[Page of 16] Author: Joel | The World of Telvar

Stone Soules Reunion The Game that Was Not

However, the
unfortunate Sahrak was not so lucky. While he stared in terror, his head
turned a bizarre color, and then literally melted off his shoulders,
hardly recognizable.

“There are games which are so awesome you simply have to share.
And then there are games like this one.”
Giants, Ogres, and So Much More!
Party Roster:
Konrad, 10th level paladin, 94 hp, played by Rodger Henson
Tanique, 7th level fighter, 71 hp, played by Kathryn Klawiter
Ceydric, 8th level cavalier, 65 hp, played by Joel Green
Warwick, 7th level ranger, 60 hp, played by Mark Wagoner
Klogwort, greater orc, 54 hp, played by Rhonda Jones
Xavier, 8th level cleric, 45 hp, played by Jack McKechnie
Ludo, 9th level thief, 43 hp, played by Kyle MacLea
Eli, 9th level mage, 39 hp, played by Zack Hubert
Tarplin, 8th level druid/ 5th level mage, 29 hp, played by Alan Jones
Fred, 7th level monk, played by David Chappell
Risha, 7th level cleric, 23 hp, played by Kyle MacLea
Sahrak, 5th level illusionist/ 6th level thief, 21 hp, NPC
Our party, composed of members from the Duchy of Estwurl in the Southern
Waste and Dunadorian knights, from the Cromwellian Academy Teams, from the
disbanded Stone Soules, and from other sources familiar to the other stalwart
adventurers, gathered in Dunthrane City in 2187. (There was some interesting
updating done on many of the characters.)
The party then performed a Divination, Astrology, and Commune. The
Divination resulted in knowledge of a moderate force of Lawful Evil, and
a slumbering but very powerful supernatural force of Neutral Evil. There
was “subjective” treasure. The Astrology revealed the sign of the
Wanderer heading toward the sign of the Cornucopia, but was intersected
by the sign of the Four Brothers before the Four Brothers entered the
sign of the Void. The influence of the nine dark moons, representing
unstable or unknown magic, was undeniable.

Continue reading “*Stone Soules Reunion* The Game that Was Not”

Defenders Log Entry #24: Where’s the Baron?

We immediately descended down some stairs. At the bottom we are attacked on two separate occasions by a single ZOMBIE. Wow, this casual, oh yeah there’s hideous undead in the basement, you’ll need a cleric to get the wine, is really getting out of hand!

It’s the party that just loves assassins… The Restenford Defenders!
Felix, 4th level fighter, 42 hp, played by Alex
Drew, 4th level ranger, 34 hp, played by committee (under Jack’s suggestions)
Balinor, 3rd level fighter, 33 hp, played by Joel
Cassian, 4th level cleric, 27 hp, played by Katherine
Morgan, 4th level fighter, 22 hp, played by Alan
Quentin, 5th level druid, 20 hp, played by Jeremy
Perry, 5th level thief, 16 hp, played by Sean
Donald, 1st level mage, 7 hp, NPC
Joining us were:
Martin, disgustingly high level ranger or woodsman, friend of Almax
Gristla, 4th level mage, student of Peltar
Colemac, mid-level fighter, guard of Restenford
Halco, half-elf woodsman
Prellis, human fighter
Quentin sent his birds to check out this “lovely adventuring spot” Bazmar kept hinting at (on the other side of the lake), but there was not in fact an ambush or anything there.
We began with a long but surprisingly relevant discussion about various plans, and pretty much settled on the GUTS plan.
GUTS (Guys Under Tactical Surveilance– I made it up, so blame me) involved several stages. Morgan was turned invisible in the afternoon, and Perry spoke with Captain Bazmar while Gristla (Peltar’s student) cast ESP and listened to Bazmar’s surface thoughts.

Continue reading “Defenders Log Entry #24: Where’s the Baron?”

Defenders Log Entry #23: Seafood Dinner

“I don’t know. Hmmm.” He rang a bell. A harried looking bulky individual appeared at the door.
“Yes, Harper?” he said, sounding bored.
“Do I have any enemies, Harmon?”
“No, Harper.”
“Well, I guess that settles that. You can go Harmon.”
“Yes, Harper.”

Felix, 4th level fighter, 42 hp, played by Alex
Drew, 4th level ranger, 34 hp, played by Jack
Balinor, 3rd level fighter, 33 hp, played by Joel
Cassian, 4th level cleric, 27 hp, played by Katherine
Morgan, 4th level fighter, 22 hp, played by Alan
Quentin, 5th level druid, 20 hp, played by Jeremy
Perry, 5th level thief, 16 hp, played by Sean
Donald, 1st level mage, 7 hp, NPC
A quick reminder: the three framed people were:
Abram, innkeeper of the “House of Abram.”
Balmoro, powerful bard who runs a theatre in Garroten.
Harper, crazy high priest of Osprem, god of water travel.
The Baron was kidnapped/murdered on the night of February 24th. We set off for Garroten on the 25th, and arrived on the 26th in the evening. We begin with the events of the morning of the 27th of February.
February 27th– Having concluded a rather neutral meeting with Balmoro the bard, our unhappy-go-lucky party set up an appointment to meet with Harper, high priest of Osprem (LN god of water travel). He is supposed to be insane, but we knew we had to talk to him at some point and clear this mess up.
First we received a communication from Almax the druid through Martin, the local druid in Garroten. For those who don’t know, we are capable of sending reasonable length messages once per day at noon, and receiving the previous day’s response at about the same time.
Almax is convinced that the Anarchists were not involved in the plot.
We informed them that we would be seeking a Commune spell from Harper, which was really our only chance if the Baron was dead and time was running out. Barnacus was simply too far away to make it there and back in time.

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The Seapoint Lightning: Organization of a Party

“The Lightning Never Strike Twice”

“The Lightning Never Strike Twice”
The Party
The Seapoint Lightning is the final legacy of a fledgling adventuring group known as Sam’n Friends, formed in 2173 on Lendore Isle. The leader of the party was Samantha, a beautiful half-elven Phaulkonian cleric/woodsman. She had enraptured the rest of the party and, despite her objections, the membership voted to name the party after her. During the second adventure of Sam’n Friends, the party journeyed to Hafney Hill and was slaughtered except for the stealthy Hecht, who barely escaped with his life. Hecht met up with another large group of adventurers to return to Hafney Hill and rescue Sam or any others who might have survived, and seek vengeance on the dastardly halflings who had vanquished the former party. When Hecht’s new group set out for Hafney Hill, they became misdirected and arrived at the wrong hill. This party fought a Witch and her demon servants. A handful survived the encounter, and returned to Restinford to attempt to find help in taking Hafney Hill. There, they met up with the Restinford Defenders and returned to Hafney Hill. The Defenders and Hecht’s group defeated the halflings there, and took the ruined keep. On return to Restinford, the Defenders and the others went separate ways. Auburn, a halfling warrior-cleric, and Arutha, an elven Nevronian cleric, veterans of the Witch battle, set out for Seapoint on the Baron’s suggestion, to serve the city in the capacity that the Defenders serve Restinford. So began the Seapoint Lightning.

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Defenders Log #22: Political Treachery

At 4 AM in the morning, the Baroness awoke to find her husband had not
returned to bed. Suspecting something had come up, she asked the guard
Carlton what was going on. Carlton replied that nothing was going on, and
Baroness went down to the kitchen.
There was a huge bloodstain, and spices had been knocked over everywhere.
The Baron was nowhere to be found.

Party Roster:
Felix, 4th level fighter, 42 hp, played by Alex
Drew, 4th level ranger, 34 hp, played by committee
Balinor, 3rd level fighter, 33 hp, played by Joel
Cassian, 4th level cleric, 27 hp, played by Katherine
Morgan, 4th level fighter, 22 hp, played by Alan
Quentin, 5th level druid, 20 hp, played by Jeremy
Perry, 5th level thief, 16 hp, played by Sean
Donald, 1st level mage, 7 hp, NPC
We had last left the Defenders enjoying the spoils of a successful mission
to Hafney Hill. Treasure division was settled as follows (if Mark or Kyle
have strong objections please voice them and I suspect we can probably
change some stuff):
Since it was fairly obvious (Mark, if you disagree please tell us) that
Hecht and Kerr would not settle down in Restenford, that left Auburn to
form a party, and since that was an uncertain proposition, we thought it
was best just to give the Lightning a share and let them decide on their own.
We made this deal: The Baron would give us approximately 11000 gp as an
“allowance” of 3000 gp per year for three years, plus the extra in the
fourth year. We withdrew our first years’ allowance and gave it to the
Lightning. So the split is as follows:
Lightning receive 3000 gp, Captain’s Jacket. The Defenders cover the cost
of the Identifies on the three items, and the salvage tax. We’re certainly
willing to help you trade the Captain’s Jacket, either with the Phaulkonian
Church (who is probably quite interested) or the Petethalian navy. The
split of that treasure is up to Kerr, Auburn, and Hecht (who still have to
train).

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Defenders Summary #21: Hafney Hill Part 2– What the &*@#! do they have under there?

Finally, Perry said, “We simply want to leave. We have not desecrated the temple!”
The creature replied, “Pay the price for trespassing.”

Following the death of the second wraith and reuniting of the party in the halflings’ bedroom, we decided to search for secret doors, and none were found. The next day, when Balinor had regained his level, we decided to explore the wraith corridor.
Noting that the seals had been broken on the door, we entered with Perry leading, searching for traps, and Felix and Balinor close behind.
The corridor had all sorts of niches with skulls and stuff in the walls. After about 60′ we descended down a spiral staircase into a room with 4 other exits. Perry could faintly hear a creaking noise, and the sounds of running water. We noted the demonic sigil on the floor and decided to peek down the passages. The first one on the near right had a line of skulls, each with glowing red points for eyes which seemed to be staring at us, and vanishing off down the corridor.
This was vaguely disturbing.
The next corridor had another staircase leading down.
The far left corridor had a well decorated archway and another stairs across the room. We approached the altar, and Auburn was able to read the runes (written in Demon!). It welcomed all properly fearful demon worshippers to the lesser temple, and warned of death for all those who did not fear them properly. Perry listened, and we could hear the faint sounds of screams from down the corridor.
VERY alarming.

Continue reading “Defenders Summary #21: Hafney Hill Part 2– What the &*@#! do they have under there?”

Defenders ADVENTURE LOG #20: Return of the Halflings

We set up a false campsite and hid in the bushes nearby, hoping to draw their attention and capture them. Unfortunately, though we noticed no observation during the night, we found tracks of a halfling in the morning. Irritated, we tried again the next night, this time with Perry’s snares littering the area.

Adventure #4: Hecht & co. and the Restinford Defenders vs. the Evil Halflings of Hafney Hill
(from the chronicles of the Restinford Defenders)
Character Roster:
Felix, 4th level fighter, 42 hp, played by Alex
Drew, 4th level ranger, 34 hp, played by committee
Balinor, 3rd level fighter, 33 hp, played by Joel
Cassian, 3rd level cleric of Phaulkon, 25 hp, played by Katherine
Morgan, 4th level fighter, 22 hp, played by Alan
Quentin, 4th level druid, 16 hp, played by Jeremy
Perry, 5th level thief, 16 hp, played by Sean
AND RETURNING ONCE AGAIN:
Hecht, cleric of the halfling god Brandebaris, played by Mark
Auburn, 1st level cleric of the halfling god Sheila /1st level fighter, 11 hp, played by Kyle
Kerr, 1st level druid, 7 hp, played by Mark
The party checked around the lair of the burrow worms for a few days just to make sure there were no more worms left. We entered the lair with Felix in the lead, and discovered a room of dead husks. There was also a gem and 2 vials of Nevronian holy water.
We dragged four husks back to Restenford, paid one in salvage tax(?!), and commissioned the always friendly armorer to turn them into great helms (?!). Felix, Balinor, and Drew are decked out in the bug head helmets (pincers still intact) when FAR away from civilization, such as it is on Lendore.
Perry trained to 5th level, and gained 3 hp to stand at 16 hp.
A letter and a mage arrived in Restenford while Perry trained, named Donald Collins. Colin, the elven mage/thief whose disastrous adventure had nearly destroyed his hearing, had found someone for us.

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Defenders Log Entry #19: Creepies and Crawlies and Kittens (oh my!)

The ogre could have been quite dangerous… except that it chose to swing at Morgan.

Felix, 4th level fighter, 42 hp, played by Alex
Drew, 3rd level ranger, 25 hp, played by committee
Morgan, 4th level fighter, 22 hp, played by Alan
Quentin, 4th level druid, 16 hp, played by Jeremy
Perry, 4th level thief, 13 hp, played by Sean
Balinor, 1st level fighter, 10 hp, played by Joel
Cassian, 1st level cleric, 9 hp, played by Katherine
When we last left the jubilant party, they had just found loads of money and treasure and completed Abbey Isle! We then trained and picked up proficiencies, which took about two months.
Balinor and Cassian both gained 3rd level, and Drew got 4th! Perry is about 500 XP from 5th level, and Quentin is about 1500 XP from 5th level. The others are NOWHERE near.
Balinor and Perry picked up Sprinting, and Morgan learned longbow. Then the hp rolls came– they were totally absurd.
Cassian had 9 hp at 1st level, and rolled an 8 and a 6 on 2d8, +2 from con, to total 25 hp at 3rd level! Drew rolled an 8 on a d8 as well, (+1 from con), and rose from 25 to 34 hp. Balinor rolled a 10 on a d10 (+4 from con) and rose from 19 to 33 hp!
So the current party state is:
Felix, 4th level fighter, 42 hp
Drew, 4th level ranger, 34 hp
Balinor, 3rd level fighter, 33 hp
Cassian, 3rd level cleric, 25 hp
Morgan, 4th level fighter, 22 hp
Quentin, 4th level druid, 16 hp
Perry, 4th level thief, 13 hp

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Defenders Log Entry #18: Don’t They Have Anything Better to do?

The party ran about in confusion. Grimly, Balinor moved to block the monster and swung, damaging it with Maiden Basher. He yelled for everyone to get out as quickly as possible, intending to sacrifice his life, and took a vicious hit. The party was fleeing behind him, but Cassian refused to abandon him, instead curing him of damage as fast as it came at him.

Felix, 4th level fighter, 44 hp, played by Alex
Drew, 3rd level ranger, 25 hp, played by committee
Morgan, 4th level fighter, 22 hp, played by Alan
Balinor, 2nd level fighter, 19 hp, played by Joel
Quentin, 4th level druid, 16 hp, played by Jeremy
Perry, 4th level thief, 13 hp, played by Sean
Cassian, 1st level cleric, 9 hp, played by Katherine
Our party was moving at about a slug’s pace due to the total paranoia atmosphere created by the friendly traps. We had to take out the minotaur golem, and the plan was to lure it under the crushing trap and have Perry release it.
Although it took Felix awhile to get the golem to follow him, the plan worked perfectly– except that we didn’t know the golem was immune to the traps, and the crushing stone failed to collapse on it. So it was back to old-fashioned combat; except of course, that only Balinor could harm it.
Thankfully Felix, Drew, and Morgan were able to distract the minotaur enough for Balinor to pummel it for over 50 points of damage, when it finally shattered. In addition, the fighters were bolstered by constant Cure Light Wounds spells from Quentin and Cassian.

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Defenders Log Entry #17: Underground Terror

Next, we entered an open space and proceeded along a wall. Suddenly, the entrance to the room slammed shut and poison gas sprayed into the room. Everyone except Cassian and Quentin immediately collapsed.

Felix, 4th level fighter, 44 hp, played by Alex
Drew, 3rd level ranger, 25 hp, played by committee
Morgan, 4th level fighter, 22 hp, played by Alan
Balinor, 2nd level fighter, 19 hp, played by Joel
Quentin, 4th level druid, 16 hp, played by Jeremy
Perry, 4th level thief, 13 hp, played by Sean
Cassian, 1st level cleric, 9 hp, played by Katherine
Virtually all movement during this session was done at about .2″.
The mist did not detect as evil, so, excuses gone, we headed down the corridor. After a brief amount of checking, we were abruptly attacked by five skeletons and five zombies!
After an impressive first swing doing 22 points of damage to a skeleton, who promptly fell apart, Balinor found himself frustrated and held at bay. Felix and Morgan blew apart the rest, with a little help from Perry. We pulled the bodies outside– they were robed and had odd masks on. Turning by the cleric Cassian did in fact work– the one remaining one fled, only to be chopped apart by Felix. Visibility here, by the way, is a whopping 3 feet with the Continual Light items. Furthermore, we showed that the aura emitted by the entire mist effectively prevented Detect Magic from working.
Drawing upon folklore, Cassian suggested that the skeletons might be of a special variety, since they were wearing death masks of the islands north of Lendore. The fiery red eye sockets still glowed in death, and detected as magical. That is, until Balinor smashed them into little bits with his magical hammer. His regular hammer Bessie got two kills, and he switched to Rip to give it a fair chance.

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