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November 18, 2002

The Seapoint Lighting and the Balinor Chronicles: You Only Strike Once

The Seapoint Lighting and the Balinor Chronicles: You Only Strike Once

Introducing the Seapoint Lightning of 2191:

Rebo, 6th level halfling thief, played by Joel

Captain Pittsford, 6th level human captain, played by Kyle

Spike, 5th level dwarven cleric of Clangeddin, played by Joel

Francine, 5th level human woodsman, played by Jay

Frankfort, 5th level human cleric of Chelsea, played by Jay

Astoria, 4th level human mage, played by Kyle

And the Killer B’s:

Balinor, 9th level Northerner fighter, 86 hp, played by Joel

Albee, 7th level human monk of Nevron, 42 hp, NPC

Anselm, 6th level human cleric of Nevron, 30 hp, NPC

Bodkin, 1st level dwarven fighter, 12 hp, played by Katherine

Morhion, 1st level Northerner cleric of Nevron, 10 hp, henchman

In 2161, the bard Amortician, also known as Morty, disappeared, along with his entire party, while adventuring in western Lendore Isle…

In 2173, a party called the Seapoint Lightning formed, from an initial adventure with the Restenford Defenders. Their motto: the Lightning Never Strike Twice. Most of them never had the chance to. The survivors (none of them original party members) became deputies of Seapoint, a city of 500 people on the west coast of Lendore Isle. For years they battled the Westpoint pirates. In March of 2178, the party annihilated a small base in a cave complex, and discovered a magical door that could not be opened.

Over many years, the party gained experience and battled the pirates, culminating in a year long series of raids on their base in caves on the coast. In March 2190, the party attacked the Old Bay, but the pirates were waiting, and four of the six members of the Lightning were killed, the rest in retreat. After recovering, the party launched a more prepared assault, and the fight was on. After sallying back and forth, the party finally broke the backbone of the resistance with the death of one of the major captains, and finally cleared the base in February 2191. The party then rested, until the morning of May 1st, when Captain Lofton knocked on their door…

Captain Lofton was the head of City Watch. He’d encountered a puzzle that seemed bizarre enough to require the services of the local adventuring party.

It seemed that the Loment family (Willet and Tara, children Neil and Farna) had vanished overnight. The door on their house remained locked from the inside, and no one had seen them leave. That morning a merchant had come for work he had commissioned from the tailor, Willet, and he had found no one there, and had banged on the door, and eventually alerted the Watch.

The party followed the Captain up to the house and began an investigation. The house was searched from top to bottom, revealing a few hidden valuables, but no secret exits. The chimney was too small to have escaped from. Furthermore, if the family had fled voluntarily, it was odd that they hadn’t taken their coats, since it was raining heavily in an unusually extended rainy season.

It seemed impossible that the family had gotten out by any conventional means. All windows and doors were locked from the inside, and there were no other reasonable exits. Furthermore, Francine picked up tracks heading from Willet’s bed to the center of the room, where they vanished.

We were confused by this, until Captain Lofton figured it out. We looked up from the spot were the tracks ended, spying a lantern hanging from the ceiling.

Apparently our man Loment had gotten out of bed, moved to the lamp to light it, and simply disappeared. And the rest of his family hadn’t even gotten out of bed.

This was indeed strange. We asked neighbors if they’d heard anything suspicious that evening, and they noted that the merchant had come by fairly late in the evening, and argued with the tailor and left. That was the last time the tailor and his family had been seen. The cobbler’s son also claimed that Tara Loment was a witch (in full scathing yokel detail).

The only other tailor in town that could conceivably be competition for Loment was named Sarah. At this point, the party split up—Rebo and Frankfort went to find the merchant, Spike and Astoria went to see Sarah, and Captain Pittsford and Francine went to see Lorianne, the local druidess, as the Loments were druidic.

Lorianne said that they had been followers for 16 years, regularly visiting her grove, but they hadn’t struck her as unusual in behavior. She agreed to query the animals in the area regarding the previous evening.

Frankfort found the merchant’s guards at an inn in town. They were clearly drunk, and surly, but yielded almost no helpful information. Rebo was left to follow them while Frankfort rejoined the party.

Spike and Astoria went to the other tailor, Sarah. There, much to everyone’s surprise, they found the merchant. He was quite rude and arrogant, believing that his report of the crime was sufficient and that he was losing money by the very delay. Astoria pointed out that Sarah was still mending his cloak, so we wouldn’t even be taking up his time. To this he responded something on the order of, “I could be using this time to contemplate new business propositions.” When Astoria pointed out that he was the last person to have seen the Loments alive, and should cooperate and answer our questions to help establish the true criminal, he scoffed, but grudgingly agreed to talk to us.

We learned that he had planned to leave yesterday, but needed the tailor to mend his cloak. He took it to Loment and became incensed when he hadn’t finished it by nightfall. This wasn’t particularly surprising given his general tendency to become angry at anything, Spike observed to himself. The merchant was told it would be ready by morning, so he arrived at the shop and failed to get an answer. After the door was broken down, and the place was searched, he took his cloak back and brought it to Sarah so that he could leave as soon as possible.

The party reconvened and began to search the neighborhood.

Continue reading "The Seapoint Lighting and the Balinor Chronicles: You Only Strike Once" »

November 17, 2002

Seapoint Lightning: A History

Feb 2175

Auburn, 1st level fighter/1st level cleric, Halfling

Kickboxing cleric who refused to cast healing spells, but was a master of the mundane healing arts. Auburn was familiar with exotic languages such as Demon, once used to great effect against the conjurations of the witch coven near Trun. Auburn was the original party leader. Auburn joined the party in 2174 and perished in a lightning bolt cast by the pirate wizard Macfort, in April 2175.

Arutha, 1st level Nevronian cleric, elf

Arutha’s finest moment came when he dropped the attacking witch with a Command spell and saved Hecht. Arutha joined the party in 2174 and perished in a lightning bolt cast by the pirate wizard, Macfort, in April 2175.

Auburn and Arutha arrive in Seapoint and begin the formation of a strongly lawful party called the Seapoint Lightning.

Continue reading "Seapoint Lightning: A History" »

November 16, 2002

Seapoint Lightning Teaser Summary

... Morty the bard and his party mysteriously vanish from knowledge in
2161...

... The Seapoint Lightning form an adventuring party and battle pirates
out of Seapoint...

... and die... over and over and over...

... in 2191 old friends gather with new adventurers to solve a mystery of
disappearances in downtown Seapoint...

... more to come...

Joel/????

March 16, 1998

The Seapoint Lightning: Organization of a Party

"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.

Continue reading "The Seapoint Lightning: Organization of a Party" »

March 15, 1998

Defenders Log #22: Political Treachery

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).

Continue reading "Defenders Log #22: Political Treachery" »

March 08, 1998

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

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?" »

March 01, 1998

Defenders ADVENTURE LOG #20: Return of the Halflings

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.

Continue reading "Defenders ADVENTURE LOG #20: Return of the Halflings" »

October 01, 1996

Seapoint Lightning Adventure #3: Hecht's Rescue Party vs. the Witch

Hello, all!

There isn't too much to write about the Lendore Misadventures this past saturday. Well, here's the short of it:

14 characters (roughly half missile/half melee). Well tweaked, non-personality, loyal, but reasonably weak halflings, elves, and a bizarre hobgoblin.

We went to Hafney Hill to kill the halfling bandits.

We misdirected and ended up at the wrong hill (though we didn't know it).

A storm struck.

We had a group of three (very stealthy) scouting up ahead when the storm struck. They ran into some really scary creatures coming down the hill, being led by a human in a pointy hat. They attacked our woodsman, Mask, who managed to get out of the way and live (down to one HP). Our stealthy fighter/thief, Concord, (who had shot the creature once with his bow) was
zapped by lightning from further up and collapsed. Hecht and Mask retreated to alert the party. Concord took a last slash at the creature with his silver dagger in a heroic dying action (and actually did damage, though not much).

Continue reading "Seapoint Lightning Adventure #3: Hecht's Rescue Party vs. the Witch" »

January 01, 1996

Seapoint Lightning Adventure #2: Sam'n Friends vs. the Evil Halflings of Hafney Hill

Well, folks. Volume II in the continuing Lendore saga of Sam'n Friends adventuring group has suddenly and unexpectedly turned into the final volume. No matter what happens (okay maybe it wasn't THAT unexpectedly!) the group will never have the same name or composition again. That mostly comes from the fact that Sam and most of the party is dead.

One major lesson:
The haunted and creepy nature can be a boon for people intending to play off it.

And the always pertinent message:
Most assuredly you WILL hang separately if you don't stay together. However, lawful personalities are not very common among some adventuring groups....

Rest in Peace:
Ketone, Captain, killed by halfling archers
Sam, woodsman/Cleric of Phaulkon, killed by halfling archers
Sparrowhawk, obsessively stealthy and paranoid woodsman, killed by halfling archers
Blood, Cleric of Kord, killed ultimately by a halfling Commanded to jump to its death
Andrew, mage, killed by a falling rock
Dolgan, dwarven fighter, killed by an ant-lion-like beetle/thing
Loredo, woodsman, killed by halfling archers, dropped off stairs
one more fellow who's name eludes me at the moment (??)

Captured:
Larry, halfling, by the halfling archers

Escaped:
Hecht, last of the Dept. Store halflings, into the wilderness of Lendore...

...alone...

Kyle

January 01, 1995

The Seapoint Lightning: "The Lightning Never Strike Twice"

Chronicles of the Formation of the Party


Adventure #1: Sam'n Friends vs. the GAT

The Lendore 1st-level group played last night. We found and killed a GAT. The fight was pretty gruesome. What we learned from this adventure:

1. Big, tough, annoying guys who don't like guests and tend to boss people around an awful lot and don't take kindly to people disobeying them, voicing their opinions, or trying to leave, could be GATs.

2. Be glad, be very glad, that some of us had silver weapons.

3. Runes can be darn powerful. When a person uses the most powerful rune of power and destruction they know on a silver dagger attacking a GAT, and knows the runes VERY WELL, and perfectly forms the rune, a vastly powerful magic that turns people and GATs into smoldering ash and dust can be affected. However, since one's own life force is used, one tends to turn oneself into ash as well.

4. Don't fall off cliffs.

5. GATs may not be smart but they are tough as nails.

6. A harpoon is a great weapon!

Rest in peace:
Merremack (Captain), fell off the cliff while trying to escape.
Mannitur (Druid/MU), negative material energy consumed him
Tilbo (fighter), bashed by a bench
Taylor (fighter), bashed by a bench
Archaeopteryx (Cleric of Aurora), bashed by a bench

Surviving:
Ketone (Captain), got the magical Captain's jacket, the only surviving member inside the tower we fought the GAT in. Harpoon specialist.
Larry (fighter), escaped
Samantha (Cleric of Phaulkon), escaped
Eulen (the NPC guide) (thief/illusionist), escaped, tried to help
Merremack climbed up the rope Eulen put out for him, but Merremack failed his climb rope and fell to the sharks below (dead as soon as he hit the rocks, though).

Kyle