Shadowland is a realm often shrouded in a dismal fog, populated by Humans, Dragons, Elves, Dwarves, Trolls, Vampires, various other races, as well as Deadwalkers, a race of soulless and not particularly compassionate beings.

There is a vast network of invisible energy strands called ley lines in this place, many of which intersect, creating portals known as shadowgates. These gates are usually inert, but can be activated by the proper spell or key.

The campaign begins a few miles south of a small hilltop village called Bresby...

Here's a link to the gaming group forum I've utilized for our campaign journal...

http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/group.php?groupid=244

Hello, there! This campaign journal for Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 is going to be cross-posted at both therpgsite.com and penandpapergames.com. The latter site seems to have some issues with editing posts that I have yet to resolve, so I'll do it this way for now....

We had our first gaming session over two nights ago, and I dare say that it was a success! We all had a lot of fun, I think. This is the first time I've DM'ed since 2008, and I've really missed it. I also think that having a new player helps put things into perspective, and see things in an entirely different way. I'm looking forward to our next session. As for the game itself, I'll be making a few quotes, and my memory is poor, so I'll be paraphrasing a bit. That said, here's some background information on what happened during the session....

The story began within the hilltop village of Bresby. We have the following cast of characters, all of which are 11th-level...

* Kratos (imurrx): Kratos is a hulking Warforged, which is an artificial golem-like being transported from the Eberron campaign setting. He's classed as a Fighter/Warforged Juggernaut, and could be classified as a walking, talking tank. Basically, he's renouncing his organic side, and becoming more truly a mechanical construct. His transformation renders him immune to regular healing spells, so that does make things more complicated...

* Horatio Tortolla (imurrx): Horatio appears as a non-descript Human, but remains a good source of non-magical artillery. He retains his reasoned, scientific mind, and takes the cautious approach, but now he can actually defend himself, provided he has his artillery weapons. He's classed as an Artificer.

* Simon (MeatLips): Simon is an athletic, clean-shaven, bald-headed Human Monk, specializing in the martial arts. Despite his vast skill, he's only just now finding his way out into the world...

* Aurelia (Perian): Aurelia is a diminuative Kender Spellthief from the world of Krynn, also known as Dragonlance. Curious and brave, she has absolutely no fear of delivering a stern lecture to a hungry Troll about the immorality of eating small children...

The PCs started off at the Frosty Mug, a local tavern and gambling house. Aside from Kratos and Horatio, the characters do not know each other. Simon and Aurelia are quietly seated at the bar, each having a drink, while Kratos and Horatio are outside on the street. Suddenly, a terrible commotion is heard outside...

The PCs run out towards the street, and witness some men restraining a Troll with a harness, collar, and chain. Unfortunately for the men, the Troll goes berserk, and flings a pair of its captors aside. Much to the surprise of all present, the Kender takes pity upon the poor brute. The resident Warforged, Kratos, attempts to restrain the Troll, but the Troll freaks out, and just won't be contained. It escapes Kratos's grasp, and flees down an alley.

That might have been the end of it, until a high-pitched scream is heard where the Troll fled...

The PCs follow and see a small boy dangling from one of the Troll's massive hands.

Before anyone can react, the Kender, (Aurelia) shouts at the Troll in the sternest voice she can muster...

Aurelia: "Put him down!!" :mad:
Troll: "Whuh?!" :confused:
Aurelia: "I said, put him down now!" :mad:

Aurelia first begins to argue with the Troll, and then finally....with the aid of both a great roleplaying performance and decent Diplomacy checks, she persuades the Troll to put the child down unharmed. The PCs eventually find out that the Troll's name is Grom...

Persuading Grom isn't easy. The Troll is cranky after being restrained, is hungry, and naturally, the child appears to be an appetizing morsel to a hungry Troll. Aurelia looks for an alternative food source.

Aurelia: "Well, what else do you like to eat?"
Troll: "Children."
Aurelia: "No! Something else."
Troll: "Halflings?"
Aurelia: "No! Something that isn't people."
Troll: "Cabbage!! Grom loves cabbage!"

At that point, the party has an idea, and Aurelia rushes inside the tavern to get some cabbage...

Ok, it's late....so I will finish writing this tomorrow. To be continued....

...continued from before.

Aurelia has the Half-Elven barmaid bring out a bushel of cabbages. The barmaid stops in her tracks, clearly unwilling to come too close to the Troll. Simon and Aurelia parley with the creature, and quickly feed it the bushel of cabbages.

During this interlude, the child that was nearly throttled by the Troll tells Grom, "that he stinks", though Aurelia admonishes the child for his rudeness. Eventually, a couple more bushels are brought, and soon the Troll is complaining of "fat pains", deciding to go take a nap under a bridge north of the village. The PCs speak with one of the Troll's captors, a Dwarf named Thorgrim, and discover that he has some tools to free it.

Kratos offers to release the creature, but the Troll gets a wild look in its eyes when he approaches it, so he backs up, and lets Aurelia remove the chain, who then graciously remembers to tip the barmaid.

It's hard to properly explain the conversation with Grom, the Troll...but it was hilarious. I think at one point, there was a discussion about pirates, and Grom explains that he was a pirate once, until he ate somebody's parrot. I'll just say I had a moment of inspired lunacy, and leave it at that.

The Troll leaves town, but the PCs see a group of armed men ominously following the Troll when it leaves. Aurelia decides that she wants to protect Grom, so the PC agree to follow them for a distance, until both the Troll and armed men disappear in a thick bank of fog, as they walk around the corner of some bushes.

Eventually, some cries of pain are heard, and the PCs see the silhouette of a large humanoid fighting some men. There's a bit of a fight. Amazingly, the PCs fight the men to protect the Troll. Clearly, this is a first for our campaign.

Kratos makes a successful Intimidate skill check, and frightens the men into submission. The men pick up their mangled comrades, and quickly leave....

At this point, they converse with the Troll, and Grom seems to like Simon, because his head is round and shiny like an egg.

Troll: "Grom likes eggs..."

The Troll is then convinced to go into the river and bathe, while Horatio takes those precious moments to hammer out Grom's battered tin helmet a bit, and make it spiffier.

Troll: "Oh, shiny..!"

After this, the PCs decide to take Grom home, to Darkwall....

To be continued...

The PCs make their way to Ravenholme, a crossroads village on the way to Darkwall, when they're quickly accosted by a dozen creepy-looking men in blood-spattered clothes. They're all armed with spears, and the PCs are instantly aware of the fact that there's something wrong with these men...

A battle ensues, where the PCs kill half of them, and drive away the rest. The session ended there....