Post/Author/DateTime	Post
BullyBoy 12-13-04, 06:18 AM	I have had fun reading other Eberron campaign logs, and have been keeping my own campaign log. It was for the benefit of my players, so that they can recall where we are up to and also have fun reliving the adventure. Also, the players have been submitting character backgrounds and journal entries, so expect updates of those too. We are going through the published Eberron adventures first, so you may not want to read these logs if you think it will spoil your own play. We play around once a fortnight, and the players seem to take quite a while to do things (3 sessions and we are just finishing The Forgotten Forge!). I will only post a few entries here at first. If there is interest, I will continue to post more ;) . If not, then no harm done - the players and myself are still enjoying keeping these logs. The first entries will be added very shortly! Regards, Bull.
BullyBoy 12-13-04, 06:27 AM	Another note: please be aware that when all of these entries were written, they were written by the DM and players, for the DM and players. They were not originally intended for an outside audience. Therefore there may be some things that you do not understand (in-jokes, references to things not mentioned in the logs, etc.). Therefore please do not hesitate to ask questions! The Party: Dimlord Sword Magnet - warforged 1/Fighter with a male personality. (The player not present for this session). Cindy-Lou - female shifter "locksmith journeyman" (1/Rogue), of the Leaper pack. Golgard d'Kundarak - male dragonmarked dwarven 1/Cleric of Onatar, a direct descendant of House Kundarak. Ipima - human 1/Psychic Warrior and spiked chain enthusiast. Darsaine - male elven 1/Wizard (although, calls himself an Edritch Master), recently arrived from mysterious Aerenal. (The player arrived late for this session). Serena - female elven 1/Wizard, from Sharn. Session 1: The Forgotten Forge Once more the party met at the Pregnant Unicorn tavern to discuss possible adventuring oppurtunities. All left disheartened as nobody could provide any good leads. Dimlord, the warforged member of the party, didn't even bother to turn up to this week's meeting. On top of that, the bucketing rain was sapping everyones' spirit. It was looking to be a miserable evening. Whilst approaching a skybridge that connects Dalannan Tower and Kelsa Spire, a dark figure could be made out by all bar Ipima. A flash of lightning revealed a collapsed body as the dark figure jumped over the side of the skybridge. Upon investigation, the body was that of an elderly male human, who clutched a leather satchel in his right hand and who was obviously just murdered by the fleeing dark figure. The girls, Cindy-Lou and Serena, peered over the side of the skybridge that the murderer jumped over, but could not see any sign of him or of any landings below that he could have jumped to safely. They then tied a couple lengths of ropes together, preparing to climb over the side of the skybridge in search of the murderer. Golgard began searching for "clues" in the old man's coin pouch (these clues were later to be donated to the Temple of Onatar). Ipima, effectively blind when compared to his companions, finally caught on that something fishy was up and looked over the side of the skybridge to see what all the fuss was. The murderer then made his appearance (or, more accurately: its appearance, as the murderer revealed itself to be a warforged). Attacking with the ferocity that warforged are known for, everyone was caught by surpise, especially Golgard, who nearly lost his head to the warforged's battleaxe. The worforged spat taunts, in a female sounding voice, such as "weak, fleshed beings" at the party while it attacked, offering to spare their lives if they relinquish "the journal". The party took no heed... Cindy-Lou acted quickly, but without much accuracy, in her failed attempt to entangle the warforged in the rope that she was holding. Ipima and Golgard were more effective... Ipima ripped several holes in the warforged's metal plating with his spiked chain, which caused the warforged to go into a (spittle-free) rage. Golgard finishing it off by crushing its head with his warhammer, just as it started its insane roaring. As the warforged fell, a small metal ball detacted from its chest, sprouted wings and started to fly away at great speed. But, at an even greater speed, Cindy-Lou's leg muscles (and sideburns) grew as she let her shifter nature take over. She then lept a whole 20 feet and grabbed the final messenger in mid flight, landing on the slippery railing. Twisting as she fell over the edge of the skybridge, Cindy-Lou managed to just grab hold of the railing with her free hand. One of her companions was there to help her back to her feet. The small metal ball was handed to the wizard, Serena, to study. She knew it to be a warforged device, known as a Final Messenger. Serena decided to ensconce the device for "further study". The noise of battle must have been heard over the cascading water, as shouts of "Murder!" and "There they are, down there!" were heard, soon followed by the shrill, yet distant whistles of the City Watch. Serena took this as her cue to exit and used her quarterstaff to pole-vault over the railing of the skybridge, into the darkness below. This did not seem to faze her companions - maybe because they knew she had prepared the Feather Fall spell. Maybe not. The City Watch soon arrived, but not before the party had searched the fallen bodies. Most notibly, Cindy-Lou secreted away the satchel which contained the journal that the warforged had been so eager to get its 6 fingers on. Thanks partly to his dwarven heritage, but mostly to his diplomatic skill, Golgard convinced the dwarven Sergeant that they were unlucky passers-by that acted purely in self-defence. This was backed up by a woman who came forward from the growing crowd. Sergeant Dolom grunted his acceptance to the party, which, for a dwarf, indicates that he was highly impressed. The party left the scene after showing their identification papers and leaving contact details. Shortly after leaving the skybridge, the party was approached by a running figure. A man, bearing a signet ring of House Cannith, gave a message to the party: "If you would know the truth of Bonal Geldem's murder, go to the Broken Anvil tavern at dawn". He then turned and ran off into the darkness. Cindy-Lou decided to follow the man, trailed him to a residence and decided to simply take note of its location before heading back to her companions. Ipima, Cindy-Lou and Golgard all agreed to meet at the Broken Anvil at dawn and then went their seperate ways. Golgard headed back to the Temple of Onatar and Cindy-Lou back to her home. Serena made her way back to the mid levels of Dalannan Tower, after floating down safely to a platform thirty levels below, and headed towards Ipima's residence. Coincidentally, Ipima made his way to Serena's residence. Concern for a fellow party member? Or was there something going on that the rest of the party didn't want to know about? They caught up with each other and Ipima told Serena what had gone down after she had jumped over the side of the skybridge. Ipima then headed home. Serena decided that she no longer needed the Final Messenger that she stashed in her robes for "further study". She decided to pawn the device for a tidy profit. She decided that the rest of the party did not need to know about this (especially Dimlord). Darsaine had been travelling around Sharn most of the day, shaking his head at the cosmopolitian lifestyle of Sharn. Eventually he found his target - the Temple of Onatar. He had just recently put his name on the Morgrave University Adventurer Roster, in the hope of finding a party to further his needs. He was given the name and residence of Golgard as a point of contact for a suitable party and was seeking him out. Asking an acolyte to fetch Golgard, Darsaine didn't seem to care that it was midnight and Golgard was probably asleep. He also wouldn't have been aware that Golgard was a dwarf, and most people would sooner risk waking a hybernating bear than a sleeping dwarf. Luckily, Golgard had not yet settled into bed, and met with Darsaine. They swapped pleasantries (grunts), brief histories, and Darsaine learned of the dawn meeting at Broken Anvil. All, bar Dimlord, met at the Broken Anvil at dawn, with Cindy-Lou arriving a little earlier in order to have a greasy breakfast. They were ushered by the matron, Mortisha d'Ghaj, to a table, where a lady of obvious nobility was waiting. The lady introduced herself as Elaydren d'Vown, of House Cannith, and produced a House Cannith signet ring to verify this. She was obviously disturbed at the death of Bonal Geldem. She revealed that she was from the nation of Aundair and that Bonal was working with her towards the return of a ancient family heirloom - a schema. The design of the schema (as with most schemas) was lost in history, but the importance to the d'Vown family was not due to its mystical nature, but rather due to the role it played in the d'Vown ancestral history. Bonal believed that he had tracked down the location of the heirloom, and was due to meet with Elaydren to organise its recovery. It was obvious to Lady Elaydren that the Lord of the Blades has decided that he wants the schema, but it was perplexing to her as to why it would be important to him. Golgard had a strong sense of deja vu when he heard this. Elaydren explained that Bonal had written instructions on how to find the suspected location of the heirloom in his journal. She had heard about how the party had rendered Bonal's assassin inert, and hoped that they might find the missing journal and follow the instructions inside it to retreive the heirloom. Elaydren would fund the mission and would reward the party with 1000gp. Despite the fact that the party was eager to become adventurers; the fact that Elaydren was offering more gold than any of them had seen in their lifetime; and the fact that Cindy-Lou had the journal under her vest - the party seemed to think that this mission was not one to be accepted with gusto. After much haggling, the party managed to increase the reward by 250gp, but failed to extort any gold from Elaydren immediately - she insisted on the retreval of the "missing" journal before any money would trade hands. The party decided to discuss in private their options, during which Cindy-Lou produced the secreted journal. The journal appeared to contain empty pages, but the suspicious nature of the wizards revealed that some sort of magic was involved. Attempts at vandalising the journal proved fruitless, and so Cindy-Lou left to confer with her "locksmithing friends" in order to find a mighty wizard that may be able to bypass the magic that protected the journal. Again, this proved fruitless. The party decided to meet again with Elaydren, and handed over the journal, almost reluctantly. The symbol on the journal's leather cover ended up being a primitive version of the House Cannith seal. When Lady Elaydren touched her House Cannith signet ring to the symbol, the journal's magical protection was dispelled, revealing Bonal's notes. Elaydren located Bonal's findings regarding the d'Vown family heirloom. Bonal believed that the heirloom would be located deep within Dorasharn Tower, 57 levels below the tower's present day sewer system. A seal with the same symbol on Bonal's journal would mark the entrance and this would be found somewhere beyond the E-213 Valve Cluster. "The relic is an adamantine plate in the shape of a seven-pointed star about the size of your hand" she informed the party. "Will you accept our previous terms?" Elaydren also offered the good will of House Cannith, and handed over her signet ring to them, so that they may exchange it for a House Cannith favour in the future. The party also believed that her signet ring might be useful for opening the seal. The party had now accepted Elaydrens terms: a total of 250gp each, 100gp of which would be up-front, so that the party could equip themselves before they travel to the sewer levels. Golgard visited his cousin who had ties to sewer level folk and requested a favour from him. He requested that his cousin enquire about the location of the E-213 Valve Cluster, since the map in Bonal's only showed the way to the correct sewer system, not the valve cluster itself. After several hours, Golgard received word that although his cousin could not locate the valve cluster itself, he gave a name of someone who most likely could: Skakan, a male goblin merchant and head of Rat's Market. Golgard was advised that Skakan is an excellent scout of the sewer systems, but can be difficult to deal with unless some of his merchandise is purchased. His cousin also told Golgard about those who had adventured deep below the sewer level before - those that had come back alive swore that fire was their best weapon. It seemed that Golgard's influence in House Kundarak had provided him with some useful information. The party found a well stocked general store and started spending the money that Elaydren had given to them as a deposit. They took heed of the works of Golgard's cousin and made sure they had torches, oil, and several alchemical concoctions. It was unusual that the store was empty and didn't seem to have much security, but the friendly nature of the human shop keeper settled any concerns the that party may have had. Darsaine was still thinking about his purchases by the time the rest of the party had finished, and so told the rest of the party to go ahead without him and that he'll catch up in a minute. One Colour Spray spell and a kick to the head was all it took for Darsaine to get all his purchases at a bargain price. The party made their way through the maze of magic-driven force-elevators, staircases and skybridges in order to get to the correct sewer system. With the help of Bonal's map, it only took a few hours to reach it. After a few minutes Rat's Market was located and Skakan was approached by the party. Serena quickly bought up everything that Skakan had for display on his rotten blanket and quickly offered it all back to him if he would lead them to E-213 Valve Cluster. Skakan instantly warmed to the adventurers and felt that he had found some people that he could call "friend". The money that Serena had given him would be enough to pay for his daughter's education, and he was overjoyed that she would not have to deal in roasted rats and live in the sewers for the rest of her life! During all this, Darsaine and Cindy-Lou noticed a male shifter paying particular attention to them. Darsaine headed towards him, but the shifter dissolved into the crowd as soon as he realised he was noticed. Skakan quickly lead the party to the staircase of the E-213 Valve Cluster. The party was thankless and forcefully insisted that Skakan take them into the Valve Cluster itself. Skakan had no choice. The light offered by Darsaine's bargain-price everbright lantern showed that, indeed, E-213 was a cluster of valves. Periodically, one of the valves would open and a torrent of sewage would spill forth into the disgusting stream below. Ipima's anger at having to deal with the goblin trader had just started to reach boiling point and he knew, from past experience, that he must seek an outlet for his anger before he loses his composure. Ipima realised that Skakan would probably fit into one of those valves (or at least his head would) and decided to give it a try. As Ipima was marching the shrieking Skakan towards the nearest valve, something lept out of the shadows at him... It was a surprisingly stealthy warforged. "Give me Bonal Geldem's journal and I will let you live!" screamed the warforged. This warforged was a bit bulker than the previous one that had attacked them, and had a distinctly male voice. Ipima backflipped out of the way of the warforged's rapier as he smashed the screeching goblin into its plated torso. Skakan fell instantly, leaving a dent in the warforged. The warforged fell within seconds, as it was pounded by warhammers, quarterstaffs and spells. Golgard was prepared for the detacting final messenger and, with more agility than a dwarf should possess, managed to snatch it as it shot towards the stairs. The party did not have time to relax, as two male shifters came charging through the foot-deep sewage towards them. Darsaine recognised one of them as the shifter that was tailing them up in Rat's Market. The shifters did not get far, as Ipima tripped up first of them with his spiked-chain, sending him face-first into the sewage. The second of them was downed by a sudden torrent of sewage from a valve that happened to open just as he ran by it. The rest of the party made sure that the first shifter never got up again. The second shifter managed to just pull himself out of the **** (literally - not figuratively) as Ipima knocked him out with the blunter side of his spiked chain. With their enemies and their scout defeated, the party started the usual looting of their bodies. Ipima bound the shifter that he had knocked out. Darsaine made sure that the other shifter and Skakan were dead, by slitting their throats, and then took the money that the goblin had on him. This brought a subdued grin to Ipima's face and a look of horror on Golgard's. Serena also had a look of horror on her face, when she realised that Darsaine was taking all the gold that she had given the goblin merchant earlier. So ends Session 1!
BullyBoy 12-13-04, 06:34 AM	Golgard's Journal Entry I prayed very strongly in the morning prayer session today, asking Onatar to guide me to the temple's lost Schema. My mind aches under the pressure to maintain the honour of Kundarak House. Without the recovery of the Schema, my honour and my life will be worthless. Those who have dared to insult Onatar by stealing this most holy of items, will be dealt with mercilessly. During prayer I find my thought constantly straying to the motivation of the cowardly thieves. How many were there? How did they breach the Arcane Lock? What worth is it to them, or those they serve? When will I find them and the Schema? As the wise old Priest suggested, my only chance is to go out amongst the adventurers and let Onatar's hand guide me to the relic. I spent the rest of the day in martial training with the temple's newest acolytes. Later that evening I arrived at the meeting place to discuss adventuring with my assigned party. None of the other party members had arrived as I walked into the tavern. I was always interested in the outside world, and secretly enjoyed being absolved of monastic duties for a couple hours. It was another uneventful meeting; so much so that Dimlord hadn't even bothered to turn up. So much for adventuring. Perhaps the High Priest was wrong. The large man, calling himself Ipima, idly played with his spiked chair [DM: "chair" is a typo - he meant "chain", but since this has become a big in-joke, I have left the spelling as is :)] as we sat at the table. I'm no stranger to martial combat, and I feel this fellow would be quite useful in a fight (if we ever see action). Ipima offered news that the university had recently been investigating several strange events in Sharn, but offered nothing more specific. The elven mage, Serena, scoffed at Ipima's trifle, drawing the fighter's steely gaze. I've never liked magic-users, they seem to harbour power without constraints and honour. The cat-like shifter, Cindy-Lou, offered little conversation of her own. Although engaged by the banter at the table, she quietly purred at the end of the table with her head resting on her furry forearms. After a mug of ale which often lubricated such meetings, we concluded that no adventure was in our sights, for the moment at least. Cindy-Lou graciously opened the tavern door for us. She is an odd looking creature, but seemingly nice enough. Although I got the feeling that she was very intently observing our belongings as she held open the door. Our disheartened group trudged through the rain back to our respective homes. As we approached the bridge I could make out a dark figure lunge at another figure which then crumpled on the bridge. Moments later the dark figure had leapt over the side of the bridge into the gloom. As we walked closer we saw an old man lay motionless on the bridge. I ran forward to heal the figure, only to find I was too late. I began to pat him down to find whatever may have caused his unfortunate demise. Opening a pouch on his person, I found a few coins and was shocked to hear the words, "Weak flesh being!". As I whipped around a large warforged appeared in front of the party on the bridge. I watched helplessly as it swung its battleaxe towards me, catching me in the side. I staggered back, regained composure and leapt at the warforged with my warhammer crying "Onatar!". The warhammer landed a crushing blow on the warforged's head, the light in its eyes dimming momentarily. Ipima swung around to finish off the attacking warforged with his spiked chain, landing a hit square in its chest. As it fell, an odd thing happened. A small ball with tiny wings burst out of its chest. I was agog at this, although I'd seen plenty of warforged before, I'd never seen a dead one. Did they all do this? As I watched the ball shoot off Cindy-Lou appeared to take more cat-like appearance, but in the gloom I must be mistaken. She then leapt 30 feet in the air at the (what Serena called) Final Messenger as it launched. Catching the Final Messenger mid-flight, she neatly somersaulted and landed gracefully on the bridge parapet. Now that the melee appeared to have finished I relaxed, and watched the others search the old man's body for clues as to the reason of his murder. As the group rifled through the man's belongings, I began to hear shouts in the distance. A small group began to gather around us, gawking at the bodies on the bridge. A few shouts of 'Murder' started to filter through the crowd, which alarmed me greatly. The last thing I needed was a further blow to my family honour. The crowd grew until finally the city guard arrived. A dwarf headed up the contingent of the city guard so I approached him with the details of the melee. He seemed satisfied with my version of events, but watched us uneasily as we returned home. As we left the scene, we were approached by a person who advised us to meet at the tavern the next day. Perplexed by the mysterious events of the evening I found it difficult to sleep. Just as I was drifting off to sleep a knock at the door of my quarters startled me. As I opened the door I was greeted by a young acolyte who informed me that I had a caller at the main temple doors. The late hour of the visitor gave no clue as to the identity of the this visitor. When I arrived at the main temple doors to greet the visitor I was still without any idea of who they were. The visitor claimed to have been advised to contact me in Sharn to gain adventuring experience. Although I was unsure of this dark stranger I relayed the plans for tomorrow evening and bade him goodnight. By now I was thoroughly engaged in the nights events and took some time to drift off to sleep.
BullyBoy 12-13-04, 06:41 AM	Darsaine's Background Darsaine d'Oul (Eldritch Master from Thessalonica, Aerenal) Darsaine arrived in Sharn from Thessalonica, Living City of the Dead, 2 days ago. His life before his time in the Bleak Hollow is gone, vanquished by necromancy and indoctrination. Even this amount of information is notable compared to what is known about Thessalonica; or should I say not known. Those who have seen Thessalonica, the Grey Waste, speak of the dead walking the streets, where necromancers ply their trade in the open streets, and zombies feast on the homeless and weak given the opportunity. Body Factories, Thrall Mines, and Soul Towers are common place. The skies are filled with an eternal ashen mist, where sunshine is simply a lighter shade of black, vampires are despised due to their half-bred lineage, and happenstance visitors are either enslaved or taken for Remaking. In this place, where life is cheap and death is a commodity, Darsaine was once Quartermaster to House Oul. His former life had taught him skill in melee, and when he arrived in a Thrall Mine belonging to House Oul, his untapped magical talents were sensed by the resident Cabal. Taken from the barless cage of the mines, Darsaine's mind was stripped and refilled, trained to be a House soldier. His spirit, though ransacked by the rebuilding process, still retained its identity. It was this identity that led him to rise through the ranks, displaying an initiative and loyalty rare amongst House Oul's minions. After successfully saving the life of his Mistress, he was rewarded with his identity. The life before his time in Thessalonica was still held from him, but he regained his full independance and free-will. Once the process was complete (an agonizing ordeal over many days) Darsaine was promoted to Quartermaster and adopted his House's namesake - d'Oul. For many years he loyally served and protected his Mistress and Master and the House Family. During this time his knowledge of eldritch ways, of machinery, alchemy, war and politics grew. He became adept and neutralising problems before they were even deemed so. He saw his Masters use great powers, and learned some of their ways himself. It was a great time, a period of learning and power. But Thessalonica is a very political city, with maneuverings and murder common place. It was during a particularly bloody royal war that Darsaine failed in his duty and saw his Master fall. The Mistress, ever thankful to him for saving her life all those years ago, arranged for Darsaine to flee the wrathful anger of her son, the Master Heir. Even so, she could not let him go unguarded. Wiping his mind of House Oul's secrets, she took from him the knowledge he had gained since his 'reawakening'. His spirit, that element which House Oul years ago had underestimated, held fast to small kernels of knowledge. Without a backward glance, Darsaine fled into the Ash Desert, his mind awash with flashes of insight and knowledge the Mistress thought stripped. One thing he will never forget - his his heart longs for Thessalonica, for the only home he has ever known. A home he can never return to, not as long as House Oul exists. Notes: The Mark of Death - it is alive and well (pun intended), in Thessalonica. All Houses in Thessalonica are decended from House Vol, including House Oul. Thessalonica formed 1600 years ago, when those of House Vol fled from their slaughter. The various Houses in Thessalonica formed due to infighting and desputes over who of the surviving d'Vol family should rule the newly formed Thessalonica. If any one House ever managed to gain enough political power in Thessalonica to rule it properly, they would probably reclaim the d'Vol name and lead the undead and thrall armies against the rest of Aerenal to exact the long awaited vengence that all in Thessalonica crave. Likewise, if the other Aerenal elves ever learnt of Thessalonica's existance, they would surely attack until either Thessalonica is destroyed, or every man, woman and child on Aerenal is dead. Darsaine is into the mysteries and potential power from studying death and undeath, but not one who is into unnecessary slaughter. Thus he does not want such a war to happen and therefore will keep the secret of Thessalonica a secret... (hopefully). Thessalonica is a MAJORLY hidden city in Aerenal. Nobody outside of Thessalonica (other than Darsaine) has even heard of the place. It is debateable whether Vol herself even knows of it or not. It has major magics to hide it, and may even be in a quasi-plane, only accessable from Aerenal and only known about by the Houses that now occupy it. As part of the remaking process, thralls and the like are magically instilled with a desire to never leave Thessalonica, and if they for some reason are outside the city and desert's cloaking mists, will have an urgent desire to return. Darsaine's spirit, that which survived the remaking process, makes him resistant to this 'return spell'. But since his mind and spirit has been screwed around with a number of times, whenever he is effected by some sort of mind or spirit magic, there is a chance of triggering the desire to return to Thessalonica - he'll be fully aware of what has happened, and he'll have full control of his actions, but will basically be like a junkie that is addicted to Thessalonica, i.e. he NEEDS it! Darsaine remembers everything about Thessalonica: its politics, economy, etc. He remembers that he was Quartermaster for House Oul, though he doesn't remember any of the skills/talents he had (ergo he starts the campaign at Level One). He remembers all his personal details, but he *doesn't* remember the secrets and rituals of House Oul (eldritch machines, spells, etc). He also forgets where in Thessalonica to find the House. His mind was wiped to protect the House, thats all. Besides, who in their right mind would want to go there? Darsaine does not have any potential for Mark of Death. He adopted the d'Oul name - he was not born into it, and therefore is not a decendant of Vol.
BOK2 12-13-04, 12:13 PM	Nice Sounds like your players are really into your campaign. One question thou, why were they so mean to Skakan, did they really have to kill the poor guy... just think about his daughter... I have a soft spot in my heart for goblins... Eberron goblins that is:)
BullyBoy 12-14-04, 02:23 AM	why were they so mean to Skakan, did they really have to kill the poor guy... just think about his daughter... Well, Darsaine was the killer - the rest didn't have much of a chance to stop him. Darsaine isn't an evil character, but if you read his background you'll see that all that he has ever known is death and destruction. The player is purposely playing him this way - Darsaine is new to this continent and will soon learn that just because you no longer have a use for someone, you can't just kill them. Ipima was a little mean to Skakan as well, using him as a weapon against the Warforged that ambushed them. But, as you'll soon see when I post Ipima's background, he has a hatred against all goblinoids.
BullyBoy 12-15-04, 04:35 AM	The Party: Dimlord Sword Magnet - warforged 1/Fighter with a male personality. Cindy-Lou - female shifter "locksmith journeyman" (1/Rogue), of the Leaper pack. Golgard d'Kundarak - male dragonmarked dwarven 1/Cleric of Onatar, a direct descendant of House Kundarak. Ipima - male human 1/Psychic Warrior and spiked chain enthusiast. Darsaine - male elven 1/Wizard (although, calls himself an Edritch Master), recently arrived from mysterious Aerenal. Serena - female elven 1/Wizard, from Sharn. Session 2: Down the poo chute. The party threatened, beat and questioned the captured shifter, learning that he was simply a hired thug for the warforged. After the shifter revealed the portal that they were hired to protect, the party let him leave with all body parts. The portal had the pre-Galifar symbol of House Cannith on it - the same symbol that was on Bonal's journal. After a bit of experimentation, Darsaine held the book up against the door, which swung open. Darsaine lept through the portal before he could see what was on the other side. He then fell, screaming, into the vertical shaft that was just beyond the portal. The rest of the party heard a few bumps and crashes and then Darsaine's screaming stopped. There was an eerie silence. Golgard noticed that this shaft was not man-made or natural. His instincts told him that some subterrainian beasty chewed through the solid rock and formed this shaft - probably some acid-slobbering, great, big, wormy thing. The only comfort that he had was that he believed that the beasty chewed its way through the rock more than a century ago. That, and Darsaine's recent trip. The rest of the party slowly made their way down the shaft. Serena used an arcane spell to make herself as light as a feather and Ipima tagged along for the ride down. Cindy-Lou and Golgard used ropes to get part of the way down the shaft (with Golgard climbing up and down a couple times in order to tie a couple lengths of rope together). Cindy-Lou used her climbing skills and claws to make it the rest of the way down, while Ipima used his psionic prowess to run back up the shaft and grab Golgard, who was then piggybacked by Ipima for the stomach-swallowing run back down the shaft. By the time the whole party was down in the horizontal part of the shaft, Darsaine's bruises had been tended to and he was nursing his head and his pride. The party followed the shaft until they came across a cave-in. Luckily it seemed to consist of sand and dirt, but no heavy rocks, and so the party started the task of digging through it to the other side. Dimlord had no idea how long he had been trapped in his sand-prison. There was no sensory input to judge the passage of time. Had it been a few days or a few years? Would he eventually die or would he be here for all eternity? It was during one of these ponderings that Dimlord heard something... Something or someone was close by. It was then that the party unearthed the immobile form of Dimlord. Dimlord burst free from his sand-prison, roaring. He tried to take a deep breath and blink the sand from out of his eyes, forgetting that he can no more blink than he can breathe. Dimlord seemed confused, angry, and slightly imbalanced - the cave-in seemed to have done no physical damage, but looked to have somehow damaged his mind ever so slightly. After calming down enough to talk sense, the party swapped stories with Dimlord. This did nothing to calm him down though, since the party told Dimlord that he had been down here "a long time" and that they would not be sharing any of the reward they had been promised for returning the schema that they believed was down here somewhere. Luckily no weapons were drawn and the party continued on for a couple of hours until the shaft ended at a large cavern. Air flowed through the cavern, indicating that it was large and had more than exit. Some buildings, ruined by time could also be made out in the gloom. Golgard, Cindy-Lou, Serena and Ipima ventured forward, inspecting the ruins. It was then that a chittering sound could be made out by Serena and Cindy-Lou. The chittering became louder and the source of the creepy sound was soon revealed as a large swarm of fist-sized beetles ran toward Serena. Serena, Cindy-Lou and, soon after, Ipima all battled the beetle swarm and quickly sent them scurrying by a good use of alchemist's fire and spiked chain sweeps. During the battle, Dimlord could be heard shouting about wanting gold and threatened the party with his own flask of alchemist's fire. Once the beetles had fled, some more exploring of the ruins was performed. Serena found a building that was still standing and went over to explore. At the same time, two large rats, covered in bony armoured plates and dripping caustic saliva from their nasty fangs, came out of the ruins and attacked Cindy-Lou. The rats were coordinated and showed no signs of backing off, even when death was close. Cindy-Lou suffered horrendous wounds, but Ipima, Golgard and even Dimlord decided to intervene, distracting the rats from Cindy-Lou and thus saving her life. Darsaine fired a crossbow into battle, missing both rats (and narrowly missing Golgard). One of the beasts was literally shredded into two by Ipima's vicious spiked chain, while the other was finished off by Darsaine's nicely lobbed alchemist's fire. Was this the first signs of (near) cohesion in the party? So ends Session 2!
BullyBoy 12-15-04, 04:44 AM	Cindy-Lou's Background Name: Cindy-Lou. Age: About 19 or 20. An orphan child of the streets, Cindy-Lou was lucky enough to be taken in by a kindly old gent who'd fallen on hard times (read: Fagin from Oliver Twist), along with a bunch of other urchins (humans and halflings mostly, but a few shifters, an couple of elves and even a dwarf). Learning some slightly less-than-kosher trades, she ran away after the old duffer had an unfortunate 'accident' at the hands of one of the older members of the crew. Times were tough for a couple of years, but in the City of Towers, there's ample opportunity for them that's willing to jump for the ring. So jump she did. Found herself a mentor, of sorts, an ex-adventurer, now running a hole-in-the-wall shop. Also a Shifter, she had apparently turned to the legit side of padlocks: making them. This was just a cover though, for her real bread-winning activity: burglary. When sprung on a job (and then followed home) by Cindy-Lou, she was given two options: Either take Cindy on as an apprentice, or receive a visit from the City Constabulary. Deciding that Cindy-Lou's skills were sufficient for the task, the adventurer took Cindy in, and began training her in the wider skills of the Rogue. Not to mention those of her racial heritage. [DM: Cindy-Lou is a new breed of Shifter, called Leapers. The trait of this breed is Jump (as per spell). :bounce:]
BullyBoy 12-15-04, 04:48 AM	Golgard's Background Golgard d'Kundarak was born to the ways of Kundarak House, his Dragonmark evident at birth. Schooled in the Kundarak ways of Warding, Golgard appeared predestined to secure, and hopefully increase, the honour of his House. At the age of 40 Golgard was urged to fulfil his sacred duty to Onatar by using his Dragonmark powers for the good of the Sharn temple - partly due to his own compulsion to serve Onatar, but also to bestow honour on his ancestors. During his first few years at the Sharn temple, Golgard was tutored in ways of martial combat and religious servitude. :angel: As the years passed he was honoured to be charged with the protection of the Schema of Onatar. The Schema was the deity's most revered and ancient artefact. While the function of the Schema had been lost to the eons, it remained a potent symbol of the temple's eternal nature. Golgard specific duties in the protection of the Schema involved applying his Dragonmark power to secure the display case. Each day Golgard would spend hours in prayer, martial training and guarding the Schema. The Arcane Lock he had cast upon the display case was tested each day to ensure that the artefact remained secure. When the Schema was stolen last month it came as a tremendous shock to the temple, and as a personal affront to Golgard's honour. While theft from temples was nothing new, the theft of something of importance only to the Temple of Onatar was profoundly strange. When the High Priest of Sharn ordered the investigation, Golgard felt honourbound to return the Schema and meter justice to the perpetrators. Failure is not an option to Golgard, and he will respond harshly to those who have threatened the honour of him and his House.