Defenders Summary #60: To Everyone’s Surprise, Nothing Goes Wrong
Party Roster:
Felix, 6th level fighter, 59 hp, played by Alex
Kodo, 5th level woodsman, 59 hp, played by Rob
Balinor, 6th level fighter, 56 hp, played by Joel
Kain, 6th level cleric, 43 hp, played by Jeff
Cassian, 6th level cleric, 37 hp, played by Katherine
Quentin, 8th level druid, 37 hp, played by Jeremy
Morgan, 6th level fighter, 35 hp, played by Alan
Donald, 6th level mage, 33 hp, NPC
Alduin, 6th level thief, 26 hp, played by Vic (Rob this game)
Chiaro, 3rd level illusionist, 6 hp, played by Aaron
The split party-vision screen continues…
Morgan stayed in the Library through the rainy season of 2180-1. Chiaro trained to 3rd level, gaining a whopping 1 hp to bring him to the, uh, total of, um… 6 hp.
Chiaro also managed to gain Detect Magic, which is a 2nd level spell that pales in comparison to the magic-user one, and is slightly weaker than the cleric/druid version.
In Teft, in a bizarre move, Kain decided to offer the Church of Hindus 350 gp to find out why they hated the Defenders so much. Despite the fact that everyone thought this was a bad move, Kodo had no choice, although he only gave Kain 50 gp. It turned out that the shady character demanded 20 gp to avoid reneging on the “deal.” Kodo paid, and they left the bar.
In Restenford, the party gathered for a second push through the caves. First, we tried to have Cassian’s hawk fly down into the weird shaft with the skulls on spears, but the skulls spoke in archaic Common, making threats, etc. The area detected as evil, and the skulls as magical.
We headed back down and tried to pick up the other skulls, the ones thrown at us by the weird elder ghoul creatures, which had since lost their magic. When Balinor picked one up, one of the elder ghoul creatures came running at the party from the small tunnels we had found earlier. The party turned to confront it, but Cassian blew it away with one shot from the Crossbow.
The party also cleared out a small group of ghouls. Then with some huge cheese bribes and Protection from Evil, a rat was convinced to wander around the tunnels. There were some giant rats, and other corridors. The rat soon got bored, so we decided to send Chester the bobcat in, with Invisibility to Animals, Protection from Evil, and Negative Plane Protection. It was pretty absurd.
When Chester found an actual room with a table and chairs, the smaller party members clambered through and explored the ruins of an old pirate outpost. Cassian, Quentin, and Alduin found several rat tunnels leading out to the outside in various parts of Restenford, and finally found the top of the ruins. They came out in an old ruined fort in the south part of Restenford that hadn’t been restored by the Baron.
With two weeks of rainy season time to spare, the party began an exhaustive search of the compound, and astoundingly came up with five magic items and about 1500 gp.
We gave up the cutlass+1 (scimitar) to the Baron and gave the Ring of Featherfalling (a new one) to the Phaulkonian Church. We kept the Brooch of Shielding (17 charges) on Donald, gained an Extra Healing potion (not on anyone yet), and Boots of Elvenkind (make wearer virtually noiseless, though reduced somewhat by heavy armor). Some of this was discovered in muddy chests, some in false panels, etc.
The money was essentially lost in the identification process. Oh well. We also got a pair of cool dice for Alduin, and a nice amethyst embossed shield for Peacemaker.
On March 15, Chiaro, Morgan, Kain, and Kodo set out for Restenford. Despite Morgan hitting TWO storms and Kain and Kodo hitting one (thank you very much: 3 20s in 8 rolls), they all lived and arrived in Restenford.
Well, it was a nice adventure and Cassian cleaned up on XP. Chiaro and Morgan netted zero, Kain and Kodo got 15 and 20 respectively. Nakumanu got around 1700, and the bulk of the party got between 2200 and 3300 (Quentin leading the pack) and finally Cassian got a mere 8300.
Astoundingly, this was enough for Cassian to train to 7th level!
The party sailed uneventfully to Teft and Cassian trained until May 2181, gaining 8 hp to stand at 45. The training was paid for with the last of our credit from the chain mail+2 from Castle of Diamonds.
Cassian gaining 7th level is critical. Several new very attractive quests have opened up, including dealing with the skulls under the Phaulkonian Church, and Hafney Hill. This is primarily due to the Exorcism spell.
Chiaro is remaining in Restenford, and Aaron and Jeff are welcome to make comments over the summer! The games won’t resume until mid-June.
Donald and Alduin are about 5000 XP from 7th (and Alduin will immediately use the book to reach 8th as per Vic’s suggestions when I last talked to him). Felix and Morgan are about 7500 XP away from 7th. Balinor and Kodo are about 10,000 away from 7th and 6th, and Quentin and Kain are about 25,000 XP from 9th and 7th respectively.
So we leave the party after the second real-world year as follows:
Active Party Members:
Felix, 6th level fighter, 59 hp
Kodo, 5th level woodsman, 59 hp
Balinor, 6th level fighter, 56 hp
Cassian, 7th level cleric, 45 hp
Kain, 6th level cleric, 43 hp
Quentin, 8th level druid, 37 hp
Morgan, 6th level fighter, 35 hp
Donald, 6th level mage, 33 hp
Alduin, 6th level thief, 26 hp
Non-Active Party Members:
Nakumanu, 3rd level fighter, 25 hp
Chiaro, 3rd level illusionist, 6 hp
Retired Party Members:
Drew, 4th level ranger, 34 hp
Perry, 6th level thief, 17 hp
Narahn, 2nd level fighter, 11 hp
Gaston, 2nd level fighter, 12 hp
Phoenix, 1st level cleric, 7 hp
Colin, 1st level thief/mage, 2 hp
So we’ll have myself, Katherine, Rob, Alan, Alex, Jeremy, and Vic for the summer.
Signing off for now…
Joel/Balinor
Log Supplement QQ: QQ
Some additional information about the sarcophagus room below the Phaulkonian Church:
Before Lendore was the lovely civilized place it is today, it was inhabited entirely by bandit and pirate kingdoms. (as opposed to now, when they operate as bandit and pirate GUILDS and have names like, "Benct" or "Garroten")
Barnacus was a fortified city-state about 300 years ago, when a particularly brutal half-orc pirate ruled the area from a fortress standing on the hill where the Phaulkonian Church of Restenford is now. When men from the continent attacked with the intent of forming a colony in the area, the pirate died in combat. An evil temple went down and was replaced by the Baron's castle, but it took another week for the main force to be routed from the fortress.
Our theory is that the pirate was buried in the sarcophagus. He may have been respected, but feared greatly even in death, and thus huge wards were erected to make sure that no one freed him.
That's the theory anyway.