July 1999 | The World of Telvar

Handouts for The Sixth Open, April 1, 2188 B.Y.

Here is one of the handouts for the Sixth Open – Race Rock. I was in the main area of Race Rock talking to the Locatha for the whole game through the closed door. Once I can get OCR set-up, I’ll send the text up.
Jay
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The Sixth Telvar Open: Race Rock

“When you throw caution to the wind as a vocation, occasional hurricanes are an inevitability.”

Held: July 24, 1999, Winston-Salem, N.C.
“Race Rock”
“When you throw caution to the wind as a vocation, occasional hurricanes are an inevitability.”
1. Introduction
2. Group Summaries: Groups 1-3
3. Group Summaries: Group 4 (Alvin’s Party)
4. Group Summaries: Group 5 (The Watchers’ Watchmen)
5. Wrap-up Summary and Cast of Characters
6. Other Conjecture
Introduction
The Oceans of Telvar hide many secrets. Some, like this one, might better have remained secret.
We begin in the world of Telvar, in the Northern Sea, farther north than Lendore, past the Endless Sea and north even of the Pirate Isles and such other infamous islands as the Hand of Hindus. Travelling as the crow flies (or druid as the case may be), to the northwest, we discover the vastness of the Great Ocean. We have left Wunka and the Realm far to our south, and Goblin Isles are long since past. Roughly halfway between Hochland, central state of the Phaulkonian religion among humans, and the
Grandfather, primary naval base of the goblins, lies a chain of islands inhabited by mostly peaceful orcs and the like. Were one an adventurer, the ruins on the northern islands might be of interest. Our story, though, begins in the southernmost island of Race Rock, known for its wind currents that allow boats to race by the island at astounding speeds.
The date is April 1st, 2188. A certain key person is partially aware of events about to occur on the island of Race Rock, and a turning point in history may have been reached on that day. A large hurricane comes to Race Rock as a series of events are set in motion. The details lie in the accounts of those who were present.
Some Credits: Groups 1, 2, 3, and 4 were summarized by Joel Green. Group 5 was detailed by David Chappell.
With help from many others, including Edwin Anderson, Katherine Plante, Alex Hubbard, and Chris Allen.
You can see a picture of the participants on Joey’s picture Telvar Open picture page.

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Defenders Summary #63: Would you believe that nothing died on either side?

As soon as we passed into the open, a group of six gnolls and three probable worgs (maybe just wolves) took potshots at the front line from the other side. They missed, and the party moved as a group. The gnolls sprinted away and we realized that overtaking them would prove nearly impossible.
Then a huge fireball roared out from the tower behind and above us, striking the entire party and roasting us.

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Defenders Summary #62: The Big, the Stupid, and the Nasty

It became clear that the creature was beat up, but regenerating at the speed of a troll, at least! Donald threw a Slow to no avail. He tried a Web, but the Web dissipated about the creature.

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
Cassian, 7th level cleric, 45 hp, played by Katherine
Kain, 6th level cleric, 43 hp, played by Jeff (Joel for the summer)
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
Nakumanu, 3rd level fighter, 25 hp, henchman
Continuing on last game’s discoveries, the party decided to do some recon before taking out the “clergy of the Lord of Lies.” Quentin flew back to Restenford and consulted with the Baron and the churches there. The Lord of Lies is a devil of godlike power, though he has no real formal clergy. Nothing was really known about the situation, though no one believed it could be bad to wipe it out.
So equipped to kill, we approached Hafney Hill once again. Entering Invisible from the trapdoor in the tower where Quentin had blasted halflings long ago, we found that no new signs of life were evident. Nevertheless, we pressed on to the trapdoor, and Kain Dispelled the trap on it, caught by Cassian’s Find Traps.
The party filed down into the small cistern to the door 15 feet below, and Felix opened the door as an Obscurement was dropped in the area by Kain. There were some bells and a crash of something, and the party moved in as quickly as possible. It was clear that there were objects of unholy origin spread throughout the room. Felix and Morgan burst out of the cloud and found a roast rabbit dinner lying spilled on the floor. Across the corridor was a draped curtain.
Pausing for Cassian to cast a Silence stone, Felix and Morgan led a charge toward the curtain and the ominous chanting behind it. As the fighters approached the curtain, disaster struck.

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Wizard Mountain Summary #4: Feeding the Dragon

Browork healed Thudd, and Katrina zoomed past in attempt to Command the
ettin. Karnash was suddenly badly wounded and near death, but Katrina
could not help him before he would be attacked again.

It’s an ED&D weekend doubleheader!
Party Roster:
Halacar, 3rd level fighter, 33 hp, played by Joel
Browork, 3rd level cleric, 29 hp, played by Joel
Squibb, 3rd level fighter, 28 hp, played by Alan
Thudd, 3rd level fighter, 22 hp, played by Alan
Jefe, 3rd level woodsman, 19 hp, played by Jeff
Karnash, 3rd level fighter, 19 hp, played by Mark
Flit, 4th level thief, 17 hp, played by Matt
Katrina, 3rd level cleric, 12 hp, played by Jeff
Megan, 3rd level mage, 12 hp, played by Alex
Nass, 3rd level illusionist, 6 hp, played by Alex
Returning from last time were Halacar the halfling fighter, Browork the
dwarven cleric, Jefe the half-elven fighter, Katrina the half-elven
cleric, Megan the human mage, and Nass the human illusionist. Joining us
were Karnash the half-orc fighter, Flit the elven thief, and Thudd the
dwarven fighter.
We set off for the mountain o’ death with high hopes. We tracked around
some corridors and heard weird clicking sounds that we thought might be
the returning hook horrors, which are hideously dangerous monsters. We
backed off and found another cave. Coming up the corridor was a
two-headed giant thing, an ettin!
It demanded that we had over all silver (which we had none of). When we
asked for an alternative, the ettin said that we could hand over our two
shortest morsels. Realizing that an attack was imminent, Halacar and
Thudd stepped forward, weapons out. The ettin protested that we had
sharp weapons, but when Thudd said that his was blunt and the ettin tried
to crush him and Halacar, a large club in each hand.

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Defenders Summary #61: The Plan, as Usual, Goes to Putty

This was quite consistent with what we believed, except for the bit about “a permanent, stable link to Pandemonium.” Gee, what fun.

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
Cassian, 7th level cleric, 45 hp, played by Katherine
Kain, 6th level cleric, 43 hp, played by Jeff
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 Alan
Nakumanu, 3rd level fighter, 25 hp, henchman
Narahn, 2nd level fighter, 11 hp, played by Dave
When we last left the party, they had just regrouped in Restenford at the beginning of June, 2181. Cassian had just gained 7th level and so we were interested in clearing the talking evil skull room below the Phaulkonian Church in Restenford, and in testing our mettle against the giant skeleton (B.A.S.T.A.R.D.—Big Ass Skeleton Thingy And Really Dangerous) in our old favorite location, Hafney Hill.
First, Narahn made a cameo appearance after an update. Narahn, a halfling bow specialist who had been with the party from 2175-6, had been patrolling around Restenford, working for the Baron. He and his patrol had encountered quite a few nasty creatures, including groups of ogres and spiders. He had gained 3rd level (and 5 hp) in the intervening period.
We decided to tackle the weird skull room. With Protection from Evil on all party members, we approached the shaft with the skulls and cast Augury on Dispelling them. The result was that the effect was superficial—indeed, all we did was remove the “alarm system” for the crypt. However, Cassian’s hawk was able to discover a small room about 60 feet down the shaft. Lowering ropes and using mountaineering equipment, we descended into the room. The entire room was magical, and contained a sarcophagus as well as all sorts of skull decorations on the walls and various assorted furniture.
An Augury on Dispelling the room: “Only a fool takes the boards down as the eye passes.” In this case the “eye” almost certainly referred to the eye of a storm. Our conclusion was that the Dispel would have no immediate effect but trigger disaster soon after.

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