[paz]

I agreed to do a short D&D game in the few sessions leading up to Christmas, starting next week. A few people have already said they might play, and I'm looking for 4-5 players ideally, with 6 as the absolute maximum.

If players have the rulebooks, then it would save time to make characters in advance. The rules are:

Level: 1st.
Ability scores:28 point buy - officially described as for a 'tougher campaign'. If you don't know how point-buy works, it's described on page 169 of the DMG v.3.5, or on page 9 of this document.
Race: Any PHB race (I know I said anything goes, but from what a couple of people said on Monday, I'm a bit concerned about having multiple changeling-types running around - sorry!)
Class: Any base class from a WotC non-campaign-specific source, e.g. PHB, Complete Adventurer, etc.
Psionics: None.
Equipment: Maximum starting gold for your class. Any standard equipment may be bought in advance.
Alignment: Any good, LN or true neutral.

Your character is staying in the Blue Dragon Inn, in Greyhawk City. It is mid-spring; the first peak of the trade season. The story begins quite early in the morning. Please think why your character is staying in the inn, and what your character might be doing in or around the inn at that time of day.

I don't anticipate this game carrying on beyond this one-shot, so don't write a 20-page epic character background story. It may be a good opportunity to try playing a class you've not played before though.

See you Monday!

[paz]

The game got underway last night, with no deaths (of PCs or NPCs) but with a drowning narrowly avoided...

The PCs are:

• Baradin, dwarf cleric of Moradin (Matt)
  
• Baronan, human rogue (Henry)
  
• Chen Xiao, human monk (Jamie)
  
• Valos, elf ranger (Daz)
  
• Braken, human sorcerer (John)

For various reasons, the PCs were all staying at the Blue Dragon Inn, in Greyhawk City. They were going about their business, preparing for the day's activities, when they all noticed a disturbance outside - two thugs looting a blacksmith's shop. They intervened, knocking one of the ruffians unconscious, while the other surrendered. At that moment, the shop's proprietor, Theldrat, arrived.

Beside himself with worry, Theldrat frantically started looking for a particular key, which apparently was a valuable family heirloom. The thug knew nothing of this key, and after some intimidation, eventually divulged that they'd been tipped off by a contact (a half-orc called Irontusk, who they had met in Barge End, a shantytown on the outskirts of the city) that they could rob the place this morning, after he was through with it.

The city watch arrived to cart the robbers away, just pausing to check with all present if they knew anything about a robbery at the Great Library that took place during the night. The group were told that witnesses reported a cleric of Boccob (god of magic) stealing a rare book from the library. Once the excitement was over, the PCs introduced themselves to each other and Theldrat, and agreed to try and find Theldrat's key.

At Barge End, the PCs soon found someone who could point them in Irontusk's direction. On arriving at his location (a set of piers on the western shore), the element of surprise was lost when a halfling screamed on seeing a group of armed men (the PCs) approaching her fishing boat. Irontusk made a dash to escape, leaping from boat to boat, but became entangled in some netting.

The PCs took this opportunity to close in. Chen Xiao (the monk) and Valos (the elf) leapt gracefully from dock to barge in pursuit, evading rotten fruit, drunken sailors and guard dogs. Baronan (the rogue) scaled a warehouse wall and ran across the rooftops, before raining arrows down upon the entangled half-orc. Baradin (the dwarf) was not so lucky, falling short of his first jump, and only hanging on to the edge of the boat by his fingertips, his heavy armour pulling him down into the water. Only the assistance of Braken (the sorcerer) stopped him from going under. Eventually, just as Irontusk managed to free himself to continue his escape, the party managed to subdue him, and drag his prone form onto the dock...

And here's a photo of the glorious cartography (no sniggering!) that accompanied the Barge End chase scene (click to zoom):



I enjoyed it, even if I was a bit rusty from not GMing for quite a long time, and I hope the players did too. Hopefully I'll be a bit more prepared next week!

[paz]

It's been bugging me that I never finished this write-up, so I'll summarise it.

After capturing Irontusk they interrogated him unsuccessfully, and found a map leading to a merchant house. They visited the merchant house, finding it to be run-down and seemingly abandoned, and broke in. Inside they fought various parasites and guards (that appeared to be infected). At an armoury, the party successfully avoided a trap and found lots of weapons. Upstairs, they found ledgers detailing the activities of the Green Dagger Gang, including their sickness and the hiring of Irontusk, as well as mention of a 'healer'. In a hidden room, the group found some dead or dying gang members. Proceeding onwards upstairs, they fought two identical halflings in a room full of veils and pit traps, before successfully negotiating with the gang's leader (Cyrathas), who told them a cleric named Veltargo (a balding cleric of Boccob with dirty vestments, crooked teeth and dirty fingernails) had offered them a cure for their disease in exchange for Theldrat's key, but that when the cleric delivered the cure (while carrying a large book), it did not seem to work.

The party then visited the Great Library, which they found closed to visitors.

They then went to the Temple of Boccob, where on telling their story, a cleric named Altamaic told them his robes had been stolen by a thief with a bald head and crooked teeth. He had managed to grab a pendant off the thief's neck in the struggle.

The party had this pendant identified as a 'cairn charm' (a small stone hung inside tombs), and found it to be associated with the 'Tomb of Blood Everflowing' in the nearby Cairn Hills. Making their way there, they found human tracks nearby.

Entering the tomb, the party found a fountain of blood, flowing into a larger pool. They managed to open a secret door, which the blood flowed through, down into a deep chasm below. They saw many signs that the evil god Vecna had a cult established here. After fighting their way through various undead and traps, the party found the cult headquarters, abandoned except for the evil cleric Veltargo (complete with bald head) and one of his undead minions (a skeletal owlbear). They defeated Veltargo, but not without the loss of 'Basher', a crusader who had joined them on the quest. They found Theldrat's key (drained of the magic which the party had discovered that it had once possessed) as well as the stolen tome, now unlocked, and with many pages torn out. They returned the tome and the key to their rightful owners (who were very grateful), and properly dealt with their fallen, as well as fulfilling their promise to help the diseased gang members.

Thanks to all the players, this was a lot of fun to run; hopefully I'll get another chance at some point!