FreemanGames Campaign Journal

The heroes arrive at the tent city outside of Brindinford, seeing that the Halfling fair is completely underway.  Once they pass through the obnoxious town guard and end up mostly peacebonded, they start searching for the dwarven smithee, Shooma.  Before they can find her, they see a disturbance.  More were-creatures are here.  First the wererat infestation in Blessingdale, now here to.  The heroes make short work of the lycanthropes, being well prepared for their ilk.  They are joined in the battle by a Halfling ranger, Nokie, who is looking for his missing master.  He joins the Avengers in their travels in town.   

The Guard arrive some ten minutes late and escort the adventurers to meet the acting captain, Lt. Rearden.  The guard must be convinced that the dead creatures were wererats, b/c the bodies are all humans.  Eventually plenty of bystanders corroborate the story.  The heroes find out from the guards that there have been alarming disappearances, with the only clues being that people speak of “whispers.”  The avengers continue to the Chatter Street Market to meet Shooma and commission a bevy of dragoncrafted items with their dead black dragon corpse.  She doesn’t know anything about the disappearances either.   

Later that day the heroes encounter a Grimlock attack at the fair.  They defeat them and track them to their lair.  Refusing to fight them in the darkened building, Thorath keeps sending in summoned creatures until all or defeated or come out to be killed.  Having had enough of these random encounters, the heroes set out for Silver Hill again. 

The heroes then go to see the Baron Euphrimes II, but he won’t see them to converse about the growing fear and lethality behind this fair.  So Lidda begins to stir up a riot and incite the crowds nearby.  When she finally gets a decent following built up, the guard come and take the Avengers to their headquarters at Silver Hill.  Here they meet Lt. Rearden again.  He deputizes them for the purpose of peace bonded weapons, but refuses to talk of payment, and kicks them out calling them mercenaries.  Outside, the Avengers strike a deal with the merchants to investigate the attacks and missing people.   

That night, they stay at the Waltzing Worg, where Nokie was to meet his master.  The Square-Dancing Succubus was quite full and rowdy.   

The next morning they find that Shooma is among the missing.  The heroes go to the reality wrinkle and find it closed.  So they follow the next clue, about a rat problem near the bell tower at city center.  Here they are assaulted by wererats and it turns out the bell keeper, Tervin, is a wererat as well.  The tower proves quite treacherous, filled with rats, wererats, deadly traps, and even gargoyles atop it.  Dirk is nearly killed when bull rushed off the tower by a dying gargoyle.  The head wererat, Squim, is killed.  Tervin is spared but can only turn over so much information, that they get orders from “Those who hear.”  The group figures this is similar to the “whispers” everyone talks about as well.    

The next set of missing people and clues lead to the reality wrinkle, but not before a summoned purple monstrous worm attacks the party, eating Seige.  It was conveniently at that time that his brother Drog arrives.  Drog was the opposite of Seige, and quite an asshole.  Lidda did not like him, but has lost to many allies to worry about this rude replacement.  At the reality wrinkle, a bookstore, they find a distorted area out of the Far Realm according to Thorath, their scholar, summoner and “thrower.”  Downstairs, things get worse, reality is askew.  They defeat a number of foul sorcerers and wizards, who seem to have a portal to hell, again according to Thorath, in the basement.  They rescue Shooma here. 

Feeling safe that their investment and dragoncrafter is safe, they head back home from her shop.  They are ambushed by an Ogre Mage with a small army of mercenaries.  The barbarian Drog rushes into the alleys to fight, while the others take more tactical approaches.  Assassin’s using poison end the barbarian quickly.  The rest of the heroes dispatch the mercenaries, and an enlarged Dirk kills the Ogre mage. 

That night the Baron’s sister, Aireana praises them and declares the next day a holiday in their honor, that they have defeated the evil threatening the fair. 

The next day, they head to the

Church of

Heironous to see one of the wise priests for guidance and info about the hell portal.  Once again, they find evil at work, as the building is shrouded in mist.  Lidda ventures inside and the others surround the building.  Here they kill some evil sorcerers who were working with the lunatics from the Reality Wrinkle.  They save both Torea and Eileen, priestesses of Heirounous.   

Soon after this, a town meeting is called at the Baron’s keep.  The Baron comes out and announces that the fair is off, and martial law is in effect.  He deems the

Church of

Pelor and its allies to be enemies of the state.  A foul and evil looking creature of bone with a scorpions tail is seen above him perched on the parapet of his keep.  It vanishes to all but Lidda, who has tapped into her dark side, gaining an eldritch blast and the ability to see the unseen.  Shortly after the speech, a column of fire comes from the sky into the

Church of

Pelor.  The heroes begin rushing to the scene, when Thorath recognizes the column as a Hell Mouth.  The heroes, unable to deal with hell mouth with their current resources, go to cut the head off the enemy, by assaulting the Baron’s Keep.  

The Avengers intend to get to the bottom of this and scale the walls to the balcony entering the baron’s office.  There they find that the baron is controlled by a Mind Flayer.  His Bone Devil henchman begins separating the heroes with an Ice Wall.  The heroes fight both the flayer and the baron, and end up killing the baron who will not yield.  The mind flayer proves ineffectual, until he catches Lidda with his tentacles!  Before he can extract her brain, the combined efforts of Thorath and Dirk defeat him.  The Bone Devil proves to be immune to most of their attacks and very dangerous.  Just when Nokie makes it past the wall into the battle, and the other heroes begin to combine forces against the devil, it summons another of its infernal breed.  The heroes are forced to retreat, facing certain death against evil they cannot harm.   

Nokie and Lidda run to Shooma’s where the bone devil poison has severly weakened Lidda.  Thorath flies away, invisible, never to be seen again.  Dirk likewise departs, heading to his monastery, or perhaps to report Seige and Drog’s demise to their family.  Hopefully the help that was sent for, a hermit from outside Ossington, a powerful wizard named Machiaus will arrive and save the city, as these two Halflings seem far outmatched to do so themselves. 

The Avengers:

• Lidda
• Nokie

 

Their new destination, Kundakar, the dwarven stronghold of the legendary smithy, Durgaden the Black.  The Champions found a map to the Stone Tooth, near the mining town of

Blessindale, which held the secret location of the stronghold.  Rumor has it that the Durgaden’s hatred of orcs lead him to found the outpost and wage his war against them.  The rumors pursist that he lost tha war, and none have heard from the dwarves or forges of Kundakar in decades. Heading out of town, with a reward system for the right hand of orcs worth 25 gold pieces, Lidda the halfling rogue-cleric and leader took with her, the powerful dwarven cleric of Saint Cuthbert, Lothar and the mighty dwarven warrior, Gurken.  These three found the stone tooth, with only minor trouble from a wererat (and subsequent loss of their horses) upon their travels. The stronghold proved to truly of dwarven make and very defensible.  Nearly upon entering the mouth of the tunnel Lidda was felled by expert Orc archers using the superbly concealed dwarven arrow slits.  Quick thinking and the healing magic of Lothar saved her.  Eventually the group purservered over the archers by making through the barred door into Kundakar. Here they found a rope a bridge, some 60 foot across an insanely deep chasm.  Two orc archers on the far side began harrassing the heroes with missile fire.  Lidda began to return fire as Lothar started his way across, thus blocking the narrow bridge for the quicker more agile Lidda to hurry across.  Gurken attempted to start across, but felt uneasy and did not start yet.  Lidda, hurried past him and caught up to Lothar, where she returned fire at the orcs from behind Lothar.  When Lothar and Lidda were nearly half way across, Gurken tried to cross again; unfortunately slipped and fell 200 feet down the chasm, splashing into icy water and his corpse sank while being swept away by the current.   Upset by this, the remaining two Champions of Justice pressed on.  When Lothar reached within 20 feet of the other side, one orc charged up to cut the ropes and severed one, making the bridge very unstable.  The quick thinking Lidda used her Scroll of Command to make the orc approach her, stranding him on the unstable bridge like her and Lothar.   Unfortunately, Lothar could not manage on the even more unstable version of the bridge and he to fell 200 feet down the chasm into the icy water where his corpse sank and was swept away.  Lidda, using her longspear, manage to knock the Orc on the bridge off and even finish off the remaining orc in melee.   Distraught over the loss of her companions and trapped in the compound by the lethal bridge and deadly barrage from the arrow slits, she continued into the compound.  Through the next door, she rescued a merchant, his wife and two cleric-monk’s of Farlahgn (sp?).  One human and one half-orc, but both swift and efficient fighters.  Together the three forge on to clear the stronghold with a hefty does of vengeance.  Lidda has dubbed the three of them, The Avengers.  Silent, swift, and deadly, the Avengers continue on… 

When last we left our heroine, Lidda had lost her dwarven adventuring comrades within the Orcish stronghold.  They had fallen to their deaths.  She quickly freed a merchant, his wife and two cleric monks of Farlahgn.  One is Dirk, a human and the other is Siege, a half-orc.  They agreed to join with her in getting an ample amount of revenge against the Orcs, together they formed the Avengers.  They fought a number of orcs, two nests of stirges, some troglydites and a mighty ogre.  The ogre seemed to be the leader of the dungeon but he and his two pet wolves fell to the Avengers might.  Having found another entrance to the complex, the heroes cleared the front gate area and led the merchant and his wife to freedom.  

Now, our heroes continue to explore the mighty dwarven stronghold of Kundakar.  They quickly find another few packs of Orcs and make short work of them, though an elder Orc did put quite a fight.  Accidentily setting off a poison gas trap on a statue of Moradin, the heroes begin traveling somewhat more carefully.  They declare the first level safe and return to the lower level, crossing both streams with ease as the Avengers are all fleet of foot and quite skilled jumpers.  Continuing through the winding cave tunnels, they reach a massive room.   

It is in this room, that Siege notices at the very last second, an ambush by some person-sized worms with three tentacles upon its head.  The creatures climb down the wall and attack Lidda and Dirk, who are both unaware of them, each scoring a hit.  Siege fails at his first attack.  Dirk then quickly finds out that his weapon has no effect on the Gricks.  Lidda tries to lure the Grick away and likewise strikes one and fails to injure it.  She advises they all use a Magic Weapon spell.  Siege takes this advice and tumbles away from the Grick he and his brother fight against, to cast Magic Weapon on Dirk’s quarterstaff.  Dirk continues to fight away, now successfully beating on the Grick.  Lidda regroups to cast Magic Weapon on Sieges quarterstaff.  Unfortunately, Dirk is felled by the Grick and Siege tries to lure it away from his fallen ally, only to watch in shock as it grabs Dirk and begins climbing away, up the wall with him.  Meanwhile, Lidda has enchanted her weapon as well and slays the other Grick.  Siege, thinking quickly, gets a running start and leaps up to grab the Grick, while he does get him, he can’t maintain the hold and falls.  The Grick then climbs further away.  In a last ditch effort, Lidda runs up to the wall and flings her longspear into the Grick, nearly 40 feet away!  It hurts the Grick, causing it to slip and fall, which lands on top of Lidda, who opts not to dive for cover, trying to soften the fall on the unconscious Dirk.  The fall hurts Lidda badly, but Dirk is unharmed from the fall and the Grick was finished off by the fall.  Now our heroes regroup and cast what healing spells they have, as they try and decide what to do next, having been sorely outmatched by the gricks and lucky to have won. 

From here the heroes fight off stirges and troglodytes on there path deeper.  Soon, Redgar catches up to them and Lidda has to tell him the sad truth about Gurken and Lothar.  Redgar is enraged.  This group presses on, finding a horrible monster guarding a river passage.  This monster was a roper.  The group does not fair well and even lose Redgar who valiantly covers their retreat, sacrificing himself.  The dejected and downtrodden heroes press on however.   

They discover a great hall, that is home to Deugars!  These dark dwarves fall quickly to our heroes, though their trick of using the spell enlarge person is not as effective when you enemies use the same spell!  In the side passages from this great hall, they find a shadow or allip or some kind of undead that is a hard fought battle to win.  In another hall, Lidda is captured by an animated rug!  The rug merely holds her and does not kill her by pure luck.  The monk brothers run back to town and stock up on alchemists fire and flasks of acid.  They also enlist an elven conjurer: Vexander.  He admits to being a decent “thrower” and the monks bring him along.  With Thorath’s strong throwing arm, they defeat the animated rug and save Lidda. 

Further along, they find the rest of the duergers and finish them off as well.  The last passage leads to an underground lake, home to a black dragon!  Thorath is able to summon enough dolphins, sharks and porpoises to defeat the beast without any losses on the side of the Avengers.  Here they find a small hoard and take it, as well as the dragon’s body back to town.  The body is chopped up and parts that are usable for crafting are preserved, while the rest is barbequed for a town celebration!  The Avengers are dubbed heroes and set off for the Halfling festival in a nearby town, that also is home to a dragoncrafter. 

The Avengers:

• Lidda
• Thorath
• Dirk
• Seige

A fearless and adventuresome young Halfling by the name of Lidda puts notes in a tavern for adventurers.  She was trained in the arts of tomb robbing and prepared to find a worthy group of allies to travel with.  She was joined by others seeking adventure—The Champions of Justice: 

• Lothar, powerful dwarven cleric of St. Cuthbert (Drew)
• Gurken, a skilled shield-dwarf who wielded his dwarven waraxe with brutal efficiency (Joon)
• Valdania, a beautiful and extremely curious elven sorceress (Susannah)
• Redgar, a human raised by dwarves and a clan-brother to Gurken, he wielded two dwarven waraxes and left corpses behing his raging fury (Teman)

 

This brave group headed into the Sunless Citadel, a notable location nearby, thought to be haunted.  It had evidently once been used by dragon cultists before it was swallowed into the earth, earning its name.  Another reason besides the glory and wealth, is to rescue two noble adventurers whose parents want to know their fate. 

Along the path, they were beset with twig blights, dried up bushes with poisonous barbs.  The axe wielders made short work of the creatures. 

They found the canyon that holds their dungeon and use ropes that are already in place for descent.  Immediately they are best by dire rats, rats as large as dogs!  The group fends them off and eventually kill them.  They descend the stairs and Lidda, while being the leader and scout, falls into a pit trap filled with a dire rat!  She easily kills the creature with her longspear before it realizes what is happening.  The group begins systematically searching the ruins.  From the large entry chamber, many doors branch out, only some will not open.  Here they discover skeletal warriors that must be dispatched.   

They discover a kopold named Meepo, who is a dragon tender that is very upset that goblins stole his ward.  The kobolds hire the adventurers to retrieve the dragon, which they gladly do, bringing back the tiny white wyrmling.  This wins them passage with the kobolds.  They also defeat the goblin encampment, though through hardfought battles, against stout defenses. 

They find magical fountains with engravings in draconic, which Meepo can translate for them.  As they adventure, Lidda learns much from Meepo.  As well as studying with Meepo, she studies with Lothar, learning about his divine power and how he channels it.  Each of the fountains have a different effect, some traps, some boons.  They even find an alter that grants a charisma bonus.  In one tomb, they find a dragon priestess who seems part troll.  With great difficulty they dispatch her, though the tombs guardian, an imp or quasit of some kind, escapes.   

Eventually, the heroes find one of the signet rings of the missing adventurers on the goblin kings dead hand.  They rescue a gnome cleric of Garl Glittergold, Erky Timbers.  He adventures with them, looking for his freedom as well as revenge versus the goblins who imprisoned him.  In the goblin throne room, they find a passage down.  They climb vines down where they fight an Ogre, who nearly does them in.  In this level they find a large amount of plants growing.  Often tended by mindless undead or bugbear warriors.  They find a giant field of thorns that is partially filled with more twig blights.  The heroes press on, and find the evil druid, Belak the Outcast.  He is defending the Gulthias tree, which makes magical fruit, or if given sacrifices, it creates supplicant mindless servitors.  The tree has enserviced one of the nobles they search for and a former paladin who now serve Belak, as well as his man-sized serpent.  Belak casts Entangle early in the fight, making it a grueling struggle.  In the very end, somehow our heroes triumph and dub themselves the Champions of Justice.   

They cut down and burn the evil Gulthias tree and return the signet rings of the missing children to their parents.  They collect their sad reward and sell what loot they can.  In one of the map cases they found, contains a parchment with a map to Kundakar. 

Our valiant heroes, the self proclaimed Champions of Justice set forth from Oakhurst, having cleansed the Sunless Citadel of the Goblin menace and the evil Gulthias Tree tended by Belak the Outcast.