The Second Gen started last night!

The Party consists of six players:

• Kaas a Poison Dusk Lizard Man Barbarian, who is currently Chaotic Neutral, and is leaning towards eventually multi-classing into Dragon Shaman, and potentially shifting into the Chaotic Evil alignment. (This last part is not set in stone.)
• Einar, a male human Cleric of Kratos (I know. So stolen, right?) who is Chaotic Good.
• Reginald Val El Alamein a male human Paladin, who is Lawful Good.
• Rip Beak, a male Kenku Rogue who is Neutral Evil in alignment.
• Lucien, a blind male dwarven fighter, who is Neutral Good.
• A yet to be made Monk or Ranger. Likely to be Neutral is alignment.

So there is our party.

The first game finds us with five out of six players available, as one of the players is in the process of moving. So the PC's are picked to bring supplies down river, to the Silo. The Silo is a massive food storage center, where the village puts up the results of the dry season, which is about four, maybe five months long. The rainy season is seven to eight months long, during which nothing but rice will grow. So they put up as much food as they can in the dry seasons, to last them the rainy seasons.

They each bring their own work ethic to the table, and so it's funny to listen to how each will approach the essential work. Once downriver they  unload, and because of the hour are forced to stay the night. During the day they knew a group of strangers arrived in the village, and that night they witness the horrific destruction of their village-screams in the night, fireballs, and other pyrotechnics. They rush back, but poling up river in the middle of the night is no easy task, so they do not arrive until day break.

They find their village destroyed, bodies burned to ashes, houses smashed and their temple is just gone. Kaas and Einar do a great job of portraying the loss they must have suffered-their families, their friends, their life. The others are a little less sure I think, and acted with a little more strategic knowledge than they might have really had.

There is a scene in which the only NPC grieves over his loss, and it ends awkwardly when it is discovered that Kaas has poisoned him, rendering him unconscious. They debate the morality of what Kaas has done, and what they'll do next. Luckily for Kaas the NPC has no idea, and no way of knowing what happened to him. Surprisingly no one tells him-which surprises me a little.

So they set out northward, towards the nearest city with the intent of selling what little goods they have, notifying the authorities as to what happened in Sassandra Point, and a few other reasons-not necessarily in that order.

End Game One.

Game two finds them on the road north, a single days journey from the village. They can still see the smoke rising from the smoldering ruins. This game starts with a Spot (And Listen check for Lucien) check. Lucien and Einar both score natural twenties, and are able to warn the party that a group of goblins is using the crest of the hill ahead of them as cover. Looks like it's an ambush!

The players split up into two basic groups-Kaas and Rip Beak in one group, Lucien, Reg, and Einar along with the NPC Kelvin in the other group, by their wagon. (One Ox survived the destruction of their village!) Kelvin scores a critical immediately and drops a goblin. Kaas and Rip Beak move forward , sneaking alongside the goblins with the plan to ambush them when they discover that there  are five Gnolls on the other side of the hill!

Lucien, and Einar fall back on the wagon, while Lucien attempts to flank the charging goblins. Kaas surprise attacks the Gnoll leader, who is luckily enough by himself at that moment, and a good fifteen plus feet from the other Gnolls. A natural twenty scores him a critical, and a lucky roll on the damage die (Which he maxes out) means he scores a kill in a single blow!  Emboldened by Kaas's success Rip Beak decides to attack as well, but while he scores a hit his pathetic strength score means he only scores a single hit point of damage. Kaas breaks south, not liking the odds of facing four Gnoll's, leaving Rip Beak to face them on his own.

Rip Beak takes half his hit points in damage and flees, barely avoiding an AoO. He flees into the jungle by Kaas.

Lucien, Einar, Reg and Kelvin make short work of the seven goblins attacking them, and actually Reginald takes one prisoner. The three archers, who are goblins, flee, and three of the four Gnoll's engage them. One seeks out Kaas and Rip Beak, nearly killing Kaas before fleeing himself. Lucien is felled by a Gnoll as well.

They manage to locate Kaas, and stabilize him with a skilled Heal check, and Kelvin coughs up the only magical item they have-a single healing potion, which brings Lucien back from the brink. Both are at a single hit point.

Kaas of course doesn't miss a beat and claims all of the Gnoll's treasure as his own, claiming he felled the most dangerous Gnoll. The others start to argue with him, but ultimately cut the discussion short by agreeing to let him have what he wants. This surprised me.

End Game Two.

Game three finds them at an Oasis in the Jungle, a small clear pool. At the bottom the spot a lever. After some discussion they tie a rope to it, and pull it. A bridge and a stone structure raises out of the center of the pool, with a open door and a set of stairs leading down in the center of it.

After locating a trap at the bottom of the steps, they agree on a marching order and start to explore. In the first room the discover they need light, and Einar uses his light spell, and some detect magic. They discover a stone door, and a lever in this room, along with some gold hidden in an old grain bag.

They also discover the floors are slowly sloping down, so Kaas decided to open the door and tip a cylindrical rock over, and let it roll into the next room. Which would have worked pretty cleverly, except he wasn't strong enough to do it. With some help he rolls it through the door, and they discover the room is filled with bio-luminescent mushrooms and webs! Three monstrous spiders have made their home here, and the PC's make surprisingly short work of them.

They avoid a pair of pit traps in the next room, and walk into a creepy ancient torture chamber in the next room. Reginald uses his Detect Evil ability, and discovers both Rip Beak and something else are the Evil! He warns the party, who carefully search the area, discovering an ancient (And masterwork) Halbred, and a ominous looking black leather bound book.

In the next room they discover an Alter to Dosun, the Goddess of Pestilence. Oh and two Dire Rats, and a Dire Were Rat. The battle is pretty even, but the PC's manage to triumph, and score some real treasure for the first time.

One potentially interesting result of the battle is that Kaas was infected with Lycanthropy, after failing a DC 15 fortitude check when bitten. This will be funny-a were-rat Lizard man?

Heh. End Game Three.


The PC's are now third level, and I think great fun was had by all.

neat!  

did you start them at 2nd?

We started out with first level characters-except Kaas, who is an ECL 2nd level due to race. Kaas is now ECL 3, even though he'll be a first level Barbarian, and a 1st level Dragon Shaman.

Between good role-playing, and CR's of monsters, added in with some bonuses for "event" stuff, they racked up enough to hit third level.

I'm pretty sure everyone else is just sticking with their initial class.

So last night we played again.

We had one player absent due to work scheduling, and another had a family emergency as we were about to start. (Poor bastard's mother wrecked her car!) So we had four of our six players, and myself.

As a convenient method of getting the the three NPC's-the two PC's, and the one NPC adult- with them out of the way I described in a brief, and displeasing manner the effects of eating "bad" fish. As such the three were left at the camp site to, uh, get some things down on paper as it were.

The other three PC's that were currently part of the group decided to venture forward and scout their route in the coming days. After a half days walk they manage to encounter a lone traveler on the road, who in what must be an amazing coincidence turns out to be the other PC, who is a wandering herbalist/Ranger from their village who had been on one of his extended "walk-abouts" when their village was destroyed.

After breaking the bad news to him-in a scene where I actually had to leave for ten minutes to take an emergency call-they laid it all out. Shocked, and stunned by their news he decides that for now he'll journey with them to Tun, a city north of their current position by a week or so.

After a brief cold lunch they set out on foot, scouting. They discover that there is an improved stone bridge ahead of them by about two miles and there is a massive Hill Giant guarding it, apparently demanding tribute from anyone who would like to pass.

They also discover, through careful scouting, that someone is moving through the woods attempting to circumvent the Hill Giant, and his bridge. After some discussion one of the players, Kaas, decides he'll attempt to negotiate with the Hill Giant.

The Hill Giant turns out to be colossally stupid, and uninterested in anyone who may be trying to avoid him, instead demanding tribute from Kaas. While Kaas is trying to swindle the Hill Giant another PC, Rip Beak the Kenku Rogue, tries to sneak past him. In a bout of bad die rolls on their part, and incredible rolls on Grothnok's, the Hill Giant, part Rip Beak is spotted.

The PC's flee into the woods, pursued by the Giant, and decide to try and lead him to the party sneaking by him to the east. Unfortunately two things happen-Grothnok gets bored and decides that he'd be better off sitting at the bridge waiting, and leaves to do such, and two they finally find the party sneaking through the woods.

It turns out they have discovered a group of Hobgoblins who have enslaved a group of goblins to carry a dark idol southward-towards their destroyed village. As they only numbered four, and there were ten Hobgoblins, and twice that many goblins they argued intensely about what the next step was.

Finally deciding they couldn't take the chance that these goblins weren't heading to Sassandra Point they decide to orchestrate an ambush.

Using  a combination of rough terrain and ranged weapons they attack both ends of the goblin column-a lucky critical roll on one PC"s part slays a Hobgoblin right off the back! The Hobgoblins split into three groups-a large group that headed to the rear where the arrow was fired from, two who stayed with the goblins and the idol, and three who went forward when Kaas attacked the lead Hobgoblin, knocking him into the woods where Lucien, the dwarf fighter was waiting.

A series of bad rolls on Lucien's part finds him seriously injured, and in trouble. Kaas holds his own-but they need help.

Meanwhile the Ranger has managed to slip the Hobgoblins, getting behind their line and makes his way back to the idol where Rip beak has managed to sneak up and attack the lone remaining Hobgoblin by the idol-scoring a massive damage roll, and killing him.

The leader of the Hobgoblins was hit by several arrows from the Ranger, and despite trying to seek cover on the idol, where he was positioned is seriously wounded. Rip Beak manages to intimidate the starving, sweaty tired goblins into dropping the idol, which they were carrying. This flings the Hobgoblin leader into the woods, where he starts to try and escape.

Meanwhile the other Hobgoblins have started back and see their idol fallen, and their leader gone-possibly dead. They decide that they're not getting paid  to die, and this must be a superior force. So they retreat.

The players work together to slay two more hobgoblins, scatter the goblins into the woods, and capture one Hobgoblin. After interrogating him, and accidentally killing the leader while interrogating him they find out the idol was  destined to arrive in their village, but not why. The remaining Hobgoblin manages to get free, and runs into the woods where he escapes.

The PC's decide not to press their luck, and settle for destroying the idol. The gather up what clues they can, and then return to camp. They load the sick bodies into the wagon, and roll up the road. The trade two goblins they had captured, some of the bad fish, and a stack of gold for passage across the bridge.

This the end of game one.

Game two starts with them at the edge of the Bledlow desert, a unnaturally occurring but small desert. After ensuring they had the stores prepared to cross they again move out as the vanguard of the party.

After a day of walking they discover an up turned wagon, with a partially buried barrel in the sand. Closer inspection reveals gold in the sand next to the barrel. They warily circle the wagon, wondering what sort of trap it was. Finally greed got the better of them so they approached.

As they began to dig up the gold three monstrous scorpions burst from the sand and attacked them. Some smart tactics on their part, and a streak of good rolls puts them into a decent spot after a while-one scorpion dead, two wounded. All of the players are wounded at this point-Rip Beak the worst, as he is poisoned.

One of the scorpions disappears beneath the sands, and they're encouraged thinking they're winning. When arises it is bearing a man dressed in red scale mail armor, with flowing red and orange robes, bearing a massive steel shield and a flail!

This is, unknown to them, Joslu a 4th level cleric of Gladios-god of fools and gold, and he has been watching their progress across the desert. Using a bevy of pre-cast spells and prepared spells-Detect Good, Endure Elements, Guidance, Protection from Good, Virtue, Divine Favor, Aid, and Shield of Faith-he is pretty suped up!

He attacks, and seriously injures Lucien, who is now in some serious trouble after the last adventures wounds and this ones stacked up. His scorpions attack, but miss two PC's. Rip Beak flees, knowing his usefulness is over, and fearing death he retreats.

In an epic battle Kaas and Lucien manage to mortally injure Joslu, and witht he help of the Ranger they also finish another scorpion. The last scorpion flees, no longer under Joslu's influence.

This is the end of game two, and our night. The group now possesses several small magical items-mostly potions, and a few scrolls-but a couple of nifty items, which they'll be dividing up Sunday when we game again!

It should be mentioned somewhere in there Kaas, the Barbarian who has since multi-classed into Dragon Shaman, murdered a Pixie.

So tonight we played a pick up game, and luckily enough had all but one player present! After leveling up, and doing some house keeping we have updated PC's, and some treasure appraised and divvied up.

The game finds the PC's on the road to Tun, a major stop on the slave trade route. As I describe the traffic on the road the Paladin settles on the slavers, and their cargo. What ensues is a half hour debate in character[/u] about the morality of slaving, with each character voicing their own opinions, and all of the players participating. It was amazing. Unexpected, completely not a part of my planned game-and all fun!

The debate ends in a stand still with a surprising line drawn-three players in favor of the status quo, and slaving and two players very uneasy and very much not in happy with the idea of enslaving other living beings. I suspect we'll be revisiting this topic again, and soon!

The PC's come to the "The Tired Pony" a tavern along side the road where weary merchants and travelers find respite. A mixed crowd is inside-mainly halfling, dwarf and gnomish-but a significant number of humans as well. A roving Sheriff was also in the bar. After some discussion they decide to leave Kaas, and Aught (The Ranger, who's player settled on the name Aughtsik. Yeah I know....) stay with the wagon, along with the Cleric, who's player was absent. Lucien, Reginald and Rip Beak enter the bar.

Reginald and Lucien approach the Sheriff and begin to lay the groundwork to telling him about the slaughter of their village and townspeople. Surprisingly Rip Beak manages to resist the urge to help wayward coins find their way home to his pouches, and they get the Sheriff outside where they lay it all on him!

The Sheriff is blown away by their revelations, and reveals he had a nephew who lived in the village. He insists on taking them to his home, where he can keep them cloistered from the prying eyes at the bar. He gets them to agree to testify in front of a Judge, a few days journey from Tun. He also sends messenger pigeons , telling the story of whats happened.

During the night the rest, but warily set a watch. (Well Reginald, and Augght stay up late anyways.... ) A good roll on a Spot check, and a natural 20 on a listen check allows them to catch an Elf, the first they've ever seen, sneaking towards the pond where Kaas is resting, short bow knocked!

Unsure what to do they pretend not to have seen him, and continue their conversation while trying to casually get their weapons in hand. They spot several more elves, and even two mounted on Hippogriffs! (Circling above at first, but they land as the elves draw near the pond.) They see that one elf is carrying a net, and they guess that someone is looking to capture Kaas, but why?

Just as the elves are about to act Reginald calls out and Aught hefts his bow. Aught takes two arrows to the chest for his trouble, and Reginald tries to stop things before they get started.

While he negotiates with the lead elf who claims to be a Justicar of the Dark Wood watch Reginald learns that Kaas is accused of the murder of the Pixie Aubrian, and is to stand trial in the nearest Sacred Grove.

Kaas then flees into the house, and hell breaks loose. Despite knowing that the elves are good in alignment, Reginald feels obligated to protect his friend, and companion, hoping to negotiate some sort of mutually acceptable agreement.

Unfortunately Aught is now scared, and enraged, and worried he'll be forced to submit. So he opens fire. The melee draws Lucien and Rip Beak fromt he house. The ensuing combat finds Lucien managing to get the drop on one elf, and Reginald getting dropped from a Hippogriff, and Kaas surrendering.

The Sheriff emerges from his home, making a fool of himself after a botched roll, landing him on his face. A natural 20 on a diplomacy roll, combined with some fast talking, and sound tactics gets the elves to break off the engagement, and the game is over. (Well mostly, a lot of aftermath is played out.)

All in all a damn fine night of gaming!

A brief game tonight in which three players were present. While on their way into Tun, the largest town they've ever seen, they are stopped by a farmer who  claims his son has fallen into a well or "something like it."

Being that tonights group consisted of the Paladin, the Fighter and the Rogue they were well equipped for-well just about anything. They discover what looks  like a well in the middle of a field, that seems to be partially excavated. They learn that the boy is at the bottom of the "well", and may be injured.

Lucien, the blind dwarven fighter, volunteers to be lowered into the well. So they use their rope to tie off around the narrow "well" and lower Lucien tot he bottom. He finds the boy, who has a broken leg and learns from the boy that there is some sort of tunnel leading from the bottom of the well. After lifting the boy to safety the others decide to come down and investigate, leaving the farmer to tend to his son, and keep an eye on their rope.

As the descend into the well crafted tunnel they quickly discern it is "man made". Maybe dwarven, maybe something else. In the first hall they discover a simple trap-a wire strung at neck level that would have knocked the Paladin flat had he walked into it in the darkness.

After disabling it, in case they need to make a hasty retreat, they continue. As they descend the temperatures cool, till there is a light mist across the ground. Suddenly as they enter a small area the torches on the wall leap t life, and they see a long narrow pool fed by a spigot on the wall.

As they approach to investigate the Paladin spots a lifeless body at the bottom of the pool. As he draws his weapon it's eyes open and it leaps from the pool, sword and shield at the ready. It is a skeletal warrior, and it appears to once have been a hobgoblin.

The first combat round finds the PC's just using standard tactics until the player of the Paladin remembers that he can, now as a fourth level Paladin, turn the undead! In a decently cool scene a call to the gods for power and mercy is given, and a natural twenty on his turning roll later he turned the undead! (That seems to have been his supply of critical rolls for the night, poor guy.)

Searching the pool for clues they discover a ring and some gold. Luckily the rogue has a bag of holding so they save it for later, and further investigation. They press onward, despite some light wounds.

Murals adorn the walls of deeper passages and they start to analyze them-but surprisingly decide it's not worth their time. I so wanted to prod them more, but it was their choice to make.

They once again find another pool of dark cold water-the floor in front of it scorched from what seems to have been fire at some point. Three Ghasts bound to the area then attack them-and it's on. The Paladin, who's sitting on some good stats try's his turn dead ability again, and manages to turn one. The other two have attacked Lucien, who isn't faring so well. After a few lucky rolls he begins to turn the tables, but the Paladin seems to be out of luck narrowly avoiding hurting Lucien with his "botched" rolls. Finally with some help from the Rogue they manage to defeat the ghasts.

The Paladin pauses the game to supplicate, and pray for guidance. Finally they press forward into a large room with a massive disfigured clay statue in it's center. It stands nearly nine feet tall, and is six feet across at the shoulders, and thick. As they enter the Rogue seems to think that the statue blinked-a good spot roll on his part- and they warily circle around it. As the clay golem attacks them!

In a massive stroke of luck on their part no in the party is equipped with bladed weapons, and everyone but Rip Beak, the Rogue, has a bludgeoning weapon in hand. The battle is long, and arduous but in the end they triumph. At this point they are severely wounded, so they decide to burn some mojo to fix things up for themselves and they discover, well Rip Beak does anyways, that the pedestal the Golem was mounted on contains a veritable treasure trove.

Inside which is a few hand designed magical items for each of them-the first for several of them, and the first serious magical items given in six levels of adventuring. Not knowing these items are what they are, there is some trial and error on their part, and a few things remain unknown and stowed for later inspection.

Ignoring the murals on the wall they continue, along a long downward winding stairs. As they descend the temperature starts to drop severely. A light frost   is on the walls and floor. Rip Beak makes a critical listen check, and stops the party telling them he thinks that they're close to something big. (A prolific choice of words.) The Paladin uses his Detect Evil ability, and confirms something big awaits them. Reluctant to move forward the party tries to figure out a plan, when Lucien decides what the hell, he'll just take a peek.

After nearly losing his head to a dwarf sized boulder, he confirms their problem is big! A Frost Giant next to small mountain of rocks is in the next area, a massively cavernous room that is sheeted in ice and snow, and lit strangely from a source they never really bothered to discern. Although they're curious as to how he got here, and why those questions fall to the road side as they try to decide what to do next.

Finally after deciding to taunt the giant for several rounds they manage to piss him off so badly he forgoes the rock throwing for up close combat. They close with him, warily as they know he has reach and strength. Combat is brutal and swift, and the party is soon very dead. Or so the Giant, who is also severely wounded, thinks. Two are dying (negative hit points) but one actually has one hit point left. Making judicious use of their healing abilities, as quietly as they can they watch as the frost giant strips down his tattered armor to cleanse his wounds.

He is obviously infirm from partial starvation, and a thick collar is around his neck. Afraid to ask the whys they sneak attack the giant as he cleans his wounds in a cold pool of water. Two very critical hits are rolled, in a resurgence of luck for the Paladin and what seems the norm for that damned rogue! Unarmed and unarmored the Giant falls to the two PC's and their assault.

The Paladin then wretches, feeling guilty for having so dishonorably felled an opponent, despite "knowing" he had little choice. had the Giant gotten loose, and to the surface innocent lives would have been lost. After a lot of healing is done, they begin to search the area discovering a massive black cage like box.

Inside it they can hear hissing, and scratching. Upon opening it something whizzes into the air, and flies above them. It appears to be a small brass colored dragon like creature. Using the Kenku's mimic ability, a lot of food and finesse they manage to talk it down and close to them.

It seems to have some sort of bond with the Paladin, and this game leaves off with them wondering just what is going on.

This game was a we played two weeks ago. Estes,  atemhutlrt,  and aytch, 3278, blumberjack were present. The game starts with the players liquidating some magical, and nonmagical loot that they've scored through a Theilosian merchant, and his trading house. They manage to scrape together a decent deal, but unwittingly play into the hands of some people looking for them. One such party was a dark mage who'd lost a spell book in a dungeon the PC's had cleared and destroyed-well sanctified. The book was thought to be a minor artifact, but secretly it is an important and powerful artifact. The PC's start to sell it, but retract that offer after deciding to instead have it purged by clerics of Kratos. The Theilosian decides to sell their identities to one of the mages representatives, who approaches the PC's.

The representative is a doppelganger disguised as a halfling. He has two major items of concern. One is a mystical bag that summons Ogres, which he uses for protection. The other is a bag of holding that is filled with coins to bribe them. As he starts his spiel he is suddenly attacked by a bored Kaas. The other players are taken aback and about to reprimand Kaas for his brutal attack when the halfling dumps his bag of Ogres out. Kaas is killed almost instantaneously, in a n ironic twist.

Combat is quickly engaged, and the PC's are faring poorly. Lucien decides to try a new tactic, and snags the halfling threatening to behead him if he doesn't call off the ogres. Scoring a natural twenty on his intimidate roll helped a lot. The halfling believing he can still negotiate calls off his attacking ogres. Aught, the Ranger, not knowing combat is over strikes the halfling down with two well placed arrows. The PC's now have two identical bags, one filled with deadly ogres the other potentially with treasure. They also have a dead halfling on their hands. Not knowing what to do they manage to heal Kaas, who is at negative a few hit points. After stabilizing him Aught berates the lizard man for his rash actions.

The PC's spend an inordinate time puzzling what to do with their new found items the bags. Initially they decide to dip them under water for a long time, but they never quite get to it. As they're puzzling a solution a dwarven merchant and a small caravan is spotted approaching them. The merchant, Terros Stoneright, is a stone quarry owner who has heard of a newly arrived party of heroes on the encamped on the edge of town. As he's tried hiring mercenaries with little luck he's decided to try his luck with the PC's.

Stoneright details to them, over a lunch and beer, that his slaves and workers have been disappearing in the south, many turning up dead, and mutilated. He is losing money at an astonishing rate and can't meet his suppliers demands. The Sheriff has been delaying an investigation into this matter, Stoneright believes this is because the Sheriff is an abolitionist. He offers the PC's lands, and a ship to help him.

The PC's agree, wanting a ship badly, and they set about preparing for a southward journey. During the next week and a half they travel southward, looking for signs of the merchant caravans that have been raided. They quickly discover something really big has played a role in the raids-a giant creature of some sort. They also find sign of hobgoblins-arrowheads and tracks. They journey deeper into the uncharted south, and up the mountainous terrain. To their surprise they discover a small encampment of hobgoblins by a bend in the river. Literally almost stumbling upon the PC's quickly decide to capture one alive, but slay the others.

The battle is brief and one sided-Kaas drowns one by pulling it under the water while it washes pots and pans. Reginald hews one in twain, and they quickly chase down on foot the surviving hobgoblin. In a surprising move they negotiate his freedom for information. He tell them how to find the main encampment, but not what lies ahead of them, and they in turn let him go.

This game ends with the PC's cresting the mountain and discovering a floating citadel anchored to the mountain, inhabited by a hobgoblins, and what appears to be an undead giant!


Second Game

The next game picks up where we left off, but thebreaker has returned to the fold to play, and blumberjack is absent. The PC's stare in amazement at the floating fortress, wondering how it got there, and why it was there. And of course, much more than just how would they defeat it. They spend three days checking things out, encamped on the side of the hill. They carefully make note of movement, numbers and composition. Much time is spent planning and plotting.

One lucky break comes when they recall the Cleric can dispel magic and that the Hobgoblin raiding parties use magic to create a bridge of force they use to cross from the floating citadel to the ground. After much careful planning they are sprung into action after the cleric witness the hobgoblin leader beating a slave girl viciously, at one point urinating on her. Unable to contain his rage he uses his dispel magic as they are marching down the force ramp, some hundred and fifty feet in the air. A successful roll on his part means suddenly much of their opposition is tumbling to their death from one hundred and fifty feet in the air. Hobgoblins slam into trees and rocks, and none survive.

The PC's split into three groups. Kaas, Reginald and Lucien begin scaling the mooring chains that hold the citadel in place-using the distraction provided by the rain of dead goblins as cover. Rip Beak decides to check the fallen hobgoblin leader, and the mace he used to generate the force bridge, he also decided to head to the rear of the three mooring chains, and scale it when he was finished. Einar, the cleric, uses his spells to move the stone and earth holding the third mooring chain in place, freeing it. This causes the citadel to list to the side, dumping a fair number of agitated and surprised goblins off it's side. The odds seem to quickly be evening out.

As Kaas and Reginald arrive Einar has crossed the rough terrain to begin his climb. Rip Beak is still climbing downward. As Lucien finally manages to scale his way onto the citadel Reginald and Kaas engage the undead Giant, and the dire ape that is guarding the girl. In what seems to be a habit of late the giant scores a natural twenty and lays Reginald flat, reducing him to negative seven hit points. Luckily his new found draconic companion-who had been providing scouting assistance- has some healing powers, and was able to get him back to one hit point. From there he had to use the Sword of Faith, his recently acquired magical longsword to heal himself while Kaas, Lucien and the recently arrived Einar try to hold the undead giant at bay.

Rip Beak scales the mooring chain and manages to score a critical while sneak attacking the Dire Ape. His dagger of Giants Damage, and his sneak attack dice deal out a viscous blow. Combat is fully engaged now! Hobgoblins and goblins rain down arrows into the melee, but bad rolls on my part mean it's mostly just flashy on their part. Suddenly Einar remembers he's a damn cleric and uses his Turn Undead ability. Scoring a natural twenty he is able to cause the undead Giant to flee, and cower. It can't make it off the citadel with out falling to it's death so it wildly rampages about trying to stay away from Einar. The other PC's fall on it like a pack of wild wolves and shred it, and the Dire Ape.

They know they have to get off this rock quickly, so they start getting the captured slaves off first, while Einar prays to Kratos for time. Kaas and Rip beak use this time to scour for, uhm "clues." yeah that's it. They find a lot of stolen goods, and they give what can be carried with ease to the escaping slaves to help them what little they can. They also save the mysterious slave girl, and beat a hasty retreat as the citadel crashes into the mountain side, destroying itself, and burning a massive section of woods.

Helping the people move quickly away the PC's spot a horse column approaching. It seems the Golden Pride, an order of Paladins had ridden to aid them, arriving too late to be of use in the battle. The Paladins spread out helping who they can, and using their horses for the worst of the wounded. Their leader Jorlun approaches Reginald, the parties Paladin to discuss ill omens and tidings, but also to congratulate him on his successful rescue of these people. In a more serious twist he warns Reginald of ill omens approaching, and a of a prophecy that may be about the PC's. He suggest that he journey to the Weylands and speak with the head of his order.

In the mean time the slave girl is healed, and unknown to the party is a disguised succubus who is looking to steal "seed" from Kaas! She quickly enchants them with her giving and kind nature, and some spells. As they move back towards the city the players know their characters have been enchanted, but they play it out perfectly. Finally someone fucking gets a  non botch on a will save, and it happens to be Einar. Seeing that she is serving them maggots and worms instead of soup, and seeing her true form he tries to warn the others! The others however, even with a newly added favorable condition modifier of plus five, fuck up their damn will saves and try to puzzle out why Einar would hurt the girl. As Einar strikes her the enchantments fail, and the party is disgusted to see whom she really is!

A great scene ensues in which Rip Beak and Kaas are too sickened to even fight, and Reginald feeling violated slays the demoness! The players now have more questions than ever! Where was this citadel made? And why? What did this demon want with Kaas? What did she mean as she died when she said the dark lady would have her way?

Troubled and sickened the party moves forward to Tun, and the end of this game!


Game three!

So tonight we played, and blumberjack was still sick unfortunately! Poor guy. Gyro also called but didn't put in an appearance. A shame I miss the guy!

So the party returned to Tun, and Aught takes a leave of absence to purge and commune with nature. The party returns to Terros Stoneright and retells their tale, gaining his amazed appreciation, and five acres of land, and the right to vote as a citizen in the Republic! Terros gives them the pick of any one of his three small ships in the port. The PC's take their leave, and with a man servant named Rupert they head towards the docks. Along the way they are way laid by a group of assassins! The battle is furious, and the nine assassins seriously injure Reginald, Einar and Lucien. Kaas however throws them for a loop with his newly acquired rod of goblin summoning and command! He summons a frightful band of bugbears who help turn the tide in the battle. Rip Beak also manages to a critical sneak attack against the leader of these assassins-through some clever use of his newly acquired ring of jumping and climbing, and some skillful maneuvering! The party manages to contain the fight, but Rupert is slain. The city guard responds as the fight is winding down, and Kaas and Rip beak decide to secret off the unconscious leader of the assassins for interrogation elsewhere.

The rest of the party helps finish off the assassins, and uses some quick thinking to convince the guard to let them search the bodies before they are taken away. While Einar and Reginald delay the guard, Lucien searches the bodies for clues. Kaas, his merry band of Bugbears, and Rip Beak find an empty stable and tie up the half orc assassin. As he wakes they try to interrogate him, but Kaas quickly realizes whatever he may say could make him look guilty so he kills the assassin over Rip Beaks protests.

As the Paladin and the Cleric decide to head to temple, Lucien decides to check in with the Sheriff. Along the way he is confronted by a member of the Hammer Sworn, the secret order his father and grandfather belonged to. The confrontation is brief and filled with rage on both their parts. Lucien is accused of being a loose canon who associates with savages.  Lucien in turn accuses the Republic of being too steeped in tradition, to slow to respond to the growing evil. It ends with Lucien being cast from the order until he makes amends for his nondwarven ways.

Meanwhile Einar and Reginald seek out a cleric of Kratos, and they relate their story to this point. Briefly there is contention when they are subtly accused of not doing enough to stop the desecration of the Temple in Sassandra Point. But this is quickly resolved. They present the various weapons and items of unholy origins they have found for disposal. Unknown to them one of these items is the book they acquired a while back, the artifact sought by many.

Lucien arrives at the Office of the Sheriff to find that the Sheriff has been murdered and the bodies of the assassins have disappeared! The party meets at an Inn as the moon rises. It's at this point that Kaas begins to display an unusual amount of discomfort. Itching, and a fever. He seems unable to concentrate. The other PC's fail to notice until he wanders outside and stands in the middle of the road staring up at the moon. They slowly follow him outside, wondering what could be wrong. As Kaas begins to hiss and growl his body shifts, and skin starts to stretch! Tufts of fur begin to grow out from under his scales. Einar and Reginald recall that they had seen the Were Rat who bit Kaas do the same thing! Einar uses his remove curse spell to save Kaas from Reginalds blade if it had failed!

The game ends here with the PC's in a state of confusion, and Kaas in a state of denial.

Doing it wrong. Paladins have Detect Evil and cannot abide Evil companions.
The paladin would've had to kill the Kenku, and maybe the lizard man, at the beginning of the first session, or they would've had to convert to a non-evil alignment. Or he would've lost his paladin's abilities.