Weekly Campaign Journal
1.18.2000 This is a brief recounting of the last two adventures that took place over two months ago. Our party travelled with the Knights of Silverymoon and Timlin towards the newly formed mountain at the North edge of the Moonwood. We found ourselves under constant attack by all manner of earthly beats. Elementals and the deadly rock dragons assaulted us from every corner. With the help of the Knights, we fought our way to the lip top of the mountain where we looked into the maelstrom. The the infinite blackness spit forth a constant stream of rock and debris. With inspiration from Shaundakul, Rana took the scepter and jumped into the maelstrom. The rest of the party was pinned between the lip and a group of raock dragons who had circled around behind us. Adolf was knocked into the maelstrom. While we battled for our lives above, Rana came face to face with the demon who had started this cataclysmic event. Wielding the scepter, he charged the beast and stabbed it in the chest. The Scepter reacted immediately and began counteracting the magic of the demon. The mountain on which we stood began caving in and soon we found ourselves falling through the void. Coming to a crash on a series of small rock ledges, we found ourselves swirling through the mists, in the center of our group stood the demon. As we made our way from rock to rock we fought a tooth and anil battle with the demon. With Landolier aiding from afar, Adolf and Rana managed to kill the demon. Thw maelstrom began collapsing in on itself and we found ourselves in dire trouble. It was then that three Air elementals, whom Rana recognized as servants of Shaundakul, carried us to safety. We were taken to the outskirts of Silverymoon were we parted company. Rana accompanied the Air elementals on a spirit quest while Landolier and Adolf returned to Silverymoon
A month passed before Rana returned from his quest. He returned with a vision of a temple to Shaundakul high in the mountains. Landolier and Adolf agreed to accompany him and they set out once again....
9.2.99 Although this as major ramifications upon future campaigns, the events of last nights adventure will be summed up rather swiftly. We picked up right were we left off the last time in the caverns under the area known as Gate. The deeper caverns were especially quit other than a random encounter with a pair of displacer beasts. We made our way up through the caves to find that the are was under attack from giants. We used every trick in the book to slip through the fighting untouched and make our way back to Silverymoon with Llirra in tow as our prisoner. We kept her pretty roughed up through the trip and we had little trouble until we encountered a nasty little dwarf named Wixom. He offered to lead us to a game trail that would speed our trip through the region. Instead, he led us to an ambush where Llirra escaped. We managed to kill the Ogre in their group but we know theres Three more people out there who want us dead. After several weeks of travel and a Short cut through Keepers Dale, we made our way to Silverymoon where we were arrested for treason. Apparently, Llirra beat us to town and accused us of the crimes she herself had commited. The players were forced to defend themselves in court. Thanks to the good word of an NPC, their story was taken as true. However, Llirra and her companioins escaped. We are now faced with the task of taking the scepter to the Maelstrom to stop its destruction of the area.
8.25.99 We managed two sessions this past week... After witnessing the power of the maelstrom, we made our way back to the city of Silverymoon. Along the way, we ran into a group of dwarves who worshipped Grumbar, they were on their way to worship at the maelstrom. A few bitter words about religion turned into an all out fight. The dwarves were dispatched rather quickly and we continued on. Before we left, Adolf pocketed a Holy Symbol from one of the dwarves. being a resourceful DM, our party, found ourselves plagued by creatures from the elemental plane of earth. In a fight in which we were sure to die versus three earth elementals, we were saved by elementals from the plane of air. They had been sent by Shaundakul to help Rana on this quest. They informed him that the shortsword we had previously found was a potent item versus creatures from earth and that it would play a major role in our quest. The elementals then transported us the rest of the way to Silverymoon. After reporting our findings, it was determined that a scepter hidden on the elemental plane of air, could reverse the effects of the maelstrom.
We were given a shifty tiefling as a guide to the elemental plane of air. The first half of our journey was magically aided by Lady Alustriel, however we had to finish the rest on foot. Our travels took us through the territory of a mountain giant. He didn't attack us but warned us to leave his territory and not harm his minions. He followed us for several days before the group became paranoid and decided to back track one night and kill him. Things didn't go very well. Adolf was severely wounded and Landolier learned that Ceasar's Anvil is not a good spell to use against giants. Anvils make nasty missle weapons. We finally made our way to Gate in the Spine of the World. After some bribery, we made it past the bugbear patrols and into the lair of the beholder. As a fee for using his gates, we were forced to answer three riddles. As DM, I was shocked when all three were answered correctly. We traveled the tunnels with a few minor encounters and entered the elemental plane of air. Our tiefling guide, Llirra, left us then, poiting the way to a cloud giants lair and a city. The cloud giant supposedly was in possession of the staff we required. Using the shortsword as a bargaining chip, we managed to gain audiance with the Goold, the leader of the Cloud Giant Clan. He agreed to let us use the scepter in exchange for the shortsword. He left to retrieve the scepter and quickly returned. we were accused of stealing the scepter. He attacked immediately. The battle was intense. Goold escaped and we were forced to kill his son to escape. We managed to get away and make our way to the city we had been told about. After expelling large sums of cash for information, we found out that Llirra was a major con artist and we were able to track her to where she conducted her business. She didn't put up much of a fight but we were attacked by an unusual stone golem at the same time. Rana was forced to deal with it single handedly due to the tight fighting quarters. We retrieved the scepter and managed to return to Toril with Llirra as our prisoner.
8.18.99 After several weeks of people moving and conflicting schedules, we were able to assemble for a brief gaming session. Our mage has left the group so we continued. After the battle with the deepspwan, we began to experience more and more violent earth tremors. On the second or third day, a particularly violent quake ripped through the woods creating mass destruction. Oddly enough, instead of a great crack in the earth, it appearred as if the earth had swelled up. We continuted on and it wasn't long before we began to see signs of a mountain in the distance although we were a week or so travel south of the spine of the world. We camped and witnessed some strange creatures bounding by in the night. The next day, we were attacked by six gronks (from Planescape: Torment). It was great the players were completely off guard. We continued on for several more days with minor quakes disrupting our travel before we came across a disturbing sight. The earth was split open and was filled with a dark swirling mist that we identified as the ethereal plane. By this point the solitary mountain was plainly visible. We pressed on up the mountain and were attacked by earth grues. Our main fighter Adolf was nocked unconscious ans it was astruggle for us to survive. After the battle, we made our way to the rim of the mountain. Looking over the edge, we saw a maelstrom of etheral mist and earth broiling forth depositing the fragments of earth on top of the growing mound. We made a rapid decision to return to Silverymoon for help. We unfortunately had to end there so we'll find out more next week.
7.21.99 After wintering in Silverymoon, the group was more than ready to venture forth. We began North to investigate some mysterious earth tremors that were felt in Silverymoon. Shortly after entering the Moonwood however, we were attacked by to unnaturally large bears. The battle was hard and tough. We continued on our path where we came across the carcass of an extremely large deer. The next day, we were attacked by 4 large falcons. An elven archer canme to our rescue. Quest (1 SP/ Ranger of Shaunondil) Said that the Moonwood had been plagued by these unnaturally large creatures and asked Rana as a fellow ranger if he could help him hunt down the source. We travelled forseveral days of through thick vegetation and a torrential downpours, encountering many more large animals along the way. One of the most memorable moments was when Rana stuck his claymore into the bottom jaw of a large snake and Landolier followed with a Ceasar's Anvil Spell which forced the blade into the creatures brain. Our days of travel led us to a large earthen cave where a deepspawn was making its lair. The battle was fast and furious and we managed to pull through it with no major injuries. Although getting to the deepspawn had many of us on deaths door.
7.14.99 Six up. Six down. That was the basics of our final battle with the Four Horseman. The battle started off bad and became worse. Valas managed to score 8 critical successes and he still seemed to be ineffective. Garok, the party thief/archer, died in the first round, followed by Ivar. The battle continued for several rounds, Valas was engaged one on one with War. Whiel Famine, Pestilence and Death kept the rest of the party occupied. Valas fought well but in the end perished at the hands of Death. What can you do against a creature with four attacks a round with a two-handed sword. Through it all, the mysterious man in bronze plate calmly watched from the distance. After Valas fell, War moved in and finished off Archibold, our other fighter, in a single round. Dakkon, our War Wizard died along with him. We all found ourselves standing a celestial temple of sorts. The man in bronze sat before us. He introduced himself as AO and said that he found our courage in the face of immenent death a sign that humanity still existed in the world. With that, we were teleported back to the keep a mere day after the whole adventure started. We continued on with and adventure I've been running, I'll begin more on that next week. The party consists of Landolier (5 SP of Mystra), Rana (4/5 Ranger/SP of Shaundakul), Caligula (4 Mage) and Adolf (4 Fighter).
7.7.99 Reeling from our wounds from our previous adventure in the High Moors, we proceeded North towards the High Forest in pursuit of the Four Horsemen. A travels took us through the South wood and along the River on the East side of the High Forest. For days we traveled. We were fortunate enough to find out that the horseamn had turned due East out of the High Forest and we were gaining ground on them, although the third of the Horsemen has been released. We were attacked one nigt by a drow raiding party. It was probably one of the longest battles we've had to date. Our party thief, Garok, was amazing. I've never seen a thief with one sword last as long as he did against two drow with two weapons each! Valas performed well although he was extremely mad when one of the drow priestesses escaped. Shortly after the battel with the drow, we were revistied by our Baatezu friends. By the way Valas is looking for a good way to catch an imp. This time the Baatezu brought a Pit Fiend along. If it weren't for Archibold's henchman Ivar and his Flamestrike, we would have been toast. Within a day of our encounter with the fiends, we were led to a druids grove where we were given pegasus to speed us on our way. We concluded our adventure high in the mountains with the lair of the fourth Horsemen somewhere below.
6.30.99 I hate trolls!!!! Leaving at a rapid pace from Evereska, we crossed across the plains towards the High Moors where we ecpected to find the next horseman. WE had a brief encounter with Wemics that we managed to resolve with only minor combat. After two very tricky river corssings, we landed in a desolate rocky area. While watering our horses, we were attacked by no less than twelve Manscorpions. Man-oh man do those guys suck. Valas took out four by himself, severing their tails and legs to limit their abilities. The worst was yet to come. Our DM pulled a scene right out of Streams of Silver. We found the two horseman and their mysterious companion in the middle of the High Moors surrounded by a wall of flame and several hundred trolls. Unfortunately, the trolls noticed our presence and attacked. In a mad rush towards the horseman, Valas, Archibald and Ivor pounded through the troll ranks while Dakkon and Sarek provided fire support. Ivor (Archibalds Henchman) fell to the trolls and we were forced to abort our mission and run to save his life. With a special scrying device we later found our querry many days ahead of us and traveling North away from the High Moors.
6.23.99 "and behold an pale horse, and the man who sat upon him was death, and hell followed with him..." We've begun our quest to stop the four horseman from being released from their imprisonment. Our quest started with us chasing down a mysterious man in bronze plate. He headed north towards our keep were he charmed one of our henchman and used him for his purposes. We tracked him across land towards the Lost Hills. Along the way we were once again attacked by Abishai, they seem to be trying to exact revenge for what we did to Vhaerun and his temple. The quest ended with the horseman Famine being released and a brief fight with him. Despite multilating him, he quickly rose from the dead and road off into the woods. We then travelled northeast to Evereska, Valas' homeland. There, we found out that Famine is likely on his way to the High Moors to free Pestilence.
6.17.99 Four down and one to go. Valas has now officially faced four out of the five chromatic dragons. White is the only one left. Yesterday was the culmanation of a two year quest by Valas to get his sword Blazer repaired after it was broken. We stopped in Candlekeep on our way south. We obtained entrance using a book from our last adventure. Through a little roleplaying, I was able to find an enchanter capable of repairing the sword. The cost, 2 vials of Black Dragon Acid. Needless to say, the quest took us to the lair of a Black Dragon. What we didn't count on was running into a Red dragon along the way. It was a rough fight, two of our team died before Valas and Archibold killed it. A well phrased wish healed all the damage and restored our friends to life. The fight with the Black Dragon went very smooth. We found it sleeping and it was dead before it new what was happening. Blazer is now returned to my hands. I am told that the enchantments have been increased but I do not know to what extent. We also had a hook for the next adventure. It seems we will be on a quest to prevent the Four Horseman from escaping their imprisonment. I can't say how much it means for me to have Blazer again. I have adventured with it since second level its as much a part of Valas as anyhting. I look forward to once again yielding it in combat.
6.9.99 Well we picked up from lasts weeks adventure. An elven mage and an elven warwizard have joined our group. We've got quite a bit of firepower as things go. Lots of hack-n-slash in last night adventure. We were forced into a small cave due to a violent storm. The lightning felled a tree that blocked our exit from the cave. Wandering deeper into the cave we were forced to pass through a temple of the drow god Vhaerun. All-in-all, we did fairly well. We still haven't worked out the strengths of each team member as we sometimes get in each others way. Valas went up a level. It seems like he's been level 9 for ages. We found a few rings and a tome but nothing significant of which to speak.
6.2.99 We had one guy not show up tonight so the planned adventure didn't take place. I took a break from DMing and got to play Valas again. Its amazing how much I missed playing him. We took a short sidetrek adventure that led us to the lair of a giant Behir. After being swallowed whole, Valas managed to kill the beast from within. It was just a simple dungeon crawl but we had a blast. I got to humilate some of the guardS at my companions castle. They thought 4 on 1 was fair odds. I taught them otherwise.
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