The Continuing Adventures of Our Heroes

We had a good time last night, even though Mike was a little bit late. We have to cut him some slack, especially since his average commute from home to our apartment is somewhere in the range of 2-3 hours. That's dedication for you. I'll be damned if I'm going to drive more than thirty minutes to play a game, no matter who the DM is or how awesome the players are.

Mike insists that we're the most "normal" group he's ever played with. He insists that the majority of gamers he's known have been violent social misfits. I guess we've got him fooled, eh?

As far as the game goes, here's a quick re-cap of events.

The orcs that were slain at the end of the last game remained dead, though three of them (including the oruk) rose up as ungral and attempted to chew the party up. Herger took a great big chomp to the forearm, which might've very easily been a chomp to the throat had he not made his save against massive damage.

The zombies dispatched, the trip back to the Keep was uneventful. On arrival, it was revealed that the dwarves had begun to repair the keep's walls with rubble and locally-available stone. They have refused to sleep in the Keep, preferring the outbuilding/stable in the courtyard. After all, the Keep is haunted. Though they're not cowards, the dwarves feel that it isn't wise to sleep in a building that is host to so many restless spirits.

Athael took his time examining the well/nexus beneath the Keep, and proposed a new mission for the heroes over a hearty supper of skinny rabbit stew. The new mission will take the party south, in the direction of the Aruun Jungle. The group isn't averse to the idea of going, so long as they can tie up some loose ends before they go.

Later in the week, several goblins infiltrated the Keep. Stymied by Koko, who managed to alert the heroes (as well as kick some goblin butt), the goblins mission was soon made clear: to kidnap Rasha, who was bound, gagged, and carried bodily to the roof of the Keep where she was scooped up by a hideous woman with bat-like wings: a harpy, if Kedrin's lorebook is in any way accurate.

And so the game ended. Of the five infiltrating goblins, only one remains. I'm thinking that the heroes will be giving the Keep's torture chamber a run for its money next session.

Speaking of next session, we're logged to play on Saturday, March 4th, 7pm-12am. Thanks for showing up last night, folks. It was good fun.

House Rules

I've been mulling over the house rules I'd like to see implemented in the campaign, and I've decided to post them here for your reference. There aren't that many, in all honesty.

As you know, I've reduced the Massive Damage Threshold from the standard D&D limit of 50 to your character's Constitution score. If your character takes a single hit that inflicts damage greater than or equal to his Constitution score, you have to succeed at a DC 15 Fortitude save or be immediately reduced to -1 hit points.

In addition to this, I'd also like to experiment with the Severe Injury and Infection rules that are presented in the Thieves' World Player's Manual. If it turns out that it's too much to keep track of, we can ditch it, but I think it might be interesting to see how it pans out.

Other additions from Thieves' World will include a couple of new base character classes, which will be available to characters from this point forward. The first is that of the assassin, which is precisely what it sounds like. It's a slight departure from the assassin prestige class (from the DMG), in that there is no magic involved with the character class at all.

The second base class I'll be allowing is that of the savant. The savant is a highly-configurable class, designed to allow players to play tradesmen, craftsmen, specialists, etc. In effect, it is a PC version of the "expert" NPC class from the DMG.

Anyone interested in looking these rules over at the next game should feel free to ask.

As an aside, I've also considered implementing a vitality/wound point system, but I'll probably hold off on that. The game is going to be difficult enough with the current slew of additional rules.

So...I'll see you all on Saturday night, 7pm to midnight.

It Lives!

Last night, we re-convened the Midnight campaign. In the grand scheme of things, not a lot happened, but it was an introductory session, anyway.

To recap the night's festivities...

Athael, captured and imprisoned in the Toblar garrison, was rescued. In the process, both Kedrin and Mr. Chocolate (ahem) were also rescued. Seamus, the legate who had been interrogating Kedrin, was defeated during the rescue, although he managed to escape.

With their allies in tow, Herger and Bridie retreated to their rendezvous location to await Merikai, Angus, and Arin, who had caused a distraction in the nearby village of Toblar. After a brief discussion, the three left to track down a slave train that had passed through the village not long ago, as it seemed likely that it was the very same one that had passed through Rasha's village some time before.

With Arin, Angus, and Merikai gone, the remaining party members journeyed in a southwestern direction, heading back to the Keep of Shadows. On the eighth day, the group came upon the remains of an orcish supply caravan that had been waylaid by mysterious horsemen. In their investigations, a unit of orcs and worgs came upon them, and a fight ensued. The heroes were victorious, and the orcs were defeated.

That is where the game ended, for the time being.

The next game is scheduled for 2/18/06, 7pm-12am. I expect the group will return to their Keep, and we will determine which direction the game will go. Currently, the following subplots bear further expansion, depending on what the group decides to do:

The Ghosts of Ghallaigh Keep
As was touched on in the original campaign, the Keep of Shadows his home to several ghosts. All but one of these ghosts are members of the Ghallaigh clan, a Dornish family who fell into tragedy when the Shadow rose up nearly 100 years ago. The one ghost who is not of the Ghallaigh family, Tolbert McFare, managed to contact the heroes and asked them to aid him in setting the souls of the ghosts (incluing his own) to a peaceful rest.

As it is, this plotline has yet to be fully explored, but it may bear more investigation in the coming sessions.

Search for Family
This plot, which is really two plots, involves Herger and Bridie specifically.

Herger's family escaped the orcs who enslaved Herger...or so he believes. When he returned home, he found that they were gone, and it looked as if they had left in a hurry. As far as he knows, they might've gone east to find family in White Cliff.

As for Bridie, her grandfather is a prisoner of the Shadow, and all signs indicate that he was taken to Theros Obsidia (which is, to put it lightly, a BAD PLACE). Finding him, much less rescuing him, would amount to a monumental task.

The Masking of the Keep
This is what Athael had alluded to. What will it take to mask the Keep in an illusion that is strong enough to deceive the minions of Izrador? Only time will tell, but it may involve a little bit of elbow grease on the part of the heroes.

Rumors and Portents
By now, you've all heard about (and seen the results of) a mysterious band of horse-riding raiders who are victimizing the Shadow's supply and troop caravans. Perhaps this group could provide you with information, or at least, direction, if you could ally with them.

More to Come?
As Mr. Chocolate/Koko and Kedrin become more closely bound to the fate of the party, their pasts and goals will doubtless have some effect on the turn of events. This is, of course, up to them. Mr. Chocolate's past has been defined, but who knows what sort of life Kedrin lived before being captured by Seamus and tortured at length in the Toblar garrison?

Of course, I haven't really discussed where I would like the game to go. If it goes on long enough, I'd like to see the heroes head south eventually. There is a lot of adventure to be had in southern Erenland...but we can talk about that when you get there.