[Page of 11] Author: Joel | The World of Telvar

Defenders Summary #64: A Ninety Degree Turn

The third monk was a jovial bulky guy who had clearly had a lot of experience. He was the most expensive to release from service and he had a somewhat weird attitude—he really liked to fight in close combat rather than with a ranged weapon. We were somewhat concerned considering that we he might be trying to punch could theoretically LEVEL DRAIN him, but hey. He seemed aggressive but we liked him as a candidate.

This is not a very exciting summary, but it was necessary to resolve things smoothly so that we can continue adventuring.
The Restenford Defenders have changed significantly in composition. Following the mission to Bone Hill and the pickup of the dim-witted fighter Bogomel, several party members decided that it was time for a break. Alduin decided to remain in Restenford and wrestle with the elusive puzzle box. Quentin’s plans are unknown to the party. Kodo will remain in the Baron’s service as a tracker and scout (a very durable one).
First we resolved some magic items questions. Kodo will receive (as requested) the Smokeshield+1, studded leather+2, handaxe+1, and we threw in the ½ potion of climbing. The party retrieves from his person the Bag of Holding 600/2000, the Horn of Valhalla, and the Ring of Health.
Alduin receives the Manual of Stealthy Pilfering, the Ring of Concealment+2, the Potion of Invisibility, and the Ring of Jumping. The party retrieves from him the dagger+3, Potion of Polymorph, and Boots of Elvenkind.
Quentin’s status is uncertain. We would really like one or two of his six or seven items. Particular requests: one of the three defensive items (cloak+2, ring+1, bracers 7/7) or the spear+1 for Bogomel, who is a specialist. We’ll try to contact Jeremy.

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The Restenford Defenders Golden Adventurer Awards

I’d like to thank my trainer, Fred, without whom I would not have the THACO I do today…

Vote for your favorite Defenders moments! Everyone who reads the summaries can vote!

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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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Wizard Mountain Summary #3: Banzai!

A giant insectoid creature with sword-like arms approached the front of
the party. Standish and his wardog Cromwell attacked the creature. It
was extremely armored and really mangled the guard dog Weatherby. The
party decided that this was too much and tried to retreat
Right into another one of the things.

The Wizard Mountain Party flirts with death once again!
Party Roster:
Halacar, 3rd level fighter, 33 hp, played by Joel
Standish, 3rd level fighter, 32 hp, played by Katherine
Alain, 3rd level fighter, 27 hp, played by Alex
Brigling, 4th level thief, 24 hp, played by Katherine
Browork, 3rd level cleric, 22 hp, played by Joel
El Guapo, 3rd level fighter, 23 hp, played by Jeff
Duran, 3rd level woodsman, 21 hp, played by Kyle
Jefe, 3rd level woodsman, 19 hp, played by Jeff
Lissar, 3rd level mage, 15 hp, played by Alex
Zero, 3rd level fighter, 14 hp, played by Kyle
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
Our party had returned to the city, running from a group of many
lizardmen, with our options in the cave exhausted by the vampires and such.
In addition to the old members Halacar, Standish, Alain, Brigling,
Browork, and Lissar, the new party assembled with additions Jefe, thrown
dart specialist, El Guapo, double dagger specialist, Duran, thrown dagger
specialist, and Zero, blinder helmet/ blind-fighting short sword specialist.
We set off for Wizard Mountain, uneventfully. We discovered a cave with
wagon ruts and avoided it. We found another cave and explored. There
were numerous holes on the right side of the cave floor, and so Brigling
went down one to check it out.
She was just turning back from a four-way intersection when something
tried to garrote her, and stole her magnifying lens. Standish dropped
down but found nothing there.
We moved on. There was a large pool of water along the side of the cave
now. Suddenly, a weird sonic shriek hit the party, paralyzing all but
Browork, Halacar, Standish, and Lissar. Some kind of bat creature was
attacking the party!

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Defenders Summary #60: To Everyone’s Surprise, Nothing Goes Wrong

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.

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.

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Defenders Adventure #59: Split Screen Action

Kodo woke up with bad beer all over him in a holding cell. The guards wouldn’t believe Kodo’s story (apparently they didn’t recognize him as a member of the Defenders) but freed him. Kodo’s magic items had been returned to him.

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
Quentin, 7th level druid, 37 hp, played by Jeremy
Cassian, 6th level cleric, 37 hp, played by Katherine
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 (Alan this game)
Nakumanu, 3rd level fighter, 25 hp, henchman
Chiaro, 2nd level illusionist, 5 hp, played by Aaron
When we last left the party, it had fragmented for a downtime that would last the rainy season of 2180-1. Chiaro and Morgan spent the winter uneventfully in Koralgesh, Morgan reading books in the Log Library, and Chiaro training to 3rd level.
In Teft, Kain trained to 6th level, and Kodo traded for a magical handaxe. Weird things began to happen in February 2181…
Kodo was walking along in Teft at night to get his usual bar, when someone tried to knock him out with a sap. Kodo was bruised but conscious and he whirled around. Spotting a cloaked figure, he tried to overbear it, and went right through the insubstantial thing.
Kodo heard footsteps in the alley and some weird noises, and retreated into the moonlit street.

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