Paper Heroes for One and All -or- How I Made Custom Minis for Next to Nothing

Thanks to the brilliant HeroMachine, I spent a little of my downtime tonight crafting customized paper minis for my players.  I started out trying HeroMachine v3, but it had way too many bells and whistles so I just retreated back to the more familiar v 2.5.

The cut-and-fold-able mini template is just a Word table set to the right dimensions.  Detail gets a little lost at that size, unless you have a better printer than my old, over-used Epson.

I already posted these to our group's private Facebook page and they got rave reviews.

Ambiorix the Fighter
(complete with a cursed shield he thinks is AWESOME)

Bob the Cleric

Elazti the Magic-User

Filibert Fairbarn the Halfling

Indis the Elf
(Complete with crowbar. Not pictured: grizzly bear bones sharpened into spikes.
She's pretty metal for an elf.)

Xanna the Thief and Rapida the Cheetah

Foldable minis!

Addendum: Xanna sans cat and with a
more tactical bendt.

All Hail the Slime Spider! *ribbit* *ribbit* (part 2)

Nearly stabbed to death by frog monsters? That aggression will not stand, man.

With only a little deliberation, the party stuck poor Fil under a bush (I prefer to think it was a Fil-odendron, nyuk nyuk) and formulated a fantastic plan to return to the Frog Room of Doom to seek their revenge (for... um... breaking into the monsters' home in the first place).

Indis the elf (my wife, Cori) would animate four long-dead dwarven skeletons from the mine to lead the charge, supplemented by a Phantasmal Force spell depicting several more skeletons.  Next, Elazti (Aisha's magic user) would hide, invisibly, and wait to see if the frog creatures bunched up enough to be taken out by a Fireball spell.  Finally, Ambiorix (Sam), Fil (Ben), the dwarves (NPCs) and Bob the cleric (Andrew) would swoop in to deliver the killing blow if necessary.  (The frog beasts seemed to have a pretty significant number of hit points in addition to three deadly attacks per round.)

To make a rather involved combat story shorter, the party's strategy worked. The monsters rushed to attack the skeleton "army" invading their temple and, after a couple of rounds, were close enough together for Elazti to loose a fireball.  They weren't killed outright, but they were severely wounded enough that the dwarves, Bob, and Ambiorix made short work of them.

Hiya, fellas!

But then the huge stone sarcophagus on the north end of the chamber began to rattle a bit.  And then the lid came off.  And out popped... a big-ass miasmic mess of oily black slime that formed itself into a 20' tall octopus-spider shape.  It shot pseudopods out of its writhing bulk, snapped up the remaining skeletons, and absorbed them into itself. The party members still in the room got the hell out of Dodge pretty quickly as Elazti tossed another fireball at the monster that, it seems, was the "god" of the chamber and the thing the frog creatures were trying to protect.  Fortunately, Aisha rolled really well for damage and the creature exploded into a million little oozy bits.

Cue massive XP award and much leveling by the PCs.



NEXT TIME:
The Breaking of the Fellowship -- Goblins, Gnolls, Bandits, and the long road to Ravensport.

All Hail the Slime Spider! *ribbit* *ribbit* (part 1)

The party stood before the massive iron door and its ominous epitaph. Just as Xanna the thief began to pry it open, they heard footsteps on the spiral stairs above.  Descending to meet them was a cloaked-and-hooded human in fine-wrought plate mail and armed with a mace. He, in turn, was being trailed by... a cheetah?  Yes, a cheetah.

Bob* the cleric and the Rapida the cat**, had independently followed the party's trail of bludgeoned bugs and eviscerated ettins looking for adventure. They were also the characters of our two new players: Andrew, a longtime friend and recording client of mine, and Adeline, Amanda (Xanna)'s super-smart-but-still-kinda-scared-of-the-DM's-monster-voices seven year-old daughter.

Armed with fresh hit points and new allies, the party pried the door open and stared into the blackness beyond. An acrid stench stung their nostrils like acid and the slow, steady drip of liquid echoed along the quiet, finely-chiselled hallways beyond.  At this point, Arda the dwarf drew forth an ancient map that she'd kept hidden up to now. Unlabeled though it was, it provided a decent overview of the main living and working level of the mine:

The entrance is on the bottom of the map.
Click to enlarge. It's a big damn dungeon.

The strongest smells (identifiable thanks to Rapida's keen nose) emanated from the western passages. Never ones to pass up trouble, that's where the party decided to head first.

Winding their way through the labyrinthine hallways, the characters' first encounter was with a handful of deadly Black Puddings blocking their path.  Some oil, fire, and magic quickly cleared the way (once Ambiorix and Fil discovered that smashing the puddings with swords only created more puddings).

And then the party had a tasty snack.

Moving on, the group next found a huge, high-ceilinged chamber lined with intricately-carved pillars and various frescoes and relief carvings. At the far end of the chamber was a massive stone sarcophagus (think the big stone box that covered the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders of the Lost Ark).  As our heroes moved closer to investigate, two 5' humanoid frog creatures carrying spears and wearing crude loin cloths*** emerged from each of the northeast and northwest passages.  Angry and stabby, they proceeded to spear, claw, bite, and poison the party.  The battle did not go well for our heroes, and this adventure's second TPK almost occurred. In the end, both Fil and Aesopos the NPC cleric (aka "The Intern") were killed while almost everyone else was either knocked unconscious or severely injured. Someone managed to grab Fil's lifeless body and drag it along during the retreat but the remains of the poor "intern" had to be left behind. Thankfully the frog-monsters were more interested in protecting their territory than chasing the characters.

The PCs retreated back outside the mine to hide in the forest and heal. Fortunately, Indis the elf had found a Raise Dead scroll on a previous adventure and it was used to bring poor Fil back to life. That said, being frog-filleted to death takes a lot out of a guy and he would be in no shape to travel or fight for at least two weeks.

Thus, a choice had to be made: hang out in the woods with Fil and risk random encounters and maybe more frog-monsters coming from the mine to hunt everyone down, or go back in with a strategic plan and try again?  I'll give you one guess as to which one they chose.



---
* I have a theory. At some point, nearly every D&D campaign will have at least one quickly-rolled-up character named Bob. That's been my experience over the last 30 years of gaming, anyway.

** Kudos to Aisha (Elazti the magic-user) for the kitty's badass name.

*** Are there fancy loincloths?

Silver, Centipedes, and Sticky Doom

Fee Fie Foe Fum... squared.

In the last installment of our campaign journal, our heroes were offered a chance to help a pair of ettin-mauled dwarves, Arda and Delath, reclaim an ancient silver mine in the mountains southeast of Frostwyk. The prize? An even share of any treasure found within AND a split of the future mineral rights.

Knowing a good thing when they saw it, they readily accepted the offer and soon discovered that the same ettins (brutish and smelly two-headed giants, if'n you don't know what those are) who had attacked the dwarves were also holed up in the "abandoned" mine... along with a nasty array of centipedes, fire beetles, and other vermin. There was a lot of "ewww"ing and "yuck"ing at the table that night.

On the bright side, a particularly hairy encounter also led to the formation of my group's new Old School D&D-themed metal band and our soon-to-be-released debut single:

Props to +Sam Ferguson for the cover design and the name of the group.

In good time, the ettins were dispatched, the bugs got squashed, and everybody gained a fair amount of treasure and XP. Yay!

Spit, stick, fling, repeat.

In the course of clearing the top level of the mine, the party found an ultra-heavy-duty dwarven secret door leading down to what was once the main living and working area of the complex. A steep spiral stair descending into darkness, it was also the lair of a family of cave fishers who had turned the center of the stairwell into a tangled mass of amazingly-sticky webs.  While clinging to the walls, the fishers proceeded to snatch up the characters one-by-one and fling them down into the webs where they had to make very difficult Strength checks to break free. At this point, thanks to the element of surprise and some not-so-great die rolls on the part of the PCs, there was nearly a Total Party Kill. In the end, it came down to severly-injured halfling Fil Fairbarn and one cave fisher. At the very last second, Fil managed to stab his short sword deep into the creature's belly and then slowly cut the rest of his (largely unconscious) party free.

At the bottom of the Stairwell of Sticky Doom was another massive door, this time made of iron. The party gave it a cursory look and, upon discovering the words below etched into its surface, decided that a couple days of vigilant dungeon camping (i.e. healing up) would be a good idea before going any further.

Here entombed is Mjothvitnir

228 - 453

Lord of silver

Master of mithral

Mighty in battle

Wise in craft

Taken With his kin

Nar

Blain

Motsognir

Nyi

Suthri

Nain

An

Onar

Ai

Vigg

Vindalf

Thekk

Vit

Sviur

Frar

Aurvang

Fraeg

Nyrath

Jari

Hlevang

By walking darkness roused 

from deepest depth below

the very bones of earth 

Let forever 

these doors be sealed

leave the dead to their slumbers

and the ichorous dark  to itself

Yeah, I'd sleep on it, too.

NEXT TIME: Frog-Men, Oozy Spider Gods, and a Cleric Named Bob.

Proselytizing (and Stabbing) in the Name of Herbert the Pig God

Dramatis Personae:

• Indis the Elf, aka "Crowbar" (played by Cori)
• Filibert Fairbarn the Halfling (played by Ben)
• Ambiorix the Fighter (played by Sam)
• Panope the Cleric (NPC, but run in combat by Sam)
• ...and introducing Xanna the Thief (played by Amanda)

Bones vs. Animals vs. Shiny Objects

As the party reached the top of the Treacherous Stair they found themselves face with three possible entrances into the depths of the Great Glacier.  In front of the left tunnel were scattered several broken stone tools and weapons as well as the gnawed-upon bones of many creatures.  The middle tunnel showed signs of entry and exit by a creature or creatures with long, thin lizard-like feet ending in three talons... and what's more, something just inside the tunnel was glittering!  The right-hand tunnel smelled strongly of animals and just inside its entrance lay the frozen and ripped-open body of a large wolverine.  Not-so-surprisingly, the adventurers decided to take their chances with the middle tunnel and its glittery contents.

All That Glitters...

Ice Trolls!

Inside, the glitter turned out to actually be gold.  In particular, half a dozen bricks of the metal (each about the size of a 1/4" thick playing card), stamped in an unreadable language.  It was stacked neatly in the middle of the tunnel, as if left there on purpose.

Further exploration led to a room filled with discarded bones and some kind of carnivorous beast scat* and then another chamber scattered with more gold (coins this time) and contemporary weapons (contemporary for the setting--swords and the like, not AK-47s).  

It was in the third chamber--after Ambiorix and Fil fell through a cleverly-disguised pit in the floor--that the denizens of this tunnel were identified:  Ice Trolls!  As the fighter and halfling struggled their way out of the pit, three of the monsters leapt across it and attacked the rest of the party.  (Fortunately, Ambiorix had a Rope of Climbing to aid him and Fil out.)  Thinking quickly, Indis used a Phantasmal Force spell to create an illusionary cube of fire around the trolls, which not only bought enough time for Ambiorix and Fil to get themselves out of the pit trap, but also allowed Xanna to soften up the monsters a bit using her crossbow.  The illusion trapped the trolls for several rounds and, after attacking them with flaming oil-- and finally swords--the party had dispatched them.

Victorious but bloodied, everyone decided to find a defensible position and heal overnight.  (Aided significantly by Xanna's ingenious "portable heater" made of candles, clay pots, and a tent.)

I Am the Prophet of Herbert!

Morlocks.  Lots and lots of them.

The next day, our heroes decided to exit the troll tunnel and explore the left-hand passageway marked by discarded bones and stone tools.  Descending deeper into the glacier, they eventually discovered a guardroom filled with blue-skinned primitives who also seemed to keep albino apes as pets/servants.  Instead of rushing to attack, it was decided that Fil should try to communicate with them.  Who knows, maybe the creatures would honor the PCs as heroes for destroying the ice trolls?  (You can see where this is going already, can't you?)

Between Indis's ice pictograms and Fil's grunting and pantomime, it seemed like the Morlocks (for that's what they were) understood.  Suspicious but open, they escorted the characters through the tunnels (at spearpoint, it should be mentioned) and into a massive cavern filled with a ruined city, an underground lake, and a village of crude huts.

Just as it seemed that all might be well, however, the party was pushed to the center of town where there stood a crudely-carved statue of a six-legged dragon.  As the party drew closer, the hundred-some Morlocks began to chant "Ch-thisst! Ch-thisst!"  A shaman appeared, covered in tattoos and wearing a necklace made of the same kind of gold bricks found earlier.  Raising a ceremonial stone dagger over his head, the shaman motioned for Fil to step forward.  Not quite ready to be sacrificed to the Dragon God, Fil instead grunted and motioned for the shaman to stand down.  And then he produced Herbert the Two-Headed, Possibly-Enchanted, Golden Piglet Statue from his pack and raised it above his head like an idol, demanding worship. Enraged by this blasphemy, the shaman leapt at Fil while commanding his followers to attack.

And that's when Indis's illusions saved the party once again.  Just as the mob of angry, armed monsters were closing in, she made it appear that the Dragon God itself had come and was about to devour everything in its path.  The Morlock village lost its shit.  A dozen or so monsters (including the shaman) attempted to destroy the interlopers who'd made their god so angry that he decided to show up in person, but most of them ran for cover.

And thus began a running fight to the village's back gate.  It was close a couple of times--Xanna escaped with a single hit point remaining, and most everyone else was battered and bruised--but eventually everyone made it away from the village and into the dark maze of the ruined city beyond.  Taking cover in one of the ruined buildings, the party decided once again to make camp and formulate the next step in their quest for the Frozen City's legendary gold...

The Frozen City.  No, the Coke sign is not really there.
I borrowed the map from here.

Tabletop photo by Sam.

---

* Carnivorousness is the assumption, at least, when poo contains teeth and bits of bone.

Mud, Blood, and Vampires... It Must Be Spring

What began as a detour to investigate grave robberies ended in an epic clash of blood, mud, and bones last Sunday.  Emboldened by their alliance with Larkspur's de facto ruler, the 8th-level fighter Ronan, and his own hirelings, the party had previously made a sortee into the mysterious, skeleton-guarded tower a day and a half's journey outside of town.  One or two of Ronan's men were lost just getting through the door and, once everyone was inside, they discovered the first floor of the keep to be mostly empty.  (Oh yeah, and Panope the 5-hit-pointed cleric was again knocked unconscious as well.  It's a pattern that's been repeated often enough to earn her the nickname "Pincushion.")

Opening a metal hatch atop a set of spiral stairs, however, made everyone a little leery as doing so let a black pudding ooze its way into the chamber below, resulting in a long (but relatively scratch-free) battle where everyone had to stab the slime-covered ceiling with their trusty torches.  A 10HD monster takes quite a while to go down when you only do 1d4 damage per stab.  Once they had finished the pudding (see what I did there?), our mighty heroes decided to leave Panope on the first floor while they explored the second and third.

The second floor was a maze of locked and/or barred doors which eventually led to an alchemy lab (contents: 4 zombified local villagers, two potions of longevity, and a scroll of raise dead), an armory (contents: lots of "meh" condition weapons and armor and a gorgeous-but-cursed +2 shield which Ambiorix is now stuck with (bonus points to Sam for roleplaying his character's new and irrational love of the item)), and a pretty disgusting Frankenstein's lab where two black-robed humans and their skeleton assistants were making flesh golems.  Fortunatley, the baddies had only completed one of the four golems, as that beast proved plenty challenging in a fight.  Lassar the (last remaining) henchman was killed, Fil and Ambiorix got pretty banged up, Indis was knocked out cold with a single punch, and even 8th-level Ronan took a pretty harsh beating when all was said and done. When the golem and his companions were finally dispatched, the battered and bruised adventurers made their way to the third story.

And there they discovered what could only be described as a vampire penthouse--luxurious furnishings, rich carpets and tapestries, brass sconces, even antique books and musical instruments.  And of course, the foyer was booby trapped as hell.  The oriental-style rug put poor Fil in a trance with its bewitching pattern and then two bronze, demon-shaped sculptures came to life and attacked everybody.  And it hurt.  A lot.  The statues were eventually subdued (spilling their lava-like guts on the ground and burning up the hypno-rug), but almost everyone was down to single-digit hit points.  Afraid to press on, the characters beat a hasty retreat as mocking laughter followed them from the posh apartment.

Indis and Panope were picked up on the way out and, after skirting a dozen or so skeletons, everyone who was still alive made for the woods, where they stayed for four days, licking their wounds.  It was just before dawn on the second day, however, that a visitor came by.  First, a dozen wolves surrounded the camp, staring down the injured heroes.  Then, after a tense couple of minutes, a tall, richly-dressed man with pale skin and dark hair strode to the edge of the firelight.  "This is your only warning," he said.  "Come to my house again and you will not survive."  He then turned into mist and blew away on the night wind, as the wolves went their own ways.

And that's when Indis once again confirmed that she is, indeed, the Most Metal Elf Ever by coming up with a new plan of attack.  Rather than risk another foray into the vampire's lair, she would just raze the whole thing using a transmute rock to mud scroll that the party had found on a previous adventure.  And that's eventually what happened.

The party healed for a couple more days and feigned leaving the forest.  Then, at the last minute (and at high noon), they turned and made a beeline for the tower.  The only hitch was that, when they arrived, someone new was there.  A young woman, perhaps 20 years old and dressed in nothing by nightclothes, stood in the doorway, apparently waiting for them.  As they drew closer, Ambiorix got a shock when he realized that it was his half-sister!  She tried to warn them off, saying that the master (whose name was apparently Polidori), was not such a bad guy and that he meant them no harm, etc.  Of course, nobody bought it and Ambiorix rushed across the clearing (taking another shot from a ballist in the process), grabbed her, and then tied her to a tree back in the woods.  (It was later revealed that she had been kidnapped from her home and charmed by the vampire.)

And then Indis struck.  Taking to the air on the "bat wings" she took off the Swamp Witch, she hovered near the tower and cast the rock-to-mud scroll, turning the bottom 10' of the tower into a slimy morass that could not hold the weight of the rest of the structure.  It wavered, wobbled, and then crashed to the ground in a heap of rock, mud, water, and blood (the vampire had apparently created some kind of indoor blood-plumbing setup using the townsfolk as his supply).

Then it was just a matter of picking through the wreckage to make sure old Polidori was truly disposed of.  And of course, he wasn't.  They found his locked, marble burial vault among the detritus.  Using Indis's customized crowbar (yes, I said customized crowbar.  This is Cori's character, remember), they pried the lid open and--BAM!--the vampire exploded from his resting place in one final, murderous frenzy.  He knew he was dying--it was noon and he was in an open field--but he wanted to take as many characters as possible with him.  He killed Ronan.  He severely wounded Indis and Fil.  And then, after making a statistically-improbable number of saving throws against the deadly sunlight (to the point that he was just a burning skeleton with fangs), he finally expired in a cloud of ash and dust.

The party gathered what treasure it could, gave Ronan a proper burial (with the usual post-vampire-attack precautions of decapitation and staking), and rode back to town.  They broke the bad news to Ronan's workers (and gave them a bit of severance pay) and began making plans to head north to Frostwyk...

Of Giants, Dragons, and a Two-Headed Pig Named Herbert

Back at the Wilderland Inn...
Our intrepid heroes picked up a rumor that the town of Larkspur was suffering from a rash of grave robberies.  Since it was on the way to Frostwyk (Ambiorix the Fighter's home town and supposed scene of a newly-discovered ruin rife with albino apes and strangely-stamped gold bars), they decided to stop in and check it out.

On the Road Again...
Night falls, watches are posted.  The party is camped on a narrow road in the mountains, overlooking a steep gorge.  Cue heavy, thudding footprints.  Everyone is awakened but one of the fighters drops a breastplate while trying to throw on his armor.  The footsteps stop and someone--or thing--huge starts climbing up the cliff wall toward them.  Indis creates an illusory cliff wall for the party to hide behind and they do so.

Up comes a hill giant.  He proceeds to sniff around for the characters but doesn't find them.  So, he lays down in the road and takes a nap.  I don't remember what happened next, but in the end, Ambiorix somehow managed to wake him up and then took a tree limb to the chest.  He was nearly sent off the side of the mountain.  A melee erupts and, with a few bumps and bruises all around, the giant is dispatched.  The party checks his pouches and finds a few coppers, some rotting meat, and a strange object:  a golden statue of a two-headed piglet.  Filibert takes the curio and nicknames it Herbert.  The party rolls the giant off the road and his body thunders down the cliff-side.

Drawn by the commotion, another beast arrives.  The sound of enormous wings is heard.  Everyone scatters and hides in the rocks just before a decent-sized DRAGON swoops out of the sky, descends upon the giant's body, and begins to feast.  The party decides that it wants no part of this encounter (wisely so) and begins to sneak away.  Unfortunately, Fil steps on a dry branch and the noise stops the dragon's feasting.  In a panic, our brave halfling slaps his pony on its flank to send it running and then dives for cover in a fissure.  Everyone else takes shelter as best they can.

In seconds, the dragon is airborne and with a horrific crash, descends upon the pony.  As the beast devours its second (and tastiest) meal of the night, the party gets the hell out of Dodge as quickly and quietly as possible.  They don't stop until well into the next day.

Next time...

• Larkspur: Frontier hunting village or playground of the wealthy and eccentric?
• The Busy Troglodyte Inn:  Who put shrooms in the wine, man?
• Adventures at the Tower of Undead:  Attack!  Retreat!  Attack! Retreat! Ummm... Attack?
• And of course, the promised lessons on bee-hugging, siege weapons, and puddings

Werewolf Zombies of Hardinsford and Heavy Metal Elves

Although I haven't been keeping up with this blog, the lands of Evenoria have been anything but quiet.  The regular players (Cori, Sam, Ben, and I) have met a couple of times for good 6+ hour adventuring sessions each time and everyone seems to be having a great time.  Even Cori, who has usually multi-tasked while playing in the past, has gotten pretty involved in the game, to the point where her PC (Indis, the battle-axe-wielding elf) is actively pursuing romance with an NPC.  (Yes he's ruggedly handsome, but he's also 8th level and quite wealthy... always a practical girl, my wife.)

I don't really have the time or energy to give a day-by-day account of everything that's happened, but here are a few highlights, picking up from where my last blog post left off:

Werewolf Zombies of Hardinsford...

Filibert did, in fact, chase a goblin into an alley only to find himself surrounded by three more goblins and two human vagabonds-turned-hired-muscle.  A fight, predictably, ensued in which one of the men was killed and the other captured.  The goblins slipped away, the city watch barely let the PCs off the hook (good thing they took a prisoner), and everyone went back to the inn only to discover that the Witch whom they had brought to justice had been broken out of prison by her ne'er-do-well son and his goblin cronies.

En route to track down their escaped quarry, the PCs entered the slums of Hardinsford and heard a woman screaming for help down yet another dark alley.  Ambiorix of the Lawful Alignment and 7 Intelligence rushed to the damsel's aid and was followed, reluctantly, by his companions.  They discovered a bohemian-looking woman bleeding and crying on the ground, with a snarling werewolf towering over her.  The wolfman wore ripped-but-obviously-stylish clothes and a prominent silver medallion.

More stabbing, biting, and spell-slinging ensued.  Ambiorix was bitten and may or may not have been infected with lycanthropy.  The werewolf was killed and, when reverted to human form, was revealed by a curious (and drunken) dockworker to be Prince Alton Zhann--the son of the king and heir to the throne of Hardinsford.  A lengthy debate about what to do with the body (informed by the PCs' recent run-in with the Watch) led to an unusually creative solution:  pull out one of the Animate Dead scrolls they had pilfered from the Witch's house, bring the Werewolf-Prince back as a zombie, and then command him to walk into the river and wait at the bottom.  Forever.  (It was at this point that lots of Weekend at Bernie's jokes were made.)

Once the Prince had been (re)dispatched and had safely stored himself in Davey Jones's locker, the party continued to the inn where they had deduced the Witch and her son (and assorted goblins) were staying.  Recon efforts raised too many eyebrows and the baddies were missing from their rooms when the party finally made it inside.  Thanks to darts flying from the abandoned building across the alley, however, it became clear where some of their quarry had gone.

Everyone rushed into the abandoned inn next door and found the goblins, sans their human masters.  Darts, arrows, and blows were exchanged and the goblins were defeated.  It was during this fight that Indis was dubbed The Most 'Metal' Elf Who Ever Lived.  Disarmed, poisoned, and fast losing consciousness, she proceeded to take out two iron spikes (one in each hand), lunge at the last goblin, and (rolling a natural "20"), lethally PIN HIM TO THE FUCKING WALL.  Filibert--using a technique I don't remember at the moment--also managed to knock one of the goblins out of the window so as to attract the attention of the city guards who were investigating the alley below.  Needless to say, having a goblin corpse dumped on their heads was successful in doing so.

Fil dealt with answering the authorities' questions about the goblin fight (and took credit for almost everything) while Ambiorix rushed Indis to the Shrine of Moranya for healing.  They made it just in time... and that's when Panope showed up.  While looking for a cleric hireling, the party was introduced to a young woman who was ready to be sent out on "missions" by the Sisters of Moranya.  Strong-willed and acerbic-tongued, she immediately took a strong liking to Ambiorix and a definite dislike to Fil.  She even conned the former into allowing her a full share of treasure--a settlement that the latter did not like one bit.  But at least the party has a cleric now...

After a day or so of healing, the party (now with Panope the Adept of Moranya) headed out of the city before anything (or anyone) could connect them to the missing Prince.  They thought about going after the Witch again, but things were getting just a bit too hairy (no pun intended) in Hardinsford.  Instead, they headed back toward the Wilderland Inn to check up on things, with plans of investigating rumors of a ruined city rich in strange gold ingots near Ambiorix's cold, northern hometown of Frostwyk.

And that was the first of our two most recent sessions.  The other, played last Sunday, will have to wait for now.

NEXT TIME:

• Why you shouldn't hug giant killer bees
• How much does getting shot with a siege weapon hurt? 
• Why skeletons make lousy gardeners
• Black Pudding: it's not just an English holiday dish

DM's Journal: Witches, Trolls, and Goblins

Brief session writeup for January 22, 2012.
Players present: Ben and Sam.
Characters present:  Ambiorix the fighter, Filibert Fairbarn the halfling, Indis the elf.
Hirelings: Amalric the fighter, Wine the thief.

The party continues its quest of trying to get Swamp Witch, Myrinne, to lift her curse on the Wilderland Inn.  In the last session, they found her house and discovered that she has been taking young women from the nearby cities to use as slaves.  The slaves are controlled by the Ichor of Thrael.


13 April 56

• The PCs break into the swamp-witch's house; a battle ensues.  
• The witch is finally captured and calls off her slaves.  
• She is forced to brew a potion that slows the Pestilence growing in Filibert's body so that he can find a cure at one of the Hardinsford temples.

14 April 56

• The party recovers at the witch's house.  
• The slaves awaken from their drug-induced hypnosis, are fed, and sleep. 
•  Filibert takes the witch's slowing serum and rides back to the Wilderland Inn.

15 April 56

• Filibert encounters Amalric on the road and tells the warrior to accompany him to Hardinsford.
• The company leaves for the Inn with 56 slaves and the captured witch in tow.

16 April 56

• Filibert and Amalric arrive at the Inn, buy fresh horses, and depart immediately for Hardinsford.

17 April 56

• The company arrives at the Inn.  
• The witch lifts the curse and is kept prisoner.  

18 April 56

• Filibert reaches Hardinsford and is healed overnight at the Shrine of Moranya.
• Runners are sent from the Wilderland Inn to Hardinsford and Westwatch to look for the slaves' families.

19 April 56

• Filibert recovers in Hardinsford. 
• The company stays at the Wilderland.

20 April 56

• Filibert and Amalric depart for the Wilderland Inn.

21 April 56

• Travel to the Inn.

22-23 April 56

• Filibert and Amalric reunite with the party; all stay at the Inn.

24 April 56

• The company departs for Hardinsford with the witch and Dorin, the Wilderland Inn's security chief, in tow.  They also bring the strange metal chest recovered from the witch's house, knowing that its owner, a dealer in antiques and artifacts named Rechter, lives in the city.

25 April 56

• At dusk, the party comes across a troll who has just killed and is now raiding two wagons of settlers bound for Hardinsford.  The troll is killed and its body burned.  Filibert suffers severe wounds in the battle, but the rest of the party escapes mostly unscathed.

26 April 56

• The company arrives in Hardinsford.  
• The witch is turned over to authorities.  
• The company stays at the Knife & Needle Inn, where Filibert engages in and becomes quite drunk and unruly during a game of "Truth or Challenge."  

27 April 56

• 4am - Goblins try to break into the characters' rooms but are scared off by Ambiorix.
• That evening, Ambiorix and Indis meet with Rechtor and return the chest.  He offers them additional money to track down the brazier that was supposed to be inside the chest.  He also offers to finance a future expedition to the newly-discovered ruins near Frostwyk if the PCs are interested.
• Upon leaving Rechtor's mansion, Filibert spots a goblin spying on them.  The creature quickly darts down an alley and "Fil" runs after it in his usual foolhardy fashion.

Thirteenth day of April, the year Fifty-six of the Third Age...

This being the record of journey for Ambiorix, called by some "The Boar's Bastard", natural son of Lord Rethel Icewine of Icehall

It has been two days and a night since our party left poor old Nasturtia at the Wilderland and began our journey into the swamps in search of the crone she believes responsible for having soured her beer and spoilt her milk. What we thought to be a simple matter seems now to have grown somewhat more perilous than we might have previously imagined...

My traveling companions--the halfling Filibert and the she-elf Idris--are good company, if not traditional friends for a son of Icehall (even a bastard son). More importantly, they are brave and tough. I fear we will need both qualities in great supply before we see this deed done.

The two we hired at the Wilderland--a sellsword named Almaric and a cutpurse named Wine--I mistrust and dislike. Still, they complain little on the road and did not cut our throats as we slept--although we were sure to keep one of us on watch with one of the hirelings during the night.

Our first night camped in the swamp, we had a most frightful encounter with a young maiden who had been bitten by a bloodrot fly and been utterly consumed with its larvae. She lunged at us with a terrible fury and what almost looked like a voracious hunger, and we had no choice but to kill her. I grieve for her family, wherever they are, but I don't think we could've done elsewise and lived ourselves. Unluckily, Filibert was scratched deeply by the poor girl before we put her down. With a bit of fortune, we may hope that she did not pass her plague to him. If he should take ill, we may need to find a priest or witch of our own to cure him of the pestilence. If we cannot do that...well, I would be sad to take my friend's head from his body. But I would do it if given no other choice but to wake in the middle of the night to a blood-crazed and mindless halfling with his teeth in my neck.

As we trekked further into the swamps today, we encountered a band of maidens along the rode who took aim at us with bows. We mistook them for bandits or perhaps even goblins, and killed two of them before we realized that they were bewitched. Having disarmed and restrained them, they ate hard bread and salt beef and fell into a deep sleep.

One of their number escaped us, and we feared that she may bring others to take us in the night. We prepared prepared a large campfire on the main path and left the two sleeping girls near it, and stole off to await any attack out of the light of the fire. I was ashamed to use them as bait, but it seemed the only way to lure any companions they may have into the open so we could similarly restrain them, or if necessary kill them.

Alas, it was not more bow-maidens that came for the girls. In the dark of night, those of us on watch heard (and felt) the movement of some great beast through the swamp. We readied ourselves and waited.

After a few moments, a dread hydra emerged from the foliage and began to sniff at the girls who were--miraculously--still slumbering peacefully next to the campfire. The creature had been wounded (two of its five heads were already missing) and bore a chain around its great neck, but despite its diminished state it was no less dangerous. Sword and axe and arrow, we eventually dispatched its remaining heads and put the beast down.

We are going to try to get what rest we can, then when daylight comes we will follow what I can only assume will be the hydra's unmistakable track. Hopefully the slumbering maidens will be able to give us some tale of where they came from and who sent them, but my wager is that the beast's track will lead us right to the crone we seek.

DM's Journal: Of Living Zombies, Wicked Witches, and Sour Ale

Despite being short one player due to a bad case of insomnia (sleep better, Cara!), the first-ever Wyverns & Waffles D&D session was--in my opinion, anyway--a resounding success.  After munching in hearty halfling style on fresh local eggs, bacon and sausages, and chocolate chip and/or blueberry waffles, our party of wily adventurers assembled itself.  The roster featured three third-level characters:  Filibert Fairbarn the halfling (played by Ben), Ambiorix the fighter (played by Sam), and Indis the elf (played by my just-sleep-deprived-but-not-insomniac wife, Cori).

I will leave it to the players to provide highlights, but the main gist of the story so far is this:

11 April 56 (Third Age)
The PCs arrived at The Wilderland Inn, a familiar and usually-friendly stop run by Nasturtia Birdwhistle, an elderly halfling hostess, and her trusty dwarf security guard, Dorin Nolty.  This trip, however, things weren't a comfy as they were used to.  It seems the Inn had been cursed by a witch after Dorin had focibly evicted (and bruised up) her son for staying a week, running up a huge tab, and then trying to get off without paying.  The curse involved making all of the ale taste like garlic and vinegar and making the milk curdle even as it was drawn from the teat.  Business was bad for the venerable establishment, and the outlook dire.  The PCs' hearts went out to the proprietress and they decided to try and track down the witch to get the curse reversed.  Of course, the offer of "free ale for life" didn't hurt, either.

They hired the only other two customers at the Inn--a swordsman named Almaric and his sneaky friend Wine (aptly named)--mounted up, and rode to the southern swamps to find the witch.

12 April 56
Mostly-uneventful day of riding down the old swamp path.  During the first watch of the night, the party had its first encounter with a pestilence zombie.  The creature--once a young woman--was killed quickly, but not before she sank her scabby, infected hands into Filibert.

13 April 56
Another day of riding.  At dusk, the party was spotted by a group of young girls (14-20 years of age) dressed in gray cloaks and ragged clothing but carrying bows and daggers.  The girls--who had strange, vacant expressions and spoke in monotone--attacked but were soon outmatched.  One escaped into the swamp, two were killed, and two captured.  The captives acted wild and incoherent, so they were tied up.  After being fed (they looked starved), they immediately passed into a deep sleep.

In the night, thunderous, sloshing footsteps were heard.  Moments later, a somewhat-worse-for-the-wear hydra shambled into the clearing.  The party lept from their hiding places and attacked.  The monster--who had three heads and two stumps where heads had once been--was killed with no casualties to the characters.  The captive girls slept through the whole thing.  After the beast was slain, the PCs noticed that it had a thick, rusted chain around its necks and a kind of hitching ring.

14 April 56
The captives awoke with the rest of the party and they were confused.  The last thing they remembered was being in the fortress town of Middenwold in the summer time and seeing an old lady come into their bedrooms.  They had no memories of ever coming to the swamps, fighting, etc.  Because they were young, starved, and frightened, Almaric (the fighter hireling) was elected to escort them back to the Inn.

The party followed the hydra's deep, rutting tracks into the swamp, where they spotted two things:  a giant, twisted tree with a number of archers (grey-cloaked girls) posted on a platform in its center, and a storybook cottage on a wooden platform--which in turn was being pushed around the swamp by an army of slaves holding it up from underneath.

Using Indis's polymorph self potion and the captured bow and dagger, Filibert turned himself into a young girl in a gray cloak and took Wine into the camp as a "prisoner".  They were allowed to pass into the cottage that way.  Meanwhile, Ambiorix and Indis sneaked through the underbrush and waited as close to the cottage as they could without being seen.

Inside, the cabin was richly appointed and somehow bigger internally than externally.  A beautiful, black-and-gray-haired woman was inside.  She asked the "slave girl" (really Filibert) to explain herself and the prisoner but quickly because suspicious.  Filibert and Wine figured the gig was up and attacked.  As soon as they heard the commotion, Ambiorix and Indis rushed in amidst a hail of arrows from the tree-platform archers.  (Not hits, fortunately.)

Once they got inside, Ambiorix and Indis found Wine sprawled on the floor behind a table (fumbled dive-attack at the witch) and that Filibert was now a cute, pink piglet rooting through the kitchen.  The witch (Myrinne) had apparently turned invisible in the commotion and disappeared out a window.

A search of the cabin turned up a few remarkable items:

• A milky-white crystal ball inside the cellar (???) of the house-on-legs that allowed the user to see through special pendants that the witch had given to slaves, friends, and/or spies.  Several scenes across the land were viewed.
• An iron chest marked in strange symbols and smelling of the sea which had, ironically enough, been stolen by goblins from a caravan that Wine and Almaric had escorted to the Kingdom of Zhann a week before.
• A wand of dispelling whose one charge was used to return Filibert to his proper form.
• A sack of gold.
• Two scrolls of Animate Dead and one of Rock to Mud.

----

At this point, we had to cue up the "To Be Continued" title as my wife and I had to leave to go visit my Dad in the hospital.  (He had a heart attack last Thursday and is now recovering from open-heart surgery.  We've been living in the ICU for days and weren't even sure that today's gaming would happen, but he is doing much better and we decided that a couple of hours of "escape from reality" time would probably be good for keeping our own spirits up.  Needless to say, it worked.)

A number of questions remain to be answered in the next session, though:

• Where did the witch escape to?  Will she come back?  How will the PCs get her to lift the Inn's curse?
• Will Filibert's infection take hold and turn him into a pestilence zombie?
• What will be done with all of the witch's slaves?

Stay tuned for more from me and from the players themselves!

Let the Good Times (and d20s) Roll!

The Evenoria game kicks off this Sunday in a f2f Wyverns & Waffles session.  Eventually, I'd like to take the setting/game to Google+ and ConstantCon, but for now I need to rewet my DM feet among familiar faces and with fewer technological distractions.

For my own reference as well as that of the players, here's a thumbnail sketch of how and where we'll begin:

SYSTEM:
I'll be using BECMI D&D (the Red Box), but (the free) Labyrinth Lord clone and/or B/X are also fair game.

CHARACTERS:

Characters will be assumed to be novice-but-not-totally-green adventurers.

• Classes:  Any basic class or Ursari
• Level: 3rd to start
• Hit Points:  Maximum for 1st; rolled + CON adjustment for 2nd and 3rd
• Money:  The characters have had some success so far but are hardly wealthy.  Begin with 2d10 x 100 gp.
• Magic Items:  Each character begins with 1 randomly-rolled (by the DM) magic item found in a previous adventure.  He/she may not know what it does yet.  Items unusable by the character's class will be rerolled.
• Spells:  The DM will assign spells to elf and magic-user characters. 

PARTY:

• Each player should roll on the 100 Reasons Characters Are Together table (link halfway through post) to see how their character relates to the person on his/her right's character.
• The party will begin its career at the Wilderland Inn.
• This is a "sandbox" game, which means that characters are under no obligation to pick up and follow pre-set adventure "hooks".  The DM has a full population of NPCs and plots already on hand and is ready to ride off the rails at a moment's notice.

Wyverns & Waffles

Some folks think D&D needs things like hit location tables or first-level magic users who are tough enough to survive, say, a nasty sewing injury.  Pshaw.  You know what that venerable warhorse of role-playing really needs?  Waffles.  And syrup.

Inspired by Satine Phoenix's D&D Melt / Monthly D&D Pancake Breakfast, I have decided to try for a semi-regular get-together that I'm calling Wyverns & Waffles.  It's brunch.  For nerds.

We'll have waffles, (local, organic, free-range) eggs, and sausages.  And maybe a mimosa or two.  (See Harto's "perfect mimosa recipe" for details.)  And when the crockery is washed and the carb comas begin to set in, we'll explore Evenoria and fight monsters.

Cool, huh?