, 5'2" dark-skinned grandmotherly figure, mage and steward, originally from the Southern Realm (African) but adventured (mostly organized adventures) a lot in the Reserve, magic bracers, great sense of smell, works as a docent in the Museum of Wine-Making [Heather Smith]
  • Ty, human male, sage specialized in human food and ancient architecture, knows alchemy and likes potions, curator of the Museum of Wine-Making, no armor, Chelsean, has a nice picnic basket for picnicking, has lots of dates with younger women but no serious relationship [Aside: Ty appeared in another game when he helped rescue Buck (PC) from a Melbonian underground basement lair.] [Joel Green]
  • Wiess Mayberry, cleric-minister of Nevron, chain armor, wears formal battle regalia of Nevronian church [Joel Green]
  • Captain Sarah-Margaret "Sarge" Touliet, captain of the palace guard in Loral Bay, broadsword & boxing, brass knuckles; skilled fighter; has househusband and 2 kids; magic chain & shield, formal [Korwin Briggs]
  • Gram, male human bard, elven chain mail, lute [D.T.Chappell]

GAME SUMMARY
excerpted from The Further Adventures of Gramaliustranstalus

In 2178, Gram finished the 4th edition of The Telvar Gazetteer and decided to take a little vacation time to get away for something fun and something relaxing (two different things at the same place).

In May 2179, Gram went to the gorgeous resort island of Fairwind in Cromwell to offer help get rid of evil undead that were near the Cave of Echoes on Sybarate Island. The concept of these undead had been nagging him since his first travel here. He had researched the situation and realized that an exorcism was necessary. He expected it to be a fairly simple process of protecting the cleric who cast the exorcism spell, and he had sent some nice letters to the government offering to assist. The government wrote back arranging for him to meet with the Commodore of Fairwind to discuss it.

Gram hung out in Melbonia a couple weeks beforehand enjoying the many cultural and magical experiences there. In the Town of Loral Bay, capital of Fairwind, he waited for the Commodore, who kept delaying Gram's appointed meeting due to understandably more important business. Meanwhile, the annual Pierina Wine Festival occurred, and that was fun and exciting with a focus on a ewer that travels around the province with a party in each town and village.

Gram wound up not making the appointment with the Commodore, and there was some confusion that the Captain of the Palace Guard (Captain Sarge) tried to sort out, but it was still off a bit. It turned out that Gram was correct on the exorcism's being really simple to do, and that got taken care of in July 2181. Also, they sealed up that dangerous cavern (that had held the evil undead). The undead apparently had been robbers wanting to steal from Porpherio's Garden even though it doesn’t contain anything worth taking. Even though the exorcism was simple, Fairwind is a wonderful resort place, and Gram wound up staying there several years where he enjoyed the beautiful weather, nice flora and fauna, and good company. He also made friends with a really foxy girl, though in the long run it turned out that she already had a man. Gram left with no new treasure (except some trinket souvenirs) but some nice memories of a pleasant vacation and having ignored his mail for far too long.

[This chapter of Gram's memoirs elaborates on all the wonderful things to see and experience on Fairwind Isle and Sybarate Isle, such as the spa, wineries, restaurants, excellent Museum of Wine-Making, ancient ruins, resorts, boat tours, towers overlooking Porpherio's Garden, amazing palace of the Commodore (not open for public tours), annual Pierina Wine Festival, extinct volcanoes, etc., etc.]

Moral of the story: Sometimes it's smart NOT to stop to smell the roses.

Aftermath:
Gram investigated the Desperate Man in an effort to learn why one of the Grey People would be so desperate and take the risky actions that he did. Gram spoke with the locals on Fairwind of Grey People heritage and learned that in Fairwind, the Grey People and the Westerners had intermingled peacefully ever since the time of Caerwyn and Porpherio, and now they form a blended and interbred culture. Elsewhere in Cromwell (and the New World), however, the indigenous Grey People suffer from downtrodden lives and are the victims of rampant racism from the Western colonizers. The Desperate Man was clearly not from Fairwind, and even though details of his desperation remained unknown, the generalities of it shone through clearly.

Learning all this opened Gram's eyes further and made him reflect on what he'd seen of the Northerners in Latt and the Coastlanders elsewhere. As a product of Western culture himself, he had always mimicked the typical Westerner attitude of a focus on Realmish and Western culture. This new mindset having seen the Grey People's view partially later guided Gram to pay more attention to a new, young bardic student whose mixed heritage had some similarities to Gram's (yet also a glaring difference) but who was 1/4 Coastlander. In turn, that bardic student's staunch pride for his Coastlander heritage (taught him by his Coastlander grandfather) influenced Gram to change the tone of his later publications, especially the famous Telvar Gazetteer, to treat the Grey People not as second-class humans but as equal in worth to the Westerners who settled and conquered the New World and Cromwell. Such writings spread, and the effects may be small and may be subtle, but some of the readers' attitudes over the years were undoubtedly influenced by the tone of the famous author's works. And so it was that the actions of a Desperate Man, though they may not have directly undone any wrongs by the Westerners despite his good intentions, did indirectly have lots of little effects to ease slightly the plight of the Grey People.

Moreover, that 1/4 Coastlander bard would go off to have adventures of his own, some of which he and his party left unresolved. And one of those unresolved adventures was handed back to Gram to finish: an adventure that he worried might involve something as dangerous as a lesser demon prince. But that is a story for our next Gram one-shot game, which probably will be much more dangerous and less certain of success than this first one. (Gram one-shot game #2 of 2 is tentatively October 4 in NYC.)

July 27, 2019

The cleansing of Hotton

TITLE: The cleansing of Hotton

Backstory: In Ages past, some empires were mentally run by Kopru, which are chaotic-evil hot-water creatures chosen of Demogorgon, demon lord of madness. In the last century, there were stories that the pirates who inhabitated the area now known as the town of Hotton were lead by a cleric of Demogorgon. In current times, followers of Farnaz, demon lord of cooperation between demons, arranged for a devious [ironic word] scheme by which three kopru were brought to the small town of Hotton in the Northlands as the launching point of a wider control of land. A message was sent to a ship of the Hand of Hendus to entice them to pick up some interesting cargo, but the cargo was actually three kopru, who took mental control of the captain and crew. With three prepared Wilbar's Fish & Critters' hot-boxes, the ship transported the three kopru to to the town of Hotton, where this new little cult quickly took over the town, nine people each night. This scheme was all timed while the local high priestess of Thim was away from Hotton. Only two people were known to have escaped: one is an aquatic elf who was first mate on the ship; and the other being a seeming human "Tom" who was a separate member of the Hand of Hendus with a mental defense spell that protected him from the indoctrination magic ritual.
(Warning: Backstory admittedly includes some little assumptions.)

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July 26, 2017

Ruins Aquatic, the adventures and discoveries of an as of yet unnamed party of daring sea elves, aquatic hobgoblins and a merman

In the first session of Ruins Aquatic, an as of yet unnamed party of daring sea elves, aquatic hobgoblins and a merman, begin an underwater adventure!

---------

Ruins Aquatic, or a brief history and log of the adventures and discoveries of an as of yet unnamed party of daring sea elves, aquatic hobgoblins and a merman

Alexander Hubbard
July 23, 2017

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November 12, 2011

The 11th Telvar Open: Hot Turtle!

The 11th Telvar Open: Hot Turtle!

An Open in Two Parts, only one part of which is described below.

11/12/11 in China Grove, N.C. Hosted by the Jones Family / D.M. E.B. Anderson, Jr.

Party:

Expeditionary Force:
Grogan Icevein, Expedition Leader, Fighter 11 (Played by Kathryn Snead)
Luether Blackrock, High Priest of Clangeddin, Fighter 8/Cleric 9 (Played by Ashley Merritt)
Morett Ironface, Lieutenant, Fighter 9 (Played by Sean Guarino)
Yeuslin Goldfire, Sargeant, Fighter 6 (Played by Andrew Anderson?)
Slorgin Ironface, Sargeant, Fighter 6
4 Dwarves, Marines, Fighters 4 (Melee Squad)
6 Dwarves, Marines, Fighters 4 (Bowyer Squad) (Played by Sarah Lane?)

Vessel Crew:
Hoine Ironface, First Captain, Captain 8 (Played by David Chappell)
Baryun Icevein, Second Captain, Captain 7 (Played by Keith Nelson?)
Florin Hilltop, First Mate, Captain 6 (Played by David Jones
Uther Hilltop, Second Mate, Captain 5 (Played by Ryan Jones?)
6 Dwarves, Crew, Captains 3

Our story begins very long ago, when the high priestess of Moradin, Ygrill, had a vision of one of the nine flawless jewels of Moradin resting in a domed city - a ruin of the Ancient's. The King of the Wall Kingdom, Gamil the Fourth, put together a recovery party of his greatest warriors, and sent them out on a quest of the greatest importance to recover the gem and bring it back to the Kingdom.

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October 24, 2009

Felix Summary #10: No Wrath Like a Felix Drained

[Stub summary] UPDATED 1/1/11

Alex's very belated memories of certain events involving genies and undead:

The valiant, infinitely resourceful and in all ways superior party lead by
the magnificent dwarven King Felix headed through the sealed portal in
hopes of clearing the passage to a pool of Earth's Blood. The region beyond
was known to harbor Earth elementals. After a brief non-violent encounter with an
appalingly uncivilized Crystal Genie, the party prepared and put the brute
out of his misery with due diligence (surprise, brutal backstabs and elegant
violence served to drop the oaf in segments). The remaining crystal (not
earth) elementals were summarily desposed of and the pool of earth's blood
was secured.

That was when things took a turn for the worse. The outcast dwarves knew of
a subterannean river below, as it was their water source. They believed
that it might connect back to Eralla, but an expedition long ago never returned.
With Flight, Felix and Wrathbane descended to scout, and found a small
set of buildings, a dock and a river. Inside one of the buildings, unfortunately,
was the remains of the expedition and the wraithified beardless dwarf who
had put a premature end to their travels. The dauntless pair proved victorious,
but not before rightful heir to the throne of Lendore was greviously injured,
and his lifeforce drained. Fortunately, his boundless endurance proved stronger
than the vile assaults, and he recovered fully. The party then descended, boarded
a small vessel with an Earth's blood motor and, accompanied with an Engineer from
the outcast dwarves, I believe a sister or cousin of their current leader, and
also their envoy.

After some minor troubles and travails, the party nearly surprised some Erallan
laundresses. Politics shall ensue.

***

Alex's original stub summary:

Alex: Felix opens the door.
Edwin: roll a surprise die, I got a 5
Alex: 1
Edwin: That's bad, very very bad. You get swarmed by 5 wraiths, with 3 segments of surprise. You are on a scouting mission with only Wrathbane as backup.....
Alex: Eeeeps.

(4 level drains later, we kill 2, turn the rest and get Gates down to destroy them)

(A 19, 16, 15 and 8 on the saves later, Felix is lvl 10 again. The 8 made it exactly, w/double Chant. The new saves are a BITCH.)

Other than that, it went smoothly enough. Kagu-Arala and Arala are now known to have an underground river-link. It needs some maintenance, but is otherwise fine. The pool of Earth's Blood is there, and we have a functional on-board motor.

Loot was boring. Besides the motor, a dagger +1 and a wand of acid arrow w/12 charges.

Hendel landed a nasty double backstab against the Quartz-Genie.

Aral trained to 3, is 3.3k away from 4th.
Wrathbane trained to 7th cleric.
Everyone (except Aral) is about 40k total away from their next level (Wrathbane can forget about Cleric 8). Hendel a little less, but he tends to get less, Donald closer to 50k.

July 31, 2009

Balinor/Morty/Tarplin Summary #6: Beating up on Helpless Civilians

Party Roster:

Balinor, 9th level Northerner fighter, 86 hp, played by Joel
Morty, 7th/6th human fighter/thief (bard), 74 hp, played by Jay
Bodkin, 5th level dwarven fighter, 49 hp, played by Katherine
Robynne, 5th level woodsman, 38 hp, played by Rhonda
Tarplin, 8th/5th elf druid/mage, 30 hp, played by Alan
Morhion, 3rd level Northerner Nevronian cleric, 28 hp, henchman of Balinor
Leo, 4th level human Nevronian cleric, 25 hp, played by David (Jay this time)

[Events of 25 July 2009, in Charlotte; Telvar dates December 2192 – June 2193]

As I think we had a pretty good review in the last summary, I’ll just jump right in here.

The party began by debating whether to continue hammering on the Khargish councilmembers that were likely to vote against peace. We had eliminated the top voter, the warleader of the Khargish nation (no mean feat, to our dismay at the time), and we wanted to nab at least one of the other three members that remained from this wereboar-infested Khargish village. As it turned out, not all of the votes were guaranteed to go against us, and there was actually a hierarchy.

First it had occurred to us that although our precautions would pretty much stop any divinatory magicks short of commune, the Kharg might well be incensed/worried enough to cast such a high level spell in order to determine what had happened to their warleader! A few well-chosen questions would clearly implicate the Duke, if not us directly. As such, we considered options about moving off the isle permanently.

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June 14, 2009

Cassian/Buck Adventure: Unfinished Business, or, Whatever Happened to Obmi?

Party Roster:

Cassian, 9th level half-elf cleric of Phaulkon, played by Katherine
Sirse, Cassian's owl friend/familiar/favorite bird
Mel, Fighter level 6
Lilly, Cleric//Fighter level 1/4
Willis, Wizard level 4
Zephyr, Fighter level 3, played by Andy and Kyle

Buck, 6th level human fighter, Warder of Phaulkon, played by Andy and Kyle

Mordrick, 9th/12th level dwarf fighter/thief, NPC (played by Kyle this time)

[Events of June 12-14th, 2009, Charlotte, N.C.]

This adventure picks up after the Phaulkonian party, with assistance from the Dwarves, successfully attacked and defeated a Fire Giant Citadel on September 10, 2195, by use of the Amulet of the Fates. [Summarized in “The Only Good Fire Giant…” and “…Is A Dead Fire Giant.”] One of Mordrick’s least-favorite enemies, the evil dwarf, Prince Obmi, also had a cloning lab at the Citadel, which was destroyed. [Aside: Reynore had, much earlier, driven Obmi out of a Fire Giant citadel in 2159.]

Obmi, known as Kracklethump by the Fire Giants (because that was the noise people made when he came up behind them and snapped their spines), was not best pleased. As a result,
there were consequences to this attack upon the Fire Giant Citadel [“Ambush at Hoch-Och”].

Another Phaulkonian hero, Buck, had pursued other activities following the Fane of the Winds quest [“Alegra's Final Summary: The Fane of the Winds”]. These are summarized in an appropriately-titled summary, “Adventures of Buck: Tales of Disaster. “ In the final adventure, he was captured by the Ghoul King, a lich, in a city sewer system, and spent five years in servitude to the Ghoul King, killing good adventurers. When freed, the Ambush at Hoch-Och had already occurred, and Buck moved at top speed to join his comrades there, to help them as they planned their revenge…

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May 12, 2009

*Wizard Mountain* The Members of the Larry Consortium

[Last update: 12 May 2009]

The Front Line and Other Warriors:

Halacar 7th level halfling fighter, 80 hp (Joel)

Brother to the late Hhune, the diminuitive halfling's ability to survive impacts is unsurpassed (including, at one point, a vampire's blood drain). At two feet, eight inches tall, his ability to kill his opponent is less impressive. In his first attack with his short bow, Halacar broke his arrow, tripped, and fell into Brigling, taking them both off the cliff. Halacar undergoes frustrating dry spells in melee combat as well, where he wields a nasty falchion. Halacar's demeanor is eternally cheerful and completely unfazeable even by the sardonic Standish. His inner heart though, has a hidden chill to it. Halacar is loyal to his friends, but he has absolutely no scruples when it comes to dealing with his enemies. Halacar somehow has still failed to acquire a magical falchion, and sports a 1-1 record in the Arena. Don't ask him.

Standish 7th level half-orc fighter, 74 hp (Katherine)

Standish is a brute of a man, crude with words, and insufferably and outlandishly eloquent in the naming of his dogs. He is also the party's most devastating fighter, able to tear through lines of enemies in moments. Standing more than twice the size of his primary fighting partner, Standish wields a devastating magical bastard sword with a particular hatred for reptiles, as well as a giantslaying weapon used to great effect against a cloud giant. He is always accompanied by two dogs, his durable war dog Cromwell, and an revolving door of guard dogs (including Winston,
Weatherby, Hampton, Hinton, Percy, and the like). Standish is one of only three surviving original party members.

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Wizard Mountain Summary #17: Ask, and Ye Shall Receive

Party Roster:

Halacar, 6th level halfling fighter, 65 hp, played by Joel
Standish, 6th level human fighter, 63 hp, played by Katherine
Browork, 6th level dwarven cleric, 41 hp, played by Joel
Brigling, 7th level halfling thief, 39 hp, played by Katherine
Campbell, 3rd level half-orc fighter, 30 hp, played by Rhonda
Tiberius K. Ollivander, 2nd level half- elven cleric/2nd level magic user, 10 hp, played by Alan

[Events of May 9, 2009, in Charlotte.]

The Wizard Mountain Party (Cornell/Charlotte edition) had not been played since New Years 2002-3, so needless to say, we were a bit rusty… as were our weapons…

A brief recap of the history of the Wizard Mountain campaign:

50 years ago, the town of Wizard Mountain was a smaller city surrounding a mountain fortress. Ruling the fortress was a powerful wizard who banned all but the most talented and powerful from being within his realm, which he blockaded with high walls. The wizard would occasionally burst into town and kill citizens simply to thin out the herd.

Eventually he angered forces outside of town. Adventuring parties attempted to penetrate into the mountain and defeat the wizard, but none returned. Finally, decades ago a party known as the Coral Star attempted to fight their way into the mountain to take it over from the wizard. On the last trip they seemingly succeeded, as the attacks stopped, although the party did not return.

In the chaos of one of these attacks, a dragon named Zog escaped from the markets, where dragons were frequently bought and sold, and took up shelter in the mountains, where it frequently preys on adventurers seeking fortune from the mountain.

Tribes of hobgoblins, goblins, and gnolls swarmed over areas of the mountains, establishing kingdoms within. The gnolls were known for wielding powerful firearms that could devastate even platemail armored adventurers.

Years later, the town of Wizard Mountain has become a giant city of a million souls, and a bustling market and trade in goods and wares. The adventuring party, The Larry Consortium (do not ask about Larry), is assembled from a ragtag group of wealth-seekers who choose to brave the mountains to gain profit, and perhaps to discover something of the fate of the Coral Star…

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April 27, 2009

Felix Summary #9: Drill Baby Drill


Party Roster:

Felix, 10th level dwarven fighter, 100 hp, played by Alex
Rathbane, 7th/6th level dwarven fighter/cleric (Clangeddin), 54 hp, played by Katherine
Hendel, 9th level dwarven thief, 52 hp, played by Joel
Gates, 8th level dwarven cleric (Moradin), 52 hp, played by Aaron
Donald, 9th level coastlander mage, 48 hp, NPC
Aral, 2nd level Northerner woodsman, 27 hp, henchman of Felix

[Events of 31 Dec 08 – 01 Jan 09 in Manhattan; Telvar date: January 2190]

(Joel’s and Aaron’s first game in over a year, since Superstar! Written mostly on the train from New York to Rochester…)

The very first thing we did was update characters (eyesight, weight, height) and gained XP from the last two sessions, which was something on the order of 6000-8000 for the main characters and something small for the frequently dead Aral). Aral has enough to advance to 3rd level but because of game-world time constraints that soon arose, he remained at 2nd level for the adventure.

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