New Earthynn Adventure Log!

Our latest adventure log is finished!  It was a great session, lots of good role-playing in this one.  Also I got to finally reveal the arch villain!  :) We had one player missing (our rogue) but an often missing player was able to attend to fill the gap (warlord). I also uploaded the early work-in-progress version of our world map.  Which can be viewed here.


Adventure Log #5

Dragonborn Daring-Do

After arming the people of seaburgh and pointing them toward the future, Tannim set out to rejoin his compatriots. An encounter with a fly-by Vrock and a party of foul, relentless orcs did not slow his progress. Upon reaching the ruined city, the intrepid dragonborn descended into the depths of the ruined city. Following the trail of his companions he went ever further into the depths… The soggy form of a gnoll was discovered, branded with the symbol of Rothn and stabbed with the triple threat of a trident. Further along in the moist tunnels, the dragonborn discovered some foul fishmen…

While resting in the Duergar Theurge’s “lab” the party did some light reading… discovering some facts about Murasha’s underground denizens. On some secret pages, there was a log of people who had met with the Sewer Lord: The Emissary, Illusule, Gultreax, Gloombrood the Black, and others… (I’ll put the full list up later, my notes aren’t handy) just at the end of their rest, the Chime of Awakening awokened the party. A lone sahuagin crawled on his hands and knees in the gloomy hallway. The fishman was inscribing slimy runes on the hallway floor. The runes were trapped, alarms and acid tied into the ancient slimy symbols. The party easily supressed the foul fish magic. Older passageways were blocked by oceans so It was onto the former mud room, which appeared to be leaking…

Crocodile Rock

The former “mud and water-trap” room was now flooded with water, and crocodiles. The vents were on full blast and the water rained down upon the room like a dark mirror of the storms raddling the city above. Even when flanked by enemies on both sides the sahuagin and their reptilian friends attacked with ferocity. The sahuagin priest attempted to bring to bear his horrible magics; however, the party smote him before the foul incantations could pass his scaly lips. The crocodile made their best attempts to feast on the party with their vice-like jaws. The reptiles were dispatched with ease.

This hyena is not laughing

The party ventured back to the old watchtowers and returned to the storm soaked surface. After traipsing about the ruins for a while in search of the Library, they stumbled upon an old fountain and the giant stone head of Rothn (the statue, not the god). A lone hyena sniffed about the fountain, minding his own business, just trying to make his way in this harsh world. The adventurers would have none of that this day. They brought about the poor defenseless hyena’s demise with casual ease. Approaching the scene they spied signs of gnoll-ish encampment surrounding the area. The party took what was of use and while searching the buildings discovered a gnoll, clutching something tightly, sitting next to a trash hole. Dyrge’s diplomacy burned like wildfire… but the stubborn and scared gnoll would not give up his Onyx Dog. The party wrestled with him and stole it away… but when they wrestled with their collective conscious… they lost. The wretched creature warned his pack would be returning, and would deal with them. The gnoll’s prize was eventually returned to him. They opted not to go in the hole and continued onward.

Silence in the Library

Proceeding onto the library, the stalwart explorers found the cathedral-like structure mostly intact. A large magically warded door blocked their path, so they went in the back way – except for Rothak, who went up on the roof to scout it the interior, and promptly fell to the rough streets below. The back room was eerily (and magically) silent, and a few kenku and a destrachan milled about, unaware of their impending doom. The party charged in and killed the beasts with relative impunity. Moving on into the main hall of the library they battled more kenku, and after some fabulous horn blowing, they battled the fearsome feminine forms of three furious harpies. Burning and Entrancing Songs filled the room as the harpies shrieked and sang their way into the fray. The lesser bird ladies lured and repulsed the party to and fro as the burning harpy belched blue flames; however, all was for naught. Their feathery female hides were destroyed beneath the party’s powerful blows.

Delving into the library’s depths the party discovered, oddly enough, books. A few tales penned by Barnaby Biggums, some works on selling fruit, some studies on arcana and religion, and a variety of others. The knowledge imparted by these books… may save the world one day. They also discovered the office of the Librarian, who turned out to be a devout follower of the Patheon of Four, and a devout “follower” of Shillatre the Multifaceted. By reading the kenku-feather bookmarked passages in the Librarian’s journal they also found out about a Tome owned by Shillatre. This tome seemed to create a magical connection between the two and could provide a means to enter Shillastre’s tower. The Librarian treasured it and kept it always in his possession. But the Tome was not to be found in the library.

The adventurers decided to search out the Librarian’s home, to the north of the city. As the rain continued to pour, they found his residence, routed through it, and found only more religious paraphernalia strewn about his simple home. Perhaps the Temple is the answer?

Pack Attack

The journey south toward the Temple was not without incident. A scouting pack of gnolls was almost upon them, so they fled to the confines of an old structure. The gnolls had their hyenas at the front and they quickly smelt out the smelly group of adventurers. Battle was joined. Marresk and Nowhere hurried out the back to try and flank the gnolls, while the others ventured out the front to engage the gnolls head on. The gnolls proved to be a challenge as their pack tactics worked to their advantage. Dyrge’s rousing voice and songs spurred the party to greatness as his curses demoralized their foes. Tannim’s fiery presence tuned their senses and tactics to a razor edge. Marresk took care of the archers, one bow at a time. Nowhere blasted the canine creatures to chaos and back. Rothak weathered the claws, teeth and weapons of the gnolls proudly. Bartok lurked in the shadows. In the end, the party stood tall and their enemies fell short. The Temple of the Four awaited.

A Babe, a Bird, and a Brain walk into a temple…

The huge open air temple loomed ahead. There were massive columns supporting a ceiling that arched over the broken remnants of four huge statues. With some careful scouting some Kenku were spied milling about inside. The party approached and dealt with the kenku. It was then that a section of the temple moved and a stairway was revealed. Three forms ascended. A familiar gnome rogue floated up the stairs, being carried by a hovering, beaked, tentacle-wielding brain, and lastly; a young half-elf woman. She wore a form-fitting midnight blue dress adorned with hand-sewn, shiny, silvery stars. Her blond hair was loosley tied back with purple ribbon, and she carried numerous packs, sachels and pouches stuffed with magical trinkets. Her elaborate dagger rested fitfully in its sheath. Her faintly glowing lavender eyes only added to her beauty. She focused them on the party as a smile spread across her lips. The mistress of the Kenku, the mysterious “She” they had been seeking for so long, was now before them. She greeted them warmly, only to be interrupted by the fiery furor of Tannim. Such despicable monstrosities would not be tolerated. Battle was the only language he chose to speak at this time. The woman and her companions fiercely fought the party, and the woman did her best to teleport her foes into the waiting grasp of the Grell while avoiding danger herself. Despite her curses, it was not long before the young lady stood alone, her foul and feathered friends dead. She did not seem worried, and was actually impressed. But a little sad for her Grell… he had been with her for a long time.

Second star on the right and straight on till insanity

Sally Starlyte introduced herself. Introductions were the first step in a civilized discourse after all. The conversation was informative, but straining on the party. She was rational, polite… but not quite sane. Tempers flared, passions inflamed, arguments argued. Tannim could not tolerate the corruption and Rothak could not tolerate her despoiling of the natural world. But before they attacked anew, they discovered some things. She had been using the kenku to spy on the area, but otherwise left them to their own devices. Sally had Shillastre’s Tome, and a way into the tower. Her power came from those who spoke to her. Walking out of the Temple she pointed to a single star, the voices came from “that one right there”. They appeared to be at an impass… some of the party thought she should be destroyed, other felt now was not the time. Those set on violence attacked the young woman, and she defended herself by tossing a dark green stone on the ground. The stone shattered in crack of thunder and two blue worms appeared, Gricks. Sally blasted forth some dazzling starlight that blinded her adversaries. During the time their allies were blind, Marresk, Nowhere and Dyrge managed to diffuse the situation. Sally agreed to stop sending kenku to Seaburgh (though she seemed to believe most has been destroyed already, the roost had been discovered) and called off her Gricks. She departed, her form cloaked in shadows as she scurried off. One more thing was left to puzzle out – the weird green stone she shattered on the ground was the same as the ones set into the Seaburgh Stone Amulets that the party were given many weeks ago by Clara Clove…

Earthynn Adventure Log #3

We had our third Earthynn adventure a couple weekends ago.. it was a great time.  The adventure log for that adventure follows, after which my thoughts on the game.

Earthynn Adventure Log #3

A few do-in's a-spirin'...

Spending a couple of days in town, the party of adventurers did some sleuthing about Seaburgh following up on some rumors...

It turns out the woods to the east of Seaburgh have been lacking in game lately.  There were signs of other creatures hunting in the woods and it was found out that some primitive humanoids were out and about in the woods... hunting carelessly.  An arrow belonging to these hunters was found, a bit primitive in design, but still effective.  A couple of men who worked down in the shipyards had gone missing.  Word was that they simply vanished; unusual for these men who were often reliable laborers.  Food and offerings had been stolen from the temple and Delvessa, the clergywoman, was a bit disturbed by it.  Upon investigating, sharp golaith eyes discovered the traces of a black feather in the temple, signs of some old feathered friends. The gnome prisoner (Flenn) drew much talk in Seaburgh, and Constable Walt had a tough time figuring out what to do with a "real" criminal.  Meanwhile, during this time, Nowhere was sitting and chatting with Loni, the oldest citizen of Seaburgh, an ancient half-elf man who in his youth, actually lived in the great port of Murasha, before its downfall...

And then the always troubling news of the price of honey skyrocketing... as there was still no sign of any bees...

Early morning temple troubles

It was decided that the feathery thief who was harassing the temple needed to be dealt with, so the party spent the evening staking out the temple, waiting for any signs of the foul bird. The morning came, as did the mayor, Clara Clove, and Delvessa, on their way to morning devotions.  The sunrise also brought out a Kenku Assassin stalking his prey.  The assassin struck out from his hiding place and shot the mayor with his poisoned bow - and the party sprang into action!  The kenku proved more wily than the rest of his kin, and danced among the adventures with ease, even getting to strike down the clergywoman as well.  His pets soon appeared to lend him aid, two triangle-mouthed, reptilian dimensional marauders. Despite being stabbed, bitten, and having reality warped around them, the party was victorious.  The kenku assassin lay bleeding, but alive.  The mayor and clergywoman were healed and revived by the stalwart bard.  Reviving and questioning the defeated killer crow, the party discovered his plan. The Kenku assassin was chosen to be a distraction, to keep the party's attention directed on him while his "flock" did their work. 

It was a jailbreak! The Kenku flock had sprung into the constable's office, and broke the gnome out of his cell while the explorers were busy in the center of town.  Jann, the guard on duty, informed the party that the birds were not rescuing the gnome from his imprisonment, but kid-napping him. The dead kenku lying in the cell was evidence to the gnome's reluctance to be "freed" by the dirty humanoid birds.

There were tracks and signs of the "flock" leaving town with their prisoner... 

Taxation without representation

Tracking the kenku through the forest the adventurer's discovered crossing tracks of humanoids, and their awareness thusly became heightened.  That evening as they camped they were approached by a trio of Orcish hunters.  But these were no mere hunters... they were also fearsome tax collectors.  They belonged to a tribe that served King Drooj, the Ogre they had encountered previously.  Their tribe would soon be arriving in force, and cementing Drooj's power over the land.  Insults were exchanged, but the orcs demanded their taxes.   The party deployed deceptions to confuse the orcs and sow doubt in their hearts.  They told them a tale of serving Drooj, and that they were currently on a secret mission for him.  Orcish minds were wavering...  The orcs then told their own tale, one of a mighty bear with feathers that had killed several of their party.  If these warriors would aid them in killing this beast, they would waive their taxes...for now.  The party agreed, but insisted it wait until after they completed their mission.  Orcish minds reluctantly agreed.

Between a rock-inducing chicken and a soft-place

The group then departed and arrived at the edge of the ruins of Murasha.  The Kenku tracks had led them to the ruins of a broken gate with two crumbling watchtowers formerly connected by an archway and portcullis. The south tower was almost entirely gone, the northern one only missing its top, though still in bad shape.  The rogue-ish halfling of the party did some sleuthing, and scaled the remnant of the old city wall.  He peered over and into the top of the aforementioned tower to see what lurked within...  a variable number of kenku, some bird cages, and a large blue-ish bird creature.  A way into this tower was needed since the door below on street level had been sealed up.

The party decided to investigate the south tower, and within its ruined shell and ruble strewn interior they located a poorly concealed trapdoor leading down.  Upon entering the tunnel below they discovered it split in two directions.  One led into an underground complex (possibly the ancient sewers of Murasha) and the other ran into a chamber below the north tower.  The way in they had been seeking it seemed... They ventured into the chamber beneath the kenku's tower and investigated the trapdoor that loomed down at them from the ceiling, the only way upwards.  It appeared to be oddly hinged...  Travel down the other direction of the tunnel proved even more odd, as the tunnel was soon found to be filled with a giant cube of acidic gel.  A gant cube of acidic gel, that was hungry.  The gelatinous cube proved to be a formidable foe, engulfing its adversaries readily... its acidic gooyness clinging to their stalwart armors.  The battle with the cube (and the dwarf bards string of mind crushing curses) alerted the kenku above, who chose to drop one of their caged pets down through the door to do their dirty work.  The rickety wooden cage smashed on the floor and a reptilian-chicken creature, half-starved and angry, faced off against the party.  The mighty druid held the bird off, resisting its petrificating beak, while the rest of the party finished with the gelatinous cube. The unethical treatment the kenku had thrust upon this death chicken was not enough for the party to take pity on the cockatrice... and they smote it with their mighty blades.

The party then fled down the other passage, and took time within the ancient sewer tunnels to rest.. before they returned to take on the flock of Kenku.

The Tower of Death

First thing they noticed upon returning to the trapdoor... was that it was truly a trapped door.  The evil birds had placed a large stone atop it, primed to crush the unwary who opened the door from below.  The dungeoneering party's strength and ingenuity bypassed the trap, and the party climbed into the ancient watchtower.  Floor one held some storage crates, discarded clothing, old food... and stairs leading up to a sleeping chamber.  This floor held some straw mats, lots of feathers and kenku droppings, and two sleeping kenku.  The rogue and druid crept silently up the stairs.  Silent as mice, preparing to dispatch their foes quietly the two moved into position over their victims, at which point, the rogue tripped.  The kenku awoke and battle ensued, but the party defeated the birds quickly.  Searching about they discovered some coin, and some magic odds and ends including a stone tile with a "magic mouth" upon it.

Again the rogue ventured fourth to peer ahead, climbing the next set of stairs.  This being the top floor, the old crumbling walls opened to the dark morning sky and the ever present rains of Murasha.  The halflings keen eyes deciphered a kenku Wing Mage milling about, and many other Kenku.. a couple cages held large birds of prey, and a large foul blue-feathered vulture-creature slumped in the center of the room.  The rogue returned and reported his sightings and a devious plan was formulated by the adventurers.  The tower was then promptly filled with traps.  All manner of painful contraptions were carefully conjured including trip wires, broken glass strewn on stairs, piles of flammable materials stashed in secret places.  Then the party took cover on the bottom floor to wait for the flock.  Rags on the upper floor were lit aflame and the resultant smoke lofted up drawing the unwary crow creatures downward... to their demise.  By the time the first and last waves of Kenku reached the bottom of the tower they were battered and bloodied (literally) by the party's traps and were easily dispatched.  Time passed, a waiting game was played. 

It was then, the party decided they would need to make the next move.  The flock's ranks were thinned, it was time to clear the crown of this foul tower.

If this ritual is a rockin'...

The party climbed up to the top, avoiding/disarming their own traps and Bartok scouted ahead.  He climbed the stairs stealthily, and ran right into the stealthed kenku who was keeping watch for them...both were oblivious and nearly ran into each other.  The battle began.  Two kenku Wing Mages were up top, one off the side of the tower on a fragment of the old wall.  His attention was not focused on the battle, but intent on his arcane ritual, a ritual in progress.  The other Wing Mage used his Force magic to throw the party back down the stairs.  Kenku minions closed in, and one ran to free the Blood Hawks they had imprisoned releasing the raptors into the fray.  The large demonic creature, a Vrock, crouched uncomfortably and scowled at all around him.  The mighty warden charged in with the Vrock and the despicable  demon proved a formidable foe.  The hawk's fly by attacks tore at the enemies of their masters while the kenku closed in for the kill...  But the party was wily.  They discovered the kenku conducting the ritual, they spied the arcane runes carved into the walls of the tower, observed the Vrock's foul temperament,  and putting the pieces together, they began to decipher the nature of the events at hand. The Vrock was being summoned and imprisoned by the ritual; held against his will. Nowhere's arcane knowledge allowed him to assert his will into the ritual, and force its outcome...  Dyrge also discovered the walls holding the symbols were weakened by age and weather.. and could be broken, thus breaking the ritual circle.  The bloodied party chose to alter the ritual to free the Vrock...and succeeded.  The foul demon screeched a mighty scream at the sky, all his hatred for the world let loose, thus stunning all in their tracks. It then proceeded to reap vengeance on the kenku who held him there, eating him wholly.  The birds, humanoid or otherwise, were dispatched, and the Vrock flew off into the sky over the ruins... a demon let loose in the world of men.

The Owlbear Necessities

Recovered from their turmoil in the tower, the adventurers had a deal to uphold.  They met the orcs outside the cave of the Owlbear and prepared for battle.  The orcs stood their distance and prepared to provide archery support.  The land was wooded, and congested making movement tight and difficult.  This was a mighty foe, and they party closed in on the cave.  They lured out the owlbear with music... and before he was barely out of the cave, he was beset upon by the party.  Orcish arrows rained down, and the feathery bear was flanked and attacked on all fronts.  They hindered the beast greatly in the early moments of the fight and put a great deal of wounds upon its foul hide; although, once the owlbear was free it ripped the goliath in half.  Claw. Claw. Action Point. Bite.  The warden fell...  the party surged onwards and the rousing words of the bard returned the goliath to the battle.  The fight was hard.. but in the end, the bird-beast fell.  They earned a bit of treasure and a bit of respect from some orcs... a job well done.  King Drooj will be proud.

Questions remain unanswered... the gnome was not found, the magic mouth has not yet spoken its message, and an audience with King Drooj awaits.
-----

So, I thought the adventure went really well.  There were a couple parts that I was worried about when I wrote them... the Vrock mainly.  Vrocks are like level 13 or something, and I was putting a level 2 party up against it.  Now, it was not meant to be a direct fight... the Vrock was positioned more as an obstacle and a skill challenge during the combat encounter, not a direct adversary.  But of course, our warden decided to charge right into melee with it first turn... *sigh*  It all worked out though.  I was using the "stop the ritual" challenge, but modified greatly... first I built three levels of complexity into the challenge (each requiring more successes than the last) and gave the party the choice of how they proceeded with it.  Once they deciphered the ritual, they could either break the rune circle and simply stop the ritual (breaking or pushing over the walls - easy, 4 successes), or break the entrapment part of the ritual thus releasing the Vrock (medium difficulty, 6 successes), or the final choice (and most difficult, 8 successes) was to reverse the summoning aspect of the ritual and banish the Vrock from the world.  And this was all happening during the combat encounter.  The best part... none of it was done in a crunchy rule-wise way.. it all flowed perfectly by description and roleplaying.  The players never knew how many successes I was counting... and they were fully involved in the ritual.  One player even spent his action point to make a skill check in the middle of the battle.

The Owlbear encounter was just there for fun... and again was a much higher level monster than the party (level 8 elite).. but I gave them orcish archery for extra damage, and they had plenty of time to prepare, they knew exactly what was coming.  It was a great battle, and really highlighted the teamwork of the party.

I can't wait for more of the plot to unfold... I have big plans for what happens within the ruined city of Murasha...  we are also committed to playing bi-monthly now which means we will get much more play-time than before.  Also, coming soon, much more of the world shall be fleshed out.. and if I have time.. I will even get my map done.  :)

some things this week

Well, its been a quiet week here. I was totally enthralled by Dragon Age : Origins. Its a fantastic game, and lives up to the pedigree that precedes it. Let me explain it this way...The only thing better than KOTOR was Mass Effect. The only thing better than Mass Effect is Dragon Age. Which leads us to infer.. the only thing thats going to be better than Dragon Age is Mass Effect 2. So, in summation, Dragon Age has made me more excited for Mass Effect 2 than I was before. Bioware is awesome.

That being said... Monday evening, as I prepared to continue my journeys in Dragon Age.. my 360 gave me the Red Rings of Death. So now my console is in Texas being repaired. Hopefully it'll return next week and I can continue to protect the world from the foul Darkspawn. In the meantime.. I am going to get a bunch of painting done... and get some work done on Earthynn. I bought Campaign Cartographer 3, and have been fiddling around with it. Its a complex program, but not unusable. My biggest hurdle is getting used to the very non-Windows control scheme. The tools it provides are very cool though, and I cant wait to get my map done. I also need to finish up prep work for our next adventure.

On the plus side... I contacted Xbox Support and they said they will ensure that all the problems with my console are fixed. So the problem with Halo 3:ODST that I (and many others) have been having may finally be rectified. So at least I can kill two birds with one stone. Also, I will say that Microsoft made it really easy to get a repair done on my console. I have had it for 3 years with no problems, and its still under warranty. So after three years of use, I can still get it repaired and shipped back for free. They certainly had some issues with their hardware, but at least they do a good job of taking care of it.

Earthynn continues...

So, last weekend we got together to continue our Earthynn campaign... much fun was had by all. I tried a couple new things in this one, mainly I wanted to incorporate more skill challenges to the adventure. They worked out pretty well (one was out-smarting the ogre, and the other was opening the magical door) I also built the dungeon beforehand using my Dwarven Forge pieces, and then photographed it so I could remember how it went together. It was a really cool way of creating a dungeon. That combined with the awesome online tools that WotC provides, and the ever useful Google Documents.. writing stories for 4e is a breeze and quite enjoyable. :)

Earthynn Adventure Log 2 – The Rescue of Thri Flamebeard

A Brief Breakfast

The party enjoyed a tasty breakfast of fish muffins and squid bacon , rested and recuperated from the previous trials… when a grizzled man and his large grizzled companion entered the tavern. The man introduced himself as Charleston, the finest archer, and lead hunter in Seaburgh. His aged features and stern countenance lent the news he brought carry more weight. The body of Liara was found along the river bank. He lightened the dark mood with news of hope. Thri Flamebeard may still be alive… oh, and the Ogre is still out there… Charleston offered to lead the party to the Ogre.. they set out post haste.

Hostile Wildlife

The travel had been fairly uneventful, the lack of bees and wildlife was disturbing, and made for a quiet walk. The party had at time, felt to presence of eyes watching them, following them.. but saw no sign of anyone. After close of two days of travel, the party set up for camp. Maresk Thorntongue drew the last watch, and just before dawn… heard a tremendous amount of rustling in the bushes. The party arose and scouted out the scene… Flying mosquito-like bug/bat/bird things (stirges) circled a struggling kenku who was all tangled up in some horrible blood-craved plants. After some preliminary attacks the party decided to team of with the Kenku to best the evil foliage and the opportunistic stirges. The Kenku was far sneakier than his brethren, and after the plants were subdued darted behind a rock to hide. The party spotted him, and the interrogation began…

Bird Brain

The Kenku was tied up and the questioning began.. the chaotic finger of Nowhere and the draconic lungs of Tannim were enough to sway the bird to speak. He cackled out his name in his bird language and revealed he was ordered to spy on the town of Seaburgh and later his orders changed to spy on the party. When asked who gave him the orders.. he simply said “She did”.. He did not know her name, or refused to speak it. There was a bit of fear behind his eyes when mentioned “her”. He caw’d to be let go, that he would stop following them.. he was no threat to them.. His whimpering and cawing was too much for the mighty Goliath whose frustration got the better of him and he wacked the bird of the noggin. Now fearing for his life, the kenku became even more loud and annoying.. and readied himself for battle. Before more needless blood was spilled the soothing tones of Dyrge brought everyone back to a more reasonable state. The party was then able to glean a bit more information.. the location of the hidden rebel base…Dantooine. I mean… Murasha… their roost was in a ruined watchtower outside the ruins of Port Murasha. But there were still Ogres to defeat and dwarves to rescue.. so the bird was released and the party continued on.

At the Court of King Drooj

They reached the clearing where the Ogre was said to be residing.. and they quickly spotted him. He sat atop an old overgrown dwarven Gate Hold. The Gate Hold was a squat solid stone structure sticking out of a large hill. The Ogre had made himself at home, fire, piles of hides for sleeping.. and looked settled in for a long haul. The party decided to split up and have the Dyrge approach him and speak with him. The others followed him under the tree cover, or went around to take position above the orge on the hill. Dyrge Warsmith approached and engaged the Ogre in a dialogue.. or sorts. The Ogre seemed proud and defiant toward the dwarf, proclaiming his kingship over the “dwarf castle”. King Drooj was his name.. and he stubbornly refused to allow Dyrge to enter his castle. Dyrge’s diplomatic skills only got him so far in the negotiations with the self-proclaimed king. It became obvious to the others that Drooj seemed to be under the effects of some kind of charm… not fully himself. Drooj told of the others who were inside with their friend, and that he was unsure if the dwarf was alive. Then, a bargain.. Dyrge offered to play a song from the mighty king. Then.. the music.. oh the bagpipes! The pipes, the pipes they were a blowin’! Drooj was intrigued at first.. and then sat down to listen to the dwarf’s piping…enthralled. The bag pipes seemed to due the trick, the ogre allowed Dyrge to enter the Hold as along as he promised to play again for him on his way out. Dyrge, alone, entered the Hold. After some quick scouting the Dwarven forged hold the sneaky dwarf stepped on a rat, and seemed to alert the current residents of the structure… fleeing, he made it to the door before being discovered. Warily, he exited, played his pipes for Drooj , and once again asked to enter, this time with his friends. The Ogre agreed, as long as the dwarf agreed to owe him a “favor”. The party emerged from their hiding and entered the Gate Hold.

Intruders at the Gate

The inner hallways of the Gate Hold were adorned with ancient heraldic shields that depicted the symbol a tower breaking in half. The party’s historic knowledge told them this was the Gate Hold of the Tower Breaker Clan. The explored the hallways.. and came to the room where Dyrge was almost discovered.. the door was closed… so the mighty Dragonborn Tannim walked up to it… and knocked. The startled residents turned out to be gnomes. One wearing dark armor and a wielding a short sword; the other wore a long trench coat and brandished an evil book… or sorts. The short conversation and survey of the room left no doubt of the pair’s foul intentions.. they wanted the great ornate door at the far end of the room, and had tried to use Thri to open it. Battle ensued. Strange motes of shadow detached from the seeming “normal” shadows to hinder the party. The gnome in the trench coat turned out to be quite a spellcaster and his Curses and Eldritch Blasts, combined with his illusion magic, made him a formidable foe. The gnomes exchanged some words.. “she sent us help” and on cue, three fell taints appeared.. firing beams of pure hate at the party.. their writhing twisted forms floating in the air. The battle was long and fierce, but in the end the roguish gnome was captured.. the other foes all dead.

Interrogating the gnome revealed he was hired by the gnome arcanist to open the large door. So far, they had failed. He also did not know much of the mysterious “she” that had been mentioned. The two gnomes also both had matching tattoos on their chests… that of a 7-pointed star. The arcanist’s book revealed that they were attempting to open the door as well, but were not getting anywhere. And on the inside of the book, was the same star symbol, but modified to have two wavy lines across the star image. (the book also contained a ritual) The roguish gnome would not reveal the origins of the tattoo.. saying he would rather die first.

The Almost Final Resting Place of Thri Flamebeard

The party scouted out the rest of the Hold, discovering a room which was an old barracks… and a painting adorned the wall of an a band of dwarves storming a tower and bringing it to ruin. In another room, an old armory, they found Thri , diseased and unconscious lying on the floor… they came to his aid.. and after exploring the room, found a hidden vault in the wall containing a few magic items, a shield with a saying scratched onto the back of it, and lots of rats. The rats were easily dispatched. Thri’s fever was bad, but it was determined Thri would pull through.

The Gate Opens

Through various extrapolations.. reviving Thri for info, studying the door, examining the painting, and the shield with the saying scratched into it (“the clan rises”) the party determined a pass-phrase was needed to open the magically sealed door. The pass phrase needed to contain four keywords spoken in the correct order to open the door. Through some trial and errors, the examining of some arcane energies surrounding the door, the party determined the pass phrase. “As The Tower Crumbles, the Clan Rises” The ancient stone door of the Tower Breaker Clan Gate Hold swung open.

Inside was simple room, with no other doors. A pair of finely crafted dwarven statues stood vigil across the room, a pair of stone Tower Breaker legionnaires. Upon entering the room a stone of floor revealed itself to be a door going down into the earth. However; before they could reach it, horrible spears erupted from the ground.. a trap had been sprung! And at the same time.. the statues stepped off their pedestals and engaged the party. The statues were simple, yet stalwart foes.. and the spear trap was an troublesome hazard. In the end, the statues were reduced to rock and the spears stopped. The portal in the floor revealed a dark opening into the earth. The group opted for prudence over blind bravery, and closed up the door in the floor. They licked their wounds, sealed up the magic door behind them, gathered up their sick friend and their gnomish prisoner, and headed for home.

This picture right above was the final room of the dungeon.. the statues were actually old Chainmail models from my old Mordengard faction. They were Dwarven legionnaires. I found them in my bits box and re-painted them to look like statues matching the stone of the dungeon. The Mordengard emblem was a tower breaking in half, and since these models had it on their shields already, I decided to use that symbol as the symbol of the old clan that used to work in the dungeon.. the Tower Breaker Clan. (I knew there was a reason I kept those old Chainmail models around)

A real post this time!

Well, haven't done a new honest to goodness post in quite sometime...so how about we do one now? Eh?

So, in the tabletop gaming scene... there's some cool stuff going on. We have played a couple more games of Pathfinder, now using the official release rules. I do not own the book yet, but since the game is written using the Open Gaming License the rules are available online via Paizo's PRD. We just finished a cool story arc involving a "haunted" mansion, and now we are moving on to the big city... we are playing through one of Paizo's published "Adventure Path" modules (a series of published modules all linked together) Apparently there is a fight at the end of this current module that is the most difficult one in the entire adventure path... can't wait. :) So far, my cleric has dropped to negative hit points every adventure...(never said I was good at playing clerics...heh)

My Earthynn campaign got started at GenCon, and our next game is coming up in a couple of weeks. We were trying to get some online gaming done via MapTool; however, we have been having server issues, and at least one of the party is not very computer literate.. so it has been difficult getting it set up. We are still determined though, so it'll happen eventually. But the up coming game looms, I still have some work to do on the story... it is going to be kind of a mini dungeon. They will be trying to free an old abandoned Dwarven Gate Hold from the hands of an Ogre and rescue the poor captured Thri Flamebeard. These are just level one characters so they not meant to fight the ogre... I am setting that encounter up as a skill challenge. Ogres are stupid so talking/tricking the ogre should be fun. Also, I wanted to make sure I had a dungeon-y adventure so we could take advantage of our Dwarven Forge terrain! woohoo! And to make the night even more geeky... I ordered a 12 pack of Dungeons and Dragons Soda for us to guzzle during the game! (see how nice of a DM I am?)

Also, in another great move, Privateer Press has released the official Warmachine MkII rules online for FREE. They are very stark, just the text, no artwork or diagrams.. but they are free, and available months before the rulebook actually comes out (January) The rules are great.. streamlined, cleaned up, clarified.. I can't wait to try them out.Again, a great company who thouroughly support their game. They also now sell art prints in their online store, and just announced the Iron Kingdoms RPG books (which have been out of print for some time) are now available in PDF. Awesome. Oh, and you can now follow them on twitter: @privateerpress

In the electronic gaming front.. I have really been enjoying GameFly. I have gotten to play several games that I normally would not have bought. Currently I am playing Prince of Persia. Its a fun game with some cool mechanics.. the world is also really beautiful... although it hasn't been able to hold my attention. Its basically a big 3D platformer.. you jump around in a complex environment collecting glow-y orbs, and then there are interspersed combat segments, which basically play out as quick-time events. I also have Assasin's Creed, but I have not played it yet. The big news however, is Halo 3 ODST. I ordered it up from Amazon and it came on Tuesday.. I had been waiting a long time for this game and was really excited. But sadly, the damn game doesn't work. The disk keeps giving me "Disk Read Errors" every time it goes to load a cinematic or I attempt to load up the Firefight mode. I can't even get past the second mission without this happening. So Tuesday night I contacted Amazon for a replacement. They sent me a new one right away, and it arrived Thursday. Sadly, I got the same problem... so after a quick internet search.. I discovered it wasn't just me. Turns out the problem is with the game itself and not the disks. A trip to Bungie's own forums yields a thread over 30 pages long with lots of people reporting the same problem. No solution as of yet, and Bungie and Microsoft have yet to say anything "official" about it. And it seems to be a random occurrence, and mainly striking people with older 360s. Like me. So, I have a brand new $60 game that I can't play. (and man, I really want to... the little bit that I could play was awesome...) A game of this caliber.. having this kind of release problems? Someone dropped the ball...

Lets see.. what else... After a long boring slow summer at work, this past month has been crazy busy. Which is great for business because our numbers have been pretty low. We had one employee laid off, and run the store on a bare bones staff (3 people total, including the owner).. but at least the days are flying by now and I'm getting a little bit of overtime. (and I am gonna need it to buy the Retribution models coming out next month)

Think that gets me caught up.. will hopefully be blogging on a much more regular basis soon...

Earthynn Adventure Log

Here is the first adventure log for our Earthynn campaign! This is the story we played at GenCon. I am planning on writing up a log like this for each adventure. Provides a memory refresher for the players, and creates a story we can read later. (though I am not much of a writer)

Earthynn Adventure Log 1
Explorers Needed - Apply Within

Dinner by the Bay
The quaint little town of Seaburgh doesn't get many visitors, most of its population are regulars and residents. The town sits alone on the coast of a large bay full of fish. The people know it is full of fish, because that's pretty much all they do... fish. And all they eat...fish. However; on this very night there were visitors. In fact, there were eight. Some had been around for a bit, others just newly strolled into town. This was an opportune time for visitors, as the mayor of Seaburgh had need of explorers.

The eight visitors gathered about in the tavern, awaiting the arrival of the mayor (whom the townsfolk say is a tough woman to track down). The meeting room of the tavern held a long wooden table about which sat a menagerie of people. Some were big, some were small, and some jolly and brimming with laughter and spiked helms. A human wanderer named Maresk Thorntoungue, who seemed as much at home in the wilds as in the city. A Dragonborn named Tannim who shined like brazen brass inside and out. A stoic and complicated Tiefling who travels anywhere and everywhere and is known as Nowhere. A Dwarf named Dyrge Warsmith with copper eyes and top-knot whose spirit could swell a crowd as intensely as his bagpipes. A rogue-ish halfling who revealed little about himself, not even his name. A Golaith that towers over the others with his tower-sized hammer, revealed little of himself but his name, Rothak Bataar. Thri Flamebeard's dwarven laugh and red beard drew much attention during the dinner, but his good nature soothed all. Liara, the Eladrin mage; however, took great care not to draw attention to herself, but rolled her eyes a lot at the uncivilized nature of the motley dinner party. The eight strangers conversed and enjoyed the taverns hospitality. Outside through the window of the tavern's meeting room, the waves crashed upon the coast and in the distance the ruins of the great port city of Murasha stood like an conglomerate of shadowy sentinels reeking of foreboding doom. They group was eager to explore said city of ruins.. though it would not be their destination this night. A halfling waitress shuttled in large trays of drinks and food, sliding each onto the table with effort, but always cheery, un-phased even by the pats on the butt from the dragonborn. After bringing in the final round of drinks, the waitress removed her apron and hopped up on a chair at the end of the table and introduced herself as Clara Clove, mayor of Seaburgh (and part-time waitress at the Bayside Tavern).

Her dark auburn hair was pulled up revealing her aging features. Her eyes sparkled and her green-gemstone earrings glittered as she recounted a tale of the stagnation of Seaburgh... The town has been stifled in its growth due to lack of outside contact. In order for the town to grow and prosper a reliable and ready trade route needs to be established.. new residents, industry, commerce, and contact from other towns and cities is needed. This is where the explorers come in to her plan. A visitor had shown up in Seaburgh a while back claiming to be from a town north along the river, maybe about 5 days travel. Using the river as a trade route between the two towns would allow increased commerce for both, and allow a ready waypoint for further trade with the great city of Gerhbonne to the north. They devised a plan to send some sailors up river to find this town, sadly, those sailors never returned. The new plan is to have these explorers travel up along the coast of the river by foot and scout out any hazards and dangers, map trouble spots, find the town, and return to Seaburgh with the information. Seeing as there was conveniently eight explorers in attendance, Miss Clove divided them into two groups of four, each taking a different bank of the river.

West Bank Excursion:

A Walk in the Park
The early legs of the journey were pleasant. The spring breeze blew at the backs of the stalwart west-bank exploration party and the gently soothing sound of bagpipes filled their footsteps with glee. A Tiefling, a Dwarf, a shifty Human, and a Dragonborn strolled up the river unaware of the dangers looming ahead...

Parliament of Crooks
It was on the second day that during their travels they encountered the sound of familiar laughter... a loud raucous dwarven laughter coming from the river up ahead. Upon investigation... there appeared to be a dwarven sized lump bobbing in the water just on the edge of the river. Dwarvish laughter mixed with gargling river water is odd enough, but when its supposed to be on the other side of the river it becomes even more alarming. The stalwart Dragonborn Tannim rushed to his aid, but upon closer inspection.. the dwarf was just a log doing a grand job of impersonating a dwarf! Gads! Foul log! But then the scaly, talon-ed feat of the real perpetrator vaulted it atop a log near at the river side. The crow cackled from behind his hooded cloak, revealing his black feathers and long spiked chain. His skills at impersonating dwarves was uncanny and his trap was sprung. Many others of these dark feathered men (later identified as Kenku) sprang from the trees.. some wielding stout clubs, others brandishing pairs of wicked talon-esque daggers. A quick and hard battle ensued as the explorers closed in to meet their avian adversaries. The Kenku's ringleader caw'd orders to his birdly soldiers, directing them during the battle, all the while cawing and cackling at the party. They were; however, no match for the four explorers who combined their skills and brought about the deaths. The Kenku and their chain twirling ringleader were defeated.

Bugs from Below
Traveling ensued and after a some distance was covered the land beneath their feet, the weather and the river itself, all took a turn for the worse. The land became as swampy and deeply muddy as they approached the wetland area of the river. The weather also turned soggy, as the sunny breezy hours gave way to gusty rain filled hours, making travel a little less enjoyable and little more slow. But the river made the most direct change, and the once easily sail-able river put forth a rapid-inducing waterfall. Not one of great height, but one that would lead any northern going vessel to take to disembark and travel by land to pass it. This was indeed the case for the Seaburgh excursion as upon closer investigation, a river gong boat was found out of the water and and appeared to have been hastily dropped near some trees and left in a seemingly non-water-worthy state. Peculiar.

It was during the mulling over of said peculiarity that the bug emerged... no ordinary bug, for it was huge.. a large ant-like creature with multiple legs, mandibles, antennae, and a hunger for humanoids. It attacked from some bushes with alarming speed and snatched up Maresk in its acid-dripping mandibles and dragged him away from the party towards the shrubs he emerged from. The startled explorers came to their senses and regrouped to slay this new foe. The Ankheg brought Maresk to the bushes, where there awaited several of the bug beast's larvae, awaiting their dinner with gaping acid soaked mouths. The party rallied together to defeat this foul insect and its kin, surviving the gripping mandibles and sprays of burning acid. A much needed rest was needed, but the inquisitive instincts of the group took hold. A hole was found, a tunnel leading below the ground...

Moldy Food
The short tunnel led into the earth and opened into a long cavern, obviously dug by the Ankheg as a brood nest. The first thing found in the nest was the smell... a sort of rotty, decaying smell. The remains of some giant bug eggs slurped in a pile along one wall, some partially eaten and decayed "food" (the remains of some poor Seaburgh sailors and other poor saps) were piled in the far corner amid various pools of sliminess and mold... and it was this very "sliminess" that attacked the poor dwarf who had crawled in to investigate. Two pools of grey colored ooze sprang into attack, as did a Green slime that was hanging out on the ceiling. During the fevered battle that ensued, some rocks came loose in the wall and a landslide became a slight complication to the battle. The durable explorers bested the grossness and shrugged off the rocks that pelted them.

Investigation of the "bodies" revealed the remains of the seaburgh river expedition and a poor lonely half-orc adventurer (who happened to have been very well equipped before he died.) The devout Dragonborn buried the remains of the fallen folk and the party gathered up their spoils of battle and moved on.

Something Weird this Way Comes
Further into the swamp they ventured.. occasionally spotting tracks of Kenku scrambling about in the mud. Late in that day a clearing was stumbled upon and flocks of crows picked at the ground and hopped about. At the far end of the clearing a group of Kenku gathered, huddled up and discussing their foul works. Dyrge looked off to his side and saw a lone crow hopping and pecking about, it looked up him inquisitively. Dyrge, being the good-natured animal-loving dwarf he is, tossed s bit of food down the the scroungy bird. The bird was delighted, so delighted that he caw'd and caw'd with glee. The Kenku at the far end of the clearing turned around at once and spied the gathered explorers. They assumed an attack formation, their flock instincts serving them well. Strange blurs in the air floated between them as another more sinister Kenku stepped up. He had white feathers mixed in with his black, his robes clung to his avian form and he shook his wicked staff in anger. The blurs in the air solidified some, but not wholly, and they appeared as strange masses of floating tentacles... but they were far from the wost thing that was seen that day. A huge floating, fleshy orb rose among them, it had one great huge eye and a gaping mouth dripping with hate. The tentacles about its head flitted about, each containing it own eye. All its eyes fixed on the exploration party.

A mighty battle ensued. Nowhere matched wits and arcane blasts with the foul Kenku Wingmage who had taken flight into a tree. The rest of the party sprang to action and began to dispatch the foul birds and their tentacled friends. The Foul Taint floating in the air wounded the minds of the party, their foul caresses chilling their souls with dark emotions. These creatures provided nuisances to the party as the Behold floated in and rained eye-rays down upon the party. The Beholder was wise enough to keep the large Dragonborn at bay with immobilizing eye-beams while it directed its more nefarious rays on the others. The battle drug on, but in the end our heroes were once again victorious. They bested the foul aberration and his lowly lackeys.

The Great Goblin Emancipation
The clearing was not made by chance...as it happens there was a collection of simple mud hovels gathered not far. They sat on an island in a ring of mud, a simple reed bridge spanned the mud, but had been trampled down by heavy avian feet. Most of the huts were rooted out, torn up and filled with black feathers, bird dung, and the leaving of flocks of nasty bird men. One hut however, was a goblin prison. A small group of goblins huddled in fear, tied up in the back of one of the huts. Some, lay still on the dirt floor. The explorers freed the wretched creatures, a small mercy to such pitiful creatures. The goblins told their tale of captivity, speaking of the sudden arrival of the Kenku. They spoke of a "bigger bird" who led them, one much scarier than the others. Beyond that they knew little beyond the confines of the prison.

The party traveled on, secure in the fact that their destination was not far, s the goblins had also informed them the town they sought was only a day travel by goblin feet. Though a goblin with said feet also decided to follow the party, and was found out quite quickly. He nervously told the party of the treasure he had buried to hide it from the Kenku, and he gave it to them as reward for freeing his people. The belt he pulled from the mud was indeed a magical treasure... After some more time, the welcome signs of civilization appeared, as did sheep.

Arrival in Sheep-town
The town of Munstown was a small agricultural town. They were known for raising livestock, mainly sheep and some other grazing animals. They were quite excited to see the adventurers and hear the tale of Seaburgh. Trade between the towns would indeed be a boon for the lives of all the citizens, and the head of Munstown, a Mr. Jonn Muston II, was ready to commit to the project. The party rested, but as of yet, the other expedition of explorers from the east side of the river had not arrived...

---

East Bank Excursion:

Pleasant Wanderings
The goliath, the halfling, the eladrin, and the dwarf were ferried across the river by Seaburgh's finest. They set out to begin their journey. A rushing river. Rolling hills. Fluffy clouds. These were the sights that were seen by the intrepid east bank expedition on its first couple days out. The spring breeze was warming and the dwarf's tales were invigorating. Thri told tales of his journeys from here to there, from hill to vale, and everywhere in between; he even told them when no one was listening. As a traveling companion, few could be equaled. The party ventured on, some birds circled in the distance, crows flying in to scavenge some food no doubt. Nothing to worry about...

A Murder of Crow-like Beings
During their third day along the river, the land turned much more wooded than earlier, follow the river became a less direct a route. Paths were taken between the trees and underbrush, all the while staying as close to the river as they could. At one point they were forced to travel inward a ways from the bank due to some large hills strewn with rocks. The passage around the hill was difficult, as the ground seemed to reject visitors with roots, rocks and weeds. This hill also proved the perfect place to launch an ambush. The odd black feathered creatures sprung down from tree branches ready to reap the rewards of the stalking, but the brave travelers were not to be caught unawares. They braced to meet the ambush, their keen senses preparing them for such eventualities. The battle ensued... most of the bird creatures were simple ruffians, using crude clubs to bludgeon their foes... but the odd creature that came after them was enough to give pause to the party. A seemingly translucent ball of tentacles hovered in the air and glided down the hill, its foul presence corrupting the very air if wafted in. It writhed as tiny eyes opens in random spots and fired beams of pure emotional anguish upon the party. The mighty Goliath rushed to meet it, but his hammer passed though it s if it wasn't even there... The halfling flitted among the Kenku awaiting the opportune moment to strike a deadly blow, while the stalwart Thri took on all comers. Liara stood back and sent waves of arcane energy into the foes. The distraction worked - with their attention on the foul thing on the hill, no one saw the Kenku stalking from behind. This one brandished a wicked sword and struck out from the shadows, nearly crippling Liara with one blow. Thri rushed to her aid just in time, leveling his axe against the sneaky Kenku's chest. The battle raged on, and the party bested their assailants. They rested afterwords.. and odd realization was discovered. The body of the back-stabbing Kenku was nowhere to be found. Nothing could be done of it; progress must be made. The party set out to continue the exploration.

Signpost to the Past
As night approached, the explorers moved into the trees to secure a campsite for the evening. It was then that Liara noticed the strange bit of terrain. There was a odd stone obelisk in the area they chose to camp at. It stood about 4 feet tall, old, cracked, and covered with moss and age. Thri's eyes lit up when he gazed upon it. he explained that it is a road sign, and ancient road sign pointing the way to one of the Gate Holds guarding the entrance to one of the Vein's of the Earth (dwarven underground "roads") Thri's explanation was that this was an ancient one that had long been closed off.. but the Gate Hold may still be standing. Thri was ready to head off in search of it immediately, but the party talked him out of it and kept him on task.

Ogres in the Mist
The next morning found them back along the river's edge, continuing the trek northward. The rain had began to fall during the night, and the ground remained hilly, wooded and rough. A thick mist drifted in along from the river. The morning walk brought them upon some disturbing tracks in the mud. Tracks that could only belong to a huge humanoid creature, and they were fresh. The dwarf and goliath were on edge immediately, both having knowledge of giants. These were tracks belonging to an Ogre. Just as the team was about to debate their next course of action a huge rock flew from out of the brush and struck Liara in the chest. her limp form tumbled into the trees. Thri instantly sprang to action and despite warnings from his fellows, charged into the bushes. He then immediately flew back out of the bushes as the Ogre's club/tree trunk smacked into him. The Ogre strode out of the bushes laughing.. "HA.. Little Dwarf! Your dwarf castle belongs to us now! *grunt*" A battle ensued and it quickly became apparent it was a losing one. The party tried to regroup and flee, but the Ogre pressed on. Soon it became an all out run. The halfling sought out Liar's form, but she was no more, her body broken. Thri urged the others to flee and took up a position in the rear of the party and at one point turned to slow the Ogre's pursuit... it was the last time the others saw him. The mighty Goliath and the cunning halfling ran for the rest of the day and into the night. The Ogre gave up pursuit after a while, and when the party finally stopped to rest, they found they were deep in the woods, and lost. It took most of the following day to regain their bearings. They searched for a bit to try and locate Thri's body, but were unable to. So they hit the river bank and continued the journey, hoping to find civilization and regain their strength and lick their wounds. Later the following day, they found their way to the river's bend, and crossed over to arrive at Munstown battered, bloody and tired.

---

The Return to Seaburgh
The six explorers gathered together and made the journey back to Seaburgh along the west bank of the river. The return journey was uneventful other than some rainy weather. Upon arriving back in the village the explorers settled in for some rest. It took some time to locate Clara Clove, asking about, looking in the usual places, but word is eventually sent that she would meet up with the party back at the tavern. Dinner and drinks were free that night, as well as lodgings in the Inn for all of the surviving explorers. Clara also provides each member of the party with 5 Gold and 20 Silver. handed over to each in small bag. She also presents each person with a necklace... the necklaces are simple silver rectangles with an odd dark green shard of a gemstone set in the center. they are attached to a leather thong and Clara, standing on a chair for some, hangs it about each person neck. The gemstone shards are really odd, they are an odd dark green and seem to soak in the light. There is very nice etching along the silver taking the form of waves. Clara explains that they were crafted by a local artisan with a knack for jewelry. The gemstones however, have their own little story she explains. The town has taken to calling them Seaburgh Stones, and several have been found over the years since the town's inception. Always found by the town's hunters and usually near the ruins Murasha. They became kind of a peculiarity among the townsfolk, and would get passed and traded all over the town. Some saw them as good luck, other bad. The inquisitiveness of the party always takes over, but after studying various properties of the stones, they are not magical. They seem to contain an almost faint touch of magic, more like a residual faded aura of some long lost enchantment. (They have no magical in-game properties that you can discern, and they do not count as taking up a neck slot item. Everyone should write Seaburgh Stone Amulet on their character sheets) Clara expressed her undying gratitude, and her excitement for Seaburgh's future was palpable.

Earthynn on Obsidian Portal

http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/earthynn/wikis/history

Well, my full write-up is up on Obsidian Portal now. The complete history of Earthynn (still in a very rough form) is there for your perusal. There are some other bits filled out as well; a little bit about the gods. The history might not all line up perfectly... but the general idea is there and I am happy with it. It is quite long, thats why I didn't post it all on here... so grab a drink and some snacks, and enjoy some amateur campaign world ramblings! Question and comments welcome.

Gaming Weekend Complete

A nice long gaming weekend wrpas up... went to my friend Mike's house for the weekend as did 4 of my other good gaming friends. Got there Friday night and spent some time with Mike (while we waited for the others guys to arrive) playing Rez HD and Street Fighter 4 on his giant screen. Then when the the othger guys got there we payed some Warmachine!

It was late so we did a small team game, Circle and Cryx agaist a team of 2 Skorne players. My Circle performed brilliantly, and we won the game without my army even taking any damage. We didn't get to sleep until close to 3:30.. but at 10 Am we were up and ready to play some more... I faced my friend Josh's new Skorne army, led by Zaal.. and 3 terrible Ancestral Guardians... but my Epic Kaya army managed to pull off a win.. it was a great game, a real slugfest on both sides. The next two battles did not go in my favor as much... my Khador (Zerkova) lost to Cryx (eDeneghra), but it was a fun battle. Saturday night we spent the time watching Dr. Horribl;e and Robot Chicken Star Wars on Mike's giant screen, and watching a bunch of game trailers... and again.. didn't get to sleep until 3-ish. Today (my birthday) was spent playing one more game, in which I again lost with my Morvahnna Circle Army being destroyed by Legion of Everblight. But even when I lose, I still have a great time.

We also talked about the upcoming 4e campaign we are going to start soon. We discussed some things in my game world, Earthynn, and we actually have the characters for the party chosen. I was pleased with how the character choices panned out, everyone got to play the character they really wanted, and we still ended up with a balanced party. Here's what we ended up with:

Dragonborn Warlord

Halfling Rogue

Shifter Druid

Goliath Warder

Tiefling Sorceror

Dwarven Bard

We may actually get to start playing this campaign next month.. heres hoping!

All in all, it was a great weekend of good food and gaming.(and very little sleep) I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my birthday than with my friends... only thing missing was being able to see my family.

adventure writing advice??

(If you are one of my players.. please don't read.. hehe)

So I working on my one-shot Earthynn story that I am running at GenCon. Its going to pre-gen charcters.. probably level 12 (wanted to try some higher level 4e). It involves a wizard's tower, a mysterious city and a gold dragon. I have lots of col ideas for it.. the adventurer are going to start with "amnesia" and there will be a long running skill challenge throughout the story involving them regaining their memories... there are some cool puzzle rooms in the tower... the city itself is full of illusions... there is an Eye Tyrant at work behind the scenes... I have lots of cool ideas.. but when I actually sit down to assemble them into a concrete adventure... I get nowhere...

How do I start, where does it go from there... basically I am just looking for tips on structuring the adventure.. should I start just by writing up encounters? Does it benefit me to draw out maps first? should I detail all the ideas I have as individual encounters then find ways to tie them together? Do I write up an outline and stick to it?

The gaming group I will be running this for (and the one that will eventually be the long-running Earthynn campaign) are a varied lot... some are new to DnD, some are very casual players, and others are very hardcore players... so I am trying to be prepared for all fronts...heh

EARTHYNN

My new 4e world has a name.  Earthynn.  (hopefully it doesn't infringe on any copyrights...)  I will eventually put up a wikispace page to contain all my information and background fluff.  I am still refining the core cosmology and theology for the world.. but here is what I have so far...again, this is based on the core 4e cosmology and planar structure.. but the background and history and gods... are different.  This may read a bit "stream of consciousness".. my timeline is not solid yet...and I still have a lot of ideas bouncing around.  Next month our gaming group will be united and I plan on telling this story to the masses.. after we discuss it a bit I will finalize the ideas and put them online somewhere.

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Earthynn

Originally there was the Astral Sea “above” and the Elemental Chaos “below”.  The "Gods" dwell in the Astral Sea, and the Primordials dwell in the Elemental Chaos. The Primordials then created the normal world (which later became known as Earthynn.)  It was a very diverse world, with dizzying highs of color and vibrancy and deep lows of darkness and emptiness.  The land grew and evolved as time passed.  It was an ever churning, ever evolving landscape of elements...

The Gods [One thing to understand is that the Gods are “energies.”  Energies that take form through their surroundings or beliefs... Energies that become more than energy through some form or another.  They are some sort of abstract concept given form...]  looked down on it from the Astral Sea, and decided to inhabit this world with their own creations and ideas.  They decided to make it their own.  The goddess of the stars created a race first (her name was Eladryssa)... Whilst the god of time (Rostuun) followed with his own creations, as did Tiamat, the god of open spaces and emptiness. At this point these are the oldest and most powerful of the gods... other gods exist, but are still in their "infancy", they are just pure energy.. energy without form.  Eladryssa created a race capable of anything... she put great amounts of her own essence into “her people”,  more so than any of the other gods. [this race has no name as of yet, for simplicities sake, we will call them "super elves", it'll make sense later]  Rostuun modeled his creations after the elements of the world that would last the trials of time... the stones and mountains.  He created Giants and Dwarves.  Tiamat created Dragons.  Dragons of all kinds, small, large, and of all colors and powers. The dragons that inhabited the world were of very conceivable variety.  Tiamat also created the Dragonborn, another race that held much much promise.  Eladryssa’s creations were extremely successful.  They prospered and grew, expanded across the world of Earthynn like no other race.  The Dwarves and Giants stayed in their homes, some building up while others built down.  There were other gods at work as well.   These gods were not yet fully formed.. More in a primaeval state of “energy”.. These “young” gods [four of them to be precise, later being known as the Patheon of Four] populated the world with lots of varied and different races.. Some complex, some simple... but they dwelt in the shadows cast by the creations/races of the "older" gods... Other creatures of power (demons and devils and such) also created things to dwell in the world, or sent their energies into it to spawn life.  [and to be clear... I am not being clear.  :)  Whether or not the gods molded and created a race of people and placed them on the world as is, OR they just let a bit of their energy  bleed down into the world and watched it evolve into something through interaction with the world.. is not known by the denizens of Earthynn. Nor is it important to the campaign world]

During this time of these initial races rise... the primordials grew more unhappy that their world was being taken over by the Gods of the Astral Sea.  The gods were applying a permanence to the world that the primordials despised.  A war started.  The Primordials lost.  They left.. some slept, some died, some hid.. but they vanish from history at this point...

Those other powerful entities (of abyssal and astral power) had created Devas and Tieflings [the Tieflings were intended to be an abyssal army, meant to rule Earthynn for the Abyssal powers , demons and devil lords] and during the great war between the gods and primordials....these forces were swept up in the tides of destruction sweeping the outer realms.. and broke off their connection to Earthynn.  The war forced them to retreat from Earthynn for a great time in order to conserve their own power and not becaome casualties of the war. Their races, the Tieflings and Devas, suffered for it, and very few remained to survive the aftermath and these two races were abandoned.. and instead of fulfilling their destinies... were left to their own devices and diffused in among the other races.  To this very day, the demons and devils resent the gods and primordials for this.

The races continue to evolve and expand.. the Giants revolted against their god believing they were powerful enough on their own.. waging war all over.   The "super elves" made great cities, all over in oceans, forests, snows, plains - they prospered everywhere... the other races eeked out a living and communities as they could.  The Dragonborn were migratory and nomadic, but their society flourished and began to rival even the "super elves."  Everything seemed fine... time passed...  but things were not well... the world began to exhibit strange happenings... bright areas would dim, and then return to brightness... areas of darkness would come and go...  then as time drew on... it became apparent that the world, without the primordials influence, could not hold itself together... Eladryssa seemed to not notice, her attention so focused on her people.. her life force so strongly connected to the world... Rostuun saw it coming but he sees the timeline and cannot interfere.. but he prepared his people to weather such storms.  The world SPLIT.. chaos/calamity/catastrophe/cataclysm!! [big word that begins with "c"] The "super elves" suffer... they spilt along with the world... their essence and Eladryss's essence broke apart.. and the race divided and was pulled into the three realms [the same three worlds in core 4e]... Feywild, Shadowfell, and some remained on Earthynn....[Wood Elves=Eladurin, High Elves=Eladrin, Drow=Eladrow] the elves on Earthynn (Eladurin) were a fragment of their former selves.. and they fled to the forests.. their cities falling apart without the magic that sustained them..  Their goddess..was struck down and barely held onto life... she herself was broken when her people were.  While the elves' society crumbled, the other races rose to take their place in the world.. the head of the pack?  Humans.  and they made allies with many others.. spreading across the world live a wildfire.  The dwarves withstood the storm in their stone and metal fortresses.. and when the dust cleared continued on as normal..  the Dragons suffered the far worst.. their forms were more ephemeral.. more abstract.. and many just vanished or perished.. some.. the Dragonborn.. suffered what became known as "the sundering curse" and their forms shriveled and became primitive.. they became Kobolds. [an adaptation of my friend Josh's idea for Dragonborn backstory]  Few Dragonborn remain... and wander lost in the world... maybe one day trying to find a way to restore their race to glory.

The Eladrow were put into a dark and hostile world (The Shadowfell) where horrible things were taking shape in the shadows... so they hid.  they became masters of stealth and shaodows, and hid in holes and caverns to keep safe.  Their existence in the darkness had profound influence on them.

The Eladrin were thrust into a magnificently beautiful world... and reveled in the pure magic and wonderment of their home.  They mingled with some of the faerie creatures who came into being in Feywild itself.  They made a strong alliance with the Gnomes.  They prospered.

Eladryssa.. slept for a time to regain her strength...her form fragmented and much of it lost. Later, she attempted to reunite herself and her people... she called on the help of all the Astral Sea to help reunify the three worlds... [details still slim at this stage of the timeline]  The worlds began to reform.. but when they crossed... the three elves came into the world together but remained seperate and many of the denizens of the Feywld and Shadowfell came pouring into Earthyyn... and Eladryssa went insane... the three aspects of herself couldn't rectify with each other anymore and her form is now a constant state of flux.  Now the worlds remain in a slightly overlapped state... sometimes the worlds bleed through... but they failed to re-unite and remain three realms, Earthynn and its two mirror realms.

This event taught the gods a valuable lesson... their influence need to be more "hands off", tying oneself so closely to this world is vastly dangerous for themselves, and the world.

Random tidbits that happen in time: Giants eventually enslaved the dwarves..  but through an alliance with the Goliaths the Dwarves freed themselves... but this gave rise to the dwarven religious schism.. the Goliaths and Shifters worship the Earth Mother.. and the Dwarves learned of her from the Goliaths... now both religions are accepted by Dwarves.  The Earth Mother 9sometimes called Earthynne) is an anethema.. a god not born from the Astral Sea...

The Drow remained hidden, choosing not to ally themselves with their counterparts... a great war waged between the Dwarves and the Drow for control of the underground.  It was a stalemate. The Dwarves opted to go up, further into the mountains, while the Drow went down, further underground [yes, the Underdark is born]  

Eladryssa is fragmented and insane still... her former people view her in different aspects... the Eladrow see here as a woman with spider silk for hair.. the Eladurin [Player's Handbook Elves] see her a as nature goddess, and the Eladrin see her as a goddess of stars and magic.  But it is the same goddess.

With the other races coming into their own... the four "young gods" that were createing multiples of races, became known as the Patheon of Four.  They took shape, now that they were followed by so many.  Their forms are tied to the four cardinal points of the alignment compass:  Chaos, Law, Good and Evil. (no names for these gods just yet)  However their forms are not solidified yet... and their appearance varies based on their followers impressions of them.  Example:  The Orcs, Humans, Halflings.. all believe in the God of Chaos... but they depict this god differently.. the Orcs might see this god as a god of destruction(chaos) and believe the god to be a great orchish warrior.  Humans see the same god as a god of deception(chaos) and see a shadowy cloaked human.  The halflings see a god of travel(chaos) and see a halfling wanderer... the important aspect to this.. they are all worshipping the same god.  The name of the god (and the god's gender) will be the only common ground (god's name is the same.. but spoken differently by language).   This allows me four gods, with lots of variety.  Eight total gods for the world of Earthynn. (not counting demon lords and such, who are bound to be worshipped by lesser creatures as gods)

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As I mentioned... this stuff is still in a maleable state.  Opinions are welcome...  things that need more extrapolation? (well, most of it does) Anything just outright not make sense?  Hate any of the ideas?  Love any of the ideas?