23rd session: Everybody wants to kill the T'orgh brothers...

1st moon, 23rd day, year 4554
After a good night's rest, the brothers spent the day looking at art objects and identifying various items they had collected lately.

1st moon, 24th day, year 4554
In the morning, the T'orghs headed back to the beach and Grokar was there, as per their agreement. He sailed them back to the mainland, and was paid his dues and allowed to leave, looking very relieved.

The brothers started to make their way west. During the afternoon, they ran into a swarm of angry death beetles, and while they survived, it was certainly close. But Nalfeins wand of fire made a huge difference here.

1st moon, 25th day, year 4554
At night, two large wyverns attack the brothers. While fairly easily dealt with, the fact that they both bear House Hume marks makes the T'orghs wondering what is going on.

1st moon, 28th day, year 4554
During their sleep, the T'orghs are attacked by a dark elf assassin cloaked by improved invisibility, a dark elf wizard and his imp. The battle looks bleak for a long time, with everybody being down and out at some point, but in the end, the brothers manage to kill the opposition. The wizard bears the house sigil of House Hume...

2nd moon, 1st day, year 4554
Another night, another ambush. Four dark elf mercenaries assault the brothers, after saying:
"Your brother Hu'ar sends his best and thank you for all you have done for House T'orgh."
Their acid-coated shortswords seem to be tipping the scales for a while, but a Hold Person and a Suggestion spell turn the tides of battle...

Dying - Houserule

A character does not die at -10 hit points. Instead he dies at -10-level. Ie a 5th level character dies at -15 hit points. This is to offset that damage goes up, but the death-buffer (0 to -10) never changes, thus ensuring a much, much greater lethality at higher levels.

22nd session: The bronze trial, part II

1st moon, 12th day, year 4554
Using his ring of change self, Nalfein enters the village of Derrick posing as an elf, and after talking with several fishermen, secures passage for the brothers.

1st moon, 13th day, year 4554
The next morning, he meets Grokard, the fisherman, and sets out. After a couple of hours they pick up the rest of the party. Grokard is surprised and frightened by the dark elves that join them, but the lure of a lot of gold and the realization that they can kill him easily ensures he agrees to sail them to the isle.

1st moon, 21st day, year 4554
The T'orghs arrive to the island, and agree with Grokard that he should return every 3rd day to the island. After a week, he is free to go as he please.

They decide to follow the coast, and look for a lake or similar, as Belos has informed them bronze dragons do.

After a couple of hours, they find a river leading inland. They follow it, and are quickly ambushed by two giant crocs. The crocs die and are raised, one by Belos, one by Nalfein.

Continuing on, the brothers and their new undead guardians are attacked by 24 man-sized, blue and yellow frogs. The fight is long and hard, with Belos almost dying and Nalfein going down as well.

After the fight, the T'orghs decide to rest. They move a bit away from the river, and make camp. During the night, a minotaur and what later turns out to be a psychic tiger try to sneak up on them, but when discovered and faerie-fired, try to flee in order to regroup. This results in a 10-minute hectic chase through the forest, finishing by Nalfein and Tagar catching up with the minotaur. Fight starts, and the psychic tiger returns invisible and joins in. Tagar trades blows with the minotaur while Nalfein holds off the tiger. Belos arrives after a while, and help finish off the monsters.

1st moon, 22nd day, year 4554
The T'orghs continue inland, bypassing some ruins and finally find their lake, hidden in between some hills. Tracks show that the dragon at least comes here occassionally, but no cave in sight. Belos makes them all able to breathe water, and they go exploring underwater. Suddenly the dragon, which is just about bigger than anything else they have seen, arrive, dropping in from above. The T'orghs realize that they are screwed underwater, even if they can breathe, and quickly dimensior door out of the lake while the dragon finishes off their undead servants, including Jeffrey. The battle then continues on land (and in the air), finishing by Nalfein killing the dragon with his wand of fire, mere seconds before the next breath weapon would surely kill most, if not all of the brothers.

Exploration turns up a dragon-lair, complete with a dragon-horde.

21st session: The bronze trial

11th moon, 26th day, year 4553
After travelling home towards Menzo for a couple of days, the brothers are, while setting up camp for the night, approached by an old dark dirty and barefoot darkelf, who asks if they will share their fire with him.

They decide to do so, slightly intrigued what a dark elf is doing on his own out here. He doesn't tell them much, aside from the fact that he was banished from Menzo a long time ago by the Council and the brothers' father. He also appear to know Tagar's mother and shows some interest and knowledge about Belos' newfound staff. Nalfein distrust the old man, and decides to take a round, looking for magic or something else. As Nalfein is gone, the old man shapechanges to an old acquaintance, the dragon they met in the Underdark, and assaults Belos and Tagar. Fortunaly, both Tagar and Jeffrey prove very precise and hardhitting, and the (poor) dragon is ripped to shreds in no time at all.

11th moon, 28th day, year 4553
The brothers, still on their way back to Menzo, are attacked by a phase spider, which they kill quickly.

11th moon, 29th day, year 4553
The T'orghs arrive back at Menzo, and complete the first trial by pouring the blood out over the altar.

12th moon, 2nd day, year 4553
After 3 days relaxing and spellscribing in Menzo, the brothers once again head towards the temple.

12th moon, 10th day, year 4553
The brothers arrive at the temple. After having seen that the Earth Symbol only changed a bit, and how it changed, the brothers Belos and Nalfein decide to try to figure out what the other symbols could be. They flex their mental muscles, and come up with the following
From top left, to bottom right

1- Air
2- Brass
3- Bronze
4- Chaos
5- Copper
6- Creation
7- Death
8- Earth (Hill Giants)
9- ??
10- Fire
11- Gold
12- Ice
13- Justice
14-
15-
16- The dead

They decide on the bronze symbol. A horned devil appears in a puf of smoke and says:
"Deliver a scale weighting no less than 5 lbs from the hide of the dragon called Tyrat. Bring it to the altar in the temple of T'orgh, and keep it on the altar for safeguarding until the next trial has been completed"

Not knowing who the hell Tyrat is, the T'orghs decide to swing by their library in Menzo and find out.

12th moon, 15th day, year 4553
At night, the brothers are attacked by seven very brave orcs. They overbear Nalfein and manage to land quite a few blows before they are killed and subsequently reanimated. While a humiliating experience, it does help Nalfein realize that his new ringmail must have been mis-identified, due to the amount of protection it turned out to offer.

12th moon, 18th day, year 4553
Back in Menzo, the brothers start to research.

12th moon, 27th day, year 4553
After nine days of perusing over old books, the T'orghs have found 3 interesting pieces of information.
- Jurat Firemonger is credited to have said: "Tyrat ignored several of my spells, but every one of my electricity spells"
- Jurat also writes: "As we were closing in on Tyrat, we were assaulted by all kinds of animals. It was if nature itself had a deal with the beast"
- Tyrat lives on the island of Nosurax, east of the Silent Forest.

1st moon, 4th day, year 4554
On the way east, towards the isle of the bronze dragon Tyrat, the brothers ran into a live tree who tries to eat them, but they dispatch it quickly enough.

1st moon, 7th day, year 4554
The brothers stumble over a couple of hardened elves resting for the night. They ambush them and make short work of them, before reanimating one of them.

1st moon, 11th day, year 4554
The T'orgh brothers are attacked by a wyvern. After killing it, Nalfein tries to animate it and create a very powerful guard, but fails. Instead Belos does it.

1st moon, 12th day, year 4554
The T'orghs arrive at the coast, near the village of Derrick.

20th session: The trials of Asmodeus

10th moon, 29th day, year 4553
After a quick trek back to the duergar mine, the brothers hand in the head of the drow and secure safe passage out of the Underdark.

10th moon, 30th day, year 4553
The brothers meet Krul, their duergar guide, and head out into the maze-like Underdark. They quickly realise that even though they are only a few miles below the surface, they would probably never have gotten out alive.

11th moon, 3rd day, year 4553
After a 3-day march through the Underdark, where the only significant opposition was a handful of hook horrors, the T'orghs finally see the sun again. They exit the dark below in a cave in Dragon Mountain and soon head for Menzo.

11th moon, 4th day, year 4553
At once back in Menzo, the brothers brief their father on the mission of Master Rhylar, especially the part about a traitor house working against Asmodeus.

High Priest Venar uses Nalfein to connect magically with Master Rhylar, and Nalfein explains that they have his bottle, and Master Rhylar agrees to swing by and to pick it up in person.

While they wait, they spend some time training, buying new spells. Amongst others, Belos learns identify and immediately succeeds in identifying the maul. It is indeed the Maul of the Titans.

They also learn that the vampire they killed in the Underdark was a noble of House Jhalavar.

11th moon, 10th day, year 4553
Master Rhylar arrives, sitting atop a very big and very shadowy dragon. He informs Father, uncle and the brothers that the scrolls of Asmodeus that they have are as suspected the original ones. Asmodeus planted them in the mortal world, so that his followers could proove themselves to him. In order to gain access to the scrolls' powers, one must surive and complete 16 trials posed by Asmodeus himself. He also explains that the runes on the wall in the temple are keyed to the trials. Activate a rune to get a trial. He also shows them how to do that.

The brothers and Father decide that the best course of action to take is for the brothers to attempt to complete the 16 trials, so that they can command the power of the scrolls in the coming face-off with House Jhalavar.

11th moon, 11th day, year 4553
The brothers once again leave Menzo and head northwest, to the temple where they found the scrolls.

Belos' health improves as well, he doesn't feel as weak from the energy drain as he has the last month, but he is still not at his best.

On the way to the temple, they run into a snake of epic proportions, but even though it is big, it is no match for the blades of Tagar.

11th moon, 19th day, year 4553
The T'orghs arrive at the temple, and activate a random symbol. It changes to the symbol of earth, and a horned devil appears.

"To the south-west, 10 days on foot from this forsaken place, lies the nameless hills north of the Red Lake. There, Chief Grask, leader of the Skullsmasher clan plans a ritual in 8 days, at midnight. You must stop the ritual and bring back 10 liters of the chief's blood to be poured over the altar in the House of T'orgh. Eternal life to the Lord of Light, so it was at the beginning, so it will be at the end."

Wasting no time, the brothers head out again, and by using fly and free action spells, they make up for the time and arrive at the giant lair seven days later, after stumbling over some well-equipped goblins whom they interrogated about the precise location of the giants.

11th moon, 26th day, year 4553
The brothers sneak into the chieftain's lair, bypassing most of the tribe, and try to kill him while he is sleeping. Unfortunately, a magical alarm wakes him, but they still manage to kill and drain his blood before the wall of fire that is blocking for the other giants ends.

19th session: The Genie in the bottle

10th moon, 1st day, year 4553
Using his ring of change self, Nalfein enters Laketown to scout and find the sage. His first stop is at the Wet Fish Inn, where he bribes a local to tell him about John Ghutol. Apparently the local merchant does not know of this sage, but he directs him to Master Ryghlar, *the* sage in Laketown. He lives in a tower-house on the island furthest from land. Nalfein quickly heads over to the island, only to be turned away by the sage's majordomo. He is however told to return the next day.

10th moon, 2nd day, year 4553
Nalfein returns to Master Ryghlar's place, and this time, he is in luck. Master Ryghlar meets with him, and informs him that Ghutol died 250 years ago. But Master Ryghlar does know of the scrolls, and proposes a deal. He knows of a genie, and if the brothers can deliver said genie to Master Ryghlar, he will tell them all they need to know of the Scrolls. In order to find the genie, the T'orghs must head to the Dragon Mountains and use magic to enter a special underground dungeon. There they will have to find 8 keys to open a portal, which in turn will lead them to the genie. Nalfein accepts on behalf of the brothers, and return to camp.

10th moon, 4th day, year 4553
After two days of walking in the mountains, the brothers and their pet goblin are surprised and attacked by two ettins. Although Tawri almost blinks his ass out over a ledge, the giants prove to be fairly easily dealt with. Later the same day, they find the secret magical entrance and get teleported inside the dungeon.

The dungeon appears very large, and in the first room that they enter, they find a chest. As Tagar wants to open it, it morphs and bites him. While that could arguably be somewhat expected, the fact that the walls were suddenly alive as well certainly did surprise the brothers. The fight against the living wall and the mimic is a tough one, but in the end, the two monsters are dead and the brothers are already fairly exhausted but they have their first key.

But deciding not to let the dungeon dictate their pace, they head further in. The next room has the key on a keychain in the middle of a long narrow room, complete with autoclosing walls. Tagar shows off his speed and jumping skills, and manages to get the key unharmed.

The brothers move on, into an empty room. Suddenly they find themselves trapped in the mindscape of an intellect devourer which stalks them in an imaginary forest, while attempting to sow division and distrust. Tagar ends by downing Tawri, but manages to shake the spell and turn around the fight with two perfect hits in a row. They now have 3 keys, and decide to rest here.

10th moon, 3rd day, year 4553
After a good night's sleep, the brothers continue on their quest for keys. They find a small statuette in the next room, which they have to remove from a pressure plate releasing poison to bring it along. The removing doesn't go too well, and Nalfein and Tagar get poisoned. But noone dies, and they continue to the next room they can find, which turns out to have nothing, but some odd markings which they can not decipher on the floor.

Next they find an alchemy lab, and Tawri attempts to make some water breathing potions, but without a positive result.

Then they find a room full of gems, gold and magic, but it turns out to be nothing but an illusion designed to trigger a curse. The imp guarding the room tries to kill them, but fails.

After the imp follows a junk-room, where some mustard goos attack the brothers. They kill off the weird monsters with some difficult and now have yet another key.

After the goos, the brothers discover a room that looks mostly like an ancient temple. With some luck, the brothers manage to defeat the two mummies that guard the room. And while there is no key in the room, there is (amongst others) a Pelor-decorated magic longsword which disappears from the hand of Tagar when he is struck unconscious, only to reappear seemingly out of nowhere later on, when Tawri searches for it.

10th moon, 4th day, year 4553
After a good night's they find a library and the brothers spend the day identifying items and finding 6 rare books. It turns out that the longsword Tagar has acquired is a holy avenger. He decides to keep it, citing that it suits him doing Asmodeus' will with a Pelor-blessed weapon. Nalfein and Tawri approve. The six books are:

Thoran Blackwater's Most Intriguing Life and Death
Fairie Fauna
Navigating the City of Brass
Lighting A Fire In A Snow Blizzard, A Treatize On Arcane Cold And Fire Magics
Jeffroz Ranzibel, A True Death
The True Story of the Lightbringer

10th moon, 5th day, year 4553
The T'orghs continue their exploration of the dungeon complex. They head towards the last room, which is a small ruin submerged in water. The 7th key is at the bottom, protected by a vampiric manta ray, which attack them while Tagar is using a combination of water walk and levitate to get to the key. Tagar gets drained before the brothers kill the beast. The 8th key is in the clay statue they found in a previous room, and after "freeing" the key, they head back to the portal room.

They activate the portal and find themselves in a fungal forest underground. Soon after arriving to this mysterious place, they are attacked by a beetle the size of a small elephant, but it is quickly dispatched. Size does not always matter, apparently.

As they venture further into the fungal forest, they run into a large number of Fungi men. There is a standoff, and the brothers convince the fungi men to lead them out of the forest. As they exit it several hours later, they are told that there be drow to the north-west and dwarves to the south east. The T'orghs decide to stay away from the drows - for now - and head east along the border of the forest.

As they get tired, they get to a river. They levitate and get dragged across, and then camp for some much needed sleep. During the night, Belos goes off on his own when he sees some fluorescent shrooms in the river - and almost drowns.

10th moon, 6th day, year 4553
The brothers continue east, where they find the ruins of an ancient elven city that mysteriously disappeared about 1500 years ago, in the year 2987. They enter the ruins, only to run into almost 20 elven wights. A battle for their lives start, and while they manage to kill the foul beats, Belos has been drained dry and is in a coma, and the rest of the brothers do not feel much better. They retreat back to their last camping spot, where they rest up.

10th moon, 7th day, year 4553
When Belos doesn't awaken the next morning, the brothers are worried.

10th moon, 11th day, year 4553
After more days of hiding invisibly, the T'orghs have had the chance to examine their new acquisitions. In Thoran Blackwater's Most Intriguing Life and Death, they find notes on a ritual that can help those who have been drained. If it doesn't kill them first. Deciding that Belos would want that, Nalfein and Tawri perform the ritual and Belos awakens, although still very weakened. They decide to wait some more.

10th moon, 14th day, year 4553
Not knowing what to do, Nalfein uses Divination and is told: The Genie is guarded by those who can not see, fear not the water, least the Genie you will not see.

The brothers head north, and after dealing with some spiders bigger than horses, they arrive where the river enters the cavern, a waterfall on the northern wall. They get the idea to levitate up and enter the hole where the water flows from. Inside, they stumble over a grey-purple-ish dragon. After some negociation and such, the brothers pay the dragon with the gems their father had given them for the sage. The dragon, which calls itself Xixiral, informs them that the genie is down south, near where the river hits the south wall.

So they head south.

10th moon, 17th day, year 4553
After heading south for 3 days and searching along the southern wall, the dark elf brothers find a cave with grimlocks. And after utterly destroying most of a patrol, they succeed in making an alliance with the grimlocks, which apparently have been living under the genie's figurative iron boot.

They enter the efreet's cave and face it. Soon they are fighting in an inferno of flames and fireballs, and just manage to bring the evil creature down and trap it in a bottle.

10th moon, 18th day, year 4553
After a good night's rest in the efreet's cave, they leave and head south-east, to the dwarves, which turn out to be duergar with a mining facility. Tawri tries to spy on them, and gets caught. The brothers strike a deal with the triplet leaders of the colony. Bring back the head of Zakris Darkmantle, leader of Darkfort, the drow enclave at the opposite end of the cavern. They also learn that a mindflayer has often been spotted in the ruins to the north, where the brothers almost met their end.

10th moon, 23rd day, year 4553
As they approach Darkfort, the T'orgh brothers run into a basilisk, which they readily dispatch, then an umberhulk that confuses Belos so much that Tagar has to knock him out cold.

10th moon, 24th day, year 4553
The brothers arrive at Darkfort. Belos does some magic and explains where Zakris is. He also explains that he is talking to someone from Menzo, and they are talking about a revolution, a plot to take down the city. He also mentions that Darkmantle warns his guest about House Mizzrym.

The brothers dimension door their way in, and find themselves facing Zakris Darkmantle, an expert warrior and a dark elf vampire. After a short but brutal fight, Zakris slays Tawri just before the vampire is forced to turn to mist and flee and he himself is slain by the brothers. Seconds later, they dimension door back out, with the body of Tawri and the head of Zakris...

18th session: Destination: Laketown.

9th moon, 1st day, year 4553
After a couple of more days travelling, the brothers stumble over something very rare. They spot a patch of violet shrooms, the rare Echo Drops, magical shrooms that grow where rifts spill magical energies in from the Faerie Realm. You can use them to create a wide range of potions, most noticably healing potions.

9th moon, 5th day, year 4553
During the night, the brothers are awoken by a inhuman shrieking from somewhere nearby in the forest. As they discuss how to investigate the sound, some ogres sneak up upon them from behind, and the ogre mage, which had been making the sound, comes flying in, invisible. A hard fight follows, with Belos nearly dying, but in the end, all the ogres end up dead.

The next evening, as they are setting up camp, they are approached by the leader of a band of goblins from Farlang's tribe. They ask permission to set up camp nearby, which is granted, as long as they stay the hell away from the dark elves.

9th moon, 6th day, year 4553
During the night, Nalfein spots a young goblin, called Splug, spying on them. He sends him away. But the next morning, as they leave, they realize they are being followed. They set up an ambush, but it turns out to be Splug, whom they allow to tag along.

9th moon, 7th day, year 4553
The next day, the brothers stumble over an ancient temple of Asmodeus, older than Menzo, and definitely not created by dark elves. They search the ruins, and find some ancient stone tablets holding forgotten knowledge about the art of divine magic. Unfortunately, the secret place holding the tablets is trapped with a magical curse that feebleminds Tagar. Belos brews a potion using some of the Echo Drops and pours it into Tagar.

9th moon, 8th day, year 4553
Tagar snaps out of his coma, and the brothers can move on.

9th moon, 10th day, year 4553
The brothers leave the familiar confines of the Silent Forest and start hiding and resting during the day and travelling at night.

9th moon, 11th day, year 4553
After a couple of nights of travelling, the T'orgh brothers enter the Ironwood. Where the Silent Forest is dense and claustrophobic, Ironwood is almost sparce and majestic. Incredibly tall straight Ironoaks fill the forest, called that way because the core of the trees can be made into very durable wood.

9th moon, 12th day, year 4553
The brothers are attacked by a boar bigger than a draft horse, but once the initial shock has gone over, the beast is quickly and cleanically killed.

9th moon, 13th day, year 4553
The T'orghs exit the Ironwood and pass by Rilow Village, a small fishing village.

9th moon, 14th day, year 4553
They arrive at the Forest of Death. Mist is everywhere, screams, trees are gnarled and twisted, they seem dead, but aren't, there is a sickness in the air.

As they travel through the diseased forest, they are suddenly attacked by 25-odd ghouls and ghasts. But with Asmodeus' help, the undead are not a problem.

9th moon, 17th day, year 4553
After leaving the Forest of Death, the brothers rest during the day under the shade of some trees. A merchant named Ragnar approaches, a potter wanting to share the area with the dark elves. Nalfein uses his ring of change self to appear as an elf and tell the human off.

9th moon, 20th day, year 4553
The brothers stumble over a caravan of humans, and debate whether to use it to enter Laketown, but decide to leave them alone.

9th moon, 23nd day, year 4553
At night, the T'orgh brothers cross the Dragon River, invisible and levitating.

Shortly after, they pass by Ravenholm, a small village sporting a huge temple of the Raven Queen, which has a blackstoned roof shaped as a raven's head.

9th moon, 27th day, year 4553
The T'orghs pass by Icewell village, but pay no notice to the small human enclave.

9th moon, 30th day, year 4553
They arrive at Laketown, a town with about 15.000 inhabitants, built on small islands in a lake. The smell of water and fish is very noticable and in the middle of the town towers a huge temple dedicated to Bahamut.

17th session: Communication is key

8th moon, 22nd day, year 4553
After dispatching the two mages, the brothers first have to face some guards and a Xiltyn cleric, followed by another Xiltyn cleric and some more guards. The brothers persevere, despite facing powerful foes and as they finish off the last cleric, the doors break down and Fathers forces are here.

As soon as their father arrive, they are instructed to soon go to Laketown and locate a sage named John Ghulton, who, according to the oracle, knows something important about the scrolls. The brothers are warned that Ghulton has been around for more than 250 years.

They stay in Menzo for 3 days, getting newly acquired items identified and preparing for the long journey north.

8th moon, 27th day, year 4553
After a couple of days of traveling, they are attacked at night, by a noble of House Hume. The brothers manage to defeat him, despite his impressive skills with the blades, but not before he kills Tawri.

Luckily for Tawri, Nalfein has in his possession a scroll of raise dead, acquired on an earlier adventure.

16th session: Destroying House Xiltyn

7th moon, 30th day, year 4553

After a good night's rest outside, with various skeletons guarding the brothers, the T'orghs went back down to check out what they could find in the library. Apparently the undead had been (for unknown reasons) re-enacting part of the ritual necessary to summon a Balor, mighty demon of the 11 Hells.

 

8th moon, 1st day, year 4553

The next day, the brothers returned to the library, to find out more about the ghost they had killed. Apparently, Hamzat, a member of the demon-cult, had been sort of a librarian, with a undying passion for his work.

8th moon, 2nd day, year 4553

The next morning, the T'orghs headed north, following the edge of the Darkswamp. Entering human lands, they found what they were looking for. A farm with several carts, wagons, horses and mules. As they were taking them, the farm's owner and his sons arrived to stop them, but when they saw that the thieves were dark elves, they quickly fled inside to the "safety" of their house.

8th moon, 3rd day, year 4553

Returning to the fort, the brothers put the skeletons to work, carrying all books up into the two carts.

8th moon, 5th day, year 4553

After finishing collecting all the books, the dark elf brothers turned southwards towards Menzo.

8th moon, 9th day, year 4553

Shortly before dawn, the brothers are attacked by two angry brown bears, but the beasts are quickly dispatched, albight not without some new wounds and scars being acquired.

 

8th moon, 12th day, year 4553

The T'orghs return to Menzo.

 

8th moon, 19th day, year 4553

After a week of R&R, setting up the library, training weaponsmithing, getting some magical items identified (still no maul!) the brothers are summoned by their father.


In front of all nobles of the house, their father informs them that the oracle has told him how to find the sacred scrolls of Asmodeus, artifact of the god himself. Some humans have unearthed the information and holds it in a fort, near the Silent Forest. The fort iswell protected but with sufficient force, it is doable. Most of House Menzo marches in 3 days, so all have to get ready for battle and march. Afterwards, after everyone else has left, they are brought back in by R'azz. Father informs them that it is a ploy to get House Xiltyn to split their forces and leave their palace open for attack. In 3 days House T'orgh marches, but not north. Instead they are going to crush House Xiltyn by first destroying their palace, then marching north to ambush the army sent to destroy the fort.

In order to help with this, the brothers must find a way into House Xiltyn within 3 days. Shortly before the attack, they must take control of their "control center", where they have quick and easy communication with their army outside the walls of Menzo. The brothers are then to hold said center, until the palace is under T'orgh control.

8th moon, 22nd day, year 4553

After much debate and preparation, the brothers have their plan. Using some acquired potions of dimunition and invisibility, they hide amongst the wares of the Black Dagger Consortium, the merchant company delivering food and drinks to House Xiltyn.

They manage to get in, without too many hickups. Then they hide until shortly before the attack, and then attack the control room, a room with maps and a crystal ball. They find themselves facing two wizards of no small skill, but after a hard battle, both wizards are dead, the room is theirs, and they can hear the sounds of battle from the outside. But ressources seem low, and it will be a while until Father can breach the Xiltyn defenses and come to their rescue....

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Energy drain and aging

ENERGY DRAIN: Lose average HP (2/3/4/5) and 1 spell of highest spell level and take a -1 penalty to hit and saves. If drained to level 0, in coma until save vs death magic is made. Save after first night of rest, then after a week, then after a month, then after a another month, and so on, and so on. Energy Drain can also be removed by Restoration or by a ritual. The ritual however can easily kill the person that you try to cure.

Every time a energy draining creature hits you, it gains +1 to hit, +1 damage, +5 hit points per level drained.

AGING: Age until next category. If you die of old age, you are in a coma. Save vs death magic after a night's rest, after a week, a month and then after another month, etc, etc. Just like energy drain, there is a dangerous ritual that can revert the effects.

Standard age -> middle age (-1 str/con) -> old age (-2 str/dex, -1 con) -> venerable (-1 str/dex/con) -> coma

 

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15th session: The castle in the woods

7th moon, 28th day, year 4553

After killing the mercs and the ogres, the brothers explored the towers and the barn. In the barn they found several items indicating that a giant lived there. This made them somewhat more cautious, but they pressed on. As they were about to enter the main building, they suddenly heard something large approaching. It turned out to be a hill giant, but about 4 wellplaced darknesses leveled the fight, and the giant went down quickly.

With the giant dead, the T'orghs turned their attention back to the main building, which they found to be barred, from the outside. Entering the building, they found another door which was barred. Leaving that, they explored the other parts of the fort, finding a throne-room, a weapons chamber and a lot of bedrooms, but nothing interesting except signs of battle.

Going through the barred door, they went down to the cellar. Going north, they found a halfling in a cell, who was afraid of undeads. He begged the brothers to bring him along, but they refused. Moving further down the corridor, they ended up in a torture chamber with quite a few bodies. Ukerin wanted a hand, unfortunately the bodies turned out to be ghouls. Battle started and soon two brothers were laying on the floor, paralyzed by the foul touch of the undead. Glazmar managed to finish the battle by commanding all the ghouls into one of the empty cells. Unfortunately for him, the halfling had left his cell and ambushed him as he was locking up the door, and the halfling was no halfling, but instead a wight. Glazmar was struck twice getting his lifeforced drained before it was killed.

After a short break, the T'orghs moved on, and found a huge library with tombs. As they entered, a voice rang out of the darkness. Leave my books alone. Tagar ignored the warning, and was swiftly attack by a ghost. The battle was long and hard, moving from the library and back to the stairs up, going on both in the mortal world and in the Underworld (Nalfein changed to wraithform). The ghost was mostly possessing Tagar, but also trying to drain the years of the other brothers. Ukerin was struggling to make a ritual that could banish the ghost, when Glazmar had the idea to run back to the library and use detect magic to find the book it might be protecting and then destroying it. Although he didn't manage to finish the task before the ghost had made him a very old dark elf.

At this point, the dark elves decided to take a small break and get some sleep. They went back upstairs and Tawri animated some mercs as skeletons to guard the area, should anything come out from the depths.

7th moon, 29th day, year 4553

The next morning, the brothers went back down. The only room left was a huge temple, with a crap-ton of skeletons and monster zombies, which were re-enacting a dark ritual over and over again. After some fireball and lightningball tossing as well as some commanding, all the undead were destroyed.

 

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Rod, staff and wands

Wands usually comes with 7 charges. Whenever a wand reaches 0 charges, roll 1d20. On a critical failure (a 1) the wand crumbles to dust/doesnt work anymore. Otherwise, each day at dawn, a wand recharges 1d6+1 charges.

Wand of Fire: As DMG, except:
Burning Hands, 1 charge
Pyrotechnics, 1 charge
Fireball, 3 charges
Wall of Fire, 5 charges

Wand of Lightning: As DMG, except
Shock, 1 charge
Lightning Bolt, 3 charges

More on House rules

We decided last night:

• Sleep needed in order to recover spells need not to be consecutive. Meaning, you can sleep for 4 hours, take a 2 hour guard duty, then sleep for another 4 hours and then memorize.
• We will be implementing the new skills system, I suggested in an earlier post. So please try to update your character. It's very easy.
• Regarding energy drain and similar attacks, I have gotten some feedback, and I know now how I will run it. How will be a surprise. ;)
• When a character dies, his player can meta-choose an item that he takes with him to the grave for sure. The group then picks one item they can keep. The rest of the characters items poofs (are buried, never to be retrieved). A character's spellbook counts for an item.
• I thought about levitating, and it's kinda lame. From now on, you can levitate at the rate of 20' (4 squares) as a move action (and still attack/cast spells etc). If you do nothing but levitate, you can move 40' (8 squares) up or down.
• From now on, you can only use your dark elf specialities once per day per ability. So at first level, you can cast darkness 1/d, Faerie Fire 1/d and dancing lights 1/d.

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14th session: New brothers...

7th moon, 18th day, year 4553

After three days of celebrating the defeat of House Tuin, High Priest Venar of House T'orgh summons all nobles to the immense temple of Asmodeus in the T'orgh Palace. There he praises the Lord of Light for giving them this victory, and introduces 4 new members of House Torgh, adopted sons of House Tuin, as custom dictactes. The four new sons are Cardazz, a high priest, Roxaz, a priest, Tawri, a young priest/wizard (BC) and Bilos, a necromancer of indeterminable age.

 

As the others leave, Nalfein and Tagar stay behind and are instructed to take care of Tawri and Bilos, who are to replace the two brothers they recently lost.

 

With that done, the new T'orgh "strike-team" are instructed to head north, to Castle Verax, an old abandoned castle near the Darkswamp. They are to clear it of any monsters and bandits, then return to Menzo.

 

7th moon, 20th day, year 4553

After traveling for the better part of the day, the T'orghs are awaken during sleep, when a swarm of stirges attack them. A Web spell from Tawri and a Stinking Cloud from Bilos later, the stirges are all but dead and the brothers can return to sleep.

 

7th moon, 23rd day, year 4553

During the night, Nalfein suddenly hears a loud crash nearby. With everybody soon awake, the brothers go investigate, and find a 300 feet long golden dragon, sound asleep in the forest. Nalfein identifies the dragon as Mararexvutar, the greatest gold dragon alive on Era. He usually lives further south, flying around over the Great Plains of Nala, but apparently, he is not there at the moment. The brothers prudently decide to leave Mararexvutar alone and move their camp some miles away.

 

The next morning, Nalfein summons a bird and sends message to Father.

 

7th moon, 24th day, year 4553

During Nalfeins watch, the brothers are surrounded by 8 ogres, led by an ogre named Gorax. Not the least intimidated by the fact that they are dark elves, the ogres demand that the brothers surrender and hand over their weapons. A short but bloody fight later, the ogres are dead, and the T'orgs a little gold richer.

 

7th moon, 28th day, year 4553

The brothers arrive at Castle Verax, a large castle-fort, with 4 towers, a tall wall, a big port and a central building. Tawri goes scouting, and tells of one human and one ogre roasting a wild boar outside one of the towers.

 

The T'orghs wait for nightfall, then sneak up to the castle and Tawri drags the others over the edge so that they can levitate down on their enemies. Battle starts, and while Bilos' Stinking Cloud takes out several foes for a while, the remaining ones are joined by a mage and some more mercenaries. The battle goes back and forth, and just as Bilos and his trusted side-kick "Jeffrey" goes down to a hasted mercenary, the other mage is killed by Nalfein. The two more ogres join the fight, but now the brothers are somewhat in control and Tagar and Nalfein quickly dispense of them.

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Silent Forest Map

Silent Forest

 

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Asmodeus

Below is an overview of Asmodeus, the only god of the dark elves of Era.

 

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Darkness and other dark elf powers

Seems to me that the whole dark elf campaign was a good idea. So far, it's been fun. I do however think that all those innate powers are way too much. Now, I am all for preserving the dark elf feel, but maybe we can tone it down a little. Combats tend to be long and boring if all main enemies are blinded, all the time.

So instead, I suggest we should change to a more sane setup.

1st level: Cast darkness, faerie fire and dancing lights all 1/day

5th level: Levitate, know alignment and detect magic, all 1/day

6th level, IF INT 16 or higher, then use inate spell and cast normal spell (or two innate abilities at the same time)

7th level, clerics, priests and wizards gain clairvoyance, detect lie, know aligment and dispel magic, all 1/day.

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13th session: Two deaths and the destruction of House Tuin

7th moon, 11th day, year 4553

After talking with R'azz, the brothers learn that cousin Ry'jak, a failed cleric turned fighter has been acting suspiciously and meeting in secreet with noble sons of other Houses. The T'orghs decide that he probably is the spy and set new plans in motion in order to get a confirmation thereof. Talking to their father, High Priest Venar, they are allowed to sacrifize 600 sets of weapon (stolen from the orcs) and armor to flush out the spy. They get the weapons and the armors moved to an old warehouse.

7th moon, 12th day, year 4553

Disguised as orcs (using change self), Nalfein and Glazmar pull a fast one on cousin, and make him think that those weapons are meant for a sizable mercenary force coming to bolster the T'orgh forces. Then they hang back and wait for him to make his move.

7th moon, 13th day, year 4553

A couple of hours after midnight, Ry'jak leaves the palace and heads down to Scumtown. The 5 brothers follow him under the cover of invisibility and darkness, and when he enters the Red Devil, an Inn of ill repute, Glazmar and Ukerin follow. There he meets with Crantyk, the elderboy of House Xiltyn and tells him of the weapons. Crantyk pays him, and leaves, and Ry'jak goes back to the palace as well.

The brothers quickly return to the palace and tell Father, what they have learned. He is pleased, but informs them that the spy will have to wait. House Tuin will most likely soon attack, and he has a job for his sons.

As you all know, one doesn't have to destroy another house to destroy them. Provoking them to attack and repelling them, is more than enough. House Tuin will come at us with all that they have, and we will stop them. Your older brothers and I will defend us all against the concerted magical assault they will launch. Meanwhile, you will sneak out and take out 3 of their spellcasters to ensure a stallmate. Once rebuffed they will either leave and be destroyed by the other houses or risk a head on assault on the palace with all the defences intact. At this point, it will just be a matter of how the House of Tuin dies.

The spellcasters will be spread out in the area surrounding our palace, in a pattern to enhance their magical assault. Probably on rooftops, in appartments or other places out of sight. They will probably be protected by some sort of guards or traps. In order to find them, you need to use locate object to find this pendant, which all spellcasters of House Tuin wear. All of their most powerful spellcasters will be at the center of the pattern, so if you find a place with multiple pendants, move on to another.

He then hands them 3 scrolls of Locate Object and the Tuin Pendant.

7th moon, 15th day, year 4553

After waiting around a couple of days, things finally pick up pace, and the Tuin family and army make their move. As soon as the attack start, Nalfein is alerted by his uncle, and the brothers move out and start magically tracking down spellcasters.

They find the first in a courtyard, surrounded by dark elf guards and an ogre. A long battle starts, with darkness spells flying left and right. Raheem is held by the cleric's magic and so is Glazmar. In the end, the a repeated barrage of lightning bolts kill the cleric while Tagar and Nalfein deal with the ogre and the dark elves.

The brothers recoup their breath and move on to the next target, which turns out to be on a rooftop nearby. The T'orghs all levitate up, but fail to surprise the wizard standing up there. He quickly launches a fireball, knocking both Raheem and Ukerin unconscious, which causes them to plummel to the ground and die. Meanwhile, Glazram manages to land a hold person on the wizard, and as Tagar is about to cut his throat, they find out that the mage is protected by stoneskin and that he has a pet troll which was hiding. The battle continues, but blinded by the dark elf magic, the regenerating beast is no match for the dark elf brothers, and they manage to beat their way through the stoneskin and the troll before the hold person spell expires.

There is no time for mourning, and the 3 brothers left standing move on to the last target, which they find in an apartment. They levitate up and surprise two wizards who have occupied a goblin place. The fight is swift and brutal, but the 3 brothers walk away from it relatively unharmed.

They return to Father, who is very very pleased. They have done honor to House T'orgh, and he offers to ressurect Ukerin while he declares that Raheem is not fit to live. Unfortunately is is not either the will of Asmodeus that Ukerin lives (failed ress check with 1% on a 98). So just 3 days after his birthday, Ukerin is no more.

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Proficiencies -> Skills

So, speaking of skills, here is my suggestion to change them.

You roll d20 + stat - 10 vs target numbers. So for example, if you have an 16 int, you roll d20 + 6 int bonus vs a target number when you attempt to appraise something.

If the skill is a general skill or a class skill, you get a +2 bonus to your rolls for that skill.

Cross-class skills still cost one extra slot.

You still get the same amount of skills as you get NWP's. Except as follows:

Rogues get Sleight of Hand, Open Locks, Remove Traps, Stealth, Listen, Climb and Decipher Script for free. Rogues also get a +4 bonus to those skills instead of the normal +2 bonus.

Bards get Climb, Listen, Sleight of Hands, Decipher Script for free

Rangers get Stealth and Tracking for free. Rangers also get a +4 bonus to Track.

Below is the list. I tried to keep almost all the old options, even the infinitely stupid ones that we never use, just in case. The blue ones are old ones that changed a bit, due to the nature of switch from proficiencies to skills. The red ones are new ones, sorta. While I was at it, I added the thief skills, since the percentile skills are silly and suck. Should make the thief better.

Otherwise, the skill do pretty much what the proficiencies used to do. Except that the target numbers are less arbitrary and random. Instead the target numbers are as follows:

Basic: DC 5
Average: DC 10
Superior: DC 15
Exceptional: DC 20
Legendary: DC 25

Hitting exceptional or Legendary DC's when less is required usually has it's benefits :)

GENERAL
Agriculture (int)
Animal Handling (wis)
Artistic Ability (wis)
Blacksmithing (str)
Brewing (int)
Carpentry (str)
Cobbling (dex)
Cooking (int)
Dancing (dex)
Direction Sense (wis)
Etiquette (cha)
Firebuilding (wis)
Fishing (wis)
Heraldry (int)
Languages, Modern (int)
Leatherworking (int)
Lore, Local (int) - Knowledge of the inner workings of a town, a city
Mining (wis)
Pottery (dex)
Riding, Airborne (wis)
Riding, Landbased (wis)
Rope Use (dex)
Seamanship (dex)
Seamstress/Tailor (dex)
Singing (cha)
Stonemasonry (str)
Swimming (str) - Penalty to check depending on armor**
Weather Sense (wis)
Weaving (int)

PRIEST
Ancient History (int)
Astrology (int)
Dark Arts (int) - Knowledge of demonology, exorcisms and dark magic in general
Diplomacy (cha) - Replaces Etiquette. Also covers knowing what to say.
Engineering (int)
Healing (wis)
Herbalism (int)
Languages, Ancient (int)
Local History (cha)
Musical Instrument (dex)
Reading/writing (int)
Religion (wis)
Spellcraft (int)

ROGUE
Ancient History (int)
Appraising (int)
Blind-fighting (N/A)
Climbing (str) - Climb stuff. +4 bonus if rogue. Penalty to check depending on armor*
Diplomacy (cha) - Replaces Etiquette. Also covers knowing what to say.
Decipher Script (int) - Discern context of languages that he doesn't speak/read. +4 bonus if rogue
Disguise (cha)
Find Traps (int) - Spotting traps. +4 bonus if rogue
Forgery (dex)
Gaming (cha)
Gathering Information (cha) - Uncovering unknown information and/or secrets.
Geography (int) - Intimate knowledge of an area's geography.
Gem Cutting (dex)
Juggling (dex)
Jumping (str)
Listen (wis) - Hearing stuff. +4 bonus if rogue
Local History (cha)
Musical Instrument (cha)
Open Locks (dex) - Opening locked locks. +4 bonus if rogue
Reading Lips (int)
Remove Traps (int) - Disabling a trap. +4 bonus if rogue. Penalty to check****
Set Snares (dex)
Sleight of Hand (dex) - Picking pockets and the like. +4 bonus if rogue. Penalty on check****
Stealth (dex) - Ability to move silently while hiding. +4 bonus if rogue. Penalty on check*****
Tightrope Walking (dex)
Tumbling (dex)
Ventriloquism (int)

WARRIOR
Animal Lore (int)
Armorer (int)
Blind-fighting (N/A)
Bowyer/Fletcher (dex)
Charioteering (dex)
Endurance (con)
Gaming (cha)
Geography (int) - Intimate knowledge of an area's geography.
Hunting (wis)
Mountaineering (N/A) - Penalty to check depending on armor***
Navigation (int)
Running (con)
Set Snares (dex)
Survival (int)
Tracking (wis) - +4 if ranger
Weaponsmithing (int)

WIZARD
Ancient History (int)
Astrology (int)
Dark Arts (int) - Knowledge of demonology, exorcisms and dark magic in general
Engineering (int)
Gem Cutting (dex)
Geography (int) - Intimate knowledge of an area's geography.
Herbalism (int)
Languages, Ancient (int)
Navigation (int)
Reading/writing (int)
Religion (wis)
Spellcraft (int)


*: Penalty = Base AC of armor worn - 2. So chain mail (AC 5) gives a -3 penalty.
**: Penalty = Base AC of armor worn + 2. So chain mail (AC 5) gives a -7 penalty.
***: Penalty = Base AC of armor worn -3. So chain mail (AC 5) gives a -2 penalty.
****: Penalty = Base AC of armor worn -2. So chain mail (AC 5) gives a -3 penalty.
*****: Penalty = Base AC of armor worn -3. So chain mail (AC 5) gives a -2 penalty.

Energy Drain

Possible House rules

I would like to tweak Energy Drain attacks. They tend to ruin characters and campaigns and while fun for about 10 seconds, when players are scared, they only lead to less fun overall. Below are 11 suggestion as to how we can deal with that type of attack in our 2e campaigns. Look them over and we will talk about it on Tuesday.

 

• Lost xp is regained at double the normal rate
• Saving throw at the end of the day/week to avoid level loss
• Levels return after a period of time (day/week)
• Restoration is lower level spell with no drawbacks
• Character doesn't actually lose level, gains "negative level" instead. Each negative level gives a -1 penalty to all die rolls.
• Religious ritual to restore level with sacrifice of magic item.
• Con loss instead of level loss (Permanent)
• XP loss (X% of what needed for next level)
• Lost level/con/xp or negative level restored when creature which did the draining is killed.
• Replace energy drain with hit point damage that can only be cured by natural healing.
• Energy drain affects HD first.

Not matter which we choose, I think I will give those undead that drain a little bonus. Perhaps in the form of +1 to hit and +2d6 temp hit points per drained level. You know, to balance things out ;) - But that's an altogether different matter.

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Casting spells from scrolls

The following is not a house rule, but since we had trouble finding it the other day...

 

When casting a (higher level) spell from a scroll, the chance of failure is


(Minimum caster level needed to cast spell - character level) * 5%

So for example, if you are 5th level and try to cast a 7th level spell.

(15 (min. level needed to cast 7th level spells) - 5) *5% = 50% chance of failure

If a failure happens, consult overview below

Caster level difference = 1-3 -> 95% chance of total failure; 5% of reverse or harmful effect

Caster level difference = 4-6 -> 85% chance of total failure; 15% of reverse or harmful effect


Caster level difference = 7-9 -> 75% chance of total failure; 25% of reverse or harmful effect


Caster level difference = 10-12 -> 65% chance of total failure; 35% of reverse or harmful effect


Caster level difference = 13-15 -> 50% chance of total failure; 50% of reverse or harmful effect


Caster level difference = 16+ -> 30% chance of total failure; 70% of reverse or harmful effect

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12th session: Starting a war...

7th moon, 5th day, year 4553
The T'orgh brothers, who had learned that Zirgox had a lover outside the palace, decided to stake out her place.

7th moon, 6th day, year 4553
As it begins to get dark, they see Zirgox entering the building of his lover. The brothers wait a bit, following him up to the 4th floor, and cloaked in Silence, they break down the door and rampage through the apartment, looking for Zirgox. They find him soon enough, almost ready, as he has been warned by a magical alarm on the door. The fight is short, but interrupted when Zirgox leaps out of the window, Feather Fall'ing down in a courtyard, where he ends up dying to the magic and weapons of the T'orghs.

After killing him, Raheem hires some nearby goblins to carry the body to his House. The lover, called Rowena, is left alive.

7th moon, 7th day, year 4553
After a good night's sleep, the brothers decide to work on the spy. First target is their older brother, Zel'kar. They tell him that father has charged them to head to a remote cemetery tonight, to question a creature from another world, that only appears on nights of the full moon. The "ghost" might have valuable information about the power of the Scrolls of Asmodeus. They ask for advice to deal with such a creature, and for a blessing. Zel'kar offers them good advice and Asmodeus' blessing.

As night falls, the T'orghs are hiding at the cemetery. Zel'kar arrives, and calls for Nalfein. He says he is here to help, but they quickly come to blows. As the battle starts, Zelkar calls on an elemental that appears behind Raheem. Just as Zel'kar is killed by Tagar, the elemental completely bashes in the skull of Raheem, killing him outright.

Devastated (??) by the loss of their brother, they return home to father, to tell the news. They convince him to raise Raheem back from the dead.

7th moon, 8th day, year 4553
While Raheem rests, the others search Zel'kar's chambers for clues. No proof of him being a spy is found, just proof of his obsession with the scrolls and an intense hatred towards the brothers, due to some notion of them being preferred by father.

They also stop by the ID-mage, to figure out what the ring is. Ukerin actually managed to ID several other items, but failed the maul - again.

7th moon, 9th day, year 4553
The next day, another mark. This time it is Razz. They tell him to find a secure spot outside the walls of Menzo, where a trade involving the Oracle will go down.

7th moon, 10th day, year 4553
The next day, they head out, accompanied by Razz, carrying a fake Oracle in a barrel. Once there, they tell Razz to leave, and wait for him to return with his friends from another House.

7th moon, 11th day, year 4553
 Nothing happened, so the brothers return.



Note:
ID-mage has no Fly, no Haste
Ukerin failed Leomund's and Suggestion

11th session: The deck

6th moon, 16th day, year 4553

After defeating the demon and the undead, the T'orgh brothers decide to stay in the cave and rest until the morning. Little do they know that the orcs which Nalfein and Ukerin scared off a couple of days ago, have been tracking them while getting reinforcements. So while they are sound asleep, except for Nalfein who is on guard, the orcs try to sneak up on them. Nalfein hears them though, and sounds the alarm. The 25 orcs, bolstered by 2 ogres attack, but are no match for magic and weapons of the dark elves, and soon they are all dead and the brothers can go back to sleep.

In the morning, the T'orghs turn south towards Menzo and start walking.

6th moon, 17th day, year 4553

At some point during the afternoon, the four dark elves are attacked by a swarm of stirges. While noone is killed, it is certainly close as the brothers learn that hitting a stirge attached to someone else or one self, for that matter, can be difficult at times.

6th moon, 20th day, year 4553

After more days of travelling south, the brothers are once again interrupted in their sleep, as two large brown bears wander into their camp. Luckily for everyone, including the bears, Nalfein is prepared for such an eventuality and casts Invisibility to Animals on them all, so the bears can't detect them.

6th moon, 21st day, year 4553

The next night, the brothers are only a short way from Menzo. They are assaulted by 5 werewolves, but this time around, the fight goes much more smoothly. They eat some belladonna afterwards, thinking they should be able to make it back to Menzo before passing out. However, as they arrive in Menzo, they realize that the belladonna hasn't made them ill this time around. It only works within a day of being collected.

They hurry home and get checked by one of their brothers. No sign of the curse.

6th moon, 22nd day, year 4553

The brothers take a trip down to scumtown to their favorite ID-mage, Al'zar, after Ukerin fails yet again to ID the maul. They learn that they have a bag of holding, a +1 scimitar, a ring of invisibility and a Deck of Many Things, a very powerful magical item. You can draw one card, and one card only, but you risk dieing or worse. After some debate, Tagar makes the draw. He is lucky and gets a card that magically enhances his physique.

6th moon, 23rd day, year 4553

Back at the palace, the brothers chill and train for about 10 days, waiting for their father to give them the go ahead.

7th moon, 3rd day, year 4553

Father finally summons them, and tell them that there is a spy in the House, and that they have 8 days to kill Zirgox of house Tuin. He suspects Razz, but the brothers are also somewhat suspicious of Ze'kar, their brother.

Nalfein, using his new ring, follows Razz around, while he makes contact with the spy network he evidently has. Razz stops to sleep in a room in Scumtown, and Nalfein waits outside.

7th moon, 4th day, year 4553

When Razz leaves, Nalfein slips into the room using wraithform, and notices amongst other a book, hidden away.

7th moon, 5th day, year 4553

After returning home and talking to his brothers, Nalfein makes another attempt, this time he tries to get the book. It is however magically protected and explodes when Nalfein fails to get it opened correctly.

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10th session: The corpse's map

5th moon, 26th day, year 4553 
As the brothers are sitting around in Nalfein's room, talking about their options, there is a knock on the door. Outside is a 3 year old human girl.The oracle. She enters the room without a word, almost as if in a catatonic state. She then speaks, with a voice neither male nor female, but decisively not her own.

"One mind has no house. the eternal deals with the One foe. One soul has one house. and the future of One enemy sleeps with the past of the house. Menzo will wage the war on each other And see one house for the sons of fate."

Ukerin mentions that there is an angel from the 7th Heavens that has the nickname "the eternal". The brothers bring her back to father. She was apparently held in a guest room, warded by father himself. Now there are also guards watching her.

As they return from seeing the Oracle back to her room, Ze'kar stops by, asking for more info about scrolls. He then leaves. The T'orgh brothers decide to finally find about the map, and hires Zz'arc the sage to find out the location of Aru'tha Argith's hidden tomb.

5th moon, 27th day, year 4553 
While waiting on Zz'arc, the brothers decide to gather some info on their up and coming target, Zirgox of House Tuin. Raheem, who otherwise seems preoccupied with carving his bow full of lightning symbols, heads into the street and asks around, while hovering near the Tuin Palace, in case Zirgox comes out. He doesn't. But Raheem does find out that Zirgox regularly visits a local mage, called Lekrax, who has a "shop", where he sells spell components. But no sign of Zirgox himself.

6th moon, 7th day, year 4553 
After getting the location of Aru'tha Argith's tomb, which apparently has been moved to Menzo, the brothers set out to find it, so that they can find the cave on the map.

Since the killing of Zirgox is still about a month away, the brothers get permission to go from father, High Priest Venar of House T'orgh.

6th moon, 7th day, year 4553
The T'orghs leave for tomb of Aru'tha Argith

6th moon, 8th day, year 4553 
In the wee hours of the morning, the brothers are attacked by wolves. Nalfein uses his divine powers to hide the brothers from the pack, but unfortunately, these are not normal wolves, but instead werewolves. The fight is short but brutal, with Ukerin almost dieing.

In the morning, Raheem and Nalfein go look for Belladonna as Ukerin has said it can cure lycanthropy. They find the herb, and all 4 brothers take some. They soon get very ill, and find a cave, where they pass out.

6th moon, 10th day, year 4553 
2 days later, Ukerin and Nalfein wake up in the cave. Tagar and Raheem are still out from the belladonna. The day goes by, and as the sun is about to go down, a storm hits the area. Through the rain and thunder, Nalfein can hear orc voices. They are seeking shelter from the rain. Soon, the two spellcasters find themselves in a staredown with 25 orcs. With a little help from the threat of the wands, the brothers manage to scare off the orcs, who know better than to fuck around with dark elves.

6th moon, 11th day, year 4553 
The next day, the two other brothers wake up from their coma and they all 4 set out for the cave.

6th moon, 15th day, year 4553 
They walk for 4 days and finally arrive at the lake and cave on the map. They sneak up on the cave, and suddenly find themselves facing a treant. Huge and made of tree, the treant is still no match for the swords, bow and magic of the brothers and they soon proceed to enter the cave.

After following a short tunnel, they find themselves in an empty cavern, except for a sarcophagus. As they enter the room, Ukerin feels the threads of magic, filling the room. Unfortunately he can't quite discern how the magic works. Tagar loses patience and enters the room, opening the casket. A skeleton with fire in it's chest attacks them, while some sort of guardian demon materializes behind them.

The fight is brutal, with both monsters being immune or resistant to many of the brothers' tools. But in the end, they kill the monsters and claim the loot. 8000 gold, a magical bag, scimitar, ring and deck of cards.

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Rumors and happenings around Menzo

Three weeks ago, while holding extensive drills to the west, the Argith army ran into a drow force heading towards Menzo. Their attack was thus foiled and must were killed. Their survivors claimed the Raven Queen herself had appeared before them and ordered the death of a human girl in Menzo.

Talks of integration with humans has hit the streets, which has caused some unrest. The populace seems oddly split, and while individuals speak aloud and often against, while Houses are openly for or against. House Mizzryn appears to be the only house that does not participate. Noone from that brings up the subject.

With all the talk of integration, House Vrinn seems to come prepared. They have allegedly made a new alliance with several noble houses of the humans.

The relatively small House of Dhalmass, is rumored to have fallen out of favor amongst the most powerful. Apparently High Priest E'toe and High Priest Q'lor have had a serious split, and many expect an attack, sooner than later.

House Vrinn is not the only house that can make deals. Younger members of House Tuin have been bragging about a new trade alliance that will bring in big money and power, but nothing has been announced yet.

 

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9th session: The conspiracy

5th moon, 16th day, year 4553
The T'orghs spend some time in Menzo, honing their skills. Raheem learns to fight in the dark from Tagar. Raheem also crafts a composite bow. Meanwhile, Ukerin tries to ID the maul, but no luck.

5th moon, 23th day, year 4553
Mistress Quira informs Raheem that they caught an orc snooping around the palace. The orc in question was not a house slave, nor a mercenary affiliated with House T'orgh. They tortured the greenskinned humanoid, and it got around mentioning secret meetings and weapons in Menzo before it died. It also mentioned the Yellow Fountain, a fountain in Scumtown, which stones have turned yellow from a longforgotten magical event.

5th moon, 24th day, year 4553
The brothers headed back into Scumtown, and soon located the fountain. From there, it didn't take them long to figure out which building the orc had been talking about. One of the blocks had every single window up to the third floor blocked, so that noone could see from the outside and in.
The T'orghs found a way in (through a wall), soon found themselves in sort of a warehouse (walls and floors had been removed). They fought a score of orcs, and when they were dead, they found evidence of multiple locations similar to this one (map), as well as evidence of what was in the boxes. Weapons and armors by the thousands. Someone was obviously trying to equip an army. The only drow there was later IDed as a young noble of House Xiltynn.

In the other side of the building, the brothers faced two brothers and a pet basilisk in a room full of war dogs. More evidence of something largescale and nefarious was going on.
Father was very happy with all the weapons and all the dogs. He even gave them a bonus for all the hard work they had done.

5th moon, 25th day, year 4553
Father told them that soon, they would have to kill Zirgox, noble of house T'uin, the eleventh house. The goal would be to provoke house T'uin into a war that House T'orgh would surely win.

Notes: 

ID mage does not have the Strength spell.

Birthdays:

Ukerin 12/7

Nalfein 29/8

Tagar 25/9

Raheem 11/9

 

 

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Visual overview of campaign

 

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Random thoughs on the dndnext playtest packet #2

Backgrounds
Generally looks good. A bit worried about the amount of skills. Can't make up my mind whether there are just too many, or if that is a good thing.


DM guidelines
I have read it over many times, and every time, I gasp and shudder. Decide on a DC after a player has rolled. So basically, cheat if they fail? Well, as a DM who rolls almost every roll out in the open, I think that is a very poor idea. Of course, such advice would never affect my campaigns, so I might as well not care. But still, IMO, the very best campaigns spring from players learning and knowing there are consequences, instead of being guided and railroaded through a DM's wet dream of a fantasy story. On the other hand, the advice about ignoring the dice is very important and can't be repeated enough. Even after 22+ years as a DM, I still fuck up at times and forget to skip the check, even when a player has said and done all the right things. If I recall correctly, it actually cost me a campaign once, because the failed check led to a TPK.


Also, page 3, under options for checks, it says that there are four different options. Hazards, requirements, skills and ... Is it just me or is the fourth option missing?


Equipment
The balance between light, medium and heavy armor has definitely improved since the last playtest, but I am not sure they are exactly where they need to be just yet. Fighters wearing plate and shield top at AC19, while a rogue with Mithral chain will be at AC18. One point of difference isn't much. And if the rogue is a dual-wielder, he equals the AC of the fighter. IMO, that is not how things should be. I think the key is to make the shield better. Shield has tradionally been the weakest choice for most classes, and I think it is high time that WotC fixes that.


How to play
Advantage and disadvantage is still a lovely mechanic, but I am still confused as to when exactly I should use it, and when I should use regular bonuses and penalties. Every time I hear an example from the designers, I get even more confused.


I also like the dying mechanics and the fact that it takes longer to bleed out the higher level you are. It was always weird that no matter how high level and how many hit points you had, you still died just as quick as soon as you went down.

Regarding the stacking of spell effects, I find it unclear. Do penalties from the same spell stack? The stacking part of the text only mentions bonuses.


Changes
Changing the short rest so that others can use herbal kits on your unconscious character was likewise a smart move. Not to mention that it makes total sense in a real world context.


Races
I must admit, I really like the racial fluff, they seemed to have nailed the standard elf, dwarf and halfling. Certainly better than what we have seen from the last couple of editions. I am however not a fan of the absolutes they have baked into the mechanics of the dwarves and the elves, namely the poison and charm immunities.


Speaking of elves, I like that they are back as a race that gets really old. Why I understood and even appreciated the change that happened in 4e, I must admit that I prefer my elves to be old - or at least be able to become really old. I also like that the all-awareness trance they had in 4e (and 2e using complete book of elves iirc) is gone. I like the dynamics surrounding guard duty, and the opportunities the guard duty gives, both for me, but also for my players. Because lets face it, having an elf that can guard while resting kinda removes the need for others to stand guard.


The worst part about the races has got to be the humans. While I do appreciate that the designers want to make human at least as viable race as the others, I do not think this is the way to go. Give them bonuses to saves, skills or anything else, but leave the stat increases for the demi-humans, just like back in the day.


Specialties
Specialties are going to be brilliant, I have no doubt. Already we have so many combinations to create unique and interesting characters in a simple and quick way, but they have got to be careful of the balance. As it is now, the healer specialty is a must-have in any group. It is hard to imagine any group not picking that up, unless they are super-hardcore roleplayers that participate in a campaign where the characters never engage in combat.


Spells
Aid: Too weak. Roll a 1 and you burn a 3rd level spell to prevent (at best) 3 hit points in total. Compare that to Prayer, which will drastically (especially if you consider the current to-hits from monsters) reduce monsters abilities to hit you and your allies. Unless you know you and yours will only take spell damage, there is no reason to ever use Aid, even if you roll average to well.

Augury: Love the chance of failure due to multiple castings. It was a good idea to lower the cost of the spell, so that it would see more use, but with the ritual mechanics, it could easily be abused at higher levels, if they hadn't introduced the failure.

Charm Person: So, if you have less than max 25 hit points, you are charmed, no save, no nothing? Seems very powerful.

Command: Just like Charm Person, but at least this is just for a round, not for an hour. Make more "sense".


Dispel Magic: Big fan of the auto-dispelling of lower level spells.


Hold Person: You can end the paralysis with a save, but the movement 0 part always lasts a minute and affects all creatures?


Inflict Wounds: Gotta love that inflict is somewhat more potent than Cure Wounds. Traditionally, it was always kinda a waste to use the inflict line of spells, but now there seems to be some merit to choosing them.


Classes
Cleric: Seems to me that Channel Divinity worked better when it was based on wisdom, instead of a fixed (but increasing) number of times per day. Once per day (for the first 3 levels) does feel like very little help, if it was meant to help the cleric avoid memorizing all but healing spells. Speaking of memorization, I like the pseudo spontaneous casting that the dndnext cleric has got going. Memorize, but use your spell slots for any kind of combination of the memorized spells.


Fighter: Expertise dice. Impressive idea, but needs some finetuning. For example, refreshing them at the start of your turn means that if you do damage, you can't block for others as a reaction, and if you keep dice to help, you lose damage as you might not need to block for others. Makes damage the logical choice, and the only likely choice. Same thing with other abilities, such as Cleave. If the fighter hits the enemy, and he keeps an expertise die in reserve in case he has the possibility to cleave another enemy, he might very well lose said dice. Most likely, he will use them all when he hits, because why take a chance and gimp yourself needlessly

Rogue: Do Thieves Cant cover any sort of communication? Or just cloak and dagger stuff like in old editions?


Wizards: Seems to me that getting intelligence modifier in spells every time you level is a lot. I mean, we will quickly see a lot of INT 20 wizards who get 5 spells every time. Also, if a wizard wants to learn an unusual spell, what is the DC? Beats me.

I do like that the wizard is now able to stagger his memorization, or at least that is how I read the rules. So for example, if you have 4 first level spells, you might memorize 3 of them, and keep a slot open for eventualities. Shouldn't be too hard to find 1 minute at some point. Even better is the fact that if you are missing your spellbook, you can still memorize the spells you had in your brain the previous day. This means I can steal my wizard's spellbook(s) and still leave him feeling somewhat useful while he struggles to get it back.


Sorcerer: Absolutely love the fluff, but is it on purpose that neither magic attack nor save DCs get higher at any point? Seems a bit weird that the dude who lives and breathes magic doesn't really get better at landing his spells on his enemies. As for the dragon bloodline, it is pretty hardcore. Might want to limit the kind of armors that kind of sorcerer can use. There is just something wrong with tossing Fireballs in plate armor. Speaking of Fireballs, should Sorcerers have their own spell list? The idea certainly has some merits, but I can see why you would want it as a subtype-wizard.

Overall, WotC are moving dndnext in the right direction, and considering there is still a lot of time left for playtesting, dndnext will end up being one heck of a game, of that I am sure.

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8th session: The sleeping dragon

4th moon, 28th day, year 4553
After dealing with the kobolds and their barrel-bombs, the T'orgh brothers went deeper into the kobold caves. Raheem narrowly avoided a nasty trap involving a net, a boar and a giant ballista and then the brothers made contact with the kobolds and convinced them to parlay. They were brought before the kobold chief and his shaman, and made a deal to see and talk with the dragon, if they could wake it. They visited the cave with the sleeping dragon, a behemot of more than 150'. It was sleeping between 8 stones covered by magical runes. After some experimentation and talking with the shaman, the T'orghs connected the dragon-stones with the stone that they had found buried a day's travel away. They immediately left to find the stone and bring it back.


4th moon, 29th day, year 4553
With 20 kobolds in tow, the dark elves, guided by Raheem, found the way back to the black stone, and the kobolds got the honor of carrying the 500 lbs stone back.


4th moon, 30th day, year 4553
As the brothers and their new kobold allies arrived back to the kobold caves and made it to the throne room, the kobolds tried to betray them. Nalfein managed to let loose a fireball, killing more than 20 kobolds just as the shaman dropped a Hold Person spell on most of the party. Ukerin found himself alone with about 6-7 kobolds, but with a little luck and a red-hot wand of lightning, he managed to stay alive and kill them all.
The T'orghs dragged the stone the rest of the way to the sleeping dragon, who turned out not to be sleeping at all.

It's name is Arizmanzi, and for hours, they argued and haggled about the deal that would let the dragon out on the right conditions. For 200 years (the amount of time it had been imprisoned) it would serve House T'orgh and it's interets, serving the will of the leader of the House. It would never move against House T'orgh or have anyone else do so. On the other hand, it would be free until called upon.


They freed the dragon, which left the small caves by shapeshifting into a dark elf and walking out. The brothers then started the treck back to Menzo, with a leather and a pair of bracers in hand.


5th moon, 7th day, year 4553
On the way back, the T'orghs stumble over some orcs who have just delivered some kind of shipment to Menzo, and are returning to their village, to wait for word from the dark elves. The brothers follow them, but change their minds after being attacked by some weird living tree.


5th moon, 9th day, year 4553
The brothers return home, telling father of the deal they have made. He is very happy with them.


5th moon, 16th day, year 4553
They then spend some time training, while their favorite identify-mage does his work on their new items (leather +3 and bracers ac 7)

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7th session: The journey to the kobold caves.

4th moon, 12th day, year 4553
After returning from exploring the demonic temple, the brothers returned home to the palace. They then spent some time training and bettering themselves.

4th moon, 19th day, year 4553
The T'orgh brothers were summoned to the T'orgh Temple. There they found their father alone. No guards, which was very unlike him. He told them once again, that he was very pleased with all they had done so far. He revealed that the scrolls they had found in the elven temple, seemed likely to be sacred scrolls of Asmodeus, scrolls written by his own hand, and said to hold great power. The T'orgh High Priest would keep them for now, to protect them and to find out how to wield said power. But he promised not to forget that it was the brothers that Asmodeus willed to find the scrolls.

He then had the guards enter with a kobold. The kobold, which had been tortured, told a tale of a tribe of kobolds fleeing some aggressive orcs, before settling down in some hills, about 10 days travel to the east. He told that they found a sleeping dragon they could not wake, surrounded by magical stones with weird magical inscriptions, according to their wyrmpriests. After having told the tale, the kobold was killed by Raheem, at the behest of his father.

Venar then ordered the brothers to travel east and find the dragon and make an alliance. He also told them that big things were afoot, that the Council were debating whether integrating dark elves with the rest of the world would not serve Asmodeus best. No matter what happened, House T'orgh would need all the allies they could get.

After getting things ID'ed in Scumtown (Chain mail +2, trident +1, Boots of Striding and Springing and a Wand of Fireballs with 14 charges), the brothers made preparations to leave Menzo.

4th Moon, 20th day, year 4553
After a couple of days of walking, the T'orghs ran into Uyark Hume, one of the younger nobles of House Hume. He was very curious about where they going and the fact that they had provisions to go far. He declined to answer about where he was going, but it was clear that he couldn't have come from far, based on his packs. After parting ways with Hume, Raheem took many precautions and the brothers conducted a lot of evasive maneuvers to make sure he wasn't following them.

4th Moon, 22nd day, year 4553
At night, while resting, the T'orghs were surprised by two giant spiders. They were quickly dispatched, but not before Raheem was bitten. Luckily he resisted the poison that would otherwise have killed him.

4th Moon, 26th day, year 4553
Still making way through the forest, but approaching kobold territory, the brothers stumble over an odd black rock with magical symbols, buried in a small hill. They dig it out, and determine that the runes are runes of binding.

4th Moon, 27th day, year 4553
Right after waking up, the T'orghs find a cabin, a mere 300 yards from their camp. An old man named Kirk is cooking, and invite them in for food. They start asking him questions, but when Raheem tells him about the location of the rock, Nalfein decides Kirk must die. As it turns out, Kirk is a magical creature, a djinn, but the brothers prove too much for him and he is soon dead

4th Moon, 28th day, year 4553
The next day, the T'orgh brothers arrive at the kobold caves, and after been lured inside the caves, the brothers find themselves victims of a trap, where the kobolds set off a chain reaction of exploding barrels of oil - killing all the kobolds themselves, but also almost permanently killing Raheem...

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