You know how it is...people's lives change. Somebody moves out of state, somebody has a baby, somebody starts a new career, etc. And it's all good stuff.
Over three years since the last post about any Dungeons and Dragons adventure of any kind...until today. The adventuring party has changed quite a bit, and now consists of the Nelson Five. But, again, it's all good. Maybe someday, the adventurers that were once with us will be so again.
A few weeks ago, I located my copy of Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk and began rereading it with the fervent interest of someone who, despite the many insane projects going on in her life, felt compelled to add another creative endeavor to the mix. So. Even though I'd started DMing this particular campaign with the players from three years ago, I decided to restart it with a new party of players and characters. Bear with me, then, as there are some elements that will seem repetitive in the first couple of sessions.
Without further explanation or justification, here are your players:
Brent (40): G'leric, a gnome wizard, and his familiar, G'at the bat
Spencer (16): Eric, a human paladin, and his mount, Zeeb (short for Zebra)
Kirby (14): Krispy, a human fighter
Elliot (10): Lance Dallas, an elf druid, and his familiar, Lionel the (giant-ass) Lion
No, really. I'm not kidding about Lionel. Seven feet tall and 450 lbs. A mutant zoo escapee, if you will. I guess it's to be expected when you let your son, who dreams of being a zookeeper and loves the fantasy genre, have carte blanche on his pet.
It's an early morning in mid-summer (the month of Reaping), as our party travels the River Road towards the City of Greyhawk. Already, the sun is bright and hot, and the adventurers have seen nary a soul on the road north all morning. As the group comes to the top of a hill, an easily-achieved Spot check paints the following scene for our players:
A great stone bridge leads away to the north, while the road the players are on continues more to the northeast, towards the city. Small hovels line the roadside, and two cargo carriages are overturned on the road, their horses lifeless beside them. At least three half-orc marauders are pawing through the shattered caravans and sifting through the contents. The marauders nearest the party (still a hundred yards off) appear to be not only raiding the cargo, but separating the items into discernible piles as well.
Upon further observation, the party sees a huge wyvern perched atop on the bridge's stone pillars, and sitting astride it, a cloaked figure who appears to be directing the marauding filth.
A brief conversation between the four party members (and three creatures) elicits the following plan:
1. G'leric will cast Invisibility Sphere upon the whole party, and as long as they stay within ten feet of him, they will remain invisible. Perfect for a little sneaking down the hill to investigate the situation further, whilst going undetected.
Upon nearing the closest sets of hovels, and coming within 30-40 feet of the nearest pair of orc raiders, Krispy (the fighter) can hear sounds of general terrorizing coming from within the house on the left. A good Spot check roll allows G'leric and Lance to discern similarly upsetting movement within the house on the right. Eric, the paladin, (and the one who really should give a flip) rolls poorly and is oblivious to nearly everything going on. However, once the fighter illuminates the paladin about the evil at hand, he becomes fervently righteous and concerned (and foolhardy, as only a 16-year-old paladin can be)...and he and Krispy rush off to the house containing the sounds of terror, hell-bent on killing half-orcs.
G'leric and Lance chill out in the middle of the road with the lion and the horse, still protected by their bubble of invisibility. Krispy and Eric no longer enjoy that lovely privilege as they kick down the door of House #1 to attack. The pair receives one free attack for the element of surprise, and it all goes down like this:
1. Krispy fumbles her surprise attack, but Eric makes a clean, sound hit. Both orcs are now aware and ready for battle, and the evildoers are dispatched rather handily by Characters Who Know How To Freaking Fight.
Meanwhile, the gnome wizard (squishiest of the party, btw) and the elven druid decide to take action against the two orc raiders many feet in front of them. This means they will have to run towards the orcs to engage in melee combat, and it is only in the middle of the fray that the druid remembers he's actually more proficient with his longbow. He considers running back to his original spot and switching weapons, but ultimately, he is encouraged to "finish it out" by the wizard and DM. The giant lion joins the fray as well, clawing and biting, and soon, another two evildoers bite the dust. But, not before both G'leric and Lance fumble attack rolls and incur damage on Lionel. Good thing he's so freaking big. G'leric, while not really fighting material, does his very best and does it bravely...and those orcs' knees took a hell of a beating from the wizard's quarterstaff.
So, between the two little guys engaging in their battle and the two bigger guys meting out their brand of righteous justice inside the house, it's no surprise that NOBODY noticed the malicious hooded figure upon the wyvern launch a Fireball right at Eric's horse (who, abandoned by G'leric in the middle of the road, lost his lucky little bubble of invisibility). Upon killing the two orcs in House #1, the paladin and fighter sprint over to House #2, where scenes of menacing were seen through the windows just minutes or seconds ago...however, the killing will be left to the fighter this time as Eric sees that his horse is smoking, as if it might have recently been slightly on fire. Of course, he stops to tend to that crazy business, and since Krispy is pretty competent in the area of fighting, the poor, evil-seeking-and-smiting paladin misses a chance to ride the Pain Train...but he does get inside the house in time to do a Heal check and realize the two humans inside this house are in fact dead already. He prays for them and performs their Last Rites.
Out of game, a little poor sportsmanship-esque exchange occurs:
Kirby: I killed two orcs in two turns (the Great Cleave feat, you know)
Brent: Oh yeah? Well...I hit an orc once.
Using the overturned carriage as cover, Lance and G'leric begin to attack the hooded figure upon the wyvern. G'leric summons a Giant Wasp, and Eric and Krispy dash to join their comrades. After seeing some complicated hand gestures on the part of the hooded figure, most of the party sees a glittering cloud descending upon them...and in the moment when G'leric realizes the wyvern-riding sorcerer has cast Glitterdust, he, his Giant Wasp, and Krispy are blinded by the cloud, and will be so for the next six rounds. Lance the druid casts Charm Animal in an attempt to befriend the great, scaly dragon...he yells, "Knock that person off your back" to the wyvern, but to no effect that the druid can see.
So, it's back to the bows and arrows, and the druid manages to do a fair bit of damage, wherein Eric implores Lance, "Don't shoot the man, we need to question him...go for the wyvern!" And because G'leric is almost sixty years old and has been around the city block a time or two, he decides to cast Summon Monster despite his present blindness. The creatures being summoned? Five Fiendish Hawks...which sound pretty badass, but will really resemble nasty mosquitos.
At this point in time, all party members who can see notice the wyvern's great wings begin to move and the creature and the figure riding it lift off and head off to the north. Someone informs G'leric of this and he sends his mini-hawks off after them, lamenting that they'll probably disappear with a little poof! before they reach the dragon. The lone orc raiding the last caravan has abandoned his inventorying and is looking for a fight, it now seems, and Eric is chomping to engage the fiend (prompting a comment from the immature paladin: we were boyfriend and girlfriend, and now we're engaged).
And there are days when being a paladin is fairly awesome, like today, when Eric decides to cast Smite Evil, which will do A LOT more damage to any EVIL target. And the 23 points of damage he manages to get is indeed enough to decapitate the last orc raider. And when the Glitterdust clears, the kills are attributed as follows: Krispy - 3; Eric - 2; Lance - 2; G'leric - 0 (but again, the sore knees thing).
The paladin suddenly remembers that, as a paladin, he should really go comfort or help the assault victims from House #1. The entire group accompanies him. It's obvious these people, who are not only minorly injured and terribly shaken, are incredibly poor, prompting Eric to hand over some of his rations and Lance some coin. This conversation ensues:
Eric (Spencer): Sorry for barging in (which the party didn't, they knocked, but whatever), but desperate times call for desperate measures. What happened?
It's worth noting that the paladin is NOT only sixteen years old, he has an Intelligence score of 8. Two pretty serious strikes again ol' Eric, and not even his 16 Charisma can save him in certain situations.
Victims: We were preparing our midday meal. We had no warning. The orcs burst in and we tried to stop them and they hurt us. They were going to kill us! You saved us!
Lance: Were the orcs looking for something specific?
V: We have heard rumors of orcs attacking caravans and stealing anything of value.
E: Okay, well, thanks for your time.
V: No, thank you!!
G'leric and Eric then stand outside for a moment, considering the giant stone statue positioned across the road from the bridge road. A Knowledge: Religion check reveals it is a statue of Boccob the Uncaring (a little Player's Handbook research by G'leric prompts a On-The-Road-to-Damascus moment as the gnome wizard realizes he's found his Savior!) Lance and Krispy begin to Search through the contents of the caravans, which appear to be mostly dry goods; preserved foods, bolts of cloth, barrels of ale. A distinct logo is emblazoned on the coaches: a bright orange shield, a black wagon wheel in the middle, and the name Able Carter Coaching Company.
Oh, yeah, and finishing up his paladin duties is Eric, who enters the second house with the dead humans, disposes of the dead orcs, buries the victims, and removes six copper pieces from the premises. Thoughts of giving the copper pieces to the living victims does not cross his mind, apparently.
A Search of the second caravan by Lance and Krispy reveals the same logo, and an easy Spot check reveals a third overturned carriage at the bridge's entrance. Lance uses his mad Track/Survival skills to note that the wagon tracks cross the bridge and head north, in the same direction as the wyvern's retreat. He also notices many humanoid footsteps along with the tracks. It doesn't take the druid and the fighter long to notice a man, laying supine near the dead horses of this third carriage. He is moving slightly, but is obviously very hurt. Lance casts Cure Serious Wounds, and the man looks a little less closer to death.
In an interesting accent that must come from casting such spells, Lance attempts to speak with the injured man and asks him how he was injured. The fighter wants to know why the druid is talking in a feminine voice, while others wonder when Lance started talking with a British accent.
"I was in the middle of a fight with a hooded figure and that dragon stung me...I think I must be poisoned," the man weakly replies.
Lance suddenly recalls Eric's earlier boasts of "being able to heal poison ONCE A WEEK", and shouts down to the paladin, who of course stops doing his one paladin thing to come and do another paladin thing. The injured man (nobody has bothered to ask his name yet) sits up gingerly as the paladin casts Remove Poison. G'leric the wizard, trying to helpful and empathic, strokes the man's hair comfortingly as he comes around.
The man tells them he is the owner of an establishment called the Drunken Dog Inn, in the City of Greyhawk. He claims that he was traveling from the city of Dyvers with some cargo when they were attacked by orcs, and the hooded figure immediately engaged him in battle while the other, lesser orcs went about wrecking the other caravans and terrorizing the villagers. The party finally inquires after his name, and he tells them he is Ricard Damaris.
Lance immediately asks if Ricard can give them 100 gold pieces...but then later claims he was "just thinking it".
Ricard seems especially grieved by the loss, or theft rather, of his dearly loved sword, a blade of chaos, which was stolen from him by the hooded fiend after the wyvern had poisoned him. A Listen check, then, by the party indicates there is movement in the bushes just near the bridge. A man comes forward, tentatively, and says his name is Acton Kathenor. He is wearing cleric's robes and offers to healing to Krispy, G'leric, and Lionel. He claims to be of the Boccobite faith, and he and Ricard seem to know each other. The paladin is a little suspicious on a couple of counts: a.) Acton fled the battle and hid instead of taking on the evil threat, and b.) Boccobites have the reputation of being distant and detached and "do-nothing" priests, which Eric has a hard time with, obviously.
At any rate, Acton encourages the party to head on to Greyhawk, as the great celebration of Riggby the Boccobite cleric's life and times brings thousands to the city. Eric nods knowingly at the mention of Riggby...he has heard the name and legends that go with him as well. Ricard, while not strong enough to walk the two miles into the city, plans to head there to his inn and seek further healing. He offers the party "free lodgings there for a month" as thanks for the rescue. Eric offers him use of Zeeb, which Ricard gratefully accepts.
And so, it would appear our merry band of adventurers is heading into The Free City of Greyhawk...
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