Month: October 1997

Drew, 2nd level ranger, 19 hp, played by committee
Morgan, 2nd level fighter, 12 hp, played by Alan
Quentin, 2nd level druid, 10 hp, played by Jeremy
Felix, 1st level fighter, 10 hp, played by Alex
Gaston, 1st level fighter, 10 hp, played by Sean
Tyveris, 1st level cleric of Nevron, 10 hp, played by Joel
The party spent a soggy and miserable winter in Restenford. Money was spent, Gaston learned why not to gamble (he blew it off in a hurry), Tyveris drank quite a few cheap drinks, Felix swung his weapon around randomly, Morgan slept in every day, and Quentin worked for the druids.
We set out on March 19th and arrived at Abbey Isle on March 30th. We landed at the point on the beach, and Tyveris tried a _Detect Evil_ in the hopes of spotting the skeletons on the beach. It clearly failed. I do have reason to believe that the 9 we killed earlier have actually stayed dead though.
We decided that charging up the middle would be our only option. So we charged… and had about six of the strangest combats. We were barely scratched– Tyveris took 2 damage, Quentin took 2, Drew took 4. We used one cure spell. We killed about 50 skeletons.
We also managed to break virtually every weapon. Felix’s short sword went flying out of his hand– but the shredded grip remained in his hand. Gaston threw his bastard sword blade quite a distance. He also sent his replacement hammer sailing toward Tyveris, then damaged it. He finally blew up a “serviceable” scimitar scooped up from a skeleton. Quentin damaged his scimitar as well. What fun.
We proceeded up past the beach. Quentin’s bird reported a person observing us from a few hundred feet ahead, and sneaking away from us. Since they knew we were coming, we decided to go with the peaceful solution.

Continue reading “Defenders Log Entry #8: The Party of Doom parties on”

Drew, 2nd level ranger, 19 hp, played by Jack
Morgan, 2nd level fighter, 12 hp, played by Alan
Quentin, 2nd level druid, 10 hp, played by Jeremy
Felix, 1st level fighter, 10 hp, played by Alex
Gaston, 1st level fighter, 10 hp, played by Sean
Tyveris, 1st level cleric of Nevron, 10 hp, played by Joel
When we last left, our party had just accepted a mission to investigate the isle and remove the living inhabitants by whatever means necessary. We planned a bribe of transport away with money thrown in for extra encouragement.
The party set sail in October. We consisted of the ranger Drew and druid Quentin, original party members. Also, there was the elven fighter Morgan, the handsome half-orc fighter Felix, the northerner fighter Gaston, and his cousin the Nevronian cleric Tyveris.
We arrived uneventfully. We were transported at high tide in a longboat to the only accessible point, a small beach a few hundred feet wide. This was the beach where the attacks on the major’s men had occurred previously, though not immediately upon landing. We suited up and decided on a course. We marched very slowly, hoping that only the fighters in the front would be subjected to immediate attack.
Unfortunately, we badly guessed their attack form. As we traveled about 30 feet up the edge of the beach, suddenly there were multiple sand spouts and we were set upon by 12 skeletons equipped with short swords, scimitars, and long swords. They appeared everywhere inside and outside our formation, and struck while we stood there surprised.

Continue reading “Defenders Log Entry #7: Adventures of the Party of Doom”

Drew, 1st level ranger, 15 hp, played by Jack
Morgan, 2nd level fighter, 12 hp, played by Alan
Quentin, 2nd level druid, 10 hp, played by Jeremy
Felix, 1st level fighter, 10 hp, played by Alex
Gaston, 1st level fighter, 10 hp, played by Sean
Tyveris, 1st level cleric of Nevron, 10 hp, played by Joel
After waiting for about a month for Quentin and Drew to finish their service to the druids, the remaining four members of the party, Drew, Quentin, Felix, and Morgan set off for Benct with hopes of recruiting new party members. The found a caravan and set off.
About two days out (halfway in between Benct and Restenford), a scraggly man approached the caravan. He claimed to have to friends hiding in a tree about fifteen minutes away with a bear trying to kill them. The guards refused to go, and the party suspected it might be a trap. Going with their instincts that the man seemed to be telling the truth, the party followed him.
He led them up through the forest, to where a bear was indeed slashing at a tree, though no one was visible in it. Drew suggested that Quentin approach with the levitation belt in case of danger to himself and try to calm the bear down. As he was halfway through doing that, four crossbow bolts whipped out from four directions, one hitting Drew and the other Quentin.
Deja vu.

Continue reading “Defenders Log Entry #6: Damn Assasins”

Darellon, 1st level woodsman, 20 hp, played by Joel
Drew, 1st level ranger, 15 hp, played by Jack
Felix, 1st level fighter, 10 hp, played by Alex
Morgan, 1st level fighter, 7 hp, played by Alan
Celeste, 1st level cleric of Phaulkon, 6 hp, played by Sean
Quentin, 1st level druid, 6 hp, played by Jeremy
To begin, we made our little purchases and set off north once again, a fully banded mail party with the exception of Quentin.
In the afternoon of the second day, we spotted a trio of armed people. Darellon, wearing the badge, hailed them, but they didn’t respond. Ignoring them, we continued.
Two nights out, we set up camp again. During the second watch, Darellon and Morgan were the only ones awake when a fight for our survival began.
Before we could react, four huge creatures bounded from the sides at the helpless party. Morgan was able to tell with infravision that the humanoids were about 9 feet tall and had a violet-bluish skin tint. (Yes, I know– ogre magi? Oh dear…)
Darellon and Morgan yelled an alert and then stood back to back, each taking one of the (now to be called) ogres. As the others attempted to wake up, the two unengaged ones fell upon the defenseless risers. As Celeste tried to rise, she was clubbed down, and played dead for a moment. Drew was smashed repeatedly and beaten the ground moments before he could stand.

Continue reading “Defenders Log Entry #5: The Bandit Strikes Back (The Disaster at Last)”

Darellon, 1st level woodsman, 20 hp, played by Joel
Drew, 1st level ranger, 15 hp, played by Jack
Ethan, 1st level woodsman, 13 hp, played by committee
Grison, 1st level fighter, 11 hp, played by Sean
Soldan, 1st level cleric, 9 hp, played by Alex
Morgan, 1st level fighter, 7 hp, played by Alan
Quentin, 1st level druid, 6 hp, played by Jeremy
The party quickly paid salvage tax on the items we found, including giving up the magic ring, stored its remaining items in the castle, and set out to catch the bandits. We approached the cairn cautiously and discovered that two different groups, one of 6 and one of 7 had passed by it and dug up the bodies, despite the _Ceremony_ cast by Soldan. We followed the fading old tracks of the six that we routed two days earlier.
Tracing this for two days, we reached an area which had clearly hosted a battle between the bandits and something else– perhaps insectoid, such as the beetles. We followed the single trail leading north from it.
We traveled for a few hours before running into a far better ambush than before. 11 men, many with longbows, one a crossbow, and some flail users. Darellon turned to run and the party backpedaled away from the ridge with some of the longbowmen on it. The thought was to escape the range of the bowmen and fight a more even battle. It didn’t work out that way…
As we got out of short range, a _Hold Person_ spell hit Darellon and Ethan, who froze instantly, while Quentin escaped its effect. Things suddenly looked incredibly bad. And they were.

Continue reading “Defenders Log Entry #4: The Masters of Disaster meet Disaster!”