Learning To Spell

Dara 16, 6639 - A'chiad 4, 6640

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper (retired)
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Mor Gibs, Wonderworker (on hiatus)
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
• Te'a Tsuki Megumi, Elven Polydoctorate (on hiatus)
  • Harvey Usagi, Rabbitwere
• Fayleen Ross, Darklord (on hiatus)
  • Zai-car, Zaharan Ruinguard
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

After spending some time in Elven Las Vegas, checking out temples and relaxing in the garishly bright lights, the party decided to return home for some general maintenance - making sure their cities were kept up, and in Caranthir's case, scoping out a new realm to rule. The first stop was the old mansion of Lady Dracul; there, they found a variety of somewhat jovial bandits and ruffians. Inside, they found the house redecorated in a much more militaristic style. They were introduced to Baron Vostvos, a towering, gruff man, and as it turns out, cousin to Lady Dracul. He re-took her lands from the invaders after some "trouble at home" left the place mostly unguarded.

That trouble was, in fact, Quetgar, who had been hired to wipe out the royal houses of those that attacked them. Of the four, two survived, and two were wiped out; the first that was wiped out was little more than a ghost town. Without a town guard (paid for by a ruler), there was nothing to stop the near-weekly bandit raids. At this point, almost anything not nailed down was already stolen. The second decimated city, a little farther east, was still kept up; a seneschal was trying to keep the place in hand. The poor man's wife met Caranthir at the gates, and was immediately cut down, having been mistaken for an ogre. Neither the town guard nor her husband were much upset. The seneschal, realizing someone else was going to take over, was all too happy to leave. Caranthir paid the town guard to restock, and vowed to return with the rest of his... well, everything.

That taken care of, they returned to the strange elf-city, and learned a little of what the mage they hired had found: namely, a list of information on the Old Gods, most of which they had found already, but with a few new things, specifically that this Chaos was mentioned as one of the Old Gods, and was possibly the reason for the cataclysms in the first place. Returning to the Temple of Chaos, Saphira managed to solve the riddle. They entered the code, and walked down the steps into the tomb-like interior...

At the bottom of the stairs, a well-hewn door stood; pushing it open, the party found themselves in a well-lit hallway, clean and almost homey. There were seven doors in the hall: three on each side, and another at the end of the hall. Door number 1, first on the left, contained a small library, though the text was entirely unreadable, even with a Helm of Comprehension. Across the hall behind door number 2 was another library; this one, at least, had understandable books. Interestingly, the books started as written in stone, then continued on animal hide, then treated leather, and eventually well-bound, hardcover, paper books. The books seemed deceptively small; after reading several minutes, no progress was made towards the end, as if the pages were enchanted to contain more than physically possible. Reading parts of the various books revealed nothing more than a dry narration of someone, as if the writer had simply watched someone all day and wrote down every action they took.

At the other end of the hall, doors 5, 6, and 7 were opened; door 7 opened into utter blackness. And, worse, the other door slammed shut. Doors 5 and 6 each contained shelf after shelf of tiny lights, some glowing brightly, some dimly, some gold, some white/gray, and some purple. Aingeal decided to go poke one of the lights, and found herself the victim of a life-drain spell! Luckily, it was only temporary. She poked around some more, and realized that each point of light was a tiny spell - and that by touching it, she not only experienced it, but gained an innate knowledge of that spell!

Saphira, eager to test out a hypothesis, began poking other spells, and managed to call an Efreeti! She bid it only to return to its plane. Which it attempted, only to blast itself into nothingness! It seems nothing can teleport, plane shift, or otherwise exit this area. Saphira was somewhat upset by accidentally ordering the creature to destroy itself... However, not so upset she didn't keep poking. After some non-starters, including a Cancellation spell that cancelled all her tattoos, she poked what may well be the last thing she'll ever poke - a spell of Tempral Stasis! While the spellcaster has the option of adding a trigger to end the stasis, she was unfortunately already under its influence before she could do so, which trapped her in a timeless shell...

Door 5, it appeared, contained divine spells, while door 6 contained arcane spells.

Meanwhile, doors 3 and 4 were opened, each revealing treasure! The room beyond door 4 was filled with carefully organized coins and gems, while the room behind door number 3 was filled with various magical items.

• XP from encounters:
  • Ogre-like wife of the seneschal (5)
• XP from treasure: none
• Total XP earned: 5
• XP per PC: 1
• XP per Henchthing: 0

One God, Two God, Old God, New God

Dara 9, 6639 - A'chiad 4, 6640

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper (retired)
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Mor Gibs, Wonderworker
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
• Te'a Tsuki Megumi, Elven Polydoctorate
  • Harvey Usagi, Rabbitwere
• Fayleen Ross, Darklord
  • Zai-car, Zaharan Ruinguard
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

In Dimhaven, Rig, Crolack, Laurita, and Caranthir (and henchbeings) explored the museum for a while, learning a little more about this strange new world. Specifically, they learned a little about the old gods: one that looked rather a lot like Thor; another that looked like a 6-legged cow (named Old Mother, and still worshiped today); one known as the Unseen One, or Görünmez (also still worshiped, with a surprisingly large following); and finally, a fragment of one that was only ever represented as a disembodied hand. They also learned a little of the surrounding area, including where a few ancient ruins were: one at the end of the long river (a great citadel), one in the far north (rumored to have great riches), and one in the middle of the plains, once a great city.

After the museum, they went looking for a ship, hoping to get out into international waters and do a bit of teleporting. They found a merchant-adventurer, one Captain Alphonse Calleel, who agreed to take them out to sea. The journey was fairly easy, as the Captain's ship (a huge galleon named the Etcetera) was outfitted with strange, fire-spitting weapons. They encountered some pirates early on, and easily blasted them to pieces.

Their first stop, still within the bounds of the weird magic-eating area, was to an island a couple hundred miles off the shore. As the ship restocked and the captain made a few purchases, the adventurers went exploring again. Crolack got in an arm wrestling contest with another lizardman, and lost. They found a church, and attended the rather generic service, then spoke with a Father Lorden about his order. The Order, actually, as that was the name of his religion; he refused (though not unkindly) to explain too much, as his was a fairly secretive religion, and only those who were members could join. As they left, one of the Order pressed a religions icon into Rig's hand - a stone toad.

After much more traveling, they were finally in safe waters, and teleported south, to warmer climates - but not before asking Bear a few questions:

• Are the cataclysms related to the old gods? No, but yes (Bear sounded as if the question could, perhaps, be asked a different way)
• Does anyone in Lushea have knowledge of the nature of the cataclysms? Yes! (emphatically)
• Does anyone in the Dark Continent have knowledge of the nature of the cataclysms. Yes... (much less emphatically)

Their next visit was to Dinas Masnach, the City of Trade of Lushiea; Crolak got high on red fish, and the party learned that these people were far more magical than those up north. The people were a group of tribal, blue-skinned Elves, similar to the True Elves, but apparently much more violent and much less civilized, as they had recently attacked another tribe and returned with about 300 slaves!

The party asked about research opportunities, and were told to go to the capital. Dyffryn, capital of Lushea, turned out to be... essentially Las Vegas. Tall buildings, bright lights, and noisy people filled the streets. Rig found an information booth, and was able to get directions to the local Mage Guild (guild? Yep, guild, not college), which was in charge of much of the city's magical light display. After taking an elevator ride to the 5th floor, they met Elias Wibblethorn, Esq., Theological Archaeologist, and paid him 500 gp to research the old gods of Nobira. He was, of course, happy to oblige, and said he should have something by the next week. The party left to look at the temples of the city, and find out what they could about other gods. Their finding are detailed below:

• Old Mother, a six-legged cow, Old God of the earth, strength, and cattle
• Gyda Dyn (Glance Left, Glance Right), Old God of thieves, conmen, charisma, and Get Rich Quick Schemes
• Moenga Moe, an islander god of ...?
• Sof Zamd, god of sand, feebleness, heatstroke, and dehydration - not so much worshiped as cursed, in the desert to the north
• Görünmez, the Unseen One, god of Invisibility, Minding Your Own Business, and Staying Home.
• Oose Becky, Cubic Grace, Who Digests The World, goddess of... well, she's a gelatinous cube, draw your own conclusions. You can pet her for two copper pieces.

Along with the temples above, there was one further temple. Or rather... one missing temple. It was the Temple of Chaos; where it should have been, there was left only a placard, on which was engraved:

The Path to Chaos
Starts with the end of you
Continues with the first of nothing
Makes way for the eye
Places only the start of foundation
Appends that which is found inside you
And inscribes the cry of a pirate
To finish with the end of calm 

A series of letters and numbers followed the inscription:

123456qwerty
asdfghzxcvbn
7890uiopjklm

No XP was gained during this session; anyone starting a new character starts as King, with 620,000 XP and 815,000 gp, because that's how we roll.

Golem Gala

Naoidheamh 23, 6639; next holiday is Beastnight, 9/35 (only 12 days away!)

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• (As-yet-unnnamed), Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Mor Gibs, Wonderworker
• Craydos Silverskin Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
• Te'a Tsuki Megumi, Elven Polydoctorate
  • Harvey Usagi, Rabbitwere
• Fayleen Ross, Darklord
  • Zai-car, Zaharan Ruinguard

After much debate, the party finally decided to go take on the great golem, protector of the Hill Dwarf kingdom. They spent nine days researching, building, and entrapping the golem: a hole 60x40 feet, 480' deep, and perfectly square; above, layers of hovering 60x40 iron plates, 6' thick; a stone wall, 40' high, 10' thick, and packed with loose dirt; and, finally, 4 berserkers standing nearby, with bags of devouring full of dirt, who will jump in and dispel themselves to fill in any loose cracks. Whew. Additionally, they made some bets, at 10 to 1 odds, and paid the 10,000 gp deposit the city required before their battle with the golem.

On the morning of the battle, a crowd had gathered, and an almost carnival atmosphere permeated the place. The battle began with Gróin and Baelnor, who removed the last 20' of stone holding up the golem. As the earth crumbled, a summoned berserker, standing on the top of the pile leapt down, slashing at a knob of metal designed to cause the plate to begin falling, then pushed off, screaming "Blood and glory!" on his way down. He was, technically, the first strike against the golem, as it crashed into the pit. Next, the iron plates and the stone and earth slammed into it, and finally the remaining berserkers jumped in, causing a massive blast of earth as the contents of their sacks were suddenly released.

The blast of dust took over a round to clear; just as everyone was beginning to wonder if maybe, just maybe, that had worked, there was a sudden tremble, and the ground began to smoke. As the dust and smoke swirled into the air, the ground began to glow red - something was melting it from underneath! A moment later, a massive hand reached out of the rubble, and the golem drug itself to the surface! It sported three shallow gashes on its arm, where the iron plates had hit it.

Saphira (once Craydos) sent her summoned pet to attack, but its claws only threw up sparks on the tough golem (because, as they later learned, only +2 or better weapons could damage it). She also fired a lightning bolt - which seemed to heal it! Gróin and his priestess, of course, threw earth spells at it, but it seemed it was only taking half damage at best from them. Caranthir blasted it with ice breath, but the third blast seemed to do no damage - the golem had raised a shield! The next round, it dropped its shield and blasted a laser beam of destruction, instantly dropping Rhea, and severely injuring Caranthir, as well as setting a swath of grass on fire. It turned to go after Rig, stomping his crab-apparatus, and nearly upending the few not flying. It swatted at the flying beasts nearby, but missed. Finally, the damaged golem was blasted, and fell into nothing but earth. The great green eye toppled out of place, shattering on the ground.

All was, finally, quiet. Until something crawled out of the rubble... a dwarf! "Ehhh... ¿Dónde estoy?"

The dwarf had, it seemed, touched scale long, long ago, and had been trapped within, powering the hulking creature until it was destroyed. He introduced himself as Grop Beardson (a lvl 8 dwarven vaultguard: 16 (+2) str, 6 (-2) int, 8 (-1) wis, 14 (+1) dex, 17 (+2) con, and 11 (+0) cha).

After a little drama, Te'a collected their winnings (a tidy sum!), and the party sold off the pieces of the eye - 61 emerals, worth 2,000 gp each! Normally, it would take a while to sell all that, but with the huge crowd, they were able to easily sell it all in a short period of time.

• XP from Encounters:
  • Scale Golem (1800)
• XP from Treasure:
  • 61 emeralds = 122,000
• Total XP: 123,800
• XP per PC (Rig, Caranthir, Gróin, Saphira, Te'a, Fayleen): 11,791
• XP per Henchthing (Noona, Midnight, Rhea, Laurita, Herman, Pentzkin, Alun, Harvey, Zai-car): 5895
• Gold per PC, not counting winnings: 20,333gp, 3 sp, 3 cp

Also of note, Saphira wanted to hire some mage-types to come and work for her. There were a surprising number of mage-types found who were willing to join up, from level 1 to level 4. I can show off their stats in person, because I can't be bothered to actually copy all the information and format it all today.

Starting experience: 143,564

Time Flies When You're Having Kingdoms

A'chiad 23-Cheathramh 23, 6639 (yes, that's month 4; we skipped right past Dragonning and King's Day); next holiday, Summerfest, 6/1.

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Noona, the Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Sorvald, Thief
• Mor Gibs, the Wonderworker
• Craydos Silverskin, the Gold Skinscribe

Last week, we left Gróin and crew three days out from the yet-unnamed city founded by Caranthir, which I've decided to call Caranthopolis to save on typing. As it happens, they had just encountered three chimera, and said chimera were very, very hungry.

Gróin quickly made a stone structure as the chimera closed, then tossed some dust of disappearance onto himself, and laid out some heavy justice. Two chimera managed to roast some targets, but the battle was over before they could land more than a blow or two.

A single wyvern slowed them down not a whit, and soon they made it back to Caranthiropolis. After reorganizing some treasure, the group left Caranthir to his city-building, and set off to clear out another hex: that of Gróin! Unfortunately... Gróin's hex was much, much more difficult to deal with. Unlike Caranthir's "Oh, gosh, some moose, whatever shall we do," Gróin had to deal with a huge group of remorhaz (16, plus another enormous one!) and 310 kobolds (including both a high-level shaman and a witch doctor), two hunting dogs, and four giant ferrets. Which, after the shaman did some casting, became three giant ferrets and one frickin' enormous ferret.

Gróin attempted to talk to the leader; when things went badly, Quetgar attempted to assassinate him... only to find that he was an illusion! The throne dropped into a pit, leaving Quetgar to dive to the side, and battle was joined. As everyone else rushed in from the sidelines, Quetgar started cleaving through ten kobolds at a time. Gróin managed to nuke quite a few, and even Sorvald was shooting arrows into their midst, even managing to kill the witch doctor. Another kill after that, and the shaman had had enough; he dispelled the area around the magic carpet, causing Sorvald to reappear and the carpet to plummet out of the sky. Then, of course, forty kobolds crowded around to get their boots in, including one that suck-punched him between the legs and knocked him down. The shaman, expending the last of his tricks (he managed to cast Protection from Good on himself early on, which saved his life), cast Poison on his hands, then turned himself into a (non-fire-breathing) chimera. One of his poison-ladened claws slashed into Sorvald, instantly dropping him.

Meanwhile, Craydos' hydra was cleaving through any creatures who got close. Gróin blasted a line of kobolds with a horn; Quetgar managed to take out most of the back piece of the map. Gróin, seeing his friend fall, dashed to his side; the flames wreathing his body flared, scorching the 40 kobolds clustered around his body, burning them to death! Within moments, the remaining kobolds were dead. The few that tried to flee were run down and slaughtered. Gróin quickly cast Neutralize Poison on Sorvald, bringing him to life; unfortunately, he didn't have time to cut out his flames, and Sorvald, at a single hit point, was killed once again. Gróin stepped back, allowing others to heal him; this time, he woke unburnt.

The third encounter, fortunately, was the same caravan of nomads; they had passed the forest, and decided to keep going, to shelter in some caves in the mountains, as their shaman predicted some nasty winter weather. Gróin invited them in for a meal, and was able to feed most of them with a spell. A little smooth talking later, and he made some new friends who would be willing to trade - 14 wagons with ten times that many fighters, not to mention all the civilians.

The six mile hex around the entrance to the Plane of Earth cleared, Gróin and friends headed north to the dwarven cities of Dundrende Klippe, and the capital Stromsloja. They spent a month selling treasure, gathering knowledge, and in Gróin's case, speaking with the clerics of Thor. He desired a miracle, in two parts: first, that the effects of Vigor be cast upon him permanently, and second, that he be granted an Orb of Voice Transference - that is, a linked pair of orbs that allow one person to speak to another, even at vast distances. The clerics, after conferring amongst themselves, concluded that the time and effort to ask for a miracle may be better used in speaking with the wizards of Mareten, as they had created similar orbs before.

Gróin lead the party south and east, through the pass, and eventually made it to Mareten (I rolled encounters, and apart from a few animals, there weren't any problems!); Craydos, eager to set eyes on the Book of Holding Llarm has been using, uses it to research a new spell, which I forgot to write down, somehow. However, his attempt is a success! While he was studying, Gróin continued selling treasure, eventually pawning it all off.

The magical treasure gained from the remorhaz and kobolds is as follows: 4 Crossbow Bolts, 4 Potions, 7 Scrolls (2 detect as evil), 3 Rings, 1 Rod, 1 Staff, 2 Wands, 5 Swords, 2 Shields, 1 Spear, 1 Cloak, and 3 Treasure Maps.

But that's not all! Long ago, Faufe, Llarm, and Clench were left in Slowhaven. Llarm has been researching spells, but Faufe rounded up some treasure and left to make a lot of money. Only three days into his trip, he's already met a hydra and a group of sea dragons; the hydra was killed, and the dragons (luckily!) were freaked out by what they thought was a trap, and fled. Hopefully, the rest of his trip will be more serene!

Meanwhile, Caranthir continued to work on his land, improving it and attracting more people. The XP below doesn't include Caranthir, nor does it list the XP he earned from taxes. Additionally, Caranthir's kingdom is ahead; it's at 6/1, aka Summerfest, aka Siathamh 1st.

Gróin's new kingdom has begun, as well, at least the exterior area. New dwarves are showing up to build forts and homes, even in the dead of winter.

• XP from Encounters:
  • 3 Chimera (3900)
  • 1 wyvern (1140)
  • 16 remorhaz (36000)
  • 1 huge remorhaz (4800)
  • 272 kobolds (1360)
  • 28 leaders (196)
  • 8 sub-chieftains (80)
  • 1 very over-powerful witch (440)
  • 1 also too-powerful shaman (440)
  • 4 weasels (860)
  • 2 hunting dogs (30)
• XP from treasure (which was all sold, and I'm not going to bother listing it all)
  • 326,217gp, weighing 328 5/6 stone
• Total experience: 375,463 XP
• XP per PC (Gróin, Quetgar, Sorvald, Craydos): 68,266
• XP per Hench (Rhea, Gimli, Laurita): 34133
• Cash per PC: 81554 gp and 25 copper
• Additionally, the other items sold, which means:
  • Additional XP for Gróin, Sorvald, and Craydos: 22,022
  • Additional CP for Laurita, Rhea, and Gimli: 11,011
  • Additional cash for Gróin, Sorvald, and Craydos: 37533 and 33 copper (plus one more copper up for grabs)

Time is a little screwy right now. Rig, Llarm, and Clench are currently sitting at 12/24 of 6638, right after everyone got back from the Pointless Tower; Caranthir's kingdom just hit 6/1 of 6639, while Caranthir, Elenora, Luce, and his troops are waiting at 5/1 to start clearing some more land. Gróin and Laurita, Rhea and Gimli, Quetgar (and Zarc, though he's holding the fort elsewhere), Sorvald, and Craydos are parked in Slowhaven at 4/23, and Faufe is nearly a year behind, at 8/20 of 6638! Hopefully, everyone can synchronize in the next week or so.

To help with that, I'm going to start putting together an online kingdom-tracker, because there are a lot of numbers to crunch, and sometimes things like natural events play a part, but it's a huge pain to do all the kingdom stuff every week and ask everyone else to wait around. Automating it should make things go a lot faster.