We've started a new Dungeons and Dragons campaign with all new characters after finishing our Curse of Strahd one with a new DM this time...this is session three...
Our starting group is a somewhat eclectic mix of (in no particular order) a Halfling Swashbuckler, a Gnome Wizard and a Human Monk (collectively a group of thieves known as 'The Silvered Penny'), a Half-Elf Hexblade, a Carchari* (Sharkman) Barbarian from an amphibious race currently inhabiting a village in the north but who are now integrating with the other races of Faerun, a Human Fighter and this session we will also be joined by a Dwarf Paladin.
*They're explained in the session one write-up which can be found HERE...
*They're explained in the session one write-up which can be found HERE...
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The Dungeon Master
The PC's
Our DM is using 'Milestone' Advancement rather than XP...we're all currently Level 5 apart from Billy who is Level 3
Our DM is using 'Milestone' Advancement rather than XP...we're all currently Level 5 apart from Billy who is Level 3
Tom - Sprig Shadowfoot - Halfling, Rogue Swashbuckler
Phil - Wrenn Rofferton - Gnome, Divination Wizard
Dan - Saladin - Human, Drunken Monk
Garreth - Varis Maacus - Half-Elf, Hexblade Warlock
Craig - Torrik - Carchari, Bear Totem Barbarian
Harry - 'Billy' - Human Fighter
Dave - Gilrin Stonehammer - Dwarf Paladin
NPC's
Lord Horatio Tresendar - Our Employer
More information on the characters stats can be found HERE. More background info will be added as soon as people send me some...
Harry - 'Billy' - Human Fighter
Dave - Gilrin Stonehammer - Dwarf Paladin
NPC's
Lord Horatio Tresendar - Our Employer
More information on the characters stats can be found HERE. More background info will be added as soon as people send me some...
Session Three - The Tower
Introduction
Act One - A Minor Difference of Opinion
The noble gentlemen were beginning to make vague threats about reporting the interloper Horatio to the authorities for his claims of lordship and it was at this point that several of the party members moved to intervene. Saladin in an attempt at conciliation offered one of them a drink which was rudely declined together with several insults about both the quality of the drink and the brewing capabilities of it's creator. Quite offended as the drink was one of the monks own creation he promptly clothes-lined the man and having significant skill in the area of unarmed combat knocked him unconscious with a single blow.
Incorrectly assuming that the attack was unprovoked the Dwarf picked up a chair with the intention of hurling it at the monk but either underestimated his own strength or overestimated the sturdiness of the chair and reduced it to kindling instead. Deciding not to get involved in the situation Billy moved to the bar and quickly ducked behind it. Deciding the best way to defuse the situation would be to get every-ones attention Sprig leapt nimby onto the bar, grabbed the last orders bell and started ringing it vigorously but this had limited effect. At this point Varis returned from his covert activities to the sound of ringing bells, breaking furniture and much shouting. Sensibly he decided to wait in the doorway rather than get involved as realistically speaking bar fights were somewhat out of his range of combat experience which largely consisted of killing people under cover of darkness while they slept or poisoning them and framing some-one else...
Correctly establishing that common sense was in no way about to prevail Wrenn cast a spell of sleep on the two nobles who instantly fell into a magical slumber. After the slightly embarrassing chair incident the dwarf Gildren decided instead to punch the monk rather than destroy more random pieces of furniture. Torrik reacted to this attack on his drinking buddy by smacking the dwarf with his maul but used the flat rather than one of the business ends.
It was at this point that the preposterous nature of the situation began to dawn on those involved especially as the initial instigators were all currently unconscious. After the two sleeping men were dragged outside by Torrik who helped himself to one of their hats as a souvenir, Sprig awakened the man knocked out by Saladin and escorted him outside while suggesting that he took his two friends and went somewhere else before any further trouble occurred.
Before retiring to his suite Lord Tresender thanked every-one for their defending of his position and supporting his word that he was the rightful heir to Philander and added that as he had much to think about he wouldn't need any-ones services the following day while he pondered his next course of action. Unbeknown to any-one Sprig had taken the opportunity to covertly search Lord Tresender's belongings during the fight and had discovered that Horatio did indeed have documents proving that he was the rightful ruler of Philander as he had been claiming.
Note - I feel this important information may have been intended as a dramatic opening to the session but was delayed by an impromptu bit of PvP...
Sprigs sigh and eye-roll were all the explanation given to Varis when he enquired about what had caused the ruckus but knowing those involved the explanation was more than adequate as they shared a drink from the halflings hip flask. For no clear reason the monk had started singing loudly while helping himself to drinks from the bar which the barman had sensibly abandoned earlier at the first sign of trouble.
Torrik was halfheartedly attempting to intimidate Gilrin by asking what dwarf tasted like but was being largely ignored. Realising that the prospect of another fight was now unlikely the sharkman joined Saladin who was filling tankards with ale and sliding them down the bar for whoever wanted them though had already overshot with several.
Varis decided this was a perfect time to get some rest and as Sprig (who had the room key) was occupied trying to minimise the damage caused by the now exceedingly drunk Saladin and Torrik he simply picked the lock and not wanting to be woken later by an argument about who got the limited amount of beds in the room instead settled down on a remarkably comfortable couch. Wrenn meanwhile had situated himself in a chair in front of the rooms single warming fire and was perusing his own notes. Having heard the monk and barbarian discussing continuing their drinking session at the Orcs Tusk tavern Sprig retired also taking the large double bed all to himself.
Interlude One - The Morning After
Torrik and Saladin awoke significantly worse for wear on the floor of The Orcs Tusk with vague memories of impaling several items purloined from other taverns on the tusks of the sign outside as was a local tradition amongst the drunken patrons of the bar they were now within. Unhappy that the tricorn hat he'd acquired from the sleeping noble unsurprisingly didn't fit upon his head, Torrik fashioned a strap for it with some stolen string which at least had the benefit of keeping it on his head but in no way stopped it looking utterly preposterous. Torrik was however inexplicably pleased with himself nonetheless. After a while they headed back to their original base of operations.
Sprig and Wrenn were having a slightly more productive morning and were using some of the funds acquired from the ship sale to stock up on the material components required for the gnome wizards magic to work correctly. Though many of these were mundane easily obtained items, several were quite expensive. Fortunately an alchemist store in town was well stocked with the more common of these items and also had a small number of healing potions which Sprig acquired also. More concerning to the pair was that the organisation known as the Harpers of which they were both members had no presence whatsoever in the town. This was highly unusual in a built-up area of this size and a matter that would need investigating...
Note - I should probably include something here about the harpers so those unfamiliar with the faction have some point of reference...
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The Harpers
The Harpers is an old organisation that has risen, been shattered, and risen again several times. Its longevity and resilience are largely due to its decentralised, grassroots, secretive nature, and the near-autonomy of many of its members. The Harpers have “cells” and lone operatives throughout Faerûn, although they interact and share information with one another from time to time as needs warrant. The Harpers' ideology is noble, and its members pride themselves on their integrity and incorruptibility. Harpers do not seek power or glory, only fair and equal treatment for all.Harper agents are trained to act alone and depend on their own resources. When they get into scrapes, they don’t count on their fellow Harpers to rescue them. Nevertheless, Harpers are dedicated to helping one another in times of need, and friendships between Harpers are nigh unbreakable. Masterful spies and infiltrators, they use various guises and secret identities to form relationships, cultivate their information networks, and manipulate others into doing what needs to be done. Although most Harpers prefer to operate in the shadows, there are exceptions.
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Knowing that it was highly unlikely that his dead drop would have been given any attention yet Varis decided to take advantage of the event free morning and had a relatively undisturbed breakfast stopping only for a brief chat with the dwarf they'd met in the brawl the night before. Somewhat significantly the gift from his patron had now changed shape from a rod into a sword though it's magical effects were undiminished. The fact that his mistress had somehow decided that he'd need a magical sword soon was however something of a concern.
Note - I asked the DM for a Rod of the Pact Keeper and he let me have one (The basic +1 uncommon version). After a subsequent discussion about players tendencies to need better versions of weapons and items as time went by he decided that this particular item would be something that would evolve with me as my character progressed. I thought this was a damn cool idea...and woke up with a sword, lol.
Interlude Two - One Man, One Vote...
When Sprig and Wrenn arrived back at the tavern the gnome realised he'd forgotten some necessary items and returned to the alchemical store to obtain them. While awaiting his friends return Sprig engaged the barman once more who seemed in surprisingly good spirits in spite of the events of the previous night. This good mood it turned out was partially due to Billy spending some time tidying up the mess that had been made previously and this act had gone some way to convincing him that at least some of the blame must have been with the opposing group of brawlers.
Though he was still firmly convinced that Horatio was an impostor and that the current lord of Philander was the rightful ruler he was happy to discuss the matter further. The current lord of Philander it turned out had been in the position for as long as the man could remember and was regarded along with Leilon's own ruler as being the main factor in the defeat of the recent orcish invasion. He further pointed out that though he himself was largely neutral on the matter that many in the town would be less tolerant of claims of a 'rightful' heir and may even be willing to use violence against any interloper. In Tresenders absence Sprig used some of the party funds to book their rooms for another night and then gathered the rest of the group together to discuss their next move. The dwarf meanwhile slipped out of the tavern on a mission of his own.
Note - I have no idea what that mission is or was...
Sprig briefed the party that he'd discovered that despite what they were being told by others that their employer most definitely was the rightful ruler and it was in fact the current holder of the title who was the interloper. Varis then added what had been learned about the assassins on Horatio's trail and his own suspicions that based on their equipment and planning that they must be part of a much larger organisation and plot. While every-one absorbed the greater implications of this the conversation moved onto Saladin's proposal to investigate this mysterious tower in the quarantined area of the cities centre. As the debate became more vocal and peoples minds were changed and then changed back again Sprig suggested that they put the matter to a vote. Each person was given a piece of paper with which to register their vote to either remain where they were till tomorrow or to investigate the unknown prospect of the tower.
Note - We actually did do a secret ballot and in so doing proved what I'd secretly suspected which is that democracy is bollocks, lol.
While examining the votes Sprig noted that the results were exactly equal with three votes on each side. Seeing that Wrenn had wanted to investigate the tower the halfling just lied outright saying that the vote had been five to one in favour of exploring and the statement was made with such assurance that every-one accepted it as true. Well...almost every-one. Varis could tell that Sprig was lying through his teeth but decided to avoid the consequences to party unity of revealing this fact so kept it to himself. By now he had caught Sprig in so many lies, half-truths and acts of outright theft that he wasn't even particularly surprised.
Act Two - The Tower
Looking for a likely method into the inner circle of the town through the various barriers they eventually came a cross a locked gate that seemed slightly loose. Before Sprig could pick the lock, Torrik had grabbed hold of it and attempted to lift it off it's hinges and managed to get it several feet into the air. While the taller members of the group had to crawl underneath, Sprig and Wrenn simply strolled through. Varis asked Torrik to try and wedge the gate back into place so the passing patrols wouldn't notice the gap but unfortunately it wouldn't slot back into place so he simply leaned it against the side wall and followed the rest.
Once past the abandoned outer circle of buildings they entered a large courtyard consisting of large black and white slabs forming a chequerboard pattern surrounded by raised flowerbeds. Saladin noted that the flora within these raised beds were completely different than they'd been the day before when he had infiltrated the area alone. Some distance ahead crossing the courtyard was the dwarf they'd encountered earlier though they could see no other signs of life.
As they approached the dwarf the large black tile on which he was standing shifted beneath him and too slow to grab hold of the edge he plummeted downwards. Fortunately the spikes at the bottom were mostly deflected by his armour though a few still caused a number of unpleasant flesh wounds. Wrenn peered over the gap and politely asked him if he needed any assistance...
Note - That was Daves second roll of a one this session...the first was the exploding chair incident from the bar fight...
With nothing to wrap a rope around, Varis enquired whether Torrik minded being the anchor point for the rope and after getting his grunted approval hooked his rope and grappling around him and braced himself as the dwarf climbed the rope to the top. Thanking him for the assistance Varis retrieved his rope and left Torrik staring at the dwarf as he patched up his injuries. Sprig meanwhile was examining the rest of the tiles for any signs of further traps and noted some minor discrepancies in several of the black tiles ahead. With a bit of testing he discovered that several of them seemed to be equipped with pressure plates that caused them to swing inwards when stepped upon though none of the white tiles showed any sign. Forewarned the rest of their walk to the tower proved uneventful.
The tower itself was a tall, cylindrical structure with a large door on the side they were facing but unusually had no windows. Varis decided to see if there was another way in and took a walk around the outer perimeter though this was partly to get out of the way as Saladin had decided that the best course of action was to knock loudly upon the door. On each side of the tower were large circles with strange glyph's and symbols around the edges and other strange carvings within the centre.
With the warlocks own magical gifts being bestowed upon him by his patron rather than through actual study he decided to seek Wrenns advice on their purpose. With the rest still unable to discern a way of opening the entrance Wrenn decided to follow Varis and have a look at whatever he'd discovered. The gnome wizard identified the circles as being almost identical in design to teleportation circles though having such things mounted vertically was very unusual. It was at this point that Torrik got bored and attempted to open the door through force. A wall of necrotic green flame engulfed the hapless sharkman as he assaulted the door but it was perhaps some small consolation that once the flame had extinguished itself the door swung open.
Looking carefully ahead for any sign of further traps Sprig could discern only a circular room with a spiral staircase sealed with a locked door at it's centre and a single floor mat of some description near to the entrance but nothing that looked like a trigger for a trap. It was therefore a surprise to everyone when the innocuous carpet then attacked Sprig attempting to wrap itself around his legs and drag him to the ground. Fortunately the nimble halfling managed to untangle himself and leap aside before it could completely envelope him. Taking no chances Varis blasted it into pieces at point-blank range with blasts of eldritch force before the now obviously sulking swashbuckler set what was left on fire.
The rooms ceiling had an unusual painting of a library upon it but the more it was concentrated upon the more the image changed until the library in the mural began to burn until it was entirely engulfed in flames. Concerned about shutting the door that they'd had so much trouble opening Wrenn was intrigued to discover that the lock was entirely mechanical. Using his own mechanical skills to examine the mechanism in detail the gnome could see no problems with shutting the door and theorised that there was obviously a way of opening it from the outside that they had missed. Assuming that at some point guards would notice the opened perimeter gate he decided to shut the tower door so hopefully they wouldn't realise that the forbidden location had been trespassed upon. After careful checking revealed nothing further of interest in this location Sprig picked the lock on the staircase door and the party went up the spiral staircase with Sprig in the lead. Candles in holders along the walls lit as they approached and illuminated the way ahead. Saladin chopped a couple in half to see if they stayed alight but those he sliced through went dark instantly.
Interlude Three - The Library
The room ahead had a layer of ash covering the floor and had the distinct smell that came from burnt material. As with the other room this had a moving mural on it's ceiling though this one had the library from the first completely destroyed by fire and showed a fortress gradually being built on top of the now incinerated building. On large stone plinths at the far side of the room were two heavy looking bell jars with handles on the top. One of these contained a quill pen while the other had a tiny replica sword within.
Having learned through bitter experience that many of his fellow adventurers didn't wait for people with appropriate talents to actually examine things before tampering with them, Wrenn immediately began to cast his rituals of magical detection just in case. Saladin walked up to the jars to examine them closely and as he did so Wrenn warned him that they were both the plinths were giving off a magical aura and in an unusual display of common sense he resisted the urge to tamper with them and instead began to search the walls for a way out of the room. While searching he came across a hidden panel in one wall that slid aside to reveal a set of shelves on which were laid out a selection of scarlet cloaks. From where he was standing Varis could see that they were almost identical in colour to the ones he'd taken from the two assassins who had ambushed them by the docks in Waterdeep though were much cleaner. Saladin grabbed one and put it on, leaving the rest of the cloaks where they were.
Bored of the debate about what to do next the monk Saladin strolled over to the bell dome containing the tiny sword and lifted it off it's plinth before any-one could stop him. As soon as the container left the plinth the room was engulfed in flame and with most of the group being taken by surprise few of them managed to avoid the full brunt of the flame. After some swift medical care for those most severely injured during which Sprig had been forced to use one of his precious health potions on Billy the halfling helped himself to the contents of his gold pouch as compensation. After the potion was administered Sprig moved over to the jar containing the quill pen and lifted that one also. As he did so a passage opened on the chamber wall opposite to that containing the concealed cloakroom.
Act Four - An Unconventional Prison
Any approach towards the ladder resulted in the large metal statue moving to intercept and stating that "Only the initiated may enter" followed by a very clear "You are not initiated". Wrenn identified the statue as an Iron Golem and expressed his doubts that any of them would be able to overcome it should it become hostile as such creations were very powerful indeed. After some experimentation it was discovered that the golem made no attempt to stop Saladin who was passed as "One of the initiated" while wearing the red cloak he'd acquired. As no-one else seemed to be doing anything Varis returned to the lower chamber and retrieved enough cloaks for every-one though being human sized they weren't exactly a perfect fit.
On his return he found the rest in discussion with a confused looking Saladin who claimed to have walked in one direction for quite some time along the above passageway before ending up exactly where he'd started. The experiment was repeated with Billy walking in the opposite direction from the monk but the end result was the same. Sprig meanwhile had engaged the golem in conversation but it's responses were quite limited to it's function as guardian of the tower, nonetheless he seemed unusually fascinated by the arcane creation.
The dwarven paladin however was extremely distrustful of the iron creature as he claimed he could detect a fiendish presence within. An extremely careful examination of the monstrosity seemed to indicate that it was built around some kind of container and it was from this that the paladin could detect the unsettling presence. His divine senses also indicated that the cloaks were themselves desecrated in some way so he removed his immediately.
Growing frustrated with his lack of progress in the new chamber, the monk instead began to check the walls looking for secret passageways and found a section of wall that felt somehow different to the rest. Rather than seeking out help or tools of some description he instead decided to kick the suspect section of wall and unsurprisingly hurt his foot. Learning nothing from the experience he then followed this up with a punch and hurt his knuckles as well. His third blow with the palm of his hand was far more successful and a single brick fell out into a chamber beyond.
Through this gap in the wall he could see a chamber beyond and called out to the rest of the group who began to make their into to investigate. Torrik and Billy were the first to climb up though Sprig had decided to continue his interrogation of the golem and Wrenn stayed with his friend. Varis was the second from last to climb the ladder with the dwarf just behind...he had however forgotten to replace the cloak he'd removed earlier...
Note - I'm not sure whether this is going to be the daftest mistake in the campaign but it's certainly winning so far...
The first blow hurled the dwarf from the ladder to the ground and it's second struck before any-one else could react leaving the paladin un-moving in a pool of blood on the floor. It's job done the golem returned to it's guard position. Wrenn and Sprig had however sensibly got out of the way as soon as the metallic creature had began to move. Varis proceeded to swear in all six of the languages he knew as he grabbed his healing kit in readiness to see if he could stabilise the foolish paladin who now lay in a heap in the corner. As he moved to help he couldn't help but notice that the golem had reacted to the bit of swearing that was in the language of devils known as Infernal. After he'd done what he could for the fallen dwarf he attempted to communicate with the golem in the language it had reacted to and the replies were significantly different in tone than the golems previous answers.
The devil within revealed that it had been bound into the golem for nearly a decade and was required to ensure that only those initiated members of it's masters cult were allowed into the chamber above. All those initiated wore the scarlet cloaks that they'd discovered earlier and these cloaks were desecrated so as to be recognisable to the creature bound within. Varis was briefly tempted to try and free the devil but doubted that it'd be grateful and besides which the creature claimed to have no idea how it had been bound. Though it was unwilling to name the leaders of the cult it was quite happy to reveal the name of it's own master, a name that Varis unfortunately recognised...
Note - A name I'll be keeping to myself for a bit as the other players read these write-ups and I don't know if our DM is going to make this general knowledge...plus I'm trying to avoid the 'how come you can speak to devils' conversation for as long as I can...
Meanwhile the monk and sharkman had removed enough bricks to reveal a door behind but given that the last door he'd opened had engulfed him in magical flames Torrik was unwilling to open it himself so Saladin began to smash a hole through the middle. Once it became obvious that no-one was about to get set on fire Torrik helped him widen the gap so it was large enough for them to get through.
Note - I'm reasonably sure that there was probably a simple lock or secret switch that we could have used to open the door but no-one bothered to ask either of the two characters with thieves tools proficiencies to have a look...
The room had a hardwood floor and was well furnished with bookcases, desks, wardrobes and all the furniture one would expect in a set of living quarters though it was obvious that it had been unused for some time. Presumably this was because the owner was now a desiccated corpse sitting in a chair at the rooms desk. The paintings on the wall seemed fairly mundane at first being of
various landscapes and scenes though as with the ceiling murals from the previous chambers they became more and more sinister the longer they were observed. When one of the pictures was removed from the wall a window into another room was revealed. This room was an observation chamber of some kind from which the now deceased occupant had seemingly been observed. Varis discovered a note on the desk which contained the ramblings of a man held prisoner in this room. Apparently his jailers had amused themselves by watching him gradually driven mad by his imprisonment and the dark murals and paintings with their sinister scenes. While the others were checking the windows to the adjoining room again, Varis began a more detailed search of the room.
Note - The windows in the room definitely led to another room and not to a view outside...I know this because the DM was asked this about five times by three different players...
Hanging from the corner of the desk was a bag that Varis recognised as a magical Bag of Holding which he took for himself and which soon contained a bag of gold which the warlock found in a desk draw. Concerned that there may be other magical items in the room that they might miss he called down to the gnome Wrenn who joined them to assist with the search. A number of minor magical items were found around the room including some jewellery, a couple of cloaks with common magical enchantments, a strange decanter from which water continually flowed and a few other trivial items including a broken sword that may have been valuable if intact but was pretty much useless as it was. Varis theorised that it would be unlikely that the prisoner had been left with anything powerful as if he had he would have simply used it to escape. Wrenn also found a small bag of pearls one of which ironically would have done perfectly the job of the very item he'd paid not far off a hundred gold pieces to acquire earlier that very day.
There were references to Phandalin, Orson, a Sister Garaele and notes on the towns history. Remembering how quickly Wrenn had deciphered and memorised the volumes and charts on the boat they'd stolen from Waterdeep he placed the volumes in his recently acquired bag and decided ask the academic gnome to see what he could glean from them once they returned to the tavern. As Wrenn identified several of the discovered magical items purposes a few were redistributed to adventurers whose skills they were more suited to before the group concluded that there was nothing else of use and then left. Noting that the monk had left a significant amount of admittedly cheap looking jewellery, gems and stones behind Varis swept them into the bag of holding reasoning that if they turned out to be worthless he could just throw them away.
As they returned to the room containing the iron golem they found Sprig had draped a cloak around the creatures shoulders and was either singing to it or himself but regardless neither of these activities had made it any more loquacious or cooperative. Leaving the way they came several members of the party left through the gateway which was still open, several others made their way more covertly over the wall while Sprig had gone to report the contents of the tower to the guards. The guards in the barracks were somewhat surprised to find they were being spoken to from inside the quarantine area and gave Sprig ten minutes to get out or face the consequences. Those of the party who had taken more covert routes from the sealed area noticed several guards following Billy back to the bar and realising that their base was apparently common knowledge there seemed no need to be stealthy.
Epilogue
With the hour now being fairly late, food and refreshments were the primary goal of many of the adventurers and they sat down in various groups to relax before retiring for the night. Saladin however decided to check on their employer and after knocking on the door several times with no response became concerned. Checking on the commotion Saladin was making, Sprig ushered him to one side and skill-fully picked the lock before pushing open the door.
Lord Tresender lay bleeding upon the ground while two of the red cloaked assassins that had plagued their progress were leaning over the body. Next to the open window however was a creature unlike anything Sprig or Saladin had ever seen before...
Note - We're officially the worst bodyguards ever...
To be Continued in Session Four...
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