Magic 2015

Well its the release day for the latest Magic: the Gathering core set today. I already have a pre-order in place for some of the cards that I found interesting (Sliver Hivelord I am looking at you), but more than anything I am looking forward to getting some boosters and seeing what I get!

The Sliver Hivelord, centre piece for my first Sliver Commander  deck.

I have wanted to get a long to a pre-release for a Magic set but never managed to make it yet, real life keeps getting in the way. It doesn't help that I live away from home during the week, so vanishing for a day at the weekend can be a little unfair on my wife I feel, but hopefully, very soon, that will no longer be an issue as I am moving home to Walsall. What this means is that I can hopefully get myself along to see a pre-release and give a go to playing some Limited, which is a format of Magic that I have never yet experienced, and would love to give a go to. I am looking to see if I can rope my brother in to attending the pre-release for the next block so that we can both get a chance at drafting and playing in a tournament environment for the first time.

The Magic 2015 promo image, featuring the newly changed Garruk.

In the meantime it's time to start looking at my decks and figuring out what I need to remove that has rotated out of Standard, and what i can put in to replace those cards that have gone. I have a week's holiday away with family next week, so I am hoping that I can use some of the time to look at my decks and see what changes need to be made. My holiday should also give me time to catch up on the session write ups for my Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil campaign, ready for the next session. I am looking forward to getting the campaign log up to date before I forget vital details of what has gone on! The final plan for my spare time, games wise, is to build my Sliver Commander deck, which will be focused around my newly acquired Sliver Hivelord. That should be enough to keep me going for a week away, and I should be able to present the decklist for my Sliver deck once I am back.

The Nightmare Switch: part 4

In the first light of the morning, the companions left the cave behind them and resumed their pursuit of the creators of the tracks, heading westward toward distant hills. Cannis was leading the others, and they made excellent time through out what was an otherwise uneventful day. As the light began to fade in the early evening, the party came upon a small series of small low hills, forming the start of the hill range they had spied earlier in the day. The trail they were following led into a narrow valley between two of these hills. Sharp eyes and smart thinking quickly brought a sentry to their attention, positioned just below the brow of the nearest hill, and indicated a small column of smoke rising from the valley floor. It looked like they had caught up with their track-makers! It was decided that they should stealthily make their way across the desert floor, passed the valley entrance and attempt to climb the low hill to the west of the camp; this would allow them a better vantage point over the camp and also allow them avoid the sentry on the eastern hill.

It took an hour or more of careful movement across the desert, avoiding the sentry's gaze, before they made their way up the side of the hill and crouching down amongst the broken boulders and scant foliage over-looking their quarry's camp. The sight that met them when they looked closer was not what they expected. Instead of a small band of Aeon Priests, it was in fact a larger group of abhumans, Margyr to be precise. The bestial abhumans had set up a camp and looked like they were preparing their evening meal (which looked a lot like two human legs...). What is more, they had a number of items laid out on a blanket which appeared to be the band's loot, and one of those items looked to be size and shape of the missing cylinder. The leader of the group was huge example of a Margyr, twice the size of the rest and bellowing orders to the rest. The companions quickly discussed what they could do to get hold of the cylinder. The cooking legs pretty much ruled out diplomacy, and so taking it by force seemed to be the best option they had, using their cyphers to even up the numbers somewhat.

The game in progress over Google Hangouts

The initial assault on the abhumans was marked by the use of Nord's gravity detonation cypher, thrown into the middle of the group to try and think their ranks. When the dust settled from this, 5 of the Margyr had vanished and their huge leader was flat on his back, struggling to recover from the unexpected attack. Nord the proceeded to start firing arrows down on the leader as Cannis moved forward to engage a clutch of the abhumans who were advancing up the hill side to attack with their spears and axes. Six positioned himself so he could use his esoteries on the advancing throng but failed to get a blast off. Further problems were thrown up when the attacking abhumans were able to bring Cannis down (a 1 rolled on Cannis' speed defense, resulted in one of the spears tripping him... I love GM intrusion!). A thrown detonation cypher from the Margyr leader exploded at the feat of Nord and Six, but they were able to leap aside, avoiding any damage from it. Nord replied with a called shot to the giant's eye (a difficult shot, which Nord managed to get a 17 on the roll of and inflict a wicked wound upon his enemy), which dropped the leader, and eased the pressure on the companions. Cannis made light work of being prone, slashing and stabbing at the warriors in front of him and reaping damage upon them whilst they inflicted several wounds back on the redoubtable Glaive. Six managed to blast once or twice with Onslaught, but when he failed with one attempt (again rolling a 1!) the sentry from the far hill appeared behind him, having advanced whilst the party were distracted. Now alert to this danger, Six attempted to bring this sentry down but once again failed to hit with his mental blast; in addition he received a nasty wound in return from the sentry's axe. Nord seeing his friend in danger bull-rushed the sentry, knocking him aside and bruising him in the process. The following turn saw Nord dispatch the sentry with a thrust of his two bladed weapon, allowing the companions to focus on the warriors facing Cannis.

With their leader dead, the remaining Margyr were in a blood-lust fuelled rage, and pressed their attack heedless of the tide turning against them. Cannis was able to get back to his feet when his friends joined the fight, and with the numbers more or less even, the two Glaives and the Nano were able to use their superior training and abilities to overwhelm their opponents, dispatching them quickly before surveying the battlefield. By the end of the fight, all the abhumans lay dead, whilst the companions were cut and bruised but alive. Exhausted but exhilarated, the companions cast their eyes over their spoils, seeking that they had indeed recovered the missing cylinder, and also confirmed that the Aeon Priests had meta grisly end (their remains being some of that which was cooking over the fire). Nord decided that the skull of the leader would make a fine trophy, much to the consternation of his friends, and set about "recovering" it. Meanwhile, Six and Cannis discovered that the abhumans had an artifact in their possession, a pair of rods which when combined together created a blast of lightning. This was perfect for a Mechanical Nano who Rides the Lightning, and Cannis was happy to have the dangerous thing away from him! The abhumans also had 3 aneen which they used as pack animals, and the party decided to use them as mounts after a period of rest, so that they could return to the Faceted Dome and replace the burned out cylinder quickly.

By the following evening they were back in Redstone, having fixed the damaged machine in the dome, and hopeful that the nightmares would now stop. Upon telling the mayor of Redstone this, they were greeted with cautious optimism, which the following morning turned to stupendous joy after a night's undisturbed sleep. This joy was tempered somewhat by the news of the death of the Aeon Priest clave but was still worthy of celebration. Deymish was paid for his cargo by the mayor in thanks, and in turn the companions got their pay for being riverboat guards.

This brought about a close to my first Numenera adventure as a GM, which had taken a mere 2 sessions to run. However, it has now set in place ideas for a continuation for the three characters, as it the game was extremely enjoyable for all involved. Hopefully this means I will be able to write up some more sessions as and when they are run.

The Nightmare Switch: part 3

Last night my players and I reconvened to resume play in our new Numenera campaign. Last session finished with them entering the Faceted Dome and realising they needed to replace a part in the ancient machine they saw before them (you can read about it here (part 1) and here (part 2)). The game is played over Google Hangouts, as its difficult to get is all together regularly to play face to face (we live in three different parts of the country).

Gaming area all set up and ready to go!

The party started the session by exploring the interior of the dome. It was an unusual change from the dusty, dry, hot desert outside, with it's cool, humid atmosphere and it's frequent potted plants. Nord wondered if there were any storage compartments or bins which might contain a replacement for the burned out and damaged cylinder that was removed from the machine. The three companions rooted high and low in and around the machinery but were unable to find a replacement cylinder. They did however find a collection of cyphers and an oddity. After a brief discussion Six replaced one of his existing cyphers with a small glass rod that disintegrated metal when activated, figuring it would be more useful than the pill he gave up. With no luck on finding a replacement part, Cannis suggested that they pursue the tracks leading off westward to see if they can locate the Aeon priests from Redstone, and see if they knew anything about the part. After a short rest the party set off on foot across the scorching, arid land, following the tracks as they led off first west then southwest. By nightfall, they hadn't caught up with the creators of the tracks and so decided to take refuge in a nearby cave to rest for the evening.

With watches set and people bedding down, Nord Dar set about passing the time of his watch near the entrance to the cave, looking out on the night sky. His musings were disturbed, however, by the sight and sounds of the sand in the cave roiling and moving (GM Intrusion, which Nord's player happily accepted! This was also the first attempt by myself to add a creature of my own design into Numenera). From beneath the surface burst out a long, sinuous creature with two limbs that ended with scythe-like blades which fused synth, steel and bone. The two sleeping party members leapt to their feet and readied themselves for action: before any one started to fight Cannis roared that he could calm the creature (being trained in placating natural animals... a stretch calling this natural!). Staring at the monster, and making himself look big, Cannis shouted at the creature "back down!". For a split second it paused, checked by Cannis' booming voice in the confines of the cave, but then it launched itself at the Glaive, swinging it's scythe-blades. Cannis, being a nimble and lightly armoured sort, dived aside to dodge the blade (in doing so Cannis' player roared with delight, the dice coming up a natural 20!). This brush with death shook something loose in him, and with an un-natural howl he started to flicker and his outline shift, becoming a huge, slavering wolf-man hybrid! At this point battle commenced in earnest.

The creature in the cave

The players all rolled for initiative with all three players acting before the creature. A good start! First round actions were declared, with Nord shooting it with his bow, Cannis leaping on it and clawing it apart and Six attempting to Onslaught it with his Nano powers. This round of actions produced a spectacular amount of damage from Cannis as he applied effort to the damage and ripped a large part of the creatures armour free. Nord's arrow deflected off the creature's tough hide and Six.... well Six managed to fail spectacularly with his Onslaught, rolling a 1 and giving free GM intrusion. This was used to introduce a smaller version of the creature attacking them, which burrowed out of the sand behind Six and attacked him. The creature launched it's counter-attack, lashing out at both Nord and Cannis, missing Nord but slashing across Cannis, who simply ignored the pain and carried right on with his attack.

The second round produced another flurry of interesting actions. Cannis attempted to rip more of the creature apart to add to the devastation he got with his first strike, Nord switched attention to the small creature, and Six once again went more an Onslaught blast. Fortune did not favour Cannis, as he rolled a one for another GM intrusion: this one meant that although he ripped something off the creature he ended up with a face full of acidic ichor, burning himself for 4 points of damage. Nord grabbed the smaller creature by the neck, ignoring its bone-scythes and proceeded to snap its spine, ending the treat from it. Six had more poor luck, rolling badly and failing to blast the larger creature.

At the start of the third round, Cannis' outline flickered and shifted once again, going back to the man not the beast, who found himself naked, and on the back of a huge creature that was determined to kill him. He launched another attack on the creature, again aiming for the damaged area he had created on his first attack, but again rolled a 1! The third free GM intrusion in this fight generated a second juvenile creature which launched itself at Cannis, who dodges to avoid it. Nord then delivered an arrow to the adult creature inflicting damage upon it before Six finally activates his Onslaught and killed the main threat. All that was left now was for Cannis to dispatch the juvenile, which him promptly did with one blow from his fist!

With the companions exhausted from the fight, they simply pushed the bodies of their foes to the back of the cave, and brushed themselves off before returning to their beds, or watch posts. Cannis also found time to replace his torn clothing, much to the relief of his companions! When morning arrived, they set out from the cave again following the trail, hopeful that today would be the day they caught up, and put pay to the nightmares plaguing Redstone.

The Nightmare Switch: part 2

With the party recovering from the harrowing scene in the Redstone Arms tavern, they decided to bed down for the night on board Deymish's boat, moored in the canal at the base of the cliffs. Before everyone drifted off to sleep, Six proposed a theory that perhaps they would all suffer the nightmare, being as they were sleeping in Redstone. What is more, if they did he had a theory about what could be causing these awful dreams: the Numenera (which Cannis snorted at and stated: "Its always the bloody Numenera with you"). Six proposed that there may be some sort of signal or radio wave (to which his two Glaive companions looked blankly at him) that was carrying this dream to people's sleeping minds. With his two companions confused about what on the Ninth World Six was blathering about, they all quickly went off to sleep. That's when the nightmare struck... Strange images, disconnected sensations, sounds smission (a combination of smell and vision) all assaulted minds that were not designed to handle it, creating nothing but pain, terror and confusion. Everyone quickly awoke, relaying the same experience to one another whilst the horrifying memory of the dream receded, all except Six...

Here was an example of GM intrusion recommended in the adventure itself: the alternative dream. This one, instead of the confusing dream/nightmare images, gave a clearer picture of a structure in the desert, of something broken that needed fixing: a strange cylinder, and a sense of urgency. Six, being a Mechanical Nano seemed like the perfect target for this alternative dream and so it was that I offered him the intrusion, which he accepted and learned more.

Six relayed his dream, to the others, who were able to share their experience with him. Much to his disgust, Nord had to admit that Six could possibly be right with his theory of it being Numenera related. The party quickly discussed what Six had seen and what they could do next. Six informed them that he thought the dome was close (at least, that was the impression the dream gave), and he thought they should set out to find it. Grabbing water and some limited provisions, the party made ready to leave in the night, informing Deymish who said he would remain behind with his boat.

The desert surrounding Redstone, where the party went off in search of Six's dream.

The party made it's way up through the village and out into the desert beyond, following the path out to the quarry. It was here that Cannis found signs of tracks leading off into the desert, and what is more, determined that there were signs of three sets of tracks. They started to follow these off into the red desert, with their hopes lifted that Six's dream may prove right.



As the sun started to rise in the morning, Cannis' sharp eyes once again picked up on an anomaly, with a bright sparkle occasionally popping up on the horizon. As the day wore on this became a constant glare, and as the party moved further north it became apparent that this was a reflection off of a surface. The direction of this co-incided with the tracks that the party were following and so by midday they arrived at a structure in the desert, a dome made of crystal panels: the Faceted Dome.

The Faceted Dome, and ancient structure in the deserts of Seshar

This was the structure from Six's dream and the party were pleased to have made real progress. However, they were presented with the issue of how to get in? They searched round the structure, finding no obvious entrances. Nord offered to climb the structure and have look on the top, whilst the others continued on the ground. Nord scrambled up the side, clinging on to the crystal panels, and upon reaching the top realised it was the same as the sides: in desperation he simply placed his hands on the crystal and whispered (so as not to get laughed at by those on the ground) "let me in crystal dome", where upon the dome admitted him, dropping him to the floor after bouncing him off some pipes!

Outside, the other two continued to look round, and found an area where there were signs of a struggle, between multiple creatures: bits of torn robe, blood spatter, a broken spear. Along with this were tracks leading off to the west, some mounted some on foot. Further investigation revealed that strange sigils had been carved into the dirt of the desert around the site of the battle, and neither of the characters could discern the meaning of them.

It was about this point where Nord was able to repeat his feat of getting the crystal to open, but this time facing his friends. After some discussion of how it was done, all of the party entered the dome to be met by the twin sights of strange advanced machinery, and green potted plants! This gave the atmosphere a cool, pleasant feel after the heat and dryness of the desert. Whilst they took in their new surroundings, Six searched for what he had seen in his dreams, and found it: a cylinder, burnt out an blackened, detached from it mountings. This was what he had dreamt, and he thought he now knew how to fix it. Just one problem: where could they find a new cylinder?

The Nightmare Switch: Part 1

Well last night's Numenera game got underway as planned, and it was a blast! I cannot remember having quite as much fun running the game as I did last night, despite the limitations of running over Google Hangouts (which, in honesty aren't that bad). We got started on, and made it about halfway through, the Kickstarter exclusive adventure The Nightmare Switch, and I had a party of three characters taking part in it who break down as follows:

• Nord Dar: A Graceful Glaive who Carries a Quiver
• Cannis: A Rugged Glaive who Howls at the Moon
• "Six": A Mechanical Nano who Rides the Lightning

The adventure started with the characters on the deck of a boat in the canals of Seshar, under the command of a man named Deymish. The players were hired as guards to ensure the boat reaches the village of Redstone safely. I decided to get the game warmed up nice and early and give everyone a chance to experiment with their characters and the rules, so when Nord Dar's player mentioned that there had been no bandits about, I immediately offered a GM intrusion! The player duly accepted and 4 bandits dived from the cliff walls using glider suits (imagine a flying squirrel). Things started swimmingly, with the players all getting the initiative, and Nord Dar scoring a natural 20! I gave him an extra action on his turn for this roll as a major effect and the players set about ridding the boat of bandits. Nord hit one of them with an arrow whilst he was in the air (scoring a groin shot, as dictated by the player) and missing with his second arrow. Cannis made short work of one of the bandits by dropping him in one blow, unarmed (the effects of getting a 19... that +3 points of damage proved lethal). Six attempted to blast one with the power of his mind, but failed his roll, so in fact stared intently at the bandit, to no effect. All of the players managed to dodge the blows from the bandits weapons and launched follow up attacks of their own: once again Cannis dispatched one of the bandits in one blow, this time with his broadsword, and Nord kicked out at the injured one. However poor old six again failed to hit with his Onslaught attack, and the bandit he faced decided that he had had enough of being stared at and walloped Six with a club to the face. The injured bandit fled, deciding this boat was clearly too well defended, leaving one bandit facing 3 armed opponents. Nord thought it best to try a little intimidation to end this situation without further bloodshed, but seeing as he had little skill in intimidation, he decided to scare the bandit with the only thing he knew would work: interpretive dance! Now, I see that this is ridiculous, and I set a difficulty higher than the bandits level (5), which was reduced by Nord's player to 4 for being trained in performing arts. The player rolls.... and comes up with a 15, a success! So disturbing was Nord's noiseless, wordless performance that the bandit threw down his weapon and fled, diving over the edge of the boat without heed for his own safety. From this point on I knew this was going to be  one weird campaign!

With the warm up out of the way, and the players now a little more familiar with how the system worked, I had the boat arrive at Redstone, and the characters helped Deymish offload the medical suppliesd that were his cargo. Carrying them up the slope into the village, the characters noticed that the inhabitants all looked worse for wear: bleary eyed, sleepy, drained; no one looked like they had slept for a week. Deymish spoke to an acquaintance and he relayed the story of the horrible nightmares the whole town had suffered and how some had be driven to flee the village and some even to suicide. This startled the characters, and they questioned this man further, asking if anyone or anything new had arrived recently, or if anything strange had happened. Unfortunately the poor man told them nothing out of the ordinary had happened except the nightmares, and that the whole village would soon be driven mad or worse. Seeing that their was little point trying to dig further with this man the party headed up the hill to the tower of the Aeon Priests to deliver the supplies.

The village of Redstone, where sleep proves a terror.

At the tower they met with a somewhat recalcitrant guard, Hataniah, who told them the priests were busy and they should come back tomorrow. She also told them, no she could not take their delivery. Nord once again decided to try his social skills, this time trying to bribe Hataniah into looking the other way whilst they walked past. However this was a very difficult roll (level 6 = 18 target roll) and Nord failed miserably. The guard's face darkened and she told the characters in no uncertain terms to get lost, which they decided it might be best to do. Heading back to the boat (with their cargo) all were grumbling about not being able to make the delivery. The party thought it best at that point to eat and make a drink with their sole Numenera artifact (a box which produced a mixture of chopped dark brown leaves, which when steeped in water produced a tasty beverage...).

As evening approached the characters, minus Deymish who stayed on his boat, decided to head to the centre of village life, the Redstone Arms tavern. Here they hoped to find more about what was going on, but upon entering they were met by the sight of a half empty tavern, dull eyed patrons, untouched drinks and a bar man slumped over the bar, barely rousing as they entered. Nord, could take the misery no more and thought to lift the spirits with a song. Once again though, Nord had no skill in singing, and no backing music to drown him out. This did not deter him though, and he launched into a rousing song, with Nord's player rolling: a 1!! Free GM Intrusion time (oh dear). Nord's awful caterwauling pushed the bar's occupants over the edge, with several screaming, more weeping and one launching into a bout of cutting himself to escape the horror of their situation. With this awful scene before them, the characters retreated to the boat and thought things might look better in the morning. They bedded down for the night, and one by one dropped off. Then the dream happened....

Still poking about in the Moathouse!

So, after the party'd nighttime ambush of the Gnolls, they retrace the Gnoll's steps down the main staircase and start to explore what looks to be a prison of some sorts. They quickly examine one or two of the rooms before arriving at what looks to be a disused armoury. A hint of movement puts the party on alert, and with weapons drawn and spells at the ready they challenge the hidden figure to show themselves... To then be faced with Spugnoir, a wizard and owner of Potions and Elixirs in Hommlet.

The wizard Spugnoir, potion maker and explorer.

Spugnoir had been exploring the Moathouse when he came upon Utrashimmon. After a short battle he was forced to retreat to the dungeon and seek refuge from the inhabitants he found there. Maudriel questioned this story with some disbelief, but Kielle quickly decided he was trustworthy and spent some of her magic patching up the injured wizard and earning a fast friend (as well as a 30% on potions in the shop). Spugnoir offered to show the party a secret exit from the dungeon before he left and so led the party deeper into the complex. The party passed through the dig recovery chamber (the sight of their battle the previous day, at the bottom of the hidden staircase) and on into what looked to be living chambers for a small company of gnolls and others. Adventus pointed out that it would be rude to leave with out at least having a little rifle through the belongings of their enemies, and so the party set about finding what they could. In one ares of the living quarters they chanced upon a chest, and Adventus, being the expert in these things, offered to open it. Every one gathered round whilst the human worked his skills on the lock. After a minute or so of work the gentle snick of a opening lock was heard, and Adventus, flushed with his success opened the chest... to be caught full in the face by a Glyph of Warding, spraying him in acid and making him recoil in agony.

They should have known!

(At this point it must be noted, I did warn the players that this is a Monte Cook adventure, so told them to expect traps. This wasn't just me being a d**k of a DM!).
Once Adventus had recovered from the shock of the acid in the face, the party discovered that the chest contained some useful items, but more importantly, the journal of a priest called Hedrack.In this he ranted about many things but revealed that these priests were excavating at the Moathouse to recover artifacts important to their god. He also revealed that a cell of cultists was present in Hommlet, hiding in the cellar of the mill.

The route out of the living area led to the south and it was here that Spugnoir pointed out the secret entrance to the dungeons, off in a side passage. With this done he departed to get back to Hommlet, whilst the intrepid adventurers headed off  toward the sounds of voices coming from a chamber nearby. On the way they were surprised by a pair of Gnoll guards who were quickly dispatched but proved to be little more than speed bumps to alert their nearby masters, the priests Geynor Ton and Ysslansh (a Troglodyte). A furious fight erupted around a circular pit in the southern-most chamber, with spells being flung and blows traded. However, for the two priests it was an uneven fight. They were worn down and defeated, but not before one of the was beaten backward into the pit, dropping off into the darkness.

With the immediate danger gone, the party took stock of where they were: the chamber was cold and had the loud sound of running water. Indeed, an underground stream seemed to flow out of the rock a meter or so down from the lip of the shaft and fell down into the darkness. In an effort to see down into the shaft, the armour on the body of the remaining priest was enchanted with a Light spell and pushed off into the dark, revealing a drop of more than 60 ft. Above the shaft was a rickety looking contraption that would lower them down with a pulley system. Being the brave sort, the party mounted this lift and slowly lowered themselves down into the gloom, getting ever colder as they went. Only one of them, Maudriel, had dressed in thick clothing and consequently the unnatural chill was having a nasty effect on the other three.

The shaft opened out into a huge underground cavern, extending off into the dark in all directions as they went down. The floor of the cavern they had seen from above proved to be a strange surface of a black, marble-like rock with odd violet veins in it. It also proved to be around 60ft in diameter, convex in shape, and not the true floor at all, but a platform of sorts. On the far side of it, another lift platform awaited.

The cavern beneath the Moathouse dungeon, viewed from the side.

The party set off across the surface of this platform only to reveal two things: firstly, the violet veins started to writhe and move toward them when they stepped onto the marble. Secondly, they were not alone in this cavern! A strange, floating creature with tentacles and a beak chose that moment to strike.

A grell, an aberration and a down-right bizarre one at that.

This bizarre and unexpected creature made a bee-line for Bronath, striking him and paralysing him with its tentacles. The rest of the party launched into an attack (from back on the lift platform) and managed to free Bronath from its grip. However the party were low on spells after their fight with the priests and were sorely pressed holding off the creature whilst winching themselves out of the cavern. The grell, seemingly unwilling to let it's prey escape pressed its attack, making the party fight with what they had left. Luckily Adventus had an unerring aim with his thrown knives and managed to finish the foul creature off, allowing the party to escape with their lives. With the majority of the party tired, low on spells and lacking supplies, it was decided that they would head back to Hommlet to recuperate before returning to find out what lay at the bottom of the cavern and investigate what the priests were looking for. Plus, this gave them chance to go and visit the mill!

Poking around the Moathouse Part 2

To follow up the post from Monday, I thought I would put out the next part of this campaign log. We finished the last one with the company discovering a hidden set of stairs down into the dungeons beneath the Moathouse. Here is what happened from there.

The company's first instinct was to send Maudriel's familiar down the steps to check out what lay beneath as he was unlikely to be discovered. This simple plan yielded the fact that the chamber beneath was occupied by humanoids, but little else (with the snake being unable to relay more precise information). To follow this up it was  decided that with Adventous being the sneaky, stealthy sort, he would be the best choice for going down the steps to scout out what lay ahead. With no further ado, he crept off down into the gloom, following the faint sounds of guttural, animalistic voices coming from the bottom. When he reached there he observed two black uniformed gnolls engaged in a game of dice and a human woman in robes meditating. They all appeared to be looking after a number of strange items laid out on a pristine white sheet in the otherwise empty chamber. Adventus decided to return and inform the rest of his companions what was going on and what they should do about it. They discussed who these people might be, and came to the conclusion the best thing to do was go with the diplomatic approach and talk to them. Once in the chamber, the woman leapt to her feet and demanded to know who the intruders before her were, whilst the gnoll guards quickly stood and readied themselves for trouble. Maudriel, speaking for his companions informed her that they were simple explorers who had rid the Moathouse of the dragon keeping those beneath penned in, and that she should explain her presence here. The woman stalked across to the south side of the room, opened a door, looked inside and yelled "Seize them!", at which point an almighty fight broke out, with skeletons pouring out of the southern door and rushing the company as they stood at the bottom of the hidden steps.

The undead rush the party!

 Team work between the company at this point meant that Adventus rushed out and engaged the woman, whilst the 3 other company members dispatched the gnolls and turned on the skeletons. The battle was somewhat longer than expected, with bad rolls on both sides contributing to the length, but finally the heroes gained the upper hand. The fight was finally won by a combination of Maudriel's magic and Adventus resorting to punching the skeletons with his fists to beat them down. With their opponents defeated, the company realised they were near the limit of their capabilities for the day; however there was much more of the Moathouse to explore. It was decided they would camp in the room above, after resealing the secret door, and continue to explore in the morning.

The party settled down for the night in their bedrolls, with a guard posted and rotating every couple of hours, enjoying the rations that Adventus had thought to bring along (this was only supposed to be a stroll out to explore a historic set of ruins after all!). However, unbeknownst to the company, movement was afoot beneath their feet: gnolls working for the robe wearing priests trapped in the dungeons had been ordered to sally forth to discover who had killed the guards who were looking after recovered artifacts (that the companions had pilfered after the fight), and were now moving up the main staircase to explore the ground floor of the moathouse. Maudriel's sharp ears picked up the sounds of the advancing gnolls, and thinking quickly, he cast Hold Portal on the door to the chamber they were in before rousing his companions. The heroes made ready and hid, hoping to ambush the creatures as they entered the chamber, and make short work of them before they could call for reinforcements.

The gnolls burst in.... straight into an ambush!

6 of the fearsome hyena-men advanced into the room, looking round for where the intruders could be, but were taken by surprise as Adventus lept out of the shadows to strike. He was quickly followed by Kielle, who cast Soundburst, stunning most of the gnolls before they could act. Bronath tripped the lead gnoll, and proceeded to dispatch him before he could get back to his feet. With the rest of the gnolls stunned, the rest of the company took care of them before they ever had a chance to act. What could have been a dangerous situation for the heroes turned out to be a white wash for their assailants. The party readied themselves for the day ahead, and stalked back into the dungeon beneath their feet, ready for action.

Poking around the Moathouse

Its about time I gave an update on my new Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil campaign for Pathfinder I reckon! We have now played 3 sessions of this campaign, and have the character roster completed; the company of heroes consists of the following:

Adventus Helios: A human who is an genius with all things poisonous and company "expert" on traps and locks.

Maudriel: An elven master of the arcane arts of Abjuration. He acts as the brains of this company

Rickaard of Axeport: A human priest of the god Pelor. Acts as the company's moral beacon, and patches them up when they inevitably get wounded.

Bronath: One half of the half-elven brother-sister combo in the company, Bronath is the man who hits hardest, using his guisarme to fell opponents. Goes by the title "Champion of Goldensprings".

Kielle: The other half of the brother-sister combo, Kielle acts as party adviser on magic and death, acting as back up for both Maudriel and Rickaard, being a priestess of the god Wee-Jas.

With most of the company assembled in the small town of Hommlet (just waiting for the arrival of the tardy Rickaard) they decided to go and explore the infamous Moathouse located near town. This ruined fort was the site of a famous battle 25 years ago that involved Bronath and Kielle's father and they wanted to see the site of his triumph, as well as keep themselves occupied (before Bronath tried to chat up any more of the locals).

The Moathouse, located near Hommlet

A pleasant stroll in the early summer sunlight brought them to the Moathouse by mid-morning and after a spot of lunch the company decided to head on into the ruins. No sooner had they reached the entrance when two things occurred to them. Firstly, there were new planks laid across the old, rotting drawbridge; secondly, the reeds were sure moving in a funny way! A short scuffle ensued with some of the local wildlife (a Giant Frog) and after a hairy moment for Bronath, where he was dragged into the water by the frog's freakishly long and strong tongue, the heroes managed to beat back the offending amphibian.

The company's first mighty opponent!

Once inside the courtyard of the ruins, it became apparent that the site was not as abandoned as the company had believed. A long drag mark was evident in the courtyard, leading into the ruins of the Moathouse itself. Proceeding with caution, the adventurous band crept up the steps and into the gloomy interior, where they noticed three things simultaneously: one dead body, one half eaten body and a blue dragon uncoiling as they peered in! This dragon, Utreshimmon, gave them one chance to leave his newly acquired lair or be added to his larder. The heroes, being brave and heroic declined his polite invitation and proceeded to engage him in combat. Adventus got the drop on him, flinging daggers at him, whilst Maudriel hammered him with spells; Bronath flailed ineffectively with his guisarme and Kielle kept an eye on every one whilst swinging her mace. The dragon fought ferociously, but in the end weight of numbers began to tell, and with his strength failing, he unleashed one final crackling blast of electrical energy before retreating, swearing revenge up the impudent humanoids who had dared to tangle with him.

The blue dragon Utreshimmon, now a sworn enemy of the party.

Flush with victory, the company proceeded to claim their spoils, finding an interesting collection of weaponry and minor items on the two dead bodies. What's more the bodies hinted that the Moathouse was not, in fact, abandoned. The party proceeded to explore the ground floor of the Moathouse, finding a large room where in the north-eastern corner of the building where damage from the battle 25 years ago had been crudely, and recently, repaired. A more detailed look in this room revealed a hidden trapdoor in the rubble, and a dark staircase leading down into the dungeons beneath....

A new campaign is launched

This last weekend I launched what will hopefully prove to be a new, long-term campaign with my regular gaming group: this is Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil.

Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil

This lengthy adventure, written by Monte Cook, way back when D&D 3.0 was released is something I have been hoping to run for a long time. Now finally I get my chance, and will be running it using the Pathfinder rules set. In future posts I hope to detail my adventuring party's progress through this, and also at some point I hope I can (with the player's permission) detail who the characters are in this.

The town of Hommlet

For now the characters are set up in the small town of Hommlet, with rooms at the Inn of the Welcome Wench. Their plans are to head out to the old Moathouse, a small fort around 10 miles from town. Two of the party, Bronath and Kielle, wish to visit as their father was involved in the original battle against the temple's forces at Emredy Meadows, and they want to retread the sites of his famous adventures. Despite the best efforts of one of the fellow patrons at the inn to join them, only the four colleagues will be going to the Moathouse, and it is expected to be little more than a sight-seeing trip.