The World of Telvar

Category: Konrad

  • The Ninth Telvar Open Tournament: Faces from the Past

    [The Word-formatted Summary is found here.]
    “It had never previously been understood why the Northerner word for ‘unavoidable danger’ literally translated as ‘blue fire mountain.’” – Loren Kenither, BoS

     

    "“More are
    men’s ends mark’d than their lives before.

    The setting
    sun, and music at the close,

    As the last
    taste of sweets, is sweetest last,

    Writ in
    remembrance more than things long past."

    –William Shakespeare,
    King Richard II

     

    Events of 5 November 2005 in Charlotte, N.C. / 10-11 June 2192
    B.Y.
    in far western Cromwell, a place known as the Salt Sea Region

     

    [the
    same day as the events of the Eighth Telvar
    Open    ]

     

    [NOTE: Some of the diverse summaries of these
    events contain contradictory information, and skewed perspectives based on the
    experiences of the characters involved.
    Some of these have been noted specifically, but otherwise the unique
    perspectives of each group have been maintained. The truth
    of each situation probably lies somewhere in the middle.]

     

     

    We
    begin as:

     

    A corrupt and evil kingdom of slave lords collapses…

    A city built on the edge of a large salty sea is in chaos…

    And Cromwellian forces enter the region to restore order and
    crush the slavers…

     

    The ruins of an ancient Kraken temple molder…

    A haunted forest in the shadow of an extinct volcano slumbers…

    And a librarian at Cromwell’s famed Academy heads off on an
    unusual vacation…

     

    But
    meanwhile:

     

    A holy Paladin of Nevron receives a vision of great
    importance…

    One of the High Priests of Aurora hears a rumor of a city in
    dire straits…

    And the government of Cromwell realizes that there are several
    “irregularities” in the librarian’s
    preparations for his vacation, resulting in an Academy Team known as Death from Above being dispatched in
    pursuit…

     

    Events
    begin to fall into place in the city, forest, and surrounding lands, as…

     

    The city of Towlmere devolves into chaos and mayhem…

    The servants of Aurora and Nevron converge on the area…

    The Academy Team finds the trail of the errant librarian and is
    in hot pursuit…

     

    As the librarian completes his work on a strange device
    at the top of an ancient pyramid in the midst of the haunted forest…

     

    And
    an ancient evil awakens…

     

    (more…)

  • Ninth Telvar Open: Teaser Summary

    The Ninth Telvar Open Tournament: Faces from the Past
    5 November 2005 in Charlotte, N.C. / 10 June 2192 B.Y. in far
    western Cromwell, in a place known as the Salt Sea Region
    [the same day as the events of the Eighth Telvar Open]
    We begin as:
    A corrupt and evil kingdom of slave lords collapses…
    A city built on the edge of a large salty sea is in chaos…
    A haunted forest in the shadow of a extinct volcano slumbers…
    The ruins of an ancient Kraken temple moulder…
    And Cromwellian forces enter the region to restore order and crush the
    slavers…
    But:
    A librarian at Cromwell’s famed Academy heads off on an unusual vacation…
    A holy Paladin of Nevron receives a vision of great importance…
    One of the High Priests of Aurora hears a rumor….
    And a team of auditors working for the government of Cromwell realizes
    that the Librarian’s preparations for his vacation violated some of
    the policies of the Academy, resulting in an Academy Team known as
    Death from Above being dispatched in pursuit…
    And we begin:
    As the Librarian completes work on a strange device at the top of an
    ancient pyramid on the edge of the haunted forest…
    And an ancient evil awakens…
    [The Ninth Telvar Open Summary is finished! You can read it here!]

  • *Stone Soules Reunion* Or At Least, That’s What Might Have Happened

    Well, I must admit that a mischievous streak hit the collection of people
    at the game. While a devastating fight between the evil Borglyn and the
    forces of good made good copy, the reality was a bit different
    Party Roster:
    Konrad, 10th level paladin, 94 hp, played by Rodger
    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
    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.)
    (Sahrak remained with his traveling circus so that it would remain intact
    and his henchmen wouldn’t desert him, and realizes that his adventuring
    career, at least for the moment, is over.)
    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 influence of the nine dark moons,
    representing unstable or unknown magic, was undeniable. Our lucky number
    was 5 and our unlucky number 162. The color gray was important.

    (more…)

  • *Stone Soules Reunion* The Game that Was Not

    “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.

    (more…)

  • Summary XXIX: Turning to the Sacrol

    What we did:
    Argue.
    We then attacked the Sacral. It was affected by fire, magic missles,
    LIMMs, spiritual hammers, dust devils and Alegra’s crossbow bolts. (not
    goblins though) Because of its slow movement rate, we were able to
    outmaneuver it and eventually disperse it.
    Alegra exorcised it while Xavier and Star chanted. It reformed during the
    Exoricism and attacked Canstin and Alegra. It missed Alegra, and Canstin
    made his saving throw. Konrad, Ceydric, Aria, and Canstin were able to
    quickly inflict enough damage to destroy it. Alegra finished the exorcism.
    We received alot of treasure from the Sacral’s pile of bones over which
    it formed and from the gatehouse.
    Total: Jewelry 8,000
    Gems 11,250
    Coins ~1,000
    ——-
    20,114
    Konrad and Memphis got ~2,500 gp and a wand of magic missles.
    The stone soules got a token of ‘door’
    We threw a huge party to thank Konrad and wish them farewell.

  • Summary XXVIII: The Attack on the Grey Philosopher

    In brief: Versus the Philosopher
    We entered the area with some _Dust Devils_ (2 from support group, 1 from
    Alegra) and advanced. 9 thoughts attacked per wave. Some got through on
    each wave, and they all went for Konrad in the center who had Gram’s
    sun-coin and his own Prot. from Evil. Konrad took damage from the thoughts
    like everyone else. Eventually, we were closer to the main gate and decided
    it would be better to advance and go through than retreat (i.e. it was closer).
    The gate was to our right and a tower structure to our left. From the tower
    a black cloud began to creep towards us. This killed the _Dust Devil_
    Alegra had with her (draining it of a HD, before it died). The wall of
    black cloud slowly approached us from behind. Zombie Bugbears appeared in
    front of us. Weird telescope things sprayed lightning at us. A (later
    identified as a) humanoid (with a staff) fired magic missiles into us (from
    the staff). As it came closer, the wall was filled with skeletons, many
    many of them. This matches the description of a Sacrawl (sp). Then it
    basically became a race to escape. Lightning was thrown around blasted
    zombies. Alegra _Called Lightning_ and dis damage to the wall of black
    cloud, but the skeletons simply reformed 2 segments later, slowing it down
    (it was moving 3″ anyway). We then hit the gate, opened it with the Chime
    and escaped. The Sacrawl (and its haze) attempted to follow us out of the
    city but stopped not far from it. (weird ghoul-like more intelligent undead
    followed at this point)

    (more…)

  • Summary XXVII: The Grey Philosopher and Sacrol: Reconn and Divination

    A Divination of the Zone of the GP: (2000 + 2000 from Konrad’s diamond +
    Ring of Alignment Shielding)
    The Forces of XXXXXX are prevalent in the area
    The strength of the forces are only strong, but inspiringly resilient.
    There is vast immobile irrecoverable treasure in the area.
    Moderate wealth is also in the area.
    XXXXXX is the name of the/an infernal power who’s name should not be
    invoked. We went to get the name researched from Beck, and Eli invoked the
    name the second time. It summoned a weird abyssling-like creature with
    weird abilities (Eli, Sahrak, Yorlik, Xavier, Claude went to End for this).
    Yorlik was eaten. Eli escaped with a dimension door. Beck saved Xavier in
    the end. Eli, before leaving, dropped some vitrioli which nearly killed the
    first creature, sending it back to its plane, and ultimately killing the
    second, which did not make it back. A third, small, fanged, winged,
    cat-like being appeared and touched Eli. Eli then had many black traceries
    all over his skin. This turned out to be “Tainting,” that is, Eli could be
    _Turned_ by good clerics, detected as a point of Evil (Malignant), and could
    not in fact be affected by clerical healing magics (since clerics can’t
    touch him). An _Atonement_ would be necessary to help him.
    When they arrived back in Middle, Eli was _Dispel Magic_ed/Remove Curse_d.
    This temporarily (for 10 days) removed the Taint, which then allowed us to
    attack the GP.
    Kyle

  • Summary XXVI: The Final Steps in the Inevitable Defeat of the Great Old Ones (or Great Ones)

    Hello, all!
    Konrad & co. arrived with some fanfare, we killed the WOTW (see Zack’s note below),
    and prepared for the GOO attack. We prepared the party by dividing it into teams Alpha,
    Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Foxtrot and Tango. Echo was dissolved since its
    mission was not entirely clear. Tango’s mission was to stay at the Transporter.
    A,B,C checked out the courtyard and Theo and Konrad killed the 2 giant
    poisonous snakes there before they could react.
    We then executed the Plan, and entered the building, sleeping and killing
    the guardian snakes in the Entranceway and burning the contact poison off
    the handle (that Ludo discovered).
    We opened the door to the GOO’s quarters and entered its room, Ceydric and
    Faranyn, with team A ready to fly in. It retreated out of a back door, past
    a glyph, throwing lightning bolts. Xavier dispelled the glyph and the wall
    of ice that sprung up. We chased it around corners and up stairs, getting
    an occasional shot at it with arrows and by Konrad and Theo. It went over
    another glyph and the rest of B piled up behind while A went forward. It
    failed to open a door and they wailed it; Faranyn crashed over the glyph and
    was Blinded. It ducked through a secret door and kept being hit by Konrad
    and Theo.

    (more…)

  • Summary XXV: Castle Bah Nareth, the Great Ones, and other menaces

    Divination on the Castle:
    Creatures there are vastly powerful.
    Very rich treasure in the area
    The forces of chaotic evil are present and the chance of disturbing them are
    high
    The forces of lawful evil and vastly dominant, but dormant, the chance of disturbing is moderate to high under the special circumstances
    —
    Two days after back in town – in the war room –
    “I WILL KILL YOU ALL IN YOUR SLEEP IF YOU DO NOT RETURN MY TREASURE”
    Just some cud to chew on.
    E-
    —

    (more…)

  • Stone Soules Summary XV: Griffon Castle Is Taken

    After much arguing and debating we finished the castle attack plans. Ludo
    had discovered that the Duke was gone but would soon be returning with more
    troops about the time the Councilors passed on through. Due to this
    concern, we decided a quick attack staged as soon as possible was best.
    Then, Faranyn was contacted magically by a member of the Democratic Front
    who made it plain that he did not like Faranyn as a Royalist, but that we
    had mutual enemies in the Duke. He assured Faranyn that the “Duke would not
    be going anywhere any time soon.” He claimed that the Duke was beside him
    and could not do anything to stop our plans. He then proceded to tell him
    to make sure the mission was done “right.” He urged us to get every piece
    of evidence we could.

    (more…)