Month: June 2004

  • Felix Adventure #2: Building Blocks of Death

    Party Roster:
    Felix, 8th level half-orc fighter, 79 hp, played by Alex
    Rathbane, 5th level dwarven fighter/cleric of Clangeddin, 45 hp, played by Katherine
    Donald Collins, 8th level human mage, 43 hp, NPC
    Gates, 6th level dwarven cleric of Moradin, 39 hp, played by Jay Bates
    Hendel, 7th level dwarven thief, 38 hp, played by Joel
    Nakumanu, 5th level orc fighter, 32 hp, henchman of Felix
    Pseu, hit dice unknown but rising, unclassed mimic, “pet” of Rathbane
    (Events of May 2004 in Manhattan)
    (this is the follow-up to Felix Adventure #1: Defenders Reunion: The Return of the King, and the Sliming of the King, which ended with the following sentence:)
    …A few days later, the passageway began to ramp downward, and become more smooth, and then, about a month after we’d initially set out, we reached the edges of the ruined city, the ancient capital of Shabrund…
    And we encountered a very large drawbridge. It crossed a huge chasm to what looked to be a gigantic gatehouse. Suspicious, we approached cautiously.
    A voice boomed out in dwarven. “300 gold toll.”
    The voice didn’t sound like a dwarf, but it seemed we had little choice. “Leave the money by the gate, and don’t look back.”
    We did as instructed, and headed into the city slightly poorer. The city itself was mostly a mess of ruined buildings, with lots of main roads and alleyways on a fair facsimile of a grid. Clearly to find the Girdle of Dwarvenkind would be nearly impossible in something this size without clues as to where to look. Thus we had to explore until we encountered someone.
    After some debate, we headed down one of the thoroughfares, but were halted at an intersection by a dark diminutive figure (one of the “greebley guys” from the 8th Open). He offered to guide us to a location for an exorbitant fee. Instead we bargained for mere directions and warnings of major hazards. The darkling explained where we could find one of the two groups of mountain dwarves known to be in the city. He also warned us a giant slug that would be frightened off by fire. We paid him and headed down the passage.
    Sure enough, a giant slug attacked us, and Hendel was handed a torch and told to go scare it off. He lit the torch, moved bravely forward… and was engulfed in acid. This ruined his clothes but fortunately little else. Satisfied, the slug bolted. Hendel sighed.

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  • Rangorn/Star Summary #1: Huntin’ and Killin’ with Rangorn and Star

    Party Roster:
    Rangorn, 7th level half-elf woodsman, 65 hp, played by Joel
    Astronomicon “Star” Phillips, 6th level human cleric, 37 hp, played by Kyle
    Zippo, 2nd level dwarf fighter, 21 hp, henchman of Star
    Lewis, 1st level human ranger, 15 hp, henchman of Star
    Minerva, 2nd level half-elf mage, 8 hp, played by Katherine
    Madupe Fadupe (“Juan-Re the Gnomish Swashbuckler”), 1st/1st level gnome fighter/thief, 8 hp, played by Katherine
    Alisan, 1st level half-elf Phaulkonian cleric, 8 hp, henchwoman of Rangorn
    And a new party gathered to battle evil in Petethal… merciless, unforgiving, and packed to the gills with anatomy bonuses…
    A brief history of the characters:
    Rangorn, a half-Cromwellian/half-elf whose family fled Cromwell due to persecution, grew up in End-of-the-Road in Dunador as a casual Nevronian. He took his anatomy lessons as a woodsman very seriously and despises evil humanoids. His archery skill was reasonably strong, and in 2177 was able to secure a position as a member of the Stone Soules adventuring party (partly through connections with Runt, Canstin’s new-at-the-time henchwoman). He adventured with the Stone Soules for 8 years (gaining nearly as many levels!) and picked up a powerful magic falchion that particularly mangled ogres. By 2185, Rangorn had become sufficiently intrigued by Alegra and the Phaulkonians in the Soules that he tossed off his casual Nevronian attitude and gave Phaulkon a shot. After the Soules broke up, Rangorn spent a few years patrolling Tan-El and was part of the Daring Dozen excursions into the City of the Gods. After the abortive Borglyn adventure (i.e., “The Game That Was Not”) and the loss of his first henchman Luke to a nest of harpies (in “Alegra’s Company Saves the Roc”), Rangorn spent a few years on a hammock in Petethal (“They Call This Work?”). He also did manage to train extensively as a scout with the Army [Scouting X 3 – Rangorn’s sixth-level feat]. In 2190, Rangorn went on the quest to liberate the Fane of the Winds, and after the group was victorious in reclaiming the shrine at the top of the mountain and rebuilding the Altar Stone, became a Warder of Phaulkon. He has tried especially hard to do Good in the cause of Phaulkon since that time. In 2191, he returned to Depwood and gained membership in the Brotherhood of Rangers to seek out and hunt evil humanoids in Petethal and for the future… who knows?
    Star, a Petethalian human, joined the Stone Soules in the early days as Alegra’s henchman (the first henchman of many to come in the party’s history!), and he is a veteran of many adventures. After the Stone Soules broke up in 2185, Alegra released Star from service as her henchman. Indeed, Star had advanced as far as he could as a henchman and had overcome his initial reluctance to adventure and travel independently. As testament to this, Star spent a large block of time as a missionary among the bird-people (aaracockra) in the mountains of Shabrund.. After the Fane of the Winds was liberated, Star truly came into his own, and decided to become a full adventurer in his own right. Given the need for various combat and other skills which Star did not possess, his first thought was to join up with fellow ex-Stone Soule and Phaulkonian brother, Rangorn. Star fights with crossbows and possesses a magical heavy crossbow which is capable of great accuracy over very large distances (a bonus with his great eyesight!). He is also known to possess a few other strange and exotic powers that have served him well over the years.

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