FreemanGames Campaign Journal

I love the feel of a new journal. I couldn’t help but buy another one while I was in Sasserine. I’ll write as often as I can in my spare moments.

I’m returning to Cauldron and I am currently in the region of the Amedio jungle near the mountain chain known as the hell-furnaces. The journey to Sasserine was a complete success. After having the ring inspected I placed it on my fingers. Of course nothing happened immediately, but now that time has pasted I feel its effects. I am always amazed at how much magic can simplify ones life. I should be reaching the Lucky Monkey Inn tomorrow. The journey so far has been extremely uneventful…

…Arrived at the Lucky Monkey today. It was unexpectedly closed. All the doors are locked and with the exception of two windows I see no legal way in. The two windows are open however. I think I am going to check it out. Wait someone is coming fast…

…Talk about your odd introductions. I met a guy named Lucian. He has asked me to join him to help his friends inside the Lucky Monkey. I guess they are fighting someone inside. I hope the manager is ok, he still owes me 20 silver from my last visit. He should learn by now not to challenge me about history. So the first thing out of this Lucian’s guy is not his name, but the request for help. He must be desperate so I am going to help him out. At least this way I am not going into unknown territory alone. I guess it could be a trap, but I don’t get that vibe from this guy. He even seems like a nice enough chap. I know that doesn’t mean anything these days. Going in…

…The Lucky Monkey has totally gone Ape. I even saw a giant Ape. I’m guessing were, but I don’t really have a lot of expertise in that area. When I first entered the Lucky Monkey I saw some guys that look a lot like the Alley Basher gang. I wouldn’t have expected to see them way out here. That means something, but I’m not exactly sure what. Lucian’s friends have to be some serious adventurers. I’ve seen only a few of them so far, but I believe they have a Bard and some rangers. I thought the place was full of apes, but I have also seen lots of other animals that seem to be working with the adventuring party. I had to do some quick talking to keep myself from becoming a arrow cushion. Lucian seems to have forgotten he is the only one who knows I’m a friend. The guy that stopped me first says his name is DaVid. I think I know him or have seen him. I’m sure it will come to me once I get pasted the shock of almost being attacked just for entering the place to help. Maybe they aren’t as experienced adventurers as I originally thought…

…What an amazing battle… Some of these adventures can really push around some magical spells. I swear this DaVid guy just cast 3 fireballs and then started healing people. I’m going to have to stay on his good side. So we survived the fight with the Giant Ape. I was right on the were. Once he went down he returned to what looks like a half-orc. It was a long fight as far as I can count 7 Alley Bashers, 7 Hill Folk, 7 Hill baboons and the Giant Were-Baboon all have perished. It was a quick, but explosive battle. I met this kid Tom. His eyes seem to be a little older than a childs, but I can’t figure out why. He looks to be about ten. Boy can he fight. I got some names now. The Bard is named Goldie and they seem to follow this bowman, but I can’t get a name for him yet. He seems to be a little mysterious. The fight against the Lucky Monkey was started by the Giant were-baboon and a red headed woman. This red headed woman must be extremely powerful or backed by someone powerful to have hill folk, alley bashers, and lots of baboons working with her. She also wears spiked armor and I believe she has a tattoo on her face. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for her. Ok, got to go they have collected all the gear and it looks like two hill folk are still not accounted for. Tom is going after them by himself what a strange kid…

…I don’t want to forget anything, but I think writing throughout the day isn’t helping. I will have to work on setting up time to write at the end of the day instead of throughout the day…

We continued to run down the hallway towards where we think the kitchen is (along the right-hand side from the main hall).  Tom and Hawk were already down near the end of the dining room at a door.  Tom opened the door and some baboons attacked.  Hawk and Tom fought back.  The rest of us caught up to them.  There were three baboons crammed into a little room and there wasn’t room to help out Tom who was blocking the doorway.  Luke came out of nowhere and ran up behind Tom.  I saw some other guy wielding a rapier running down the hallway towards us but before I could do anything about it, DaVid shouted that he is with us.  I don’t know who he is.

Eventually an opening appeared and I tumbled into the room, but not before the last baboon was killed by Tom and Cree.  There was another door on the other side of this little room and Tom opened it.  I couldn’t see what was going on but Tom threw an alchemist fire into the room and DaVid cast some spell into the room as well.

I finally ran in and saw that there were five baboons in the large kitchen.  Three of them ran up to me and bead down on my hard.  I retaliated with my newly-trained decisive strike and killed one on the spot.  As the rest of my party came in, we killed all five baboons.

At this time, two alleybashers ran down from the stairs on the other side of the room and then a very large apeman-looking guy swings in from the double-doors from the north-side of the room.  He looked really mean.  As he was swinging in, DaVid took a swing at him with his spiked gauntlet and he it DaVid hard.

I was anticipating this to be a really tough fight so I started to try to get my healing potion out of my pouch when the apeman guy swung (from ten feet away) at me and then everything went black.

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I woke up with Luke standing over me and still feeling very hurt.  I stood up and looked around.  The large apeman was dead, there were about ten bodies on the floor (baboons, alleybashers, and hillfolk), and practically everything in the room looked as if it was singed from fire.  There were also about a dozen alleybashers and hillkfolk all over the place in the room.  It looked as if a very pitched-battle was taking place.

Because it looked like a desperate fight, I ignored the fact that I felt like one blow would take me down, I dove in and fought.  I used my decisive strike and decimated one of the hillfolk, and then another.  The others were doing a great job killing the enemies as well.

Eventually DaVid ran up to me and healed me.  It felt so much better.  We continued to kill the enemies until the last three ran off into the woods.  Tom ran off after them.

The union of justice had our weekly meeting at the Drunken Morkoth Inn. Everyone was there except for Luke who sent word that he would not be able to make it. His message did indicate that he and his wizard friend installed some alarms in our base at the bottom of the stairs and at the back door.

We all discussed the previous few weeks and it turns out that I wasn’t the only one who noticed odd behavior from others. It turns out that most of us observed some type of strange behavior the day of the full moon. We don’t know what it means but we are going to be extra careful around the next full moon.

We the discussion turned to something else, four people entered the tavern and surrounded our table. I was the adventuring group that call themselves theStormblades and they came by to taunt us. They didn’t do a very good job of making us mad us and left.

Hawk told us that he was away investigating the kid who was earlier investigated by the beholder in a previous adventure. He reported that the kid is being looked after by the janitor (Patch) of the orphanage.

The next morning Remo Williams came rushing to me and said that I was needed at the church of St. Cuthbert and that I should come prepared to travel. I gathered up my bedroll and rations from my room and then went to the church. On the way I ran into Tom who was looking forDaVid.

We gathered up everyone and met Jenya at the church. Jenya was distraught and said that high priest Sacrem was in trouble. Sacrem magically sent a message that he was trapped in the basement of the Lucky Monkey (which is 24 miles away) where he came under attack by a group of bandit led by a barbarianapeman. He reported that he is mortally wounded and that we need to come right away.

Tom polymorphed into a panther and went on ahead of us with Cree and Nightrunner (Xiloscient’s pet wolf). The rest of us (Hawk, DaVid, Xiloscient, and I) rode on our horses out to the Lucky Monkey. Along the way we were ambushed by six gnolls. I dismounted and one ran up to me and swing with his axe. He missed horribly and got his weapon stuck in a tree. I hit him really hard and he died. Hawk killed one,DaVid killed another, then Hawk killed a fourth one at which point the other two ran off.

After dealing with the ambush we arrived at the Lucky Monkey. Tom, Cree, and Nightrunner were already there. Tom reported that there was a smell of lots of dead things in the back and also the smell of a dinosaur. The large tavern looked to be closed up which was unusual. All of the doors and windows were closed and locked. Hawk tried to pick the lock on the door but couldn’t do it. Too bad Luke wasn’t with us.

Hawk then tried to pick open one of the locked shutters and was able to get it open. He then picked the lock to another shutter and we burst in from each side. I was in first on my side and Hawk and Tom were in first on the other side.

Inside the main room of the tavern we saw about six people who all appeared to be very drunk. The attacked us as soon as they saw us. There were fourhillfolk and two alleybashers. One of the alleybashers ran up to me and hit me pretty hard. One of them appeared to be frozen in place. As the battle went on, we began to dispatch the enemies but not before one of them shouted, “Alarm! Intruders!”

As we finished off the enemies in the room, we tied up the survivors. As we were doing that, Tom was running around the room looking for whereSacrem might be. Two more hillfolk came out of a side room and attacked me. I took one down and DaVid cast a spell on another which made him fall over. As we killed or subdued the rest, Hawk and Tom interrogated one of the tied-up ones and asked about Sacrem. The prisoner said that Sacrem was in the kitchen. We all began to head towards the kitchen.

 

NAME: Sarcem Delasharn
POSITION: High Priest of the Church of St. Cuthbert, Cauldron
LOCATION: Sasserine for Church dedication
STATUS: Deceased; Former ally to The Union of Justice as they are allied with the Church.

Sarcem is an older and kind man.  He was the one responsible for the uniting of the Church’s to hold back the winter flood waters with Wands of Control Water.  He carries a magical silver mace that signifies that he is the high priest of Cauldron’s church of St. Cuthbert.

His latest mission to Sasserine for the dedication of a new temple was half true.  His secret mission was to buy wands of control water for the Flood season. 

He has been waylayed by bandits led by a barbaric apeman at the Lucky Monkey.  The Union of Justice is heading to save him.

The heroes found him slain by a Werebaboon who turned out to be a member of the cult, The Ebon Triad.

NAME: Jenya Urikas
POSITION: High Priestess
LOCATION: Cauldron, Temple of St. Cuthbert
STATUS: Active, Ally to Union of Justice

Jenya is a serious and down-to-business woman.  She runs the Temple very strictly.  She seems to like the Union of Justice, and is willing to help them, even using the Star of Justice’s divination abilities for them.

NAME: Ruphus Laro
POSITION: Priest
LOCATION: Cauldron, Temple of St. Cuthbert
STATUS: Active, Ally to Union of Justice

Ruphus was saved by the founding/core members of the Union of Justice (The Hawk, Tom Riddle and DaVid Navalant).  They saved him in an alley from Last Laugh thugs.

NAME: Sir Alek Tercival
POSITION: Nobleman and Knight of St. Cuthbert
LOCATION: Cauldron, Temple of St. Cuthbert
STATUS: Active, Ally to Union of Justice

Paladin and local noble, associated with the Church of St. Cuthbert.  After having his family name disgraced and his inheritance stolen, he sought the path of justice, in the hope of finding a new purpose in life.  Sir Alek Tercival is Tom Riddle’s foster parent, having found the githzerai boy and his pet panther alone in the jungle.  Sir Alek is responsible for showing Tom the faith and getting Master Remo Williams to agree to further the boys martial training.

 

 

 

NAME: Drakthar the Bloodmonger
CREATURE TYPE: Bugbear Vampire
LOCATION: Drakthar’s Dungeon / Caves
STATUS: Destroyed

This vampire first attacked Tom’s mind after sending a large pack of wolves after the Union of Justice.  He then turned into a Dire Wolf and attacked.  Noke was unfortunate and ended up pinned under the wolf after a poor tumble attempt.  He was then drained of some of his blood before Drakthar started to escape…

When the heroes returned for round two, Drakthar charged up after a battle with goblin ambushers.  He walloped Noke with a morningstar, who retreated.  Luke then took up primary combat with his silver dagger, that DaVid made magical.  As Drakthar had a horrible time hitting Luke, the party pounded on him until he went gaseous, leading the heroes on a chase.  They did not find him or his coffin before retreating into an extradimensional pocket made by DaVid.

The heroes found Drakthar again, defending his treasure hoard, after defeating him with a well placed reach-healing spell by DaVid.  Lucian then found a smuggling cache that was actually his coffin and consecrated it, killing the Bugbear vampire.

NAME: Drakthar’s Throne 
CREATURE TYPE: Medium Undead
LOCATION: Drakthar’s Dungeon / Caves, throneroom
STATUS: Destroyed

This unholy but roomy chair made of bone and skin sprouted four bone legs and two long bone arms with which it attacked.

NAME: Goblins
CREATURE TYPE: Humanoid (Goblinoid)
LOCATION: Cauldron alleys
STATUS: Deceased

These goblins were acting as vandals and petty theives.  This led the town guards to hire the Union of Justice to find their lair and put an end to the nuisance before they became dangerous.

NAME: Unknown female adventurer
CREATURE TYPE: human female
LOCATION: back alleys of Cauldron
STATUS: Unknown

This female, clad in black leather armor with a whip and a short sword mysteriously tipped off the Union of Justice to check out Orak’s Bathhouse.  Tom Riddle thinks she sounded like the msyterious last laugh female.  She possibly made a pass at the Hawk (who was in disguise) as she left.

NAME: Wererats
CREATURE TYPE: humanoid (shapechanger)
LOCATION: Cauldron, spying upon Orak’s Bathhouse
STATUS: Deceased

These four wererats were laying in wait, observing the Bathhouse when Tom send to Kree to attack.  This started off a large combat, in which the split up Union of Justice triumphed.

NAME: Orak Stonehaven
CREATURE TYPE: Humanoid (Dwarf)
LOCATION: Orak’s Bathhouse, Cauldron
STATUS: Ally to the Union of Justice, active

This former adventurer runs the bathhouse in Cauldron.  He was under some sort of control and was cooperating with the Goblins.  They were using his bathhouse to gain entry to the city above.  He tried to kill Lucian (Luke) when he neared the secret door to the stairs down.  The Union of Justice subdued him and tied him up.
He escaped his bonds and came after the heroes at Drakthar’s command before the vampire was completely destroyed.  The heroes nearly killed him, but still kept him alive until the control was broken.  He rewarded the heroes and gave them free baths for life, and access to the caves below his bathhouse.

NAME: Goblin Sneaks
CREATURE TYPE: Humanoid (Goblinoids)
LOCATION: Drakthar’s Dungeon / Caves
STATUS: Mostly Deceased

These goblin rogues plagued the Union of Justice for their stay in the dungeon of Drakthar’s Way.  They were smart and sneaky, and very dangerous in pairs.

NAME: Silent Wolf Goblin
CREATURE TYPE: Humanoid (Goblinoid)
LOCATION: Drakthar’s Dungeon / Caves
STATUS: Deceased

This goblin ranger / rogue fanatically served Drakthar.  He used a Worg for a mount.

NAME: Worg
CREATURE TYPE: Magical Beast
LOCATION: Drakthar’s Dungeon / Caves
STATUS: Deceased

This demon wolf served a silent wolf goblin. 

NAME: Kalev 
CREATURE TYPE: female tiefling
LOCATION: Drakthar’s Dungeon / Caves
STATUS: deceased

This mercenary came after the heroes with a glaive.  She evidently was dominated by Drakthar and showed up in time to try and keep the heroes from discovering his coffin.

NAME: Chorlyndyr
CREATURE TYPE: male human sorcerer
LOCATION: At large
STATUS: Acive, at large

This mercenary followed Kallev to the battle, but fled when she was killed.  The Union of Justice cornered him and he bargained information for his life.  He told them the Blue Duke was using Drakthar’s way to smuggle half-orc mercenaries into Cauldron.  He believes them to be for a nobles private army.  He warned many things were going to be changing in Cauldron. 
The Hawk ordered him to break ties with the Blue Duke, to which he agreed.

NAME: Half-orc mercenaries
CREATURE TYPE: half-orc
LOCATION: Drakthar’s Dungeon / Caves
STATUS: Deceased

A half dozen mercenaries were encountered in the caves and put quite a fight before falling to the adventurers.  They bore the symbol of the Blue Duke.

NAME: Xoden Nightshield
CREATURE TYPE: male dwarf
LOCATION: Drakthar’s Dungeon / Caves
STATUS: deceased

This mercenary of the Blue Duke ordered the half-orcs to attack and fled.  The Hawk ran him down and killed him.  He wore magical armor.