Public bathhouse operated by Orak. Powered by a decanter of endless water that Orak found during his adventuring days, there are a number of individual baths and a few larger group ones, as well as numerous fragrance soaps and oils available on request.
Since Orak was mesmerized by Drakthar, the decanter has gone missing and Orak has been forced to semi-close the bathhouse, since he has no workers and can only fill and empty one group bath by himself.
Orak
Middle aged male dwarf. Retired adventurer who now operates Orak's Bathhouse. Lost an eye while adventuring and wears a black silk eyepatch with a small ruby inset into the center.
Greatly appreciates the Stormhammers for clearing out Drakthar's minions beneath his bathhouse (fortunately doesn't remember the beating they laid on him prior to heading underground) and for recovering his decanter of endless water for him from Tarkilar, Skaven and Triel. As thanks, any member of the Stormhammers has lifetime free baths and access to his scented soaps and fragrances.
Triel Lanthenmire
One of the names the ghost of Drakthar mentioned in Session 8 - The Flood Festival when asked who he sold Orak's decanter of endless water to.
The party also learned that Triel took the 7 wands of control water from Sarcem after murdering him at the Lucky Monkey.
Later, they found out that her last name is Lanthenmire, and she is the sister of Cora Lanthenmire. Triel was formerly a member of the town guard in Cauldron, but 3 years ago she seemingly went mad while on patrol and murdered 3 of her fellow guards. More guards arrived and fought her off, and she fled the city, seriously wounded. Nothing has been heard from her since so she was assumed dead. The Lanthenmires immediately disowned her and struck her name from any family records.
According to a female bandit hired by Triel who the Stormhammers questioned, Triel has wild, fiery red hair, wears black spiked fullplate decorated with a black ram (the symbol of the evil god Bane) and has a lot of tattoos.
The Stormhammers confronted Triel in Session 13 - Triel vs. the Stormhammers and after a long, intense battle, defeated her. Afterward they decided it was too dangerous to let her live, and they executed her. She had one of the wands of control water on her, as well as a black iron key on a keyring.
The party also learned that Triel took the 7 wands of control water from Sarcem after murdering him at the Lucky Monkey.
Later, they found out that her last name is Lanthenmire, and she is the sister of Cora Lanthenmire. Triel was formerly a member of the town guard in Cauldron, but 3 years ago she seemingly went mad while on patrol and murdered 3 of her fellow guards. More guards arrived and fought her off, and she fled the city, seriously wounded. Nothing has been heard from her since so she was assumed dead. The Lanthenmires immediately disowned her and struck her name from any family records.
According to a female bandit hired by Triel who the Stormhammers questioned, Triel has wild, fiery red hair, wears black spiked fullplate decorated with a black ram (the symbol of the evil god Bane) and has a lot of tattoos.
The Stormhammers confronted Triel in Session 13 - Triel vs. the Stormhammers and after a long, intense battle, defeated her. Afterward they decided it was too dangerous to let her live, and they executed her. She had one of the wands of control water on her, as well as a black iron key on a keyring.
The Lucky Monkey
The Lucky Monkey
A small inn located a day's travel from Cauldron, it is a common stop for people traveling through the region. There is a small shrine to Avandra where travelers can say a quick prayer.
It is owned and operated by Nather.
Shensen also lives at the inn when she is not traveling.
UPDATE: The inn has been attacked and ransacked by bandits, and all its employees and patrons slain except Shensen. The inn is currently in ruins, and bloodstains and bandit corpses are scattered throughout the building. The once-beautiful courtyard is now burned and barren.
A small inn located a day's travel from Cauldron, it is a common stop for people traveling through the region. There is a small shrine to Avandra where travelers can say a quick prayer.
It is owned and operated by Nather.
Shensen also lives at the inn when she is not traveling.
UPDATE: The inn has been attacked and ransacked by bandits, and all its employees and patrons slain except Shensen. The inn is currently in ruins, and bloodstains and bandit corpses are scattered throughout the building. The once-beautiful courtyard is now burned and barren.
The Stormblades
The Stormblades
A local adventuring group. Each of the members are born from one of Cauldron's noble families. Rivals with the Stormhammers.
Jenya asked them to look into the kidnappings, but they said they were busy with other tasks.
They recently defeated a tribe of kobolds who had kidnapped a girl from Redgorge. The Lord Mayor also hired them to collapse the tunnels leading down into Gnomeregan so that the magic plague would not rise to the city.
Upon hearing of the theft of the wands of control water, the Lord Mayor asked them to travel with haste to Sasserine, the nearest major city, and purchase more wands. They did so, but returned just after the Stormhammers had recovered the stolen wands, which irks the Stormblades greatly.
Female half-elf bard. Regal, beautiful and arrogant.
Member (leader) of the Stormblades.
Her fantastically wealthy family is one of the noble families of Cauldron. Her father Ankhin owns the various mining operations around the area and is quite involved in local politics.
Detests the Stormhammers, especially Snake Eyes, who bested her at both a singing and a dancing contest.
Female human warrior. Wears scale mail, a heavy shield and a bastard sword. Loves to fight, drink, and compete.
Member of the Stormblades.
Has an interesting relationship with Bonesaw of the Stormhammers. They hooked up during the Demonskar Ball.
Her family is one of the noble families in Cauldron. They have are wealthy importers and distributors of supplies, equipment, weapons and armor and other materials.
The party has learned that she and Bonesaw have retired from adventuring and have run off together. They imagine the Stormblades are not happy about this turn of events.
Zachary Hawkwinter
Male half-elf cleric of Kord. Wears scale mail and a warmaul. Handsome and charming, but not too bright. Offends easily.
Member of the Stormblades.
Snake Eyes pickpocketed Zachary's platinum holy symbol of Kord when the two groups first met. Zachary has since had it replaced, but still wonders what happened to it.
The Hawkwinters are one of the noble families in Cauldron. They are heavily involved in art & antiquities, but also have investments in more mundane trade goods, be it clothing, textiles, art or foods. They also host the annual Demonskar Ball.
At the Ball, helped host the event and greet guests, and played the part of Surabar Spellmason during the dance re-enactment of the battle between Spellmason and Aggannar.
Member of the Stormblades.
The Vanderborens are one of the noble families in Cauldron. They own a great deal of property in the city, and manage / sell real estate in town and in the surrounding regions. They own or have a stake in many of the common businesses in town.
A local adventuring group. Each of the members are born from one of Cauldron's noble families. Rivals with the Stormhammers.
Jenya asked them to look into the kidnappings, but they said they were busy with other tasks.
They recently defeated a tribe of kobolds who had kidnapped a girl from Redgorge. The Lord Mayor also hired them to collapse the tunnels leading down into Gnomeregan so that the magic plague would not rise to the city.
Upon hearing of the theft of the wands of control water, the Lord Mayor asked them to travel with haste to Sasserine, the nearest major city, and purchase more wands. They did so, but returned just after the Stormhammers had recovered the stolen wands, which irks the Stormblades greatly.
Annah Taskerhill
Female half-elf bard. Regal, beautiful and arrogant.
Member (leader) of the Stormblades.
Her fantastically wealthy family is one of the noble families of Cauldron. Her father Ankhin owns the various mining operations around the area and is quite involved in local politics.
Detests the Stormhammers, especially Snake Eyes, who bested her at both a singing and a dancing contest.
Cora Lanthenmire
Female human warrior. Wears scale mail, a heavy shield and a bastard sword. Loves to fight, drink, and compete.
Member of the Stormblades.
Has an interesting relationship with Bonesaw of the Stormhammers. They hooked up during the Demonskar Ball.
Her family is one of the noble families in Cauldron. They have are wealthy importers and distributors of supplies, equipment, weapons and armor and other materials.
The party has learned that she and Bonesaw have retired from adventuring and have run off together. They imagine the Stormblades are not happy about this turn of events.
Zachary Hawkwinter
Male half-elf cleric of Kord. Wears scale mail and a warmaul. Handsome and charming, but not too bright. Offends easily.
Member of the Stormblades.
Snake Eyes pickpocketed Zachary's platinum holy symbol of Kord when the two groups first met. Zachary has since had it replaced, but still wonders what happened to it.
The Hawkwinters are one of the noble families in Cauldron. They are heavily involved in art & antiquities, but also have investments in more mundane trade goods, be it clothing, textiles, art or foods. They also host the annual Demonskar Ball.
At the Ball, helped host the event and greet guests, and played the part of Surabar Spellmason during the dance re-enactment of the battle between Spellmason and Aggannar.
Todd Vanderboren
Male human rogue. Wears red leather armor and carries a mace. Possesses some kind of teleportation ability. Kind of weaselly looking, shifty. Nervous twitches.Member of the Stormblades.
The Vanderborens are one of the noble families in Cauldron. They own a great deal of property in the city, and manage / sell real estate in town and in the surrounding regions. They own or have a stake in many of the common businesses in town.
The Stormhammers (dead, discarded, retired)
Vargas - Warforged Artificer. Played by Shaun. Discarded after Session 1 - Laughs in the Alley.
Human Artificer (formerly Warforged). Played by Shaun. Character #1/#10.
Backstory: Used to be trapped in a heavy suit of armor. He was working in his lab but was attacked by an unseen foe; mortally wounded, he managed to infuse his life force into a decorative suit of armor that his uncle had given him years ago. Since everyone he knew found his lifeless body, no one knew he was still alive, and so he was traveling around under a fake name trying to discover clues to who attacked him.
Discarded after Session 1 - Laughs in the Alley because both Shaun and the DM didn't realize how unfun artificers were to play because of their 1-minute long infusion cast times. Became an honorary member of the Church of Pelor and serves as its handyman (since he doesn't need sleep or food), and then returned to adventuring as an artificer as Shaun's alternate character.
Artanis Bjorler - Changeling Sorcerer. Played by Jamie. Discarded after Session 2 - Investigating.
Changeling Sorcerer. Played by Jamie.
Twin brother of Huron. Usually adopts the form of Huron in everyday life.
Crafts candles in his spare time. Thinks he can craft other things as well, but actually can't.
The Incident: When the twins were roughly 12 years of age, a tragic event forever changed their lives. They were playing outside when they heard a commotion coming from their home. Being young and curious, the two young boys went to investigate the excitement. But when they arrived, they had found that someone, or something had brutally murdered their father and taken their mother. Fang was quick to find care for the orphaned children with their the owners of the tavern. From then on they lived as orphans under the care of their guardians, but more importantly under the watchful, caring eye of Fang.
The Twin's mission statement: To find out where and why our mother vanished, and to find out who killed our father.
Fate unknown. Wandered off at the beginning of Session 3 - Flying Brains and hasn't been seen since.
Ishmael Grimscale - Halfling Swordsage. Played by Shaun. Discarded after Session 2 - Investigating.
Halfling Swordsage. Played by Shaun. (character #2)
Wears dark, rogueish clothing and carries a pair of kukris.
Fights with fast movements and throws. As his enemies stoop to face him and put themselves off-balance, he uses their momentum to hurl them away, much to their surprise.
Dislikes the Stormblades.
"Died" at the start of Session 3 - Flying Brains when Pimchi shoved Jeppy down some stairs into him.
Jeppy - Human Barbarian. Played by Corey. Slightly modified to become Pimchi at the start of Session 3 - Flying Brains.
Human Barbarian. Played by Corey.
Wields a giant, heavy morningstar. Carries a large barrel around with him strapped to his back. Also has a pet pig, named Pig.
Jeppy is a large, muscular human male. His parents died when he was young, so her aunt & uncle took her in. His Uncle is a well-off councillor in Paradise, his aunt doesn't do much. They have a son, Pimchee.
Jeppy was very neglected growing up, and while he wasn't abused, he wasn't very loved by his adoptive family either. Pimchee, who is a slovenly boor who is fat and doesn't do much, liked to harass him.
Jeppy was picked on as a youth, because he didn't fit in with anyone. He was too athletic for the smart kids, and too smart for the jock kids. As a result, he got in a lot of fights. Because he got nothing from her family, he worked at a farm to earn some cash and develop his muscles. One kindly farmer gave him a baby piglet on his birthday a year ago, and he has taken care of it ever since (and named it Pig.)
He tends to be wary of other people because of his bad experiences with them, but trusts animals freely.
ENEMIES HORRIBLY CRUSHED: 2
Image:Jeppysketch02.jpg
"Died" at the start of Session 3 - Flying Brains when Pimchi pushed him violently down the stairs, resulting in a broken neck. He also crashed into Ishmael. Then their corpses spontaneously combusted, which was attributed to thermite.
THEN reworked so that Jeppy has been Pimchi all along. (There was no Jeppy - Corey has been playing Pimchi the whole time.)
Lord Humphrey - Human Weapon Connoisseur. Played by Shaun. Discarded after Session 3 - Flying Brains.
Human "weapon connoisseur" (fighter). Played by Shaun. (character #3)
Specialist in exotic weapons. Died in a horrific smelting accident.
Thrust "The Crusher" Splathappy - Gnome Wizard. Played by Shaun. Discarded after Session 4 - Between an Ogre and a Hard Place.
Gnome wizard. Played by Shaun. (character #4)
Freed from a magical stasis curse in Gnomeregan in Session 4 - Between an Ogre and a Hard Place.
Used to be a courier before getting trapped in the curse. Still carries around a courier's satchel with the words "Crusher Courier" on it.
Just abandoned completely at the start of Session 5 - Bulls and a Beholder, with no mention of what happened to him.
Morate Windwalker - Dwarf Favored Soul of Obad-Hai. Played by Mark. Retired after Session 4 - Between an Ogre and a Hard Place.
Dwarf Favored Soul of Obad-Hai. Played by Mark.
Morate was always a little different than his peers back at home. He hails from the Stormpike family, but was disowned when he decided to pursue his life above ground. When he made this choice, many other families that were normally allies were on the brink of shunning the Stormpikes forever. In an act to save his name Ghrimshun Stormpike, Morate's father, made a deal with a traveling group of merchants to have Morate smuggled out of the city.
When Morate was tossed out of his home, he journeyed aimlessly into the forests, not sure of where he was going, and what he would do when he got there. Days turned into weeks, but somehow the forest provided for Morate, bearing fruit to eat, trees for shelter, and a variety of herbs for when he came injured or ill. During his travels he stumbled upon a clearing, with knoll in the middle of it. The knoll was actually the home of an aged cleric, who taught Morate about Obad-Hai. It was here were Morate felt he had found his true calling, and he started studying underneath the old human to become a cleric of Obad-Hai.
The aging man saw great potential in Morate, often calling him a Favored Soul. But tragedy struck before Morate's teachings were complete; the clutches of Death began to take its hold on his teacher. It was here where Morate was given a small trinket.
Its a small vial attached to a hardened cord; its contents appear to be sand and dirt, enchanted to swirl around constantly within the vial. The vial is plugged by a cork that has a small symbol of his deity on it. It was to symbolize his graduation from pupil to cleric. His understanding of the token is that it was purely symbolic and nothing more, but when he received the vial his teacher warned him of the power and wrath he would suffer if he used the contents incorrectly. Morate contemplated the earth within the vial for quite some time, but was not able to discover it's use or hidden power. Years have passed since he last attempted to understand the vial and its purpose, but he has always felt a need to wear it... even if it seems, to him at least, nothing more than a trinket from the past.
Since then Morate has gone about his travels, looking to nature for signs of where to go. Curiously, it has led him to a group of adventurers heading for Cauldron.
Retired from adventuring after the party rescued a female dwarf from Kazmojen. They have gotten married and now live in Cauldron. Semi-came out of retirement to take part in the Drink Down The Flood competition with the party.
Blaze Carter - Half Orc Bounty Hunter. Played by Tyson. Discarded when campaign changed to 4E.
Half orc ranger. Played by Tyson.
Bounty hunter. Wields a greataxe, whip and net. Well-traveled. Had a harsh childhood so hates seeing children in danger/trouble.
Pimchi - Human Fighter. Played by Corey. Discarded when campaign changed to 4E.
Human fighter. Played by Corey.
Fat, short, and albino. Wields/throws greataxes (among other things), and likes to throw grenade-ish weapons (like alchemists fires). Has a pet pig named Pig.
Was originally Jeppy but was slightly modified to become Pimchi at the start of Session 3 - Flying Brains.
Barthalemue McKing IXX - Human Fighter. Played by Mark. Discarded when campaign changed to 4E.
Heinz Higginbotham Junior - Halfling Barbarian. Played by Shaun. Discarded when campaign changed to 4E.
Moeesha Ray - Minotaur Fighter. Played by Jennifer. Discarded when campaign changed to 4E.
Sir Steven O'Maxitaur - Minotaur Favored Soul. Played by Dale. Discarded when campaign changed to 4E.
Dragonborn avenger. Played by Dale.
Loves giant axes and breathing fire. REALLY loves breathing fire. Desperately wants to be a hero. Worships Kord and honors his deity by performing wrestling moves in the middle of combat.
Had a custom costume designed for the Demonskar Ball - a demonic giant hot dog, with the words "SIZE MATTERS" written on the front.
Infatuated with Cora Lanthenmire and hits on her whenever he can. His efforts finally paid off during the Demonskar Ball, when the two of them hooked up in a broom closet.
Eastwood - Half-Elf Cleric. Played by Justin. Discarded when campaign changed to 4E.
Half-elf cleric. Played by Justin.
Carries a lead pipe that he channels his holy light and spells through. Has a tendency to mutter incoherent things. Likes to threaten to "bust up the place." Likes to headbutt people.
Silverfang - Human Ranger. Played by Shaun. Retired, joined the city guard.
Human ranger. Played by Shaun. (character #6)
Some character that Shaun played. Not memorable.
Dangerous Deadeye Drrk Darkenson - Drow Rogue/Ranger. Played by Shaun. Retired when PHB2 came out.
Drow rogue/ranger. Played by Shaun (character #7).
Grew up as a commoner in the same drow city as Fraxx, and they became friends as youths. When Fraxx's house was destroyed Drrk tried to find him. Instead, Fraxx's father Bob found Drrk and brought Drrk to the surface so he could find Fraxx.
Fraxx - Drow Warlock. Played by Mark. Retired when PHB2 came out.
Drow warlock. Played by Mark.
Grew up in a drow city in a noble house. His house was destroyed in a coup but his father, an archmage, rescued Fraxx and brought them to the surface. Fraxx was angry and they argued, and his father teleported away, disappointed. Fraxx is now trying to find himself and figure out who he is, and then find his father and make amends.
Wears dark leather and a big hood which hides the fact that he is a drow.
Thunderbomb - Male goliath warden. Played by Shaun. Retired for no reason because he was boring.
Goliath warden. Played by Shaun (character #8).
Former chieftain of his village, and former slave of drow wizard Bob. Was freed by Bob in Session 12 - Through the Walls when Bob took Fraxx and Drrk away.
Retired to become a chef with Thog.
Lover - Male minotaur Paladin of the Raven Queen. Replaced with Gramps.
Male minotaur Paladin of the Raven Queen. Played by Corey.
Wields a gigantic executioner axe and has a horned helmet, with two holes for his natural horns so that he actually has FOUR horns protruding from his head.
Vargas - camera.gif Male human artificer. Played by Shaun. Retired because Shaun wanted to try someone else.
Human Artificer (formerly Warforged). Played by Shaun. Character #1/#10.
Backstory: Used to be trapped in a heavy suit of armor. He was working in his lab but was attacked by an unseen foe; mortally wounded, he managed to infuse his life force into a decorative suit of armor that his uncle had given him years ago. Since everyone he knew found his lifeless body, no one knew he was still alive, and so he was traveling around under a fake name trying to discover clues to who attacked him.
Discarded after Session 1 - Laughs in the Alley because both Shaun and the DM didn't realize how unfun artificers were to play because of their 1-minute long infusion cast times. Became an honorary member of the Church of Pelor and serves as its handyman (since he doesn't need sleep or food), and then returned to adventuring as an artificer as Shaun's alternate character.
Faust - Male human wizard. Played by Shaun. Discarded because Shaun he was boring.
Human Wizard. Played by Shaun. Character #11.
Some wizard that Shaun abandoned after one play session.
Bonesaw - Male dragonborn avenger. Played by Dale. Retired to date Cora.
Razeteron - Male minotaur paladin of Kord. Played by Dale until he moved away.
Wrenn - Male gnome rogue. Played by Justin (Alternate).
Gnome rogue. Played by Justin.
Focuses on being invisible and dealing out heavy sneak attack damage.
Brigs - camera.gif Male gnome sorcerer. Played by Mark. Retired as Mark doesn't play anymore.
Gnome sorcerer. Played by Mark.
Used to be a diamond inspector until Bob forcibly awoke the magical energies within him. Since then he lost his job/mansion but doesn't hold it against Bob, loving the intense magic power he now wields. Still wants to get rich and purchase a mansion again though. Also on a constant quest to discover the perfect gemstone.
His Chaos Bolt takes a form related to whatever elemental resistance he has that day, such as a small little stormcloud if he has lightning resistance.
At least partially insane, though prone to moments of surprising insight. Also prone to streaks of extremely good luck.
Asked Skie to the Ball, and they were very well received by those in attendance. Later they left together and went back to Skie's home. They dated for a while but have since broken up. The party recently found out that Skye is pregnant, but that is not why they broke up - they broke up because Skye magically branded Briggs with an arcane mark which she can use to contact him.
During a recent battle with a strange otherworldly abomination, Brigs found himself shunted to the Far Realm, a twisted, warped dimension. He spent a week there before being brought back to the normal world, but doesn't remember any specific details of his time spent there.
Gramps - Male bugbear ranger. Played by Corey. Retired as Corey doesn't play anymore.
Old bugbear male ranger. Uses a trident in one hand while he grapples and slams foes with his other hand.
Used to use an enormous bow made out of some hideous monster's spine, but gave up on archery because it took two hands, and he needed a free hand to use his puffer.
Has, and frequently uses, a puffer. Also fond of turning into a rat using his ratform armor, and took the claws from a dead umber hulk to wear as clacker-hands.
Ragnarok - Male human warlord. Played by Ryan. Retired as Ryan doesn't play anymore.
Male human warlord. Played by Ryan.
Originally comes from a charred, burned-out mirror image of our world. Fell in a lake and woke up dazed in the brush outside Cauldron, where he met the Stormhammers.
Human Artificer (formerly Warforged). Played by Shaun. Character #1/#10.
Backstory: Used to be trapped in a heavy suit of armor. He was working in his lab but was attacked by an unseen foe; mortally wounded, he managed to infuse his life force into a decorative suit of armor that his uncle had given him years ago. Since everyone he knew found his lifeless body, no one knew he was still alive, and so he was traveling around under a fake name trying to discover clues to who attacked him.
Discarded after Session 1 - Laughs in the Alley because both Shaun and the DM didn't realize how unfun artificers were to play because of their 1-minute long infusion cast times. Became an honorary member of the Church of Pelor and serves as its handyman (since he doesn't need sleep or food), and then returned to adventuring as an artificer as Shaun's alternate character.
Artanis Bjorler - Changeling Sorcerer. Played by Jamie. Discarded after Session 2 - Investigating.
Changeling Sorcerer. Played by Jamie.
Twin brother of Huron. Usually adopts the form of Huron in everyday life.
Crafts candles in his spare time. Thinks he can craft other things as well, but actually can't.
The Incident: When the twins were roughly 12 years of age, a tragic event forever changed their lives. They were playing outside when they heard a commotion coming from their home. Being young and curious, the two young boys went to investigate the excitement. But when they arrived, they had found that someone, or something had brutally murdered their father and taken their mother. Fang was quick to find care for the orphaned children with their the owners of the tavern. From then on they lived as orphans under the care of their guardians, but more importantly under the watchful, caring eye of Fang.
The Twin's mission statement: To find out where and why our mother vanished, and to find out who killed our father.
Fate unknown. Wandered off at the beginning of Session 3 - Flying Brains and hasn't been seen since.
Ishmael Grimscale - Halfling Swordsage. Played by Shaun. Discarded after Session 2 - Investigating.
Halfling Swordsage. Played by Shaun. (character #2)
Wears dark, rogueish clothing and carries a pair of kukris.
Fights with fast movements and throws. As his enemies stoop to face him and put themselves off-balance, he uses their momentum to hurl them away, much to their surprise.
Dislikes the Stormblades.
"Died" at the start of Session 3 - Flying Brains when Pimchi shoved Jeppy down some stairs into him.
Jeppy - Human Barbarian. Played by Corey. Slightly modified to become Pimchi at the start of Session 3 - Flying Brains.
Human Barbarian. Played by Corey.
Wields a giant, heavy morningstar. Carries a large barrel around with him strapped to his back. Also has a pet pig, named Pig.
Jeppy is a large, muscular human male. His parents died when he was young, so her aunt & uncle took her in. His Uncle is a well-off councillor in Paradise, his aunt doesn't do much. They have a son, Pimchee.
Jeppy was very neglected growing up, and while he wasn't abused, he wasn't very loved by his adoptive family either. Pimchee, who is a slovenly boor who is fat and doesn't do much, liked to harass him.
Jeppy was picked on as a youth, because he didn't fit in with anyone. He was too athletic for the smart kids, and too smart for the jock kids. As a result, he got in a lot of fights. Because he got nothing from her family, he worked at a farm to earn some cash and develop his muscles. One kindly farmer gave him a baby piglet on his birthday a year ago, and he has taken care of it ever since (and named it Pig.)
He tends to be wary of other people because of his bad experiences with them, but trusts animals freely.
ENEMIES HORRIBLY CRUSHED: 2
Image:Jeppysketch02.jpg
"Died" at the start of Session 3 - Flying Brains when Pimchi pushed him violently down the stairs, resulting in a broken neck. He also crashed into Ishmael. Then their corpses spontaneously combusted, which was attributed to thermite.
THEN reworked so that Jeppy has been Pimchi all along. (There was no Jeppy - Corey has been playing Pimchi the whole time.)
Lord Humphrey - Human Weapon Connoisseur. Played by Shaun. Discarded after Session 3 - Flying Brains.
Human "weapon connoisseur" (fighter). Played by Shaun. (character #3)
Specialist in exotic weapons. Died in a horrific smelting accident.
Thrust "The Crusher" Splathappy - Gnome Wizard. Played by Shaun. Discarded after Session 4 - Between an Ogre and a Hard Place.
Gnome wizard. Played by Shaun. (character #4)
Freed from a magical stasis curse in Gnomeregan in Session 4 - Between an Ogre and a Hard Place.
Used to be a courier before getting trapped in the curse. Still carries around a courier's satchel with the words "Crusher Courier" on it.
Just abandoned completely at the start of Session 5 - Bulls and a Beholder, with no mention of what happened to him.
Morate Windwalker - Dwarf Favored Soul of Obad-Hai. Played by Mark. Retired after Session 4 - Between an Ogre and a Hard Place.
Dwarf Favored Soul of Obad-Hai. Played by Mark.
Morate was always a little different than his peers back at home. He hails from the Stormpike family, but was disowned when he decided to pursue his life above ground. When he made this choice, many other families that were normally allies were on the brink of shunning the Stormpikes forever. In an act to save his name Ghrimshun Stormpike, Morate's father, made a deal with a traveling group of merchants to have Morate smuggled out of the city.
When Morate was tossed out of his home, he journeyed aimlessly into the forests, not sure of where he was going, and what he would do when he got there. Days turned into weeks, but somehow the forest provided for Morate, bearing fruit to eat, trees for shelter, and a variety of herbs for when he came injured or ill. During his travels he stumbled upon a clearing, with knoll in the middle of it. The knoll was actually the home of an aged cleric, who taught Morate about Obad-Hai. It was here were Morate felt he had found his true calling, and he started studying underneath the old human to become a cleric of Obad-Hai.
The aging man saw great potential in Morate, often calling him a Favored Soul. But tragedy struck before Morate's teachings were complete; the clutches of Death began to take its hold on his teacher. It was here where Morate was given a small trinket.
Its a small vial attached to a hardened cord; its contents appear to be sand and dirt, enchanted to swirl around constantly within the vial. The vial is plugged by a cork that has a small symbol of his deity on it. It was to symbolize his graduation from pupil to cleric. His understanding of the token is that it was purely symbolic and nothing more, but when he received the vial his teacher warned him of the power and wrath he would suffer if he used the contents incorrectly. Morate contemplated the earth within the vial for quite some time, but was not able to discover it's use or hidden power. Years have passed since he last attempted to understand the vial and its purpose, but he has always felt a need to wear it... even if it seems, to him at least, nothing more than a trinket from the past.
Since then Morate has gone about his travels, looking to nature for signs of where to go. Curiously, it has led him to a group of adventurers heading for Cauldron.
Retired from adventuring after the party rescued a female dwarf from Kazmojen. They have gotten married and now live in Cauldron. Semi-came out of retirement to take part in the Drink Down The Flood competition with the party.
Blaze Carter - Half Orc Bounty Hunter. Played by Tyson. Discarded when campaign changed to 4E.
Half orc ranger. Played by Tyson.
Bounty hunter. Wields a greataxe, whip and net. Well-traveled. Had a harsh childhood so hates seeing children in danger/trouble.
Pimchi - Human Fighter. Played by Corey. Discarded when campaign changed to 4E.
Human fighter. Played by Corey.
Fat, short, and albino. Wields/throws greataxes (among other things), and likes to throw grenade-ish weapons (like alchemists fires). Has a pet pig named Pig.
Was originally Jeppy but was slightly modified to become Pimchi at the start of Session 3 - Flying Brains.
Barthalemue McKing IXX - Human Fighter. Played by Mark. Discarded when campaign changed to 4E.
Heinz Higginbotham Junior - Halfling Barbarian. Played by Shaun. Discarded when campaign changed to 4E.
Moeesha Ray - Minotaur Fighter. Played by Jennifer. Discarded when campaign changed to 4E.
Sir Steven O'Maxitaur - Minotaur Favored Soul. Played by Dale. Discarded when campaign changed to 4E.
Dragonborn avenger. Played by Dale.
Loves giant axes and breathing fire. REALLY loves breathing fire. Desperately wants to be a hero. Worships Kord and honors his deity by performing wrestling moves in the middle of combat.
Had a custom costume designed for the Demonskar Ball - a demonic giant hot dog, with the words "SIZE MATTERS" written on the front.
Infatuated with Cora Lanthenmire and hits on her whenever he can. His efforts finally paid off during the Demonskar Ball, when the two of them hooked up in a broom closet.
Eastwood - Half-Elf Cleric. Played by Justin. Discarded when campaign changed to 4E.
Half-elf cleric. Played by Justin.
Carries a lead pipe that he channels his holy light and spells through. Has a tendency to mutter incoherent things. Likes to threaten to "bust up the place." Likes to headbutt people.
Silverfang - Human Ranger. Played by Shaun. Retired, joined the city guard.
Human ranger. Played by Shaun. (character #6)
Some character that Shaun played. Not memorable.
Dangerous Deadeye Drrk Darkenson - Drow Rogue/Ranger. Played by Shaun. Retired when PHB2 came out.
Drow rogue/ranger. Played by Shaun (character #7).
Grew up as a commoner in the same drow city as Fraxx, and they became friends as youths. When Fraxx's house was destroyed Drrk tried to find him. Instead, Fraxx's father Bob found Drrk and brought Drrk to the surface so he could find Fraxx.
Fraxx - Drow Warlock. Played by Mark. Retired when PHB2 came out.
Drow warlock. Played by Mark.
Grew up in a drow city in a noble house. His house was destroyed in a coup but his father, an archmage, rescued Fraxx and brought them to the surface. Fraxx was angry and they argued, and his father teleported away, disappointed. Fraxx is now trying to find himself and figure out who he is, and then find his father and make amends.
Wears dark leather and a big hood which hides the fact that he is a drow.
Thunderbomb - Male goliath warden. Played by Shaun. Retired for no reason because he was boring.
Goliath warden. Played by Shaun (character #8).
Former chieftain of his village, and former slave of drow wizard Bob. Was freed by Bob in Session 12 - Through the Walls when Bob took Fraxx and Drrk away.
Retired to become a chef with Thog.
Lover - Male minotaur Paladin of the Raven Queen. Replaced with Gramps.
Male minotaur Paladin of the Raven Queen. Played by Corey.
Wields a gigantic executioner axe and has a horned helmet, with two holes for his natural horns so that he actually has FOUR horns protruding from his head.
Vargas - camera.gif Male human artificer. Played by Shaun. Retired because Shaun wanted to try someone else.
Human Artificer (formerly Warforged). Played by Shaun. Character #1/#10.
Backstory: Used to be trapped in a heavy suit of armor. He was working in his lab but was attacked by an unseen foe; mortally wounded, he managed to infuse his life force into a decorative suit of armor that his uncle had given him years ago. Since everyone he knew found his lifeless body, no one knew he was still alive, and so he was traveling around under a fake name trying to discover clues to who attacked him.
Discarded after Session 1 - Laughs in the Alley because both Shaun and the DM didn't realize how unfun artificers were to play because of their 1-minute long infusion cast times. Became an honorary member of the Church of Pelor and serves as its handyman (since he doesn't need sleep or food), and then returned to adventuring as an artificer as Shaun's alternate character.
Faust - Male human wizard. Played by Shaun. Discarded because Shaun he was boring.
Human Wizard. Played by Shaun. Character #11.
Some wizard that Shaun abandoned after one play session.
Bonesaw - Male dragonborn avenger. Played by Dale. Retired to date Cora.
Razeteron - Male minotaur paladin of Kord. Played by Dale until he moved away.
Wrenn - Male gnome rogue. Played by Justin (Alternate).
Gnome rogue. Played by Justin.
Focuses on being invisible and dealing out heavy sneak attack damage.
Brigs - camera.gif Male gnome sorcerer. Played by Mark. Retired as Mark doesn't play anymore.
Gnome sorcerer. Played by Mark.
Used to be a diamond inspector until Bob forcibly awoke the magical energies within him. Since then he lost his job/mansion but doesn't hold it against Bob, loving the intense magic power he now wields. Still wants to get rich and purchase a mansion again though. Also on a constant quest to discover the perfect gemstone.
His Chaos Bolt takes a form related to whatever elemental resistance he has that day, such as a small little stormcloud if he has lightning resistance.
At least partially insane, though prone to moments of surprising insight. Also prone to streaks of extremely good luck.
Asked Skie to the Ball, and they were very well received by those in attendance. Later they left together and went back to Skie's home. They dated for a while but have since broken up. The party recently found out that Skye is pregnant, but that is not why they broke up - they broke up because Skye magically branded Briggs with an arcane mark which she can use to contact him.
During a recent battle with a strange otherworldly abomination, Brigs found himself shunted to the Far Realm, a twisted, warped dimension. He spent a week there before being brought back to the normal world, but doesn't remember any specific details of his time spent there.
Gramps - Male bugbear ranger. Played by Corey. Retired as Corey doesn't play anymore.
Old bugbear male ranger. Uses a trident in one hand while he grapples and slams foes with his other hand.
Used to use an enormous bow made out of some hideous monster's spine, but gave up on archery because it took two hands, and he needed a free hand to use his puffer.
Has, and frequently uses, a puffer. Also fond of turning into a rat using his ratform armor, and took the claws from a dead umber hulk to wear as clacker-hands.
Ragnarok - Male human warlord. Played by Ryan. Retired as Ryan doesn't play anymore.
Male human warlord. Played by Ryan.
Originally comes from a charred, burned-out mirror image of our world. Fell in a lake and woke up dazed in the brush outside Cauldron, where he met the Stormhammers.
The Stormhammers (Current)
The party's registered adventuring party name. Chosen mostly to antagonize and irritate the Stormblades. They have had special cloaks made with their symbol, as well as customized chef hats.
Male shifter barbarian. Played by Mike.
Shifter barbarian. Played by Mike.
Orphaned as a young boy, due to his father being found dead and murdered, and his mom missing. Had acquired strange powers that rapidly healed his wounds and granted him tremendous strength during his early youth. He has since found out that his mother killed his father because he "found out her secret" which is that she transforms during a full moon.
Has a strange fascination with bones of all types. Wield dual khopeshes, and carries a large shield that he nails dead hands of worthy kills to. Doesn't really value money at all. Used to use a giant bone hammer (a t-rex fang), a halberd, and a fullblade.
Male changeling psion. Played by Jamie. Aka Peter aka Mindbender.
Half-elf bard. Played by Jamie.
Wears full black ninja suit with a full face mask, so that most of the party doesn't even know what he looks like. Likes to shout insults at people to kill them, and tends to feign death upon receiving injuries.
Has a membership to the Bluewater Academy.
LIKES TO CHEAT.
Apparently has joined the Church of Pelor, and actually represented the church at the Demonskar Ball. Has a divine blessing from Pelor and radiates light constantly (unless he shuts this ability off).
former info: Former info: Wields shurikens, a hand crossbow and a hand claw (like Vega). Wears full black ninja suit with a full face mask, so that most of the party doesn't even know what he looks like.
Male warforged cleric of an unknown construct god. Played by Justin.
Warforged cleric. Played by Justin.
Has only a single glowing red eye in the center of his face. Likes to socket and attach all his gear to his body. Deposits coins directly into his arm, which he can later "dispense" into his hand. Wields an iron pipe as a weapon (now a broken mace handle), which sockets into his arm and pops out to blast enemies.
Used to be human but had his soul forcibly implanted into a construct body after he was fatally injured in a dragonborn bandit ambush. His dying body was retrieved by a wizard who bound his soul into a construct. Worships an unknown "construct god" and is attempting to build a church to spread its worship and for other constructs.
Follows an unknown deity (the "warforged god") and wants to construct a church to honor his god. Also seeks out other constructs and tries to find out more about their origins and history.
Received the Aggannar invitation to the Demonskar Ball, and portrayed the demon lord during the dance-fight against Zachary Hawkwinter, playing the part of Surabar Spellmason. When he was announced, an unexpected musical montage broke out with Cram contributing billowing smoke and Brigs throwing in some dazzling ray light display. Yggdrasil himself spent a few minutes robot-dancing around the ballroom shooting off holy light, with light beaming out of his eyes from a light spell. Everyone was stunned.
Male human wizard. Played by Cam.
Human wizard. Played by Cam.
Wears a black executioner's mask and a shimmering shiny robe. Dual-wields staffs and carries an enormous executioner's axe. Likes to melee. Was formerly an executioner who practiced magic in his spare time. Real name is Graham, he just calls himself Cram because it's scary.
Has an owl familiar named Murgatroyd who is surly and cranky. Cram frequently sends Murgatroyd on suicide scouting missions, but the owl never remembers the last 5 minutes before it dies, so it never remembers actually dying. It still resents Cram.
After attending the Demonskar Ball, Cram left with a young woman named Thazienne, who turned out to be Jil in disguise. Cram was captured by the Last Laugh and tortured / interrogated about the other members of the Stormhammers.
Male eladrin battlemind. Played by Shaun (character #9).
Loves to teleport and move fast. Got trapped on this world after a teleporting mishap in the Feywild, where an elder was warning young eladrin not to use their fey step abilities near an ancient magical artifact, and Vico instantly said "Like this?" and vanished, reappearing on the material plane.
Uses a lightning whip.
Likes nice clothes, and really likes wealth.
Was formerly a swordmage, but switched before Session 29 - Fucking Gnolls to be a battlemind.
Male minotaur monk. Played by Tim.
Male minotaur monk. LOVES to headbutt foes and slam them into the ground. Surprisingly nimble and agile.
Trained his physical abilities at the Church of Kord and met Gramps there.
Trims his horns as he develops as a martial artist. Purchased an expensive and fancy carriage (with two horses) for the party to use as transportation.
Huron
Male shifter barbarian. Played by Mike.
Shifter barbarian. Played by Mike.
Orphaned as a young boy, due to his father being found dead and murdered, and his mom missing. Had acquired strange powers that rapidly healed his wounds and granted him tremendous strength during his early youth. He has since found out that his mother killed his father because he "found out her secret" which is that she transforms during a full moon.
Has a strange fascination with bones of all types. Wield dual khopeshes, and carries a large shield that he nails dead hands of worthy kills to. Doesn't really value money at all. Used to use a giant bone hammer (a t-rex fang), a halberd, and a fullblade.
Snake Eyes
Male changeling psion. Played by Jamie. Aka Peter aka Mindbender.
Half-elf bard. Played by Jamie.
Wears full black ninja suit with a full face mask, so that most of the party doesn't even know what he looks like. Likes to shout insults at people to kill them, and tends to feign death upon receiving injuries.
Has a membership to the Bluewater Academy.
LIKES TO CHEAT.
Apparently has joined the Church of Pelor, and actually represented the church at the Demonskar Ball. Has a divine blessing from Pelor and radiates light constantly (unless he shuts this ability off).
former info: Former info: Wields shurikens, a hand crossbow and a hand claw (like Vega). Wears full black ninja suit with a full face mask, so that most of the party doesn't even know what he looks like.
Yggdrasil
Male warforged cleric of an unknown construct god. Played by Justin.
Warforged cleric. Played by Justin.
Has only a single glowing red eye in the center of his face. Likes to socket and attach all his gear to his body. Deposits coins directly into his arm, which he can later "dispense" into his hand. Wields an iron pipe as a weapon (now a broken mace handle), which sockets into his arm and pops out to blast enemies.
Used to be human but had his soul forcibly implanted into a construct body after he was fatally injured in a dragonborn bandit ambush. His dying body was retrieved by a wizard who bound his soul into a construct. Worships an unknown "construct god" and is attempting to build a church to spread its worship and for other constructs.
Follows an unknown deity (the "warforged god") and wants to construct a church to honor his god. Also seeks out other constructs and tries to find out more about their origins and history.
Received the Aggannar invitation to the Demonskar Ball, and portrayed the demon lord during the dance-fight against Zachary Hawkwinter, playing the part of Surabar Spellmason. When he was announced, an unexpected musical montage broke out with Cram contributing billowing smoke and Brigs throwing in some dazzling ray light display. Yggdrasil himself spent a few minutes robot-dancing around the ballroom shooting off holy light, with light beaming out of his eyes from a light spell. Everyone was stunned.
Cram
Male human wizard. Played by Cam.
Human wizard. Played by Cam.
Wears a black executioner's mask and a shimmering shiny robe. Dual-wields staffs and carries an enormous executioner's axe. Likes to melee. Was formerly an executioner who practiced magic in his spare time. Real name is Graham, he just calls himself Cram because it's scary.
Has an owl familiar named Murgatroyd who is surly and cranky. Cram frequently sends Murgatroyd on suicide scouting missions, but the owl never remembers the last 5 minutes before it dies, so it never remembers actually dying. It still resents Cram.
After attending the Demonskar Ball, Cram left with a young woman named Thazienne, who turned out to be Jil in disguise. Cram was captured by the Last Laugh and tortured / interrogated about the other members of the Stormhammers.
Vico
Male eladrin battlemind. Played by Shaun (character #9).
Loves to teleport and move fast. Got trapped on this world after a teleporting mishap in the Feywild, where an elder was warning young eladrin not to use their fey step abilities near an ancient magical artifact, and Vico instantly said "Like this?" and vanished, reappearing on the material plane.
Uses a lightning whip.
Likes nice clothes, and really likes wealth.
Was formerly a swordmage, but switched before Session 29 - Fucking Gnolls to be a battlemind.
The Champ
Male minotaur monk. Played by Tim.
Male minotaur monk. LOVES to headbutt foes and slam them into the ground. Surprisingly nimble and agile.
Trained his physical abilities at the Church of Kord and met Gramps there.
Trims his horns as he develops as a martial artist. Purchased an expensive and fancy carriage (with two horses) for the party to use as transportation.
C05SE29 - Elemental Eruptions
Session 29 - Elemental Eruptions
February 12, 2011 - Elementals and Hill Giants are defeated as the party continues to track Alek.
Huron, Vico, Yggdrasil, The Champ, Snake Eyes
The game starts off with the Stormhammers settling down to rest outside the dead ogre's cave. They double check to make sure it's REALLY dead and not going to rise up as a zombie or something, but the cave is quiet. They notice, again, the heavy, deep wounds it suffered, akin to axe wounds.
The Champ decides that the way he is going to guard Dogmeat is digging a gnoll-sized trench in the ground, putting Dogmeat inside it, then lying on top of it so he is staring down right into the gnoll's face. The Champ has also, apparently, trained himself to sleep with his eyes open, so he spends the entire night glaring at Dogmeat despite being fast asleep.
Yggdrasil isn't there yet, so it turns out only Vico is on watch. The night passes uneventfully, though Vico does spot a strange fox-sized rodent with glowing red eyes and four forelegs. He watches it carefully but it doesn't approach or do anything unusual, so he doesn't react.
In the morning they decide to try to win Dogmeat's loyalty by arming him. They give him some old +1 Leather Armor they had in the bag of holding and give him back the spiked, oozing-blood club that his gnoll companion wielded in the riverbank fight. His eyes light up and he seems much more at peace upon receiving the items. The party seems unconcerned that they just gave Dogmeat a powerful magical weapon attuned to its evil Demon Prince Yeenoghu that only functions in the hands of loyal gnolls, but oh well.
They return to the rock quarry and cross the waste pit, and continue into the mountainous hills. The air starts getting stale and thin, and a noxious smell starts filling the air, like brimstone or some other toxic source. Far off in the distance, they can see two towers or pillar jutting up above the cloud line, though they are too far away and cloaked in haze/smoke to accurately identify.
Eventually they reach a steep shale mountain face, with a thick 10' wide metal pipe protruding from the side, leading into the mountain at a gentle decline. Inside, the smell is stronger, and it is completely dark. The party scouts ahead tentatively, and eventually discover the pipe continues for a short ways before emerging into a large stone quarry. A sloping path descends to the right, leading to an open plain pitted with large cracks and fissures, and dotted with bubbling, hazardous looking liquid pools. On the other side of the plain is a natural slope leading to another ledge at a higher elevation, from which the two columns jut into the sky. The pools gurgle and boil constantly, and look very hot and unpleasant. In some of the pools silt is flowing across the surface, while small fires are actually burning on the surface of another, which seems to be a tar-like substance.
The party edges carefully down the slope, being careful not to get too close to any of the pools and avoiding the larger cracks on the ground, from which they can see steam and light smoke drifting up into the air. Snake Eyes lurks up above, suspicious. As they cross the ground though, the pools erupt and a variety of elementals burst from the pools or coalesce out of the air - a fire elemental, a silt elemental, an air elemental, and some other ones I can't remember now. (Maybe a steam elemental? And a magma one, or a gravel one or something? I dunno.) They quickly learn the air elemental can turn invisible and fly away, as it quickly does so and flies up to attack Snake Eyes. Small toxic slimes also emerge from the pool and jiggle towards the party. They are felled in a single hit, but the party discovers that whenever one is "killed", a previously-killed slime comes back to life and resumes its attacks.
The other elementals attack the party with a variety of wind and fire-based attacks, though Huron's dragonhide armor proves very valuable and negates much, if not all, of the fire damage. The wind elementals don't deal much damage, but prove a pain in the ass as they knock and slide the party around periodically. The party manages to resist (mostly) the elementals' efforts to push them into the boiling liquid pools, however, and kill them all. Actually, Huron delivers the killing blow to every single one, which earns him an as-of-yet unnamed achievement.
They catch their breath and then head up the other hill to the second ledge. As they ascend, they notice the two columns are two massive metal cylinders, likely pipes similar to the one they traveled through a few minutes ago. The two pipes stick straight up into the sky, and every so often a deep echoing bellowing noise emerges from them, resonating around the entire mountain range and ringing in their ears.
They notice that this stone ground is criss-crossed with a variety of long, jagged cracks of different shape and size. Almost the entire ledge is cracked in this manner, though there are a few small uncracked spaces. Huron decides to run across, avoiding as many cracks as possible, to the other end and see what is there. He makes it across untouched, and spots a large natural doorway leading into the mountain, but it is covered with a massive barrier of wood and nails and spikes that has been laid across the entrance.
A bunch of ogres and giants come out and attack, the grounds begins to erupt in caustic spray and scalding steam, but there is a screeching tone that precedes the different blasts. After some trial and error the party figures out the pattern and dispatches the giants, who are knocking them back and throwing rocks etc. Afterwards they head inside, find the giant barracks and hunker down for a rest.
February 12, 2011 - Elementals and Hill Giants are defeated as the party continues to track Alek.
Huron, Vico, Yggdrasil, The Champ, Snake Eyes
The game starts off with the Stormhammers settling down to rest outside the dead ogre's cave. They double check to make sure it's REALLY dead and not going to rise up as a zombie or something, but the cave is quiet. They notice, again, the heavy, deep wounds it suffered, akin to axe wounds.
The Champ decides that the way he is going to guard Dogmeat is digging a gnoll-sized trench in the ground, putting Dogmeat inside it, then lying on top of it so he is staring down right into the gnoll's face. The Champ has also, apparently, trained himself to sleep with his eyes open, so he spends the entire night glaring at Dogmeat despite being fast asleep.
Yggdrasil isn't there yet, so it turns out only Vico is on watch. The night passes uneventfully, though Vico does spot a strange fox-sized rodent with glowing red eyes and four forelegs. He watches it carefully but it doesn't approach or do anything unusual, so he doesn't react.
In the morning they decide to try to win Dogmeat's loyalty by arming him. They give him some old +1 Leather Armor they had in the bag of holding and give him back the spiked, oozing-blood club that his gnoll companion wielded in the riverbank fight. His eyes light up and he seems much more at peace upon receiving the items. The party seems unconcerned that they just gave Dogmeat a powerful magical weapon attuned to its evil Demon Prince Yeenoghu that only functions in the hands of loyal gnolls, but oh well.
They return to the rock quarry and cross the waste pit, and continue into the mountainous hills. The air starts getting stale and thin, and a noxious smell starts filling the air, like brimstone or some other toxic source. Far off in the distance, they can see two towers or pillar jutting up above the cloud line, though they are too far away and cloaked in haze/smoke to accurately identify.
Eventually they reach a steep shale mountain face, with a thick 10' wide metal pipe protruding from the side, leading into the mountain at a gentle decline. Inside, the smell is stronger, and it is completely dark. The party scouts ahead tentatively, and eventually discover the pipe continues for a short ways before emerging into a large stone quarry. A sloping path descends to the right, leading to an open plain pitted with large cracks and fissures, and dotted with bubbling, hazardous looking liquid pools. On the other side of the plain is a natural slope leading to another ledge at a higher elevation, from which the two columns jut into the sky. The pools gurgle and boil constantly, and look very hot and unpleasant. In some of the pools silt is flowing across the surface, while small fires are actually burning on the surface of another, which seems to be a tar-like substance.
The party edges carefully down the slope, being careful not to get too close to any of the pools and avoiding the larger cracks on the ground, from which they can see steam and light smoke drifting up into the air. Snake Eyes lurks up above, suspicious. As they cross the ground though, the pools erupt and a variety of elementals burst from the pools or coalesce out of the air - a fire elemental, a silt elemental, an air elemental, and some other ones I can't remember now. (Maybe a steam elemental? And a magma one, or a gravel one or something? I dunno.) They quickly learn the air elemental can turn invisible and fly away, as it quickly does so and flies up to attack Snake Eyes. Small toxic slimes also emerge from the pool and jiggle towards the party. They are felled in a single hit, but the party discovers that whenever one is "killed", a previously-killed slime comes back to life and resumes its attacks.
The other elementals attack the party with a variety of wind and fire-based attacks, though Huron's dragonhide armor proves very valuable and negates much, if not all, of the fire damage. The wind elementals don't deal much damage, but prove a pain in the ass as they knock and slide the party around periodically. The party manages to resist (mostly) the elementals' efforts to push them into the boiling liquid pools, however, and kill them all. Actually, Huron delivers the killing blow to every single one, which earns him an as-of-yet unnamed achievement.
They catch their breath and then head up the other hill to the second ledge. As they ascend, they notice the two columns are two massive metal cylinders, likely pipes similar to the one they traveled through a few minutes ago. The two pipes stick straight up into the sky, and every so often a deep echoing bellowing noise emerges from them, resonating around the entire mountain range and ringing in their ears.
They notice that this stone ground is criss-crossed with a variety of long, jagged cracks of different shape and size. Almost the entire ledge is cracked in this manner, though there are a few small uncracked spaces. Huron decides to run across, avoiding as many cracks as possible, to the other end and see what is there. He makes it across untouched, and spots a large natural doorway leading into the mountain, but it is covered with a massive barrier of wood and nails and spikes that has been laid across the entrance.
A bunch of ogres and giants come out and attack, the grounds begins to erupt in caustic spray and scalding steam, but there is a screeching tone that precedes the different blasts. After some trial and error the party figures out the pattern and dispatches the giants, who are knocking them back and throwing rocks etc. Afterwards they head inside, find the giant barracks and hunker down for a rest.
C05SE29 - Fucking Gnolls
Session 29 - Fucking Gnolls
January 23, 2011 - The party battles gnolls as they follow Alek's trail, and encounter an angel.
Huron, Vico, Yggdrasil, The Champ, Snake Eyes
The session starts right off with the gnolls attacking! There is an archer, a ferocious looking hyena-wolf hybrid looking thing (large size), and a large leader-type gnoll swinging a spiked, massive cudgel oozing (!) blood. There are also some other gnolls.
There is a fast-flowing creek diving the beach, with heavy logs spanning the gap as makeshift bridges. The party charges in and starts to fight the gnolls. They notice that the big hound-like one is actually a bestial, savage gnoll of larger size, which is completely feral and wild. The archer backs up to the rear lines but The Champ circles around and cuts him off.
Yggdrasil crosses the log bridge, but when he's on the other side another gnoll bursts out of the river behind him and attacks. This gnoll is wear a strange wax cap marked with three squiggling lines on the front.
The fight is short and bloody. The gnolls don't have great defenses but they DO receive additional benefits from flanking and surrounding their foes. At the end of the fight, one of the gnoll minions tries to flee by running away and jumping into the river. The Champ doesn't want it to get away, so he charges after it and does a diving spinning headbutt right into the poor gnoll's face, in the river, killing it instantly (natural 20). The party also decided that The Champ's headbutts aren't traditional headbutts, but rather he picks is target up and bodily smashes them into his head/horns. So picturing him doing this in mid-air to the river gnoll was particularly funny.
The last remaining gnoll - the cap-wearing one - is actually knocked out and captured by Snake Eyes. They stabilize its wounds and tie it up before waking it to interrogate it. Unfortunately, gnolls speak Abyssal and that's the one language Snake Eyes doesn't speak. However, he knows a martial ritual that will allow crude communication with someone even without a shared language. The only problem is, it can't be used with a hostile target. So the party spends a few minutes alternately befriending/intimidating the gnoll. They take its cap and discover that it is a Cap of Water Breathing, but everyone is reluctant to wear it because it looks really weird.
Someone gets the idea to wash the gnoll because it's dirty. They come to instantly regret this decision, as it reeks like wet dog. They build a small fire and take a short rest to dry it out and continue interacting with it. They reach something of a truce with the gnoll. The show it the silver plate with etchings on it and it seems to visibly recognize some of the landmarks.
Suddenly, their meal is interrupted (they were eating in the ruins of a small building) by intense, brilliant line shining from the beach. The Champ peeks out and sees it coming from behind the headless statue. Everyone warily goes out and from behind the statue steps a beautiful, blue-winged woman with pale white skin and silver hair. Yggdrasil and Snake Eyes immediately feel divine power emanating from her.
She introduces herself as Nirama, and confirms their suspicions that she is an angelic being. She tells them she has come to tell them that their path is true and right, and that they must continue to avert a great evil from awakening.
She points at Snake Eyes and gestures at the replica staff he carries, his reward from the Demonskar Ball. She retells the story of how she once appeared many years ago to give a powerful artifact of goodness, Alakast, to Surabar Spellmason, so that he might defeat the demon fiend Aggannar (she nods at Yggdrasil, who played the part of Aggannar in the Ball). She tells the party that soon Alakast will similarly appear to the Stormhammers to aid them in their battle against a terrible evil that is on the verge of re-awakening. She tells the party to look for Alakast in the "lair of the false sisters."
Vico is noticeably unimpressed that she has only vague advice and warnings to offer and not any concrete help. She thinks and says that she is unable to help and interpose herself in the affairs of mortals directly. She lifts her head as if communing with an unknown presence, and then does tell them that the great evil she spoke of is known as he of a thousand faces, the Frozen Lord, and that he calls himself "The God of Death". She then blesses them all lightly (some temporary hp) and fades away. The sounds of the jungle and wildlife slowly fade back into earshot.
The party continues on, telling the gnoll - who they name Dogmeat - to lead them to the first landmark on the plate, a big hole or cave marked "HOM". They travel through the thick jungle without incident, and stop at the crest of a large hill. Down the other side, about a minute's walk away, is a gaping hole in the side of another large hill. The gnoll looks fearful of the cave and gestures at it.
Huron and the Champ decide to sneak down the hill and investigate the cave. They stealth down and draw near, and are met with a terrible stench of death and rot coming from inside the cave. Huron peeks in and sees a massive shape lying on its back in the cave - an ogre. He doesn't see it moving or breathing, but he's not close enough to be sure. He is able to see many various scars and bloody, dried wounds upon its body, though. Various dead animals and bones litter the floor of the filthy cave. They sneak in, but Huron steps on a bone which snaps loudly. They freeze, but the ogre - who they suspect is a zombie - doesn't react. Eventually they go up closer and find out that it is very dead and not undead after all.
The stench is horrible, but they determine that the ogre was killed by repeated injuries inflicted by a large blade. Under the ogre's body, they find the crumpled remains of a steel shield marked with the symbol of Bahamut, and deduce that it is Alek's. They return to the party and tell them what they discovered, and the gnoll looks relieved. Snake Eyes points at the next landmark - the bridge - and they continue on.
The path eventually leaves the jungle climate and ascends into dry, rocky mountains, covered in jagged, sharp stone protusions and tall canyons. They come across a ramshackle rope bridge spanning a pit 20 feet below them. They look in, and it seems to be a refuse or garbage pit, as there are lots of bones and waste and it smells awful. On the other side of the pit, the rope bridge is tied to two large statues carved to resemble some kind of demon.
They look uneasily at the pit for a bit, then Huron decides to sprint across and see if it will hold. He makes it 75% of the way but before he reaches the other side, a gnoll wearing ragged robes and a headdress steps out from behind one of the statues and severs the rope, sending the bridge and Huron into the pit. He lands nimbly, but hears growling coming from to his sides. The pit actually extends underneath the mountain, into recesses which were not visible from up above. From out of the pit bounds a handful of hyenas and an enormous, frothing-at-the-mouth, savage gnoll.
The gnoll in robes doesn't waste any time bringing the rest of the party into the fight, enveloping them in a swarm of carrion and ravens which peck and push them into the pit. The Champ avoids them and stays above with Dogmeat, who is cowering and looking uncertain. The Champ takes the rope/chain tied to Dogmeat's manacles and pounds it into the wall, then glares at him for good measure, before sliding down the broken bridge into the pit.
The ferocious bestial gnoll starts tearing into the party pretty good, including a nasty "shift its speed and attack anyone it is ever adjacent to during the shift" attack, but the party copes with its frenzied attacks, the nipping of the hyenas, and the gnoll carrion caster quite well. At one point in the fight Dogmeat attempts to free the chain from the wall, but the Champ leaps up and punches it back into the wall and glares at him, and he stops any further attempts.
After slaying the gnoll, they dig around in the pit and find some treasure, including an ivory goat statue covered in arcane runes. They deduce that it is a figurine that allows them to summon a "regal goat" spirit to fight at their side.
Quite exhausted, they decide not to proceed further and head back to the ogre cave to rest. Yggdrasil and Vico stay up on watch (Yggdrasil doesn't sleep, Vico meditates in a state of full awareness). Because the smell inside the cave is so nasty, they set up camp in the clearing just outside the entrance.
January 23, 2011 - The party battles gnolls as they follow Alek's trail, and encounter an angel.
Huron, Vico, Yggdrasil, The Champ, Snake Eyes
The session starts right off with the gnolls attacking! There is an archer, a ferocious looking hyena-wolf hybrid looking thing (large size), and a large leader-type gnoll swinging a spiked, massive cudgel oozing (!) blood. There are also some other gnolls.
There is a fast-flowing creek diving the beach, with heavy logs spanning the gap as makeshift bridges. The party charges in and starts to fight the gnolls. They notice that the big hound-like one is actually a bestial, savage gnoll of larger size, which is completely feral and wild. The archer backs up to the rear lines but The Champ circles around and cuts him off.
Yggdrasil crosses the log bridge, but when he's on the other side another gnoll bursts out of the river behind him and attacks. This gnoll is wear a strange wax cap marked with three squiggling lines on the front.
The fight is short and bloody. The gnolls don't have great defenses but they DO receive additional benefits from flanking and surrounding their foes. At the end of the fight, one of the gnoll minions tries to flee by running away and jumping into the river. The Champ doesn't want it to get away, so he charges after it and does a diving spinning headbutt right into the poor gnoll's face, in the river, killing it instantly (natural 20). The party also decided that The Champ's headbutts aren't traditional headbutts, but rather he picks is target up and bodily smashes them into his head/horns. So picturing him doing this in mid-air to the river gnoll was particularly funny.
The last remaining gnoll - the cap-wearing one - is actually knocked out and captured by Snake Eyes. They stabilize its wounds and tie it up before waking it to interrogate it. Unfortunately, gnolls speak Abyssal and that's the one language Snake Eyes doesn't speak. However, he knows a martial ritual that will allow crude communication with someone even without a shared language. The only problem is, it can't be used with a hostile target. So the party spends a few minutes alternately befriending/intimidating the gnoll. They take its cap and discover that it is a Cap of Water Breathing, but everyone is reluctant to wear it because it looks really weird.
Someone gets the idea to wash the gnoll because it's dirty. They come to instantly regret this decision, as it reeks like wet dog. They build a small fire and take a short rest to dry it out and continue interacting with it. They reach something of a truce with the gnoll. The show it the silver plate with etchings on it and it seems to visibly recognize some of the landmarks.
Suddenly, their meal is interrupted (they were eating in the ruins of a small building) by intense, brilliant line shining from the beach. The Champ peeks out and sees it coming from behind the headless statue. Everyone warily goes out and from behind the statue steps a beautiful, blue-winged woman with pale white skin and silver hair. Yggdrasil and Snake Eyes immediately feel divine power emanating from her.
She introduces herself as Nirama, and confirms their suspicions that she is an angelic being. She tells them she has come to tell them that their path is true and right, and that they must continue to avert a great evil from awakening.
She points at Snake Eyes and gestures at the replica staff he carries, his reward from the Demonskar Ball. She retells the story of how she once appeared many years ago to give a powerful artifact of goodness, Alakast, to Surabar Spellmason, so that he might defeat the demon fiend Aggannar (she nods at Yggdrasil, who played the part of Aggannar in the Ball). She tells the party that soon Alakast will similarly appear to the Stormhammers to aid them in their battle against a terrible evil that is on the verge of re-awakening. She tells the party to look for Alakast in the "lair of the false sisters."
Vico is noticeably unimpressed that she has only vague advice and warnings to offer and not any concrete help. She thinks and says that she is unable to help and interpose herself in the affairs of mortals directly. She lifts her head as if communing with an unknown presence, and then does tell them that the great evil she spoke of is known as he of a thousand faces, the Frozen Lord, and that he calls himself "The God of Death". She then blesses them all lightly (some temporary hp) and fades away. The sounds of the jungle and wildlife slowly fade back into earshot.
The party continues on, telling the gnoll - who they name Dogmeat - to lead them to the first landmark on the plate, a big hole or cave marked "HOM". They travel through the thick jungle without incident, and stop at the crest of a large hill. Down the other side, about a minute's walk away, is a gaping hole in the side of another large hill. The gnoll looks fearful of the cave and gestures at it.
Huron and the Champ decide to sneak down the hill and investigate the cave. They stealth down and draw near, and are met with a terrible stench of death and rot coming from inside the cave. Huron peeks in and sees a massive shape lying on its back in the cave - an ogre. He doesn't see it moving or breathing, but he's not close enough to be sure. He is able to see many various scars and bloody, dried wounds upon its body, though. Various dead animals and bones litter the floor of the filthy cave. They sneak in, but Huron steps on a bone which snaps loudly. They freeze, but the ogre - who they suspect is a zombie - doesn't react. Eventually they go up closer and find out that it is very dead and not undead after all.
The stench is horrible, but they determine that the ogre was killed by repeated injuries inflicted by a large blade. Under the ogre's body, they find the crumpled remains of a steel shield marked with the symbol of Bahamut, and deduce that it is Alek's. They return to the party and tell them what they discovered, and the gnoll looks relieved. Snake Eyes points at the next landmark - the bridge - and they continue on.
The path eventually leaves the jungle climate and ascends into dry, rocky mountains, covered in jagged, sharp stone protusions and tall canyons. They come across a ramshackle rope bridge spanning a pit 20 feet below them. They look in, and it seems to be a refuse or garbage pit, as there are lots of bones and waste and it smells awful. On the other side of the pit, the rope bridge is tied to two large statues carved to resemble some kind of demon.
They look uneasily at the pit for a bit, then Huron decides to sprint across and see if it will hold. He makes it 75% of the way but before he reaches the other side, a gnoll wearing ragged robes and a headdress steps out from behind one of the statues and severs the rope, sending the bridge and Huron into the pit. He lands nimbly, but hears growling coming from to his sides. The pit actually extends underneath the mountain, into recesses which were not visible from up above. From out of the pit bounds a handful of hyenas and an enormous, frothing-at-the-mouth, savage gnoll.
The gnoll in robes doesn't waste any time bringing the rest of the party into the fight, enveloping them in a swarm of carrion and ravens which peck and push them into the pit. The Champ avoids them and stays above with Dogmeat, who is cowering and looking uncertain. The Champ takes the rope/chain tied to Dogmeat's manacles and pounds it into the wall, then glares at him for good measure, before sliding down the broken bridge into the pit.
The ferocious bestial gnoll starts tearing into the party pretty good, including a nasty "shift its speed and attack anyone it is ever adjacent to during the shift" attack, but the party copes with its frenzied attacks, the nipping of the hyenas, and the gnoll carrion caster quite well. At one point in the fight Dogmeat attempts to free the chain from the wall, but the Champ leaps up and punches it back into the wall and glares at him, and he stops any further attempts.
After slaying the gnoll, they dig around in the pit and find some treasure, including an ivory goat statue covered in arcane runes. They deduce that it is a figurine that allows them to summon a "regal goat" spirit to fight at their side.
Quite exhausted, they decide not to proceed further and head back to the ogre cave to rest. Yggdrasil and Vico stay up on watch (Yggdrasil doesn't sleep, Vico meditates in a state of full awareness). Because the smell inside the cave is so nasty, they set up camp in the clearing just outside the entrance.
C05SE28 - River Ruckus
Session 28 - River Ruckus
July 2, 2010 - The party sets out to find Alek Tercival, battling crocodiles and tentacles in the jungle waters.
Huron, Vico, Gramps, Yggdrasil, The Champ, Snake Eyes
The party spends a day or two taking care of affairs in town, hearing many rumors and whispers about the riot and its aftermath. They see many militia and mercenaries training and doing military exercises, almost like something is planned and they are preparing for it.
They decide to go find out what the Stormblades have been up to. They ask around town and find out that they normally frequent the Slippery Eel restaurant, a high-class place, so they put on their fine clothes and head there. Since The Champ doesn't yet have any fancy clothes, they stop at Rhiavadi's Fine Silks and he orders a pure white suit, magically enchanted so that the wearer can, as a minor action, clean it completely. Amazed, Snake Eyes and Vico also get this enchantment placed on their outfits, which earns them all a discount rate (which is then discounted further from their fame in town.)
They head to the Slippery Eel. Inside, Annah Taskerhill is dining with a young man they don't recognize. Snake Eyes sidles up and eavesdrops; everyone else goes to the bar to watch. He overhears them talking about the latest fashion trends; magically inscribed head bands and ribbons that glow. Snake Eyes interrupts them to tell them that feathers are where it's at; Annah, annoyed, looks to see how many feathers he is wearing (none) and rolls her eyes in disgust. Snake Eyes then does something (I forget what) to cause a bit of a scene, and two bounces make their way over to escort him out. Somehow he manages to sneak away, and joins the others at the bar.
Snake Eyes asks the bartender for his finest wine, which he brings out and says will cost 50gp. Snake Eyes says it's not cold enough. The bartender hints that he may have some...special cold drink if they have the coin. Intrigued, the party pays attention, and Gramps pays 200gp for this special drink. The bartender pulls out a crystal bottle containing an icy clear liquid, and frost literally coats the crystal coating and anything it touches. He tells them it was smuggled in from the para-elemental plane of ice, and is extremely rare. He says it has magical properties, that drinking it makes someone intensely cold, and that this drink has been known to save people from raging infernos. The bottle contains enough for two swigs. Gramps tucks it away.
Huron comes over and asks where the other Stormblades are, as he has a message for them. Annah coldly tells him that he can just give the message to her, since she's leader of the Stormblades. He refuses. She shrugs, but then adds that there isn't really a Stormblades anymore anyways, since Cora ran off with Bonesaw. She insults Bonesaw's heritage and race a bit, but the party is simply entertained that the Stormblades are having issues. She gives them dirty looks as they smugly enjoy her discomfort. On their way out, Huron buys her a drink, something "a snooty bitch would like". She gives him a surprised, suspicious look as they leave.
Gramps reminds everyone that Maavu (now outlawed in town) said they should come find him in Redgorge so he can thank them properly. They go to Redgorge, and poke around a bit. It is a smallish mining and farming town, and the people are hard-working civilians. They don't recognize the party for their fame, which deflates them a little bit. They find out that Maavu can usually be found at the Redhead Miner's Inn. Intrigued by a popular "Hall of Carvings," The Champ and Snake Eyes go visit there while the others go to the inn. Snakes Eyes wants to go buy a boat, which confuses the DM, who doesn't let him. :P
Inside the inn, and the Hall of Carvings, and actually all around town, are various paintings, frescoes and statues of Surabar Spellmason. There are many scenes of him battling the demon army, kneeling before an angelic figure and receiving a glowing staff, and using the staff to defeat a terrible demon which must be Aggannar. Snake Eyes, in the Halls of Carvings, takes out the golden replica staff he received at the Demonskar Ball, and compares it to a statue of Spellmason holding a staff. He is impressed by the accuracy and detail in the replica. Meanwhile Yggdrasil compares the paintings of Aggannar to his demon outfit he wore at the Ball, and is similarly impressed by the attention to detail.
The innkeeper, a jolly plump man named Mikimax, greets them with food and drink. They ask where Maavu is. He inspects them a bit but quickly realizes who they are, and leads them into a back room and then down some stairs into a large basement room. Maavu and some others are talking or hanging out downstairs, all wearing brown tabards with a chisel on it. Mikimax removes his apron to reveal that he too is wearing an identical tabard. Maavu walks up and shakes Gramps' hand gratefully, and gives him 1000gp for saving his life. The Champ and Vico ask Maavu if he can use his connections to clad their carriage in armor and weaponry. He is surprised but says he'll see what he can do. He is baffled by the idea of a "repeating ballista" for the roof, however.
After a while, Maavu gestures around at the people in the room and says they are all part of a group called The Chisel. Maavu says that the Chisel is the true reason he's asked them here today. He explains that their organization is dedicated to upholding Surabar's beliefs and protecting Redgorge and Cauldron. Recently they have begun to suspect deep corruption within the Cauldron government, that someone or a group of people are manipulating the officials for personal gain. To counter this corruption, the Chisel asked Alek to stand up against the government and challenge Skellerang for his position, which would be the first step the Chisel would need to start stamping out the liars and thieves in power.
The problem is, he explains, is that Alek delivered the challenge and all was going fine, but then he disappeared. No one has seen Alek in roughly two weeks, and the Cauldron government is seizing his absence to discredit Alek and the challenge, and even worse, rumor has it that they are mobilizing to attack Redgorge and destroy the Chisel, calling the group a "rebel group." Such an attack would be a pointless waste of hundreds of lives. Only the return of Alek to settle matters and calm everyone can end this without bloodshed.
The party points out that the Chisel is apparently well-known for a secret organization. Maavu frowns and agrees, and says that they *were* a secret organization that worked behind the scenes...until Alek bluntly declared his challenge as being supported by the Chisel. Maavu, frustrated, says he doesn't know why Alek would say that - he's a smart young man and much more diplomatic than that normally.
The Chisel members explain that maybe Alek is hurt or needs help - he needs to be found. He was last seen a few weeks back when he stopped in Redgorge before continuing his explorations of the jungle area surrounding the Demonskar. Maavu explains that Alek would boat downriver into the jungle and explore, before returning to the Cauldron area to rest and recover. Lately he'd been going back into the jungle more and more - there must be something important there. Maavu adds that Alek once told him he was on divine missions...that he had spoken with his god and knew he was on the path of something important.
The Stormhammers start planning an expedition. They go to the docks and find a large rowboat, which Maavu gladly offers to them to help them find Alek. They start talking about how they will return...Gramps suggest finding a really, really long rope and tying it to a post here in Redgorge, and then pulling themselves back after finding Alek. Mikimax laughs and says the jungle is "hundreds of miles away" and no rope is that long. An insight check reveals that Mikimax...really has no idea how far it is. The conversation does stir something in the fat man though, who goes and fetches a strange metal plate from a back room. He sheepishly admits that Alek gave it to him a while back to pass on to a wizard to study, but he forgot and grew fond of the etchings on it.
The party gathers around and inspects the plate. Huron recognizes the six-armed figures as an ancient magic-using race called Spellweavers, though they haven't been seen in hundreds of years and little is known about them. The Champ, Snake Eyes and Vico inspect the left side of the plate, and realize that it tells a story, from bottom to top, of a Spellweaver overseeing slaves struggling with blocks; then the Spellweaver dripping something on the slaves who lift the blocks easily; and finally a finished, majestic temple. Gramps flips the plate over and sees a crude map carved into the back, with horrendous writing/spelling and hard-to-decipher landmarks. They spot what looks like a river, and a figure by it that is labeled "NO HED".
Hearing them, Mikimax says that there is a large headless statue a few miles into the jungle by river, and says that he could never read the scrawl on the back. He looks shifty about this though, and Huron grabs him and threatens him to tell the truth, which Mikimax does in shame - he can't read. The party laughs at him and heads out to their boat, which Vico attempted to decorate with the Stormhammers logo, but it ended up horrible. Snake Eyes takes a turn and creates a masterpiece.
As for how they will return, they convince a Chisel wizard to perform a ritual on their boat that let them, once only, return the boat and anything/anyone inside to the Redgorge docks. While the wizard is casting the ritual, The Champ starts fishing and immediately falls into the water and starts getting washed downstream. He catches himself easily, but while everyone is gaping at him no one notices Snake Eyes snatch a leaping fish out of mid-air, and no one believes him that he actually caught it after.
Before they leave, Snake Eyes goes to the town's Shrine of Pelor and prays to Pelor for an hour. He asks Pelor if they are doing the right thing by helping Maavu, as it's unclear who is right here. He receives a warm feeling and feels good about their decision when they set off down the river, towards the jungle.
They start heading down the river, with Gramps manning the oars and The Champ navigating. He proves a capable guide, and the boat trip is smooth and uneventful. They spot rough weather ahead though, looming over the jungle wilds, but decide they are moving too fast to stop the boat and wait out the rain. They enter the jungle, which has heavy trees and branches draping overhead, and a relentless downpour starts to blanket them, impairing their vision and hampering their senses.
They drift farther into the jungle, spotting various wild animals at the shores. They come to a stretch with some clumps of land poking out of the river (now with a strong current). They spot an enormous crocodile dozing in the shade, underneath one of the large trees extending overhead. They decide to give it a wide berth and steer the boat away from it. It lazily watches them but doesn't move closer. However, ripples are spotted in the water before and beside them, and they ready for combat just as whip-like, fleshy tendrils break the water and start lashing out at the boat.
The tendrils snap out and start wrapping around people, dragging The Champ right off the boat into the water, and the beneath the surface. The Champ is bitten by a beak mouth underwater and starts struggling and drowning. Up above, the storm continues pushing the boat down the river, and the giant crocodile slithers into the water.
Yggdrasil summons a spiritual guardian into the boat, and plants a battle standard. Snake Eyes leaps off the boat to shore and starts throwing shurikens and slashing with his sword, on the tendril that is holding The Champ underwater. The huge crocodile surfaces and lunges at the party, trying to bite and hold a target with its massive jaws, and the other tendril attempts to drag Vico off the boat. A second, smaller crocodile surges out of the water and latches on to Yggdrasil, and tries to drag him off the boat.
The party begins fending off the various grabbing attacks, all while struggling to keep the boat from drifting off, and treading water against the strong current, and trying not to drown when the tendrils drag them underwater. The Champ has the displeasure of discovering that while underwater, any damage taken results in a very difficult Endurance check, and failure on this check results in a lost healing surge. They also discover that aquatic creatures (which both crocs and the tendrils are) receive bonuses to attack non-aquatic swimming foes.
Snake Eyes leaps over a tendril to get back onto the boat, which floats down the river and beaches itself on a clump of mossy land. The Champ suffers underwater for a few rounds before escaping the tendril and making his way up to the same clump of land. He dashes back into the fray, running through the boat and leaping off to attack the smaller crocodile.
The smaller crocodile continues to back up before charging the boat, clamping its jaws around anyone within reach, and even ripping them further when they escape its mighty jaws. It ravages Yggdrasil, the Champ and Vico a fair bit before the Champ finally drops it with two counterattack strikes. Meanwhile, Huron and Snake Eyes turn one of the tendrils into fleshy chunks, which Huron grabs some of, and they also slice off the top 3' of tendril which Gramps grabs and shoves into a pack.
They turn their attention to the huge crocodile, which is slow and lumbering and failing at really doing anything at all. The other tendril manages to wrap up Yggdrasil and drag the warforged away, but being a construct, he doesn't start to drown, just sink. Disappointed, it lets him go, blinding him with an ink cloud before making its way over to Huron. Snake Eyes leaps off the boat on top of the huge crocodile, and starts slashing and stabbing it fiercely.
The huge croc snaps out at the Champ and bites him fiercely, bloodying him. It then snaps its head up and SWALLOWS HIM, and starts digesting him! Desperate, they pour on the damage, and inside (being devoured) The Champ crits the Crocodile, smashing a blunted horn right through its stomach lining so that the horn protrudes out its back. He also pockets a small black stone idol he finds inside its belly. Yggdrasil pours out the healing to keep everyone up, and bashes the croc on the head, killing it. Huron rips the other tendril in half as it attempts to swim away, and Vico and Snake Eyes swim frantically after the boat which has begun drifting away downriver. They catch up and row it back up to the party, who all pile in and catch their breath.
A few minutes later, Huron spots a looming stone figure on the side of the river, lacking a head. The rain is still heavily obscuring their view, so they drift over and land the boat, only then noticing that the beach is occupied. Half a dozen gnolls armed for battle are scattered about the beach, who turn and look at the party. They draw their weapons and leap to the attack.
Of note: Snake Eyes gets an impressive 20-point achievement for going an entire game night without taking damage!
July 2, 2010 - The party sets out to find Alek Tercival, battling crocodiles and tentacles in the jungle waters.
Huron, Vico, Gramps, Yggdrasil, The Champ, Snake Eyes
The party spends a day or two taking care of affairs in town, hearing many rumors and whispers about the riot and its aftermath. They see many militia and mercenaries training and doing military exercises, almost like something is planned and they are preparing for it.
They decide to go find out what the Stormblades have been up to. They ask around town and find out that they normally frequent the Slippery Eel restaurant, a high-class place, so they put on their fine clothes and head there. Since The Champ doesn't yet have any fancy clothes, they stop at Rhiavadi's Fine Silks and he orders a pure white suit, magically enchanted so that the wearer can, as a minor action, clean it completely. Amazed, Snake Eyes and Vico also get this enchantment placed on their outfits, which earns them all a discount rate (which is then discounted further from their fame in town.)
They head to the Slippery Eel. Inside, Annah Taskerhill is dining with a young man they don't recognize. Snake Eyes sidles up and eavesdrops; everyone else goes to the bar to watch. He overhears them talking about the latest fashion trends; magically inscribed head bands and ribbons that glow. Snake Eyes interrupts them to tell them that feathers are where it's at; Annah, annoyed, looks to see how many feathers he is wearing (none) and rolls her eyes in disgust. Snake Eyes then does something (I forget what) to cause a bit of a scene, and two bounces make their way over to escort him out. Somehow he manages to sneak away, and joins the others at the bar.
Snake Eyes asks the bartender for his finest wine, which he brings out and says will cost 50gp. Snake Eyes says it's not cold enough. The bartender hints that he may have some...special cold drink if they have the coin. Intrigued, the party pays attention, and Gramps pays 200gp for this special drink. The bartender pulls out a crystal bottle containing an icy clear liquid, and frost literally coats the crystal coating and anything it touches. He tells them it was smuggled in from the para-elemental plane of ice, and is extremely rare. He says it has magical properties, that drinking it makes someone intensely cold, and that this drink has been known to save people from raging infernos. The bottle contains enough for two swigs. Gramps tucks it away.
Huron comes over and asks where the other Stormblades are, as he has a message for them. Annah coldly tells him that he can just give the message to her, since she's leader of the Stormblades. He refuses. She shrugs, but then adds that there isn't really a Stormblades anymore anyways, since Cora ran off with Bonesaw. She insults Bonesaw's heritage and race a bit, but the party is simply entertained that the Stormblades are having issues. She gives them dirty looks as they smugly enjoy her discomfort. On their way out, Huron buys her a drink, something "a snooty bitch would like". She gives him a surprised, suspicious look as they leave.
Gramps reminds everyone that Maavu (now outlawed in town) said they should come find him in Redgorge so he can thank them properly. They go to Redgorge, and poke around a bit. It is a smallish mining and farming town, and the people are hard-working civilians. They don't recognize the party for their fame, which deflates them a little bit. They find out that Maavu can usually be found at the Redhead Miner's Inn. Intrigued by a popular "Hall of Carvings," The Champ and Snake Eyes go visit there while the others go to the inn. Snakes Eyes wants to go buy a boat, which confuses the DM, who doesn't let him. :P
Inside the inn, and the Hall of Carvings, and actually all around town, are various paintings, frescoes and statues of Surabar Spellmason. There are many scenes of him battling the demon army, kneeling before an angelic figure and receiving a glowing staff, and using the staff to defeat a terrible demon which must be Aggannar. Snake Eyes, in the Halls of Carvings, takes out the golden replica staff he received at the Demonskar Ball, and compares it to a statue of Spellmason holding a staff. He is impressed by the accuracy and detail in the replica. Meanwhile Yggdrasil compares the paintings of Aggannar to his demon outfit he wore at the Ball, and is similarly impressed by the attention to detail.
The innkeeper, a jolly plump man named Mikimax, greets them with food and drink. They ask where Maavu is. He inspects them a bit but quickly realizes who they are, and leads them into a back room and then down some stairs into a large basement room. Maavu and some others are talking or hanging out downstairs, all wearing brown tabards with a chisel on it. Mikimax removes his apron to reveal that he too is wearing an identical tabard. Maavu walks up and shakes Gramps' hand gratefully, and gives him 1000gp for saving his life. The Champ and Vico ask Maavu if he can use his connections to clad their carriage in armor and weaponry. He is surprised but says he'll see what he can do. He is baffled by the idea of a "repeating ballista" for the roof, however.
After a while, Maavu gestures around at the people in the room and says they are all part of a group called The Chisel. Maavu says that the Chisel is the true reason he's asked them here today. He explains that their organization is dedicated to upholding Surabar's beliefs and protecting Redgorge and Cauldron. Recently they have begun to suspect deep corruption within the Cauldron government, that someone or a group of people are manipulating the officials for personal gain. To counter this corruption, the Chisel asked Alek to stand up against the government and challenge Skellerang for his position, which would be the first step the Chisel would need to start stamping out the liars and thieves in power.
The problem is, he explains, is that Alek delivered the challenge and all was going fine, but then he disappeared. No one has seen Alek in roughly two weeks, and the Cauldron government is seizing his absence to discredit Alek and the challenge, and even worse, rumor has it that they are mobilizing to attack Redgorge and destroy the Chisel, calling the group a "rebel group." Such an attack would be a pointless waste of hundreds of lives. Only the return of Alek to settle matters and calm everyone can end this without bloodshed.
The party points out that the Chisel is apparently well-known for a secret organization. Maavu frowns and agrees, and says that they *were* a secret organization that worked behind the scenes...until Alek bluntly declared his challenge as being supported by the Chisel. Maavu, frustrated, says he doesn't know why Alek would say that - he's a smart young man and much more diplomatic than that normally.
The Chisel members explain that maybe Alek is hurt or needs help - he needs to be found. He was last seen a few weeks back when he stopped in Redgorge before continuing his explorations of the jungle area surrounding the Demonskar. Maavu explains that Alek would boat downriver into the jungle and explore, before returning to the Cauldron area to rest and recover. Lately he'd been going back into the jungle more and more - there must be something important there. Maavu adds that Alek once told him he was on divine missions...that he had spoken with his god and knew he was on the path of something important.
The Stormhammers start planning an expedition. They go to the docks and find a large rowboat, which Maavu gladly offers to them to help them find Alek. They start talking about how they will return...Gramps suggest finding a really, really long rope and tying it to a post here in Redgorge, and then pulling themselves back after finding Alek. Mikimax laughs and says the jungle is "hundreds of miles away" and no rope is that long. An insight check reveals that Mikimax...really has no idea how far it is. The conversation does stir something in the fat man though, who goes and fetches a strange metal plate from a back room. He sheepishly admits that Alek gave it to him a while back to pass on to a wizard to study, but he forgot and grew fond of the etchings on it.
The party gathers around and inspects the plate. Huron recognizes the six-armed figures as an ancient magic-using race called Spellweavers, though they haven't been seen in hundreds of years and little is known about them. The Champ, Snake Eyes and Vico inspect the left side of the plate, and realize that it tells a story, from bottom to top, of a Spellweaver overseeing slaves struggling with blocks; then the Spellweaver dripping something on the slaves who lift the blocks easily; and finally a finished, majestic temple. Gramps flips the plate over and sees a crude map carved into the back, with horrendous writing/spelling and hard-to-decipher landmarks. They spot what looks like a river, and a figure by it that is labeled "NO HED".
Hearing them, Mikimax says that there is a large headless statue a few miles into the jungle by river, and says that he could never read the scrawl on the back. He looks shifty about this though, and Huron grabs him and threatens him to tell the truth, which Mikimax does in shame - he can't read. The party laughs at him and heads out to their boat, which Vico attempted to decorate with the Stormhammers logo, but it ended up horrible. Snake Eyes takes a turn and creates a masterpiece.
As for how they will return, they convince a Chisel wizard to perform a ritual on their boat that let them, once only, return the boat and anything/anyone inside to the Redgorge docks. While the wizard is casting the ritual, The Champ starts fishing and immediately falls into the water and starts getting washed downstream. He catches himself easily, but while everyone is gaping at him no one notices Snake Eyes snatch a leaping fish out of mid-air, and no one believes him that he actually caught it after.
Before they leave, Snake Eyes goes to the town's Shrine of Pelor and prays to Pelor for an hour. He asks Pelor if they are doing the right thing by helping Maavu, as it's unclear who is right here. He receives a warm feeling and feels good about their decision when they set off down the river, towards the jungle.
They start heading down the river, with Gramps manning the oars and The Champ navigating. He proves a capable guide, and the boat trip is smooth and uneventful. They spot rough weather ahead though, looming over the jungle wilds, but decide they are moving too fast to stop the boat and wait out the rain. They enter the jungle, which has heavy trees and branches draping overhead, and a relentless downpour starts to blanket them, impairing their vision and hampering their senses.
They drift farther into the jungle, spotting various wild animals at the shores. They come to a stretch with some clumps of land poking out of the river (now with a strong current). They spot an enormous crocodile dozing in the shade, underneath one of the large trees extending overhead. They decide to give it a wide berth and steer the boat away from it. It lazily watches them but doesn't move closer. However, ripples are spotted in the water before and beside them, and they ready for combat just as whip-like, fleshy tendrils break the water and start lashing out at the boat.
The tendrils snap out and start wrapping around people, dragging The Champ right off the boat into the water, and the beneath the surface. The Champ is bitten by a beak mouth underwater and starts struggling and drowning. Up above, the storm continues pushing the boat down the river, and the giant crocodile slithers into the water.
Yggdrasil summons a spiritual guardian into the boat, and plants a battle standard. Snake Eyes leaps off the boat to shore and starts throwing shurikens and slashing with his sword, on the tendril that is holding The Champ underwater. The huge crocodile surfaces and lunges at the party, trying to bite and hold a target with its massive jaws, and the other tendril attempts to drag Vico off the boat. A second, smaller crocodile surges out of the water and latches on to Yggdrasil, and tries to drag him off the boat.
The party begins fending off the various grabbing attacks, all while struggling to keep the boat from drifting off, and treading water against the strong current, and trying not to drown when the tendrils drag them underwater. The Champ has the displeasure of discovering that while underwater, any damage taken results in a very difficult Endurance check, and failure on this check results in a lost healing surge. They also discover that aquatic creatures (which both crocs and the tendrils are) receive bonuses to attack non-aquatic swimming foes.
Snake Eyes leaps over a tendril to get back onto the boat, which floats down the river and beaches itself on a clump of mossy land. The Champ suffers underwater for a few rounds before escaping the tendril and making his way up to the same clump of land. He dashes back into the fray, running through the boat and leaping off to attack the smaller crocodile.
The smaller crocodile continues to back up before charging the boat, clamping its jaws around anyone within reach, and even ripping them further when they escape its mighty jaws. It ravages Yggdrasil, the Champ and Vico a fair bit before the Champ finally drops it with two counterattack strikes. Meanwhile, Huron and Snake Eyes turn one of the tendrils into fleshy chunks, which Huron grabs some of, and they also slice off the top 3' of tendril which Gramps grabs and shoves into a pack.
They turn their attention to the huge crocodile, which is slow and lumbering and failing at really doing anything at all. The other tendril manages to wrap up Yggdrasil and drag the warforged away, but being a construct, he doesn't start to drown, just sink. Disappointed, it lets him go, blinding him with an ink cloud before making its way over to Huron. Snake Eyes leaps off the boat on top of the huge crocodile, and starts slashing and stabbing it fiercely.
The huge croc snaps out at the Champ and bites him fiercely, bloodying him. It then snaps its head up and SWALLOWS HIM, and starts digesting him! Desperate, they pour on the damage, and inside (being devoured) The Champ crits the Crocodile, smashing a blunted horn right through its stomach lining so that the horn protrudes out its back. He also pockets a small black stone idol he finds inside its belly. Yggdrasil pours out the healing to keep everyone up, and bashes the croc on the head, killing it. Huron rips the other tendril in half as it attempts to swim away, and Vico and Snake Eyes swim frantically after the boat which has begun drifting away downriver. They catch up and row it back up to the party, who all pile in and catch their breath.
A few minutes later, Huron spots a looming stone figure on the side of the river, lacking a head. The rain is still heavily obscuring their view, so they drift over and land the boat, only then noticing that the beach is occupied. Half a dozen gnolls armed for battle are scattered about the beach, who turn and look at the party. They draw their weapons and leap to the attack.
Of note: Snake Eyes gets an impressive 20-point achievement for going an entire game night without taking damage!
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