Seeds of Darkness Session 15 6/25/11

The party descended the stairs into the ancient crypt with the smell of death, new and ancient, heavy in the air. As their torches illuminated the large room at the end of the staircase revealing torn remains and body parts of templars  scattered across the floor and several large skeletal warriors whose socket-less gazes slowly turned to regard them. It was then on like Donkey Kong in a brutal donnybrook that had several of the party members dropping during the fight as they kept eating exploding skeletons during their death throws.

After re-grouping, the party moved into the next room which contained a large mural spanning the entirety of one wall. The mural depicted Shar and her sister Selune standing on opposing ends of the scene and between them swirled elemental chaos. Each held a small stone to their mouths and appeared to be blowing through each, as life and order was springing forth from each the stone to replace the fury of the chaos. In typical paranoid fashion, the party scoured every nook and cranny of that room looking for any kind of trap or bogeyman.  Eventually they decided to move further into the crypt fully expecting to be waylaid from behind.

As they entered the final chamber they were greeted by the crypts ancient guardian, a member of ancient species long extinct, and his guardian construct. The party got a glimpse of a very Indiana Jones esq. type of artifact on the dais behind him. Khaine tried to sweet talk the Guardian into letting the party safeguard the artifact, but the guardian grew suspicious at his honeyed words. With that it began (note to DM self, solo controllers are meh), when the dust settled the party collected the loot and decided to rest up in the chamber before braving the heat of the desert.  

When the party emerged from the beneath the sands they noted a dust cloud announcing the approach of a small group. They decided to hide and potentially ambush these interlopers. When the group arrived with a familiar and most hated face at the head in one assassin named Torrin the great debate began about whether to slink off with the artifact and complete their mission or lay some smack on that pompous dickface. Needles to say the battle was joined. It was quick and dirty (but in reality long and grindy) and the initial onslaught, despite the element of surprise, had the heroes wavering on the brink of disaster until a late rally and some tactical warfare started to shift the tide of battle. Sensing his eventual defeat, Torrin fled into the desert leaving the party to mop up the rest of baddies.

Beaten and exhausted, the heroes set off for Netheril to try and decipher the strange markings on the artifact……

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Seeds of Darkness Session 14 5/14/11

With their impressive display of combat skill in the Arena, The Scorched Earth Fighting School was open for business with individuals from all walks of life seeking tutelage. The party took on a contract from an owner that uses slaves exclusively to fight in the Arena, and were exposed to the harsh realties and suffering that a life in bondage may entail in Netheril. Garrick, now wearing the clothes and vestments of a devote of Amaunator, floated the idea of emancipation but was quickly shot down by the others as the task being too ambitious and not in their mandate. Tomas, a half-orc gladiator who won his freedom in the Arena, sought instruction to bring his game to another level for his next match. Without much prompting, Tomas told of his youth growing up in a clan of desert nomads that where exterminated by the Templars for violating one of the emperors oasis’. He was one of a handful of survivors that was then sold into slavery. He won his freedom in the gladiator pits and earned enough income to free another female survivor and is now married and expecting a child. A contract was agreed upon, with the party extracting a very Don King like 25% of Tomas’ winnings.

While exploring the city one evening, Bran’s agent made contact with Grimlock. Azim Nhadinamar, an officer in the Templars and minor noble, spoke of many secretive meetings in the palace between the emperor and his most trusted advisors, resulting in multiple deployments of Templars out into the desert with excavation gear. They seemed to be pouring over an ancient manuscript but Azim had only been able to overhear the phrase “Hlaxer Natomabad” which loosely translates to “the gift of life”. Azim also mentioned that the Emperor seemed to have stopped showing any sign of advanced ageing. The group had much to ponder, but before they could set their minds to the task Tomas reported that he was being pressured to throw his next fight by the Talon or risk threat to his wife. Some digging around the underbelly of the city revealed that the Talon was a local street gang of Thri-Kreen that deals in slavery, narcotics, and protection being lead by one called Screwface. The party decided to pay Mr. Screwface a visit in the slums and you know, make him an offer he couldn’t refuse. This of course led to a vicious smack down with insectoids flying and bounding around the bar and the party absorbing massive amounts of damage before exterminating Mr. Screwface with extreme prejudice.

Uncertain weather this was the end of things or not they had Tomas and his wife move into their training compound as a precaution and then set off into the desert trailing a group of Templars. After several grueling days they came upon a dig site that revealed a stairway leading beneath the sands. Using a bit of stealth they were able to see several of the Templars descend the stairway leaving a small guard in the camp. The party made quick work of the guards after failing to just Boss Hog themselves past them like they own the joint. During the attempted parley, sounds of screaming and dieing emanated from the passageway weakening the morale and resolve of some of the Templars. After the remaining Templars fled into the desert night the party cautiously descended the steps beneath the desert and were met with an overwhelming darkness and the scent of death, both new and ancient

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Seeds of Darkness Session 13 3/26/11

The action picked up with the gang standing over the dead bodies of the Netherize agents and their Duegar slaver contact. After rolling the bodies into the river it was decided that they would delve into the sewers in an attempt to gather more information about this new gang of slavers that has been muscling into the underworld while being mindful that the ritual disguising their identities was slowly wearing out. After mucking about, the party came upon the slave exchange and without much thought or planning dashed in head-long. Unfortunately (or fortunately for me J ) they failed to notice the Duegar Lurker skulking about in a sniper’s nest. When the shit hit the fan, the human gang members fled leaving the slaves and money while the Duegar turned and prepared for battle. The fight was quick but vicious, with Rhogar and Grimlock both getting dropped courtesy of Mr. Lurker, who escaped after his comrades were finally cut down. At this point Sir Alaren (a senior knight in Rhogar’s order) came sauntering in with some of his men with the human slavers in tow. After congratulating Rhogar on a job well done he set to questioning the slavers, and buy questioning I mean cutting off their heads one by one when they refused to talk.  Khaine was able to use his knowledge of the arcane to ascertain that they were under some mind influencing effect that seemed to have blocked out memories. Rhogar, attempted to intervene to stop the slaughter but was quickly cowed by his superior officer.

So in the aftermath of this slaughter what did Rhogar decide to do? Well like any good paladin he ratted on Sir Alaren to the head of the order Sir Keegan. This lead to a tribunal and a somewhat awkward and stunted role-playing scene that culminated with Rhogar convincing his order of Sir Alaren’s heinous acts and rebuffing his attempts to reverse-heat on Rhogar by playing up Sir Alaren’s possible ties to the “Purging Sun”, a extremist sect of the church of Pelor. When the verdict was given pandemonium ensued as Sir Alaren’s supporters clashed with their brothers in an attempt to allow him to escape. In the end the party was able to cut down Sir Alaren, although not before Rhogar was dropped several times.

With his order reeling form the schism, Rhogar and gang decided it was time to get out of town and to the task set to Grimlock and Garrick  by the Brand in Netheril. They decided to hire a “desert” sherpa to help guide them through he difficult trek. Near the end of their travel the ground beneath them began to shake and erupted with a massive centipede like creature  (AKA a re-skinned red dragon). The sherpa screamed “run” but it was too late as the creature already had a hold of Khaine. It was a massacre, with only Khaine left standing after the creature was finally bloodied and requiring the DM to have the creature flea to prevent a big fat TPK. The party, after licking their wounds and feeling very humbled limped into the city. With a well placed bribe they obtained a license to open a fighting school and rented a suitable establishment and promptly opened the “Scorched Earth” gladiator school and are currently awaiting contact by one of Brand’s agents.

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Seeds of Darkness Session 11 12/30/10

The path was clear and the stage was set. All that remained was for the curtain to raise and the show to begin. The party left Tanaka Khan and the rest of the serpent clan, who agreed to watch over the gang’s new digs, and headed out to lay a beat down on one Blightongue.  As they approached the lair, Garrick scouted ahead, looking for a hidden way to gain surprise. He was able to find several entrances in the side of the cave that appeared to have been purposely sealed, which left either the cave mouth or a 100 foot drop from the large opening at the top of the mountain structure. The party remembering the final confrontation with Kalarel and the “flaming corpse” incident decided for the non-aerial assault.

As they approached the inner sanctum of the lair they were met with a damp darkness and the sound of lapping water from the underground pond. Minutes passed and…nothing. As they tentatively began to explore the lair a hissing voice began to speak to them seeming to bounce from shadow to shadow. The voice asked if they had come to pay him tribute. Khaine attempted to bluff the dragon into a false sense of security, but Blightongue was no fool. He offered them a deal; leave their magical items, coin, and one member of the party (preferably not the Goliath as they tend to taste a little gamey) and the rest could walk out alive. After contemplating this for a little too long they decided to give Bligthtongue the middle finger, at which point he exploded out of the pond and fell upon the party, who were in perfect breath weapon formation, with a savage beauty. The battle raged back and forth, with Rhogar striking the final blow with his massive fullblade biting deep into the dragon’s neck. The party quickly collected the blood for the ritual and looted the lair, and was off to cleanse their taints.

They arrived back at their new mountain stronghold to find Tulach, the seemingly senile old prospector from New Dale, had hired himself on as their butler/manservant and to find Elminster lounging at a table sipping some wine. As they begun the ritual to remove the divine brand, they were assaulted by horrific creatures from the Shadowfell that poured forth from the rift that was opened as part of the ritual. This seemed like a coordinated attack and a possible assassination attempt on Elminster during his vulnerable state. The party was able to keep the ever increasing hordes of creatures’ crossing over from Elminster, as Kaz bent his will to aiding in the completion of ritual. After all was said and done, Rhogar noticed that Elminster didn’t use any of the Black Dragon blood in the ritual. Elminster apologized and said he was mistaken and that it wasn’t really needed. When Rhogar asked him if he wanted the blood anyway for future magic making, he said no thanks as he has a ton of it already.

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Seeds of Darkness Session 10 10/29/10

The session started off with the party reuniting outside of Newdale, minus Casino who had other fantasy commitments to attend to, on the hunt for some black dragon blood to help purge the taint (hehehe taint). Newdale is a relatively “new” town in the Dale lands that has sprung up after the spell plague unearthed a large vein of mithril and gems in the local mountains. It has also become a growing hub for wine distribution to the northern nations. The gang had a tip from Elminster that recent caravan attacks might be linked to a Black dragon due to signs of acidic burning on the bodies and wagons. The party scoped out the town and chatted with several of the locals, and shook loose some leads. They decided, not surprisingly, to look into some recent disappearances of prostitutes from a local brothel. After Garrick bartered sexual favors (from Svettlanna, the Halfling brothel mistress) for the party’s assistance in looking into the disappearances and then declining the opportunity offered by he DM to collaboratively role-play said sexual favors with another player the chase was afoot.

The Scooby Gang followed the trail and leads to an old mausoleum in the graveyard, which then lead them through an underground passage into the forest outside of town rumored to have become almost impenetrable as of late. After sensing that they were being herded or funneled in a certain direction the party came to a clearing and a meeting with Tanaka Khan, warleader for the Serpent clan. He regretfully informed them that they had entered Blighttongue’s “lands” (AKA the black dragon) and would be subsequently sold into slavery. After there typical default response of intimidation/threatening innuendo/bullying Rhogar picked up on the sadness and regret in Tanaka’s tone and got him to reveal the clans plight. Apparently a young child who is the re-incarnation of the tribe’s powerful shaman (thanks Steven Erikson) was kidnapped by a douchey band of Orcs allied with Blighttongue. Threatened with the loss of the tribes repository of magic and lore, the Serpent clan was forced into safeguarding access to the dragon’s lair. Being the heroes that they are, the party agreed to help the clan by rescuing the child.

The next act involved a mini-delve into the Orc stronghold built into the mountains, where the party opened a can of major league whoop-ass on them mofo’s Bruce Leroy style. In addition to rescuing the child, the party may have claimed a new base of operations in the now purged stronghold. Up next….. a dance with a dragon.

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Seeds of Darkness Session 7 08/06/10

So the party woke up hung-over and mostly clothed after the festivities in their honor.  They made quick plans to re-equip and head out back to Cormyr and report back to their various contacts. Khaine and Garrick both decided to stay in Winterhaven to give Khaine a chance to go over the journal he had received from Valthurn, but the rest of the party suspected that it was really so they could spend some “quality” time together. Before leaving town a man at-arms named Soltawn Griz (AKA a Companion Character) from Rhogar’s Order of the Blazing Sun showed up after being dispatched to find and collect the young Knight and have him promptly return to the order.

On the road back to Cormyr, the party came across a wine deliveryman whose wagon had thrown a wheel. While helping the poor man out, from the bushes sprang mad men chanting undying fealty to Shar. As the party engaged the fanatics, they were waylaid from behind by the poor unassuming wagon driver and his pet shadow wolf (we all knew that was going to happen), who promptly introduced himself as Torin, stating they must be naïve if they thought they could mess with a god’s plan without any consequences. Prior to the session Kaz/Chris had mentioned that he felt a little let down because his character had never been in any real danger of dying in contrast to what the DM had threatened him with prior to him playing for the first time. Well Kaz… say hello to double crits from an elite assassin (never taunt the D&D gods) which then began the death saves. Fortunately for Kaz after the rest of the party appeared to turn the tide of battle Torin activated some kind of magic and disappeared, leaving Rhogar free to lay some hands.

Once back in the city, each member reported back to their various organizations and agencies with some unanticipated reactions and consequences. When Grimlock visited Brand at the Purple Dragon’s he found out that the ritual mark they had placed on him during his initiation had vanished over a week ago leading them to believe he was dead. When the wizard attempted to replace the mark, arcane energy surged and rebounded causing the wizard to explode all over Grimlock and Brand. When Kaz entered the office of Father Martek magic wards flared to life, Martek told him he seemed to have been tainted with the taste of the astral sea. Rhogar was denied access to his order’s buildings and was instructed to meet in the sacred grove at sunset. When he approached the grove the other Knights enveloped him in a large circle with the setting sun blazing off their polished amour. Knight Commander Kreegan asked him if he had anything he needed to confess, at which point Rhogar talked of his execution of the prisoner Balgron the Fat. Kreegan gave a lesson on the tenets of their faith and charged Rhogar to search for what it means to be truly merciful, not just in empty platitudes but in action.

Back at the Gilded Harp the characters regrouped and decided on a plan of action to discover what that money shot of dark energy from the closing shadow portal did to them. Rhogar was approached by Sir Alaran, Knight Adamant in the order with an offer for work in routing out some slavers in the city. He applauded Rhogar’s dealing with Balgron and suggested that things in the order and the church might not always be as they are now, and dropping a reference to The Purging Sun (a long forgotten and thought extinct sect of the church of Pelor known for some extreme views).

The party was then off to the Imperial Library to do some research and where they came upon a tome which talked about Divine Marks/Brands, that Shar in particular favors to single out enemies to her followers for execution. The brand glows in the form of her holy symbol on the foreheads of the marks, and can only be seen by her initiated followers, and acts as a homing beacon. The tome was signed “Suck it Shar, The Last Prince of Athlandar”, unfortunately the second volume was missing which had been eluded in the first to include a possible ritual to counter-act the brand. Kaz was able to detect a faint aura of Magic that resembled a candle above the empty spot on the shelf. A skill ckeck roll here and a skill check roll there, and he was able to recall some lore about a society dedicated to Ioun that collect knowledge. They questioned the Librarian, who seemed to be hiding something, was vaguely asexual, and extremely nervous and uncomfortable… hmmmmm.

On the way back to The Harp, Grimlock noticed an attempted pick pocket and a chase was on that eventually led to the rooftops, and well surprise…another ambush. An epic battle ensued that ended when the final combatant attempted but failed to take Kaz over the side of the building (never taunt the D&D gods Kaz) with him as he fell to his sacrificial death.  What will the party do next?…

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Seeds of Darkness Session 6 7/10/10

The beginning of the session found the party awakening from their rest in the middle of a hostile dungeon, somewhat surprised that they were undisturbed. They concluded that the rest of the guards must have fled at the mere thought of having to face them, after the carnage they had left in their wake (or the DM wanted to move the adventure along so he could get to his own stuff/he was trying to avoid a TPK, but whatever same diff). As the party exited their makeshift B&B, they were met with several large piles of body parts from their slain enemies assembled into arrows pointing them down a hallway they had not yet explored and ending in front of a set of double doors. Upon bursting in they were beset on all sides by undead, with a ghoul large and in charge and looking for some fresh meat. Rhogar, fearless, stepped into the room and allowed the vile creatures to surround him, shielding his comrades from the initial onslaught. Rhogar and Grimlock set to clearing some space to allow the party to get down to work. Kaz let loose the righteous brand of Torm, illustrating why you have a cleric in the party when you’re going after a death cult. Khaine once again created doubt about his intentions and lineage by blasting Rhogar with eldritch magic while under the influence of a

Kaz/Chris displaying classic gamer physique & obligatory food stain

homunculus.

The party entered the next room and was greeted by Kalarel’s under-priest who was awash in the blood of the innocents that was helping to fuel the dark ritual. The priest welcomed them and invited them to partake of the ritual by kindly allowing him to spill their blood into the collecting pool below. The party, after contemplating the offer, gave him the big middle finger and proceeded to bitch slap him silly. Both Rhogar and Grimlock went down in the ensuing donnybrook, as the fanatics of Shar fell upon them in a blood raged frenzy. Kaz said “not on my watch douche bags”, and let healing words turn the tide of the fight. After the battle the party was gathered around the 50ft pit in the room that provided access to the ritual room through blood drenched chains. A great debate ensued as the chanting from below grew and the keep began to shake about how to best make it down. Several members were unsure of their ability to descend quickly without hurting themselves and were concerned about descending slowly and allowing any potential enemies to pot shot them. The solution: douse a corpse in oil, light the corpse on fire then dump him down the pit to clear out the space and take out any enemies in the way. The result: a flaming corpse that fell into a pool of blood that was then extinguished with a accompanying voice asking “what the hell was that?”.

So the party then decided to slide down the chains and maybe get to foiling Kalarel’s plans. The final battle ensued as Kalarel called out to Khaine offering him an opportunity to join him. At that moment Khaine felt the overwhelming presence of his patron pushing him to raise his hand against his comrades. The struggle of wills went on until Khaine was able to push the influence back (apparently sides have been drawn in this war). Khaine also slighty confused/worried his commrades by calling Kalarel “brother” and saying that he was misguided in his way of worshiping Shar. Khaine then deduced the nature of the ritual and when the party engaged the forces of evil in battle they also set to unworking the ritual. It was a classic slugfest with Khaine finally cutting Kalarel down. As the big man fell he was sucked into the portal by a clawed hand, and as the portal began to dissolve a beam of dark energy shot out and enveloped the party, but surprisingly did not  inflict any pain, a voice echoed in their minds telling them that this was far from over. The party then beat a hasty exit as the Keep began to implode on itself.

Once back in town a great feast and celebration was held for the heroes. The party was unable to determine what if anything the necrotic beam had down to them, but they were feeling no pain at the time and enjoyed the festivities and gratitude of the town. Valthurn the sage provided Khaine with a journal of a Tiefling wizard named Qualeck containing his “interesting research”. The Party plans to rest up and head back to Cormyr, I hope their journey is uneventful…..

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Seeds of Darkness Session 5 5/28/10

The session started out with the party running blindly in fear and Khaine attempting to ret-con his role in triggering the fear rune.  As they say, Karma is indeed a bitch because as the fleeing party triggered the next rune, Khaine was also overcome by fear and fled straight into the loving embrace of a shadow-tainted slime.  The rest of the party shook off the fear effect in time to face off against some zombies.  They also had a decision to make about whether to attack the slime or not as they learned that any smack they gave it,  Khaine would also take some of said smack. They decided they should “help” Khaine out after he “helped” them out with figuring out what would happen if they touched one of those runes. After several rounds of being digested by the slime Khaine remembered he could actually teleport out of danger.  The party then made quick work of the beasties, and Rhogar used his divine power masterfully, exploiting the creatures’ vulnerability to the essence of  the astral sea. The party then descended into the second level of the ruined Keep, looking for Kalarel and to put an end to his fell machinations. Unfortunately, the party did not have the password requested by the Hobgoblin guards, something they realized Balgron the Fat probably could have told them had his head remained on his body a little longer. This, however, did not hamper the party, as they easily dismantled the guards and their pet spider too.  Next it was onto the guard barracks and a tuff fight with the leader of the guard. At this point a great debate occurred about whether or not to rest as everyone was low on surges and some daily’s had been used. In the end they decided to push on…right into another ambush (apparently the sound of Hobgoblins being butchered tends to carry to nearby rooms).  Now the party was beat up and not looking their best, and we could have been facing down a little TPK. That is until Garrick acted first and flung himself into the room and “opened the gates of battle”, action pointed then “opened a can of whoop-ass”, and finished off with a supreme flurry. When the dust settled the magic-user hit the floor along with one his soldiers (DM mental note: the monk can move 8 spaces and attack). After that sickening display of damage output, the battle was essentially won. The party then agreed that a rest was needed, but where to rest? Would it be back to the town or the secret chamber on the first level? The decision: in the guards barracks in the middle of the dungeon, surrounded by the corpses of Hobgoblins. Let’s hope their sleep is restful. I am sure it will be fine; no one will notice the absence of several guards right……

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Seeds of Darkness Session 4 5/7/10

The session started off with the age old D&D quandary: What do you do with an enemy that surrenders in the middle of a dungeon? Well if you’re a paladin of Pelor named Rhogar apparently you just cut their head off, problem solved. So after Balgron the Fat was “taken care” of by Rhogar, everyone noticed Grimlock’s new look. Gone were the cestus and chainmail, and in their place were two shiny broadswords and some sleek hide armour. From that point on the party settled down and utilized some solid tactics as they began to systematically purge the first level of the Keep. This included taking out the rest of the goblin guard on the floor, some creatures tainted by the Shadowfell (further evidence the ritual had begun), and several undead creatures. The party came upon Sir Kegan, the former warden of the keep and the man who had battled Shadraxil into the Shadowfell. After convincing the suspicious skeleton of their noble and heroic intent, he gifted Rhogar with his battleaxe Acreis. The session ended after the party discovered a strange rune inscribed on the floor. After Khaine used his arcane knowledge to determine that rune if touched would trigger an ill effect, the party decided to jump over the rune. Unfortunately, Khaine seems to have spent too much time studying and landed on the rune itself causing most of the party to run in fear. What will happen next……

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Seeds of Darkness Session 3 3/28/10

The session began with the party discussing Garrick’s classic mid-life crisis, as he decided to return to school and change careers and is know a monk, apparently the intervention around his anger management issues was a success.  Also Kaz decided to go back to school to re-specialize to in order to provide more healing for the group. The party was also unhappy with the dwarven fighter Breunor after his weak showing and since it was still his probationary period decided to let him go with two weeks’ pay. They decide to fill the position with Rhogar, a dragonborn paladin.  After laying some serious smack down on Bairwin and his fellow cultists, our hero’s decided to rest up at Mrs. Wrafton’s before setting off to the destroyed keep to take care of a guy named Kalarel and save the day. Valthurn was able to provide some valued history of the keeps origin, who Shadraxil is, and why it would be a major bummer if he was set free. During that evening Grimlock had a dream with a divine connection, as it appears that Tempus has taken an interest in his career. While Khaine had a far more disturbing vision.  Once at the keep, the party made short work of the Goblin guard with each member recording kills. Grimlock did his best impression of the hulk and was killing people with his bare hands and then decided to fastball special Garrick up to a ledge so he could obliterate a foe. The session ended when the party clinically took apart the Goblin lieutenant Balgron the Fat and his minions. Garrick pulled of a move that defied logic as he weaved through the field and laid a beating on 5 different foes, and was then mortally wounded. Seeing his imminent fate, Balgron surrendered and has agreed to aid our heroes in exchange for his freedom. The party also picked up some loot: a shield for the paladin, a holy symbol for the cleric, a wand and leather armour for the warlock and a holy symbol of Tempus that when Grimlock grasped enchanted his spiked gauntlets. What will happen next?

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