FreemanGames Campaign Journal

After we rested, we heard an alarm in the distance. We rushed outside and met Tom and Xiloscent. Tom must have pressed the alarm stone up above. Xiloscent and Jax also found two new notes. Each had multiple handwritings on them.

The first note read,

“I hear Triel has a hot spring where she bathes… a lot.
I’d settle for some… other forms of payment!
You wish you skag!
I am positive that the undead gnoll killed Lars.”

The second note read,

“Every time I’m on watch I swear something is watching me from the lake.
You’re crazy. But somebody is definitely talking to tarkilar. That voice he talks to isn’t his own.
You both krazy!”

Back near the armory we continued going down the hallway and came to a door. We searched it and went inside. It was a store room. We searched around and found a note,

“Since Grehlia left and Turkilar had his accident, this place doesn’t seem safe.
Man I can’t get to the treasury anymore.
The Gnoll talks to himself.”

Jax also found a secret door in this room. It swiveled open. Inside the room were three zombies. Hawk and Jax fired into the room with their bows. As I began to rush into the room Goldie quickly asked me if I knew that healing spells would hurt zombies. I don’t know about such things.

I ran into the room and tried to hit one of the zombies with my fist but missed. Two shuffled over to me and tried to hit me but also missed. Tom threw an alchemist fire into the room at one of the zombies who caught fire and shuffled over to where Tom was. I tried to swing at the same zombie as before but missed again. The two next to me also missed. I finally hit one zombie with my decisive strike ability and hit him really hard. I also tried to stun him but nothing happened. I think pounding may not be effective against them either. When I swing again I’m going to try a ‘chopping’ type attack with my fists.

Before I had a chance to put this to use, Tom took down the flaming zombie while Hawk and Jax took down the one I hit and the last one. After the battle we searched around the room and noticed that aside from the secret entrance we came in from, there were no other exits. There were, however, four arrow slits on the opposite wall from the door. Tom examined these and asked what they were for. When someone told him that they were arrow slits he began to feed arrows through the slits. He also said that he saw out into a hallway with some identical arrow slits on the other side. He shouted across asking if there were any zombies over there. He heard moaning sounds in return.

We also found another note,

“I had to go with Triel to deliver some wand r something to the halfling.
He was in with the creepy spiders again.”

We backtracked to the previous room and went through the other door. This led to a small hallway with another door. Jax and Hawk discovered that it was trapped and disabled the trap. Jax announced that it was a floor spike trap. In that room was another door which led to a large room.

We searched there and found a new note,

“Need the cages by flood festival“

I found four names scratched into the top of one of the tables. The names were,

• Grehlia
• Triel
• Tarkilar
• Shaven

Because we figured out that zombies may be most vulnerable to slashing-type weapons Jax and I ran back to the armory to pick up a longsword for him and Xiloscent. When we got back to the group, we went through a doorway into a long, wide, vaulted hallway. A pile of arrows were on the floor against the right wall. As Hawk entered the hallway he fell through the floor. Like before I threw rope down and he quickly climbed out.

We carefully avoided the pit trip and crept through the hallway keeping to the left-hand wall. The others crept through the door at the other end of the hallway (where there was another pit trap). Jax decided to run and jump over the trap. I did the same but as I ran down the hallway I got hit by an arrow. I think it was from a zombie through one of the arrow-slits. I didn’t realize that they were so quick and good with a bow!

The next room we came to was very large. Hawk searched around the entrance of the room and found a note:

“I always get stuck going to town for Skaven’s spell components. It sucks having a wizard for a brother, I can’t help being able to say all of those long words.
Dude, work for Triel, she’s so hot.”

We also heard a skittering noise. As we continued working our way down the length of the large room, Tom discovered a 5-foot-tall humanoid frog-like creature with sharp teeth and spindly arms. It let out a loud and painful screeching noise. We all ran up to it. I circled around and came up behind it. We had it surrounded. It attacked Tom but missed. I swung at it, trying to hit it decisively and landed a really hard blow. I hit it so had that it actually went down after one strike!

Hawk searched around and found a cloak wrapped around a bunch of platinum coins and a very nice-looking lute. Hawk handed the lute to Xiloscent (since she’s a bard). We still heard a skittering noise coming from the entrance of the room.

Previously: The Union Of Justice had commenced their search for the Wand of Water Control. With the rainy season close at hand they were needed to keep the lake from rising and flooding much of the city. By deciphering a cryptic riddle from Jenya’s mace our heroes had tracked down a lead. Artus Shemwick at the Tipped Tankard was a seller of information and through shrewd negotiation The Hawk had managed to get essential clues at a steal. He had learned that the Red Haired Woman who was believed to have the Wands had been seen at the Lava Tubes on several recent nights. In pursuit, the Union staked out the area, but fearing the evildoer would escape they decided to investigate further. After failing at the first tube they had narrowed down their search to 1 particular tube.

Jan. 22, 2007

After proceeding down the tunnel The Hawk used his cunning secret door detection skill to find a shrewdly hidden passage. With his searching eyes and nimble fingers he managed to successfully open the door. Inside, the group made 2 startling discoveries. The first was a celestial named Nidrama who apparently used this hideout as a resting place in between watching over Cauldron. She was less than helpful as she explained that her role was a watcher and not a an active participant in affairs. The other item of interest in the room was a fountain of great magic. Nidrama explained that this was the Fountain of Fortunes’s Folly and had been placed here by Suribar Spellmason while he attempted to fix its magic, a feat he never completed. The Fountain had 2 cups joined to it; the ivory one would allow the drinker to chose 1 of 3 fortunes but would give a random folly, and an iron cup which would allow a choice of follies but a random fortune. The Hawk chose the iron cup in order to best minimize damage. Upon drinking he chose to Lose Focus in 1 area of his skills at the benefit of increasing his already impressive charisma. The Hawk chose wisely.

With the new abilities and hindrances the Union of Justice exited the secret room and proceeded down the tunnel further. They soon reached a vast and ominously glowing lake over which there was only 1 way of crossing. Attached to each side were winches and a basket suspended by ropes that could be hauled back and forth. It was found that only 1 person was needed to work the machinery and Goldy volunteered to send the rest of the team across. The transit was uneventful but darker things awaited. When entering the winch house on the opposing shore The Hawk fell victim to a most ingenious trap which sent part of the building tumbling onto him. Although buried by the rubble he managed to extract himself, dust himself off and send the basket back up the rope to Goldy so that she could follow the rest of the team.

The Union stared in wonder at the ruins of a vast underground city which they had found on the shore. They decided that to find the Red Haired Woman they must enter this great fortress and unlock its many secrets. Wasting no time our heroes proceeded to the first entrance they could find but found only great danger. Upon entering the first chamber Jax fell straight through the floor and The Hawk was forced to spring to his aid. After falling several stories they were both plunged into deep water and struggled to the surface. As they tried to discover where they were they also realized that they were not alone in this evil darkness. Attacked from all sides by a swarm of creatures they found their strength sapped and death awaiting them. The quick actions of their friends in throwing down a rope gave them their only hope of survival. Marshalling all their strength The Hawk and Jax grabbed tight to the rope and began to climb as Noke and DaVid pulled them up. With his strength drained Jax found it hard to hold on and started to slip. Forgoing his own safety The Hawk let loose with one hand, grasped his friend, and swung him towards the rope so he could get a better hold. Although the creatures got 1 more attack upon Jax the pair managed to escape the trap. The magic of DaVid managed to return to the pair that which the swarm had so cruelly taken.

With no easy way of crossing the imaginary floor the Union of Justice decided to enter the ruins through another door. This time it was no trap that awaited them but skeleton archers firing from a walkway high above. These creatures were quickly dispatched thanks to the greatly superior archery skill of The Hawk. Proceeding deeper into the ominous city of the dead the team was again confronted with minions of evil but this time the piety of DaVid banished the creatures to the grave.

Now our story pauses but but sure to join us again next week: Same Hawk time, same Hawk channel.

The next morning DaVid told us about the upcoming Demonskar Ball and how he is securing us all invitations to attend. We entered the lava tubes and proceeded cautiously. Hawk took the lead and noticed a glowing glyph outlining a door on the wall. He touched it and the wall disappeared, revealing a room inside.

In the room was a pool of water, a fountain, and a movanic deva named Nidrama. She explained that she can’t help us but she did tell us about this fountain. Apparently it is a minor artifact that was moved here by one of the founders of cauldren, Sundabar Spellmason. It is called ‘The Fountain or Fortunes and Follys’. On the edge of the fountain are two cups. One is an ivory cup and the other is a rusty iron cup. If you drink from the ivory cup, three ‘fortunes’ appear and you pick one. After you choose your fortune, a random folly will also befall you. If you drink from the iron rust cup, three ‘follys’ will appear before you. After you choose your folly, a random fortune will befall you.

We all drank from the fountain. Hawk & I chose to drink out of the iron rust cup. DaVid and Jax drank from the ivory cup. When I drank, I chose the folly called ‘hard of hearing’ and my random fortune was that I had slightly more willpower.

After the fun at the fountain, we left the fountain & Nidrama behind and continued down the tunnel. We came to a building, large long rope, and a huge 100-foot deep cavern. Inside the building was a large wheel that seems to lower a large ‘cage’ down into the pit. Xiloscent operated the lift for us and Hawk, DaVid, Jax, and I descended over a large, glowing, algae-filled lake.

As we reached the bottom I saw a building that looked a lot like the wheelhouse above. There were also a lot of ruins which, according to Jax, used to belong to an old grotesque race. We entered the wheelhouse, Hawk leading the way. As he entered, Hawk triggered some sort of trap and part of the wall fell on him. He extracted himself from the rubble and we used the wheel to send the cage back up to Xiloscent.

Once that was complete, we explored the ruins and approached the first building which was octagon-shaped. The door was a special turning-type which opened up to a room. Hawk and Jax went in first and immediately fell through the floor! I heard a distant splash.

I was quick to act and ran to the threshhold of the door and threw my rope ‘down’ into the floor and braced my feet on the doorframe – ready to pull them up. DaVid helped with the rope. I felt tugging on the rope and together DaVid and I pulled. There felt to be struggling on the rope and we continued to pull. Hawk actually climbed up out of the ‘hole’ first and we continued to pull and got Jax out too.

It turns out that there were some nasty strength-sapping oozes in a pool of water twenty feet below. Jax was so sapped of his strength that he couldn’t even stand up. DaVid cast several spells on both Hawk and Jax to restore their strength.

We decided to skip this building and continued on to our right. We came to a diamond-shaped building. This time we were extremely cautious. Jax and Hawk opened the door (after verifying that the door was not trapped) and searched inside. I was near the rear of the group so I couldn’t see much, but I did notice that they stopped searching and began to fire arrows up towards the ceiling. When the ‘battle’ was over I entered the room but didn’t see any enemies or bodies. I’m not sure what they were shooting at.

On the other side of this room was another door. It was trapped but Jax and Hawk disabled it. We opened that door and continued through a short hallway to another door. They opened the door and DaVid rushed in and shouted something. I ran in too but only saw six piles of dust with bows and arrows. It was so odd! Jax searched around and found six potions. I took one. He also found two notes.

The first one read,

“Did you see that Triel was trying to make a new feetshredder trap?
She had no clue about traps!”

The second one read,

“When are we getting paid? Money has been short since Grehila left with those cages months ago.“

I wonder if this is the same Triel that I knew from the town guard? The room looked like a mess hall. We exited and went through the right door into a hallway. We saw a locked door that Jax and Hawk had some trouble opening, but we got inside. It looked like an armory. Hawk and Jax each took a longbow and some arrows. I did the same.

DaVid announced that he was out of spells and we decided to rest for the night. DaVid cast his fancy rope trick spell and we went to sleep.

 

TERSEON SKELLERANG
Human lawman
Captain of the Town Guard

Terseon hired the Union of Justice to solve the Goblin infestation problem.  He paid them 5 gp per goblin ear brought in. 

SKYLAR KREWIS
Human guardsman
Private in the Town Guard

Skylar arrested the Last Laugh thugs when DaVid, Hawk and Tom formed the Union of Justice while saving Rufus Laro of the Church of St. Cuthbert.  He was also the investigating officer who found Ghelve’s Locks to be where the kidnappers were entering the city.  He is an ally to the Union of Justice and even seems to be ok with The Hawk as a vigilante.

ARTUS SHEMWICK
Human male
Cook at the Tipped Tankard
Information Broker

This friendly cook sells information.  His food seems quite average but nothing exceptional.

He sold information to the Union of Justice about where to find the Ebon Triad for 300 gp.  He also offered to sell them a dossier on the red haired woman for 200 gp.

NIDRAMA
female celestial (movanic deva)
watcher of the Cauldron region

This mysterious celestial met the Union of Justice at the Fountain of Fortune’s Folly beneath Cauldron.  She is tasked with watching over this region of the Prime Material Plane.