Thursday, September 27, 2012

The scared, scarred boy


Avdimi rolls the magical charm around in his hand.
The strange gnomess gave it to him.
Gave it to him.
Rubbing his itchy scars, he considers this gift.
He’s never had anything that actually belonged to him before. His Gnomish masters have improved his lot and the lot of his fellows but they’re still slaves.
Well treated maybe but certainly not free.
Perhaps this magical device might be the key to his freedom?
Avdimi’s thoughts are arrested though by the arrival of a dozen orcs struggling to deliver a fresh Snowlbear. A replacement for the one that was slaughtered by the adventurers.
‘Over here you little maggot!’ shouts the leader of the orcs.
All of the orcs are connected to the screeching snowlbear by long metal poles with chains wrapping around the creature. Binding its massive arms tightly to its sides.
It’s apparent though, that even twelve full-grown orcs are barely able to contain it.
Hurrying, Avdimi runs around behind it and attaches the sturdy booth chain to the creatures collar. He’s careful not to get too close to the razor sharp beak and, as soon as he’s finished, he scampers backwards and out of danger.
Manning his section of the control booth, he seals his protective door and shouts for the orcs to release the creature.
They do it in unison and scatter out of the way as the ferocious creature shrugs off its bonds.
It makes to go after them but is pulled up short by the chain now securely fastened to its collar.
The creature howls and hoots malevolently but it can’t get away.
It takes a while but slowly Avdimi cranks the monstrous creature back into its new home.
The Snowlbear thrashes and throws itself repeatedly at the unyielding, black metal walls.
The solid booth shakes but holds firm.
'Hush my fellow inmate. Hush now and we shall become friends'...

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Stuff to sell later


We have to sell/allocate

(from Indigo/Orestes/Charlie/Zavia/Dokan's loot)

Ghost phase cloth armour +3 (lvl:14 (21,000gp)
Orb of Indisputable gravity +4 (lvl:17 65,000gp)
Shield of Defiance (lvl:18 85,000gp)
Rogues gloves (lvl:12 13,000gp)
Two Ritual candles (lvl:11 9,000gp each)
Verve scale armour +3 (lvel:14 21,000gp)
A Light shield of recoil Lvl: 9 4,200gp

(from Zavia/Charlie/Dokan's loot)
A Bastard sword of terror +4 lvl:19 105,000gp
A suit of Troll skin armour +3 (Scale) Lvl:15 25,000gp


Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Unable to see the wood for the cheese


After a brief moment of indecision, the monk Indigo sprints into the undergrowth after the orc warrior. Knowing his memories are suspect, Indigo can’t let the orc wander off alone. He may be a friend and, in his current state, he’d be easy pickings for the various groups of orc hunting mercenaries currently searching these woods.
Meanwhile, still hidden behind some foliage, Charlie Stilton tries to calm his breath while he wracks his brain for answers.
He didn’t just appear here but, for the life of him, he can’t remember the journey or any of the people in the clearing.
One of them had called out to him though, as he ran…
They knew his name…
They weren’t cursing it or shooting arrows at him…
And, as he watches them recover magical item after magical item from the bodies of fallen adventures…
He desperately wants a share of that loot!
Taking a deep breath, Charlie Stilton stands up and walks, in what he hopes looks like a confident manner, back into the clearing.
The other adventurers look around, momentarily losing sight of the monk.
Those few seconds are critical though, as Indigo is lost to them, swallowed up by the same eerie mist and darkness that now holds the unknown orc.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Easy-picking the bones clean


The dead moss creature obviously cared nothing for gold and magic, as it all lies scattered around the bodies of its previous victims. Most of them had little of interest but a few of the mercenaries were powerful enough to have equipped themselves with powerful magics.

After about an hour of searching the rotting corpses, the party find:

(EDITED -  to show who has taken what so far)
1) Ghost phase cloth armour +3 (lvl:14 (21,000gp)
2) Orb of Indisputable gravity +4 (lvl:17 65,000gp) - Charlie Stilton?? Only any use to Arcane class.
3) Shield of Defiance (lvl:18 85,000gp) 
4) Winged boots (lvl:13 17,000gp) - Dokan
5) Rogues gloves (lvl:12 13,000gp)
6) Two Ritual candles (lvl:11 9,000gp each)
7) Four Potions of Vitality (1000gp each) - Dokan, Orestes, Charlie, Indigo 1 each (Zavia extra Jolt Flask)
8) Alchemical silver (lvl:15 (1000gp) - Dokan
9) Anti-venom (lvl:21 9,000gp) - Charlie Stilton
10) Jolt flask x 12 (lvl:15 1,000gp each) - Dokan (2), Charlie (2), Orestes (2), Indigo (2), Zavia (3)
11) Giant dodger leather armour +4 (lvl:18 85,000gp) - Charlie Stilton
12) Verve scale armour +3 (lvel:14 21,000gp)
13) Pinning long sword +4 (lvl:17 65,000gp) - Orestes
+
Gold: 349
Silver: 186
Diamonds: 189 (worth 50gp each)
68gp, 37sp, 37 (50gp) diamonds each
(remainder 9gp 1 sp 4 diamonds)

We will put the rest up for sale unless anyone wants them.

Level up to 17th


Despite not remembering how you got it, you’ve all gained enough experience to get to 17th!
;)

Another fine moss you’ve gotten yourselves into


Standing in the smoldering mess of blackened moss and trees, the adventurers look around at each other.
Dokan recognises Orestes but no one else. Who are the others? Some of them look familiar but he can’t place them.
Something’s definitely wrong here but he can’t discern what it is and so keeps his sword held ready.
The monk: Indigo is less affected but still, slightly disorientated.
Only Zavia and Orestes feel that they are mentally unaffected by the strange plant creature.
They were, unfortunately, too slow to prevent he halfling and the half-orc from fleeing into the surrounding forest.
Perhaps affected by the heat from the flaming oil, the eerie, white mist covering the ground seems to momentarily dissipate.
Several corpses are revealed. Orc-hunting mercenaries by the look of their equipment. They can’t have been dead for more than a few months as they aren't completely covered in the strange moss that seems to be everywhere in this part of the forest.
After a few minutes of mutual reassurance, the four adventures cautiously help themselves to whatever they can find.
Watching from his hiding place, Charlie Stilton wonders who everyone is, how he got there and, most importantly, how he can get his hands on that stuff.
Piggog the orc though, continues to run from the chaotic encounter. Whoever those strange people were, they were no help to him and his quest to rejoin his ancient tribe: The Bone crunchers!

Zavia of the Universe!

She'll save every one of us!

Monday, September 10, 2012

The Blue Prince: Mid-series catch-up (Episode: 2)


Leaving his erstwhile teammates: Indigo and Orestes behind to explore the woods, Dokan and the diminutive Zavia rode on towards Khajag.

Khajag, as far as they knew was just a mining town. A profitable, diamond mining town but just that. Recently though, it has been bequeathed by the tyrant Thereanthor to one of her four children: Narciss.
As they journeyed on, a leather clad, Halfling called out to them from behind. He seemed cocky but not threatening. 

After he’d managed to catch up, the Halfling introduced himself as ‘Charlie Stilton’ and invited himself along for the journey. He was originally from Fewham and had followed after the adventurers as he’d lost confidence in the protection the ‘captive’ dragon: Sybille had giving the town.

They arrived at the outskirts of Khajag about a day-and-a-half later. Just farming outposts but, weirdly, worked by human slaves overseen by kobolds.
Some of the kobolds, the bigger ones, rode upon strange dog-like mounts.

The kobolds gathered in number before approaching Dokan, Zavia and Charlie Stilton. They overtly threatened and insulted the gnomess Zavia but she refused to let herself be provoked and eventually the three adventures were shown to the town’s outer ‘wall’.

A gatehouse, complete with an iron portcullis stood astride the main road into the town. It was stone-built, ornate and impressive. What was most odd about it though, was that there were no walls on either side. Rather a shimmering field of blue light.
Tall stone towers interrupted the sheets of crackling energy at regular, mile wide intervals. Each one manned by a Black cloak and a couple of blue Dragon-borns.

After a brief conversation with the Black cloak atop the main gatehouse, Dokan, Zavia and Stilton were allowed through the gate to meet with Narciss himself.
As they walked toward the newly built palace, Charlie Stilton and the others noticed how poorly treated the humans were. Everything in the burgeoning town of Khajag had been built on the whipped backs of the human slaves.

The central palace was huge in relation to the town itself. Grand but overblown. It was made mostly of white marble but had domes and decorations of vivid blue.

After dealing with a few underlings, the adventurers were surprised to be shown directly into the blue prince’s throne room§. Here they found the young dragon talking lazily to one of his mother’s Black cloaks. The room itself was colossal and, at its zenith, the domed roof reached over 50’ high!
Despite this, the dome was supported by highly decorated ribs at the circumference of the room rather than interrupting columns. Each rib denoted one of the many races of Fissa, their intertwined bodies and faces in expressions of painful subjugation. At the very top of the dome, where the ribs met, was a huge, decorative, stone boss. A boss that showed Narciss breathing lightning at the hairless monkey races.

After making them wait for a few minutes, the young dragon uncurled himself from his specially made throne and summoned the three adventures forward.

Although still young, he was already the size of a large horse but when he spoke, his voice was like a rasping whisper. Like wind over gravel.
The young Dragon told them that he’d ‘ordered them here to help stamp out a large and illegal gathering of orcs. Possibly in their thousands’.
He explained that ‘He could get help from his mother, the tyrant queen, but her troops would take weeks to arrive and he’d elected not to wait’.
He also explained his frustration with his scryers. ‘For some reason, despite numerous reports of orc sightings, they cannot locate them’.
Narciss ordered the three adventurers to ‘Go out to Fasel wood. Find the orcs and kill as many of them as possible’.

It was only then that a wretched looking human clerk shuffles forward and presents Dokan with a scroll with a reward list on it…

Ten gold pieces worth of diamonds per confirmed normal orc grunt killed but larger amounts for ten particular orcs, who are known troublemakers.
Five thousand gold pieces worth of diamonds for known troublemakers: Morten, Ragnar, Knut. Aurelius, Unger, Harang, Stig and Viggo.
Ten thousand gold pieces worth of diamonds for Bodan and Auzoux. Two especially dangerous orcs. Orcs who are inspiring their kin toward open rebellion.

After they were dismissed by the young dragon prince, Dokan, Zavia and Charlie Stilton had a quick look around on their way out of the town/city.

The main entrance to the main diamond mine was located at the far edge of the town but still within the confines of the blue energy shield. It was unsurprisingly well guarded, as were several other building.
The trio of adventurers also saw the humans being openly mistreated by the kobold overseers. Dokan, Zavia and Charlie Stilton did nothing to prevent this though as it would have caused direct conflict with the Dragon-borns and Black-cloaks.

As they were escorted back to the main gate, Charlie Stilton, on viewing the shimmering blue energy field, asked one of the nearby kobolds what the shields did. Happy to explain, four of the kobolds dragged over a human slave and threw him through the barrier.
The translucent blue field didn’t prevent him passing through it but his electrified body was quite dead when it fell on the other side.

From one of the nearby doorways, a woman wailed in despair. Her husband had been killed just as a cruel example.

Slightly disturbed but unwilling to kill the culprits, Dokan, Charlie Stilton and Zavia headed out and away from Khajag.

They made camp that night at the edge of the forest. In the morning, they headed in.
It was late that afternoon when the Halfling cleverly noticed a pit trap. Not that wide but spiked at the bottom and deep enough to prevent easy escape.
The diminutive Charlie Stilton and Zavia found themselves somewhere to hide while the well-armoured Dokan triggered the clanking bell alarm.

After a few minutes a huge black scaled dragon-born arrived. He was wary due to the ongoing bell and flanked by two humans. A well-armoured warrior and a mysterious looking sorceress.
These three were the survivors of the mercenary group Dokan had fought on-route to ‘saving’ Lady Sybille from the Black cloak tower near Fewham.
They had proved themselves tough and now it looked as if Dokan was facing them alone. Mallyx, the dragon-born signaled his human teammate forward but he was surprised by a sneak attack from the well-concealed Charlie Stilton.

Realising it was a trap, the black dragon born and the sorceress rushed to help. The battle was closely fought and Dokan looked in trouble until the little Gnomess, illusionist: Zavia managed to fool the Dragon-born into stepping onto his own pit trap.
Down he fell, soon followed by his underlings.
Zavia sealed the pit with an illusionary but unassailable metal lid, effectively trapping the three mercenaries. It was a simple matter then, for the rogue and the paladin to finish them off with crossbow bolts and daggers.

After a brief rest, the three adventurers stripped the mercenaries of all their valuable equipment and searched to area. They found dozens of pit traps and, eventually, Mallyx’s camp. Tents, a prepared but unlit fire and a wagon containing a hundred and sixty eight severed orc heads. The bodies were to be found dumped down a natural, open pit.

Despite the distasteful nature of the campsite, the three adventurers decided to stay there overnight and to look for Orestes and Indigo in the morning.

Friday, September 7, 2012

The Blue Prince: Mid-series catch-up (Unseen footage)


Waking from their night’s sleep, the four adventurers debated what to do next.
The half-orc: Orestes, naturally wanted to follow the magical orc letter and head towards the nearby ‘Fasel wood’. Dokan however wanted to follow the raven’s mysterious invitation to the diamond-mining town of Khajag.
Indigo sided with Orestes but Dokan dug his cloven heels in. The three of them argued for over half-an-hour but no redress could be found.
Zavia, the newly joined gnomess, wisely decided to keep her own council. She didn’t know these three well enough yet to try and influence their decisions.
Realising that Indigo and Orestes weren’t going to change their minds, Dokan decided to head off to Khajag alone. It was only then that Zavia made up her mind.
Two groups of two seemed fair to her and Dokan was at least heading toward a promise of gold.
The four adventures split up. Orestes and Indigo to search the forest and Dokan and Zavia to journey to Khajag and the Blue prince…

Thursday, September 6, 2012

The Blue Prince: Mid-series catch-up (Episode: 1)


Finding themselves hustled out of the Inn they were staying at in Fewham by the landlord: Proper John (Vogir and Rudha-an had apparently already left.), Orestes, Dokan and Indigo made their way to Lord Rician’s manor house and demanded entry.

The visibly present town guards shadowed them but didn’t approach.

A small Gnomess: Zavia also joined the party as she was being hustled out of town as well. In fact all the adventures and mercenaries recently invited into Fewham to help save the Lady Sybille from the Black cloaks, were being ‘asked’ to move on.

After the aged servant’s initial refusal, Dokan and Indigo were begrudgingly allowed in to ‘discuss’ their complaints.

Lord Rician was rude and dismissive and, after asking the two adventurers to leave, called his guards. Despite Indigo’s pleas for calm, Dokan drew his sword and attacked Lord Rician. Although no match for Dokan, Lord Rician was able to defend himself for the few moments it took for two of his guards to arrive.
Indigo then decided to nip matters in the bud and, in a blinding whirl of action, killed both the guards and the aged clerk.
Indigo’s brutal flurry had the desired effect though, and Lord Rician immediately surrendered. He paid Dokan double what he’d originally offered the party to save his ‘daughter’.

Leaving the next day, in their own sweet time, the gnomess Zavia decided to join them, although they hadn’t the faintest idea what to do or where to go.

During the journey to the next major crossroads, Dokan spied a raven apparently following them.
He shot it with his crossbow and, confirming his suspicions, it disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

Making camp at nightfall, Zavia noticed smoke in the distance. Climbing up a tree, she realized that it was another camp nearby.

The stealthy monk: Indigo went to investigate while the other three of them prepared to defend their camp. Zavia proved herself adept with useful illusions.

Indigo noticed a group of orcs creep past him but carried on to their camp. Once there he discovered two young orcs on guard. He stepped out, unarmed and offering peace but, unprovoked, the two orcs still attacked. It was only due to his generosity that they lived beyond that moment.

The other group of orcs moved through the trees to the Party’s camp. There, after a short, shouted conversation, they discovered Orestes was one of them. An orc.
After a brief negotiation, the orcs offered to share some of their food in exchange for the mutual defence of a shared camp.

In the morning, the leader of the young orcs took out a piece of parchment, tore it and passed half of it to Orestes. Magically both halves repaired themselves and Orestes was able to read the entire message. It was in Orcish but the phrasing was odd, wrong. It was far too slick. Too savvy.

Despite being asked not to, Orestes showed it to his teammates…

CALLING ALL ORCS!

Are you sick of living in fear?
Fear of the Dragon?
Fear of the armies of Man?
The time is upon us brother.
The time to reunite the sundered tribes.
The time to reforge the great hordes of our forefathers.
Come find us in the heart of Fasel wood.
Help us reclaim what is ours.
In the name of Gruumsh, help reclaim what should be yours!

Do not share this information with men, elves or dwarves.
Do not confide with any that would see us oppressed.

The band of youthful orcs left in the direction of a nearby wood and the party continued on to the crossroads.

On the way Dokan noticed the raven again. ‘Was it the same one’ he wondered and he shot it with a crossbow bolt, just to be sure.
Again it disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

Arriving at the crossroads about a day later, they found a large wooden signpost. Its arms pointing in five different directions.

1) Fewham: Back the way they came.
2) Winterhaven: Back towards where a lot of them had originally started.
3) Stonefang: The land of the dwarves.
4) Gon Dulat: The largest city within weeks of traveling and….
5) Khajag: Apparently a recent but wealthy settlement.

It's here the raven reappeared in the treetops and it swooped down to perch atop the crossroads sign.

Although raising his crossbow again, Dokan didn’t fire and the nervous looking raven finally spoke…

‘Ad-veenturoors! Youu Arr all CAW-dialy enviited to tha proviince of Khajag to aiid tha Blue prince with a triiviial but preesing mat-ter. Thaare’s gold to be made. Aaaaand plenttee of it!’

With two possibilities and unsure what to do, the Party made camp.