Dragonlance Dragons of Menace - Dragonlance Session Report 1 - 2015 Jan 07

[DMZ2112]

Kirinor, the 2nd of Deepkolt, 352 AC


With the self-styled King Grol dead, Wave Echo Cave found and cleared, and Phandalin as safe as any town could be with the Red Dragonarmy menacing Solamnia from the south, the adventurers –


Arn the noble minotaur champion,
Bryn the dark elf student invoker,
Dalesman the (newly minted) human cleric of Mishakal,
Leagallow the charlatan kender assassin, and
Tuttle the half-elven bard of lore


– had said farewell to their other companions and traveled north.


An ancient map discovered in Wave Echo Cave described the location of a pre-Cataclysm monastery in the northern Vingaard Mountains, where was kept safe a cache of lesser dragonlances. Realizing the impact these weapons could have on the war (and their steel pouches), the party ventured north through Solamnia, menaced by the goblins of Throtl, the undead of Nightlund, and the invading forces of the Blue Dragonarmy. Finally, they reached the walled town of Maelgoth, capital of the Hinterlund province, shortly after it was placed under martial law by the dragonarmy and just as the first snow of winter began to fall.


Flynt, a sage Silvanesti and a second student invoker (although of white-robed ambitions, rather than black), had arrived much earlier, before the occupation, while Uri, an outlander Kagonesti beastmaster, arrived in late Newkolt. However, both were thrown into the town jail by dragonarmy soldiers on the 1st of Deepkolt, for alleged rabblerousing.


This pricked the ire of the wizards of Maelgoth, who were not keen to see even a student of the Towers treated with impunity by the occupying forces. Armoth, a wizard of the black robes, was sent to request the assistance of Bryn and his companions in securing Flynt’s release.


Bryn, for his part, asked what advantage there was for him in confronting the Blue Dragonarmy, even in this small capacity. Armoth noted that Bryn’s Test was already overdue and that the Towers could just as easily name him renegade as initiate him. Soundly rebuked, Bryn sullenly brought the request to his fellows and began to formulate a plan.


Leagallow crossed the town square with three steaming mugs of hot brandy and offered two of them to the baaz draconians guarding the front door of the guardhouse. Although suspicious at first, Leagh’s apparent harmlessness, the sharp chill in the air, and the ache in the baaz’s talons won out. Surreptitiously disposing of his own brandy, Leagh matched the baaz drink for drink and with the aid of Bryn eventually convinced the soldiers to invite the two of them inside for a bowl of gruel. One of the baaz remained on guard, but unperturbed by the blood-smeared desk and shattered chair – the remnants of the last stand of the deposed Maelgoth captain of the guard – Bryn suggested to the other that they enjoy their gruel while making fun of the prisoners in the jail. The draconian was amenable, and once in the lockup, a quick Sleep spell made short work of the soldier. Flynt and Uri were free.


By this time, however, the sergeant in charge of the guardhouse had heard the commotion at the front door and had gone to investigate. He caught sight of Bryn in the storeroom, and in order to distract him Leagh stumbled drunkenly into the front office and into the NCO. The sergeant hauled the playacting kender into the street, and met Arn’s horns coming the other way. His blood mingled with the dried ichor of the guard captain as Flynt and Uri slipped out the door, Flynt conclusively freezing the brain of the stumbling baaz outside with a palm to the forehead and a quickly cast Ray of Frost.


The ruckus had now raised the rest of the garrison, and as his companions slipped into the night Leagh made double certain that neither the sergeant nor the draconian in the cells would awaken to identify them. As the soldiers stormed down from the upper floor, he swept a handful of official-looking documents off the blood-soaked desk and dashed into the cold dark.

 

[Rhenny]

I love how they rescued the jailed companions. Right on!

 

[DMZ2112]

It was particularly entertaining for me because all they really had to do was walk up and have Bryn be all black robey to the sergeant. He would have just released the elves. It was intended to be a lesson in faction influence, but this worked too!

 

[DMZ2112]

Dragons of Menace - Dragonlance Session Report 2 – 2015 Jan 21 & 28, Feb 11

Dragons of Menace
Session Report 2 – 2015 Jan 21 & 28, Feb 11

Kirinor, the 2nd of Deepkolt, 352 AC

The party scattered into the streets, reconvening at the inn -- a place called the Mead and Measure -- only after they were certain they were not followed. They celebrated a job well done in their cups -- all, at least, except Leagh, whose work for the evening was not yet done. He slipped from table to table at the Mead, seeking to learn as much as he could about recent goings-on in the occupied town.

Over the course of the evening the party found a new ally in Shebe, a half elven druidess. Bryn, ever the mean-spirited lout, dripped acid into some poor patron's ale and was tossed out into the cold by the watchful barman. Flynt and Uri were grateful for their rescue, and if Flynt was standoffish with his non-Silvanesti rescuers, Uri made up for the snub with a round of drinks.

Meanwhile, Leagh brought back to the table word of a dwarven trader in need. His wagons had been commandeered by the Blue Dragonarmy, and the miners in the Vingaard Mountains were starving for lack of foodstuffs. After some discussion about the best course of action, it was decided that Leagh would use the documents he had stolen from the guardhouse to forge a writ from the dragonarmy Captain in command of Maelgoth, releasing the wagons into the care of Tuttle, who would be in disguise as a Blue lieutenant thanks to the Alter Self spell.

Their roles in the farce decided, the party went to their beds. Leagh, once again, continued to work.

Misham, the 3rd of Deepkolt, 352 AC

The next morning, the party scouted out the town livery, where the wagons were being held, and Tuttle prepared his magical disguise. Bearing Leagh's forged orders, he entered the barn and managed to convince the soldiers on guard of his legitimacy. The soldiers ordered the stablehands to move the wagons into the yard, and the caravan was under way.

Maelgoth's main gate was no more an obstacle, and Tuttle, his wagons, and the party reconvened on the road out of sight of Maelgoth's great defensive forts. A short distance further on, they found the dwarven merchant just where he said he would be waiting.

The dwarf – who introduced himself as Dolbinn Fire-Eye, named for the ruby in his left eyesocket – loaded the wagons with the party’s help and got underway. However, their trip together was short-lived.

Their small caravan crests a hill, and in the lowland beyond a broad, thick forest extended as far as the eye could see. In the distance, a double tower rose high into the sky. Dolbinn reined in his oxen with a surprised shout, for there was no forest in all of Hinterlund, not least there by the Gold River.

As the caravan approached the edge of the forest, three robed figures stepped forward from the trees, where they were invisible a moment before. They were robed in white, red, and black, the colors of the three Orders of High Sorcery, and welcomed the adventurers to the Forest of Wayreth, which was where the wizards required it, when they required it to be there. It was past the time for Bryn and Flynt to take their Tests and either join the Orders... or pass from the world.

Flynt chose to take his Test alone, without risking his new companions, and was led into the forest by the white-robed Silvanesti woman. Bryn opted to be joined by his companions, who acquiesced with surprising ease. That night, the student mages and their companions rested, feasted, and prepared themselves for what would come in the morning.

Bakukal, the 4th of Deepkolt, 352 AC

Bryn's Test required him to open a magical puzzle box using his skill in elemental evocation. He was told that the box was empty, and that its solution was simply sought so that its creator's techniques could be further studied. However, once open, the box revealed a diamond larger than both of Bryn's fists together.

Despite being tempted to steal the unexpected jewel, Bryn decided it was too great a risk and left it in its box for his proctor to find. The proctor poorly concealed his disappointment in Bryn's newfound self-restraint, but continued the test nonetheless. He informed Bryn that picking up the jewel would have stripped him of his magic, and then explained that for the next stage of his test, Bryn would have to carry the diamond to its resting place in its creator's crypt, below the Tower, where its curse would be lifted -- or not, depending on the whim of the long-dead evoker.

Bryn tried everything in his power to avoid carrying the gem himself but ultimately all of his strategies failed. He was forced to lift the stone from the coffer with his hands, and as had been foretold its power stripped him of his magic and left him a crippled husk, at the mercy of his oft-abused companions.

And yet, acting as true heroes, his companions did not take advantage, and helped Bryn limp through the wraith-wracked catacombs of the Tower of Wayreth to the tomb of the ancient wizard. There, Bryn's power was restored, and the undead evoker tested Bryn's skill in a spell duel. Despite the spirit's great power, Bryn narrowly prevailed, and was rewarded with his long-dead opponent's black robes of the displacement.

(Flynt's test is still ongoing, being handled asynchronously via e-mail, so that story will have to wait for another day.)

Bracha, the 5th of Deepkolt, 352 AC

Upon taking their leave of the Wizards of High Sorcery and the Forest of Wayreth, two in their number now true wizards in their own right, the party found that the Forest deposited them high in the Vingaard Mountains, within view of Rayne's Drop, their destination.

They found the mining town bustling, full of miners and other folk who apparently had nothing better to do than drink the day away. The small taproom was down to small beer, and while the supplies Dolbinn and the heroes had brought with them were gratefully received, they were light on the alcohol.

The trouble was that the Red Dragonarmy had rolled into town -- specifically a platoon of soldiers and dragon-men from the south, led by a black-robed wizardess and her great rust-scaled brute of a mount. They had commandeered the mine, and while the people of Rayne's Drop knew the soldiers were looking for something, they had no idea what it was. There was much mirth regarding the trouble the Dragonarmy must be having with the original kobold and troglodyte inhabitants of the caverns beneath the mine -- caverns that the miners had thoughtfully breached upon the soldiers' arrival.

The party quizzed Dolbinn on the presence of any local monasteries, and while he was not aware of any he did recall that his niece studied martial arts under the tutelage of an old hermit who lived outside the town. He promised to find her for the party while they investigated the mine. The party also encountered Tharivol, a Kagonesti outlander bard of valor traveling through the mountains, and invited him to assist them against the Dragonarmy.

It was decided that Bryn would present himself to this black-robed wizardess as the leader of an unscrupulous band of adventurers and ask if they could be of any assistance in clearing the mine. This plot worked, no doubt in large part because of the bored inattentiveness of the wizardess in question, and the party struck out for the mine.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

Meant to click XP, fat fingers, sorry. Great read.

 

[DMZ2112]

Dragons of Menace - Dragonlance Session Report 3 - 2015 Feb-Jun

Dragons of Menace
Session Report 3 – 2015 Feb-Jun

Bracha, the 5th of Deepkolt, 352 AC

The upper levels of the Rayne’s Drop mine were empty of any threat beyond idle Red Dragonarmy soldiers who were more than happy to let the party risk their necks in the caverns below. The reason was made apparent after Arn lowered the party into the lower reaches of the mine on an old crank elevator in a natural cave shaft, making the descent himself by way of Bryn’s Featherfall spell.

A pile of corpses, still in their red livery, lay hacked and mangled by primitive weaponry not far from the drop. The tunnels beyond were infested with kobolds and their clever traps, but after their initial ambush failed thanks to Tuttle’s reckless casting of Shatter, the party pushed further into their territory, coughing dust from their lungs and leaving the collapsed ruin of a storeroom behind them.

Bryn disguised himself as a kobold and ventured deeper into the mine with a ranging patrol, realizing his error too late as he became lost in the twisty maze of passages, all alike. Killing the two kobolds was easy for a black robed Wizard; finding his way back was not. He exhausted numerous spells in creative but ultimately fruitless endeavors to speed his return to the party, but was rescued by Arn and Dale ranging out in a more organized fashion to locate him.

While Arn and Dale were absent, however, the rest of the party stumbled upon the entrance to the kobold warren, a place where the little dragonkin had widened the mine tunnels to specification and created a kill zone for their archers. After being peppered with arrows from all directions, half the party fell into one of a number of cleverly disguised pit traps and found themselves in a foul-smelling midden -- or so it seemed.

Arn, Dale, and Bryn returned to find the party missing and their last known location pitted with mantraps. Flashes of light and the sounds of combat came to them through the floor, so they threw themselves down into the midden with abandon, finding their comrades locked in struggle with stinking troglodyte hunters.

The troglodytes were not expecting organized resistance, however, and were quickly dispatched despite their malodorous mien. Beyond the rough tunnels leading out of the pit, the party found more natural caverns troglodyte warriors, killing them in the dozens. The primitive creatures’ sacrifice was not in vain, however, as they successfully covered the retreat of their females and young to deeper caverns.

The party’s final encounter with the troglodytes was with the tribe’s shaman of Laogzed, who attempted to keep them from re-entering the kobold warrens, per their longstanding compact with the dragonkin. Despite his clever use of Laogzed’s gifts, the shaman’s retinue was devastated and Dale cleansed the evil creature with Mishakal’s light.

Leagh led the way up a rough wooden stair into the kobold warren, and was able to dispatch the perfunctory guard at the top, but unquietly. Soon the party was fighting for their lives on a flaming ladder while being pelted with arrows and firebombs. The kobolds, sacrificing many lives, managed to funnel the party back out of their home and into the entryway kill zone, where the harried and exhausted party re-entered the mine of their own accord.

Back on the surface, the party provided some much needed diversion to the Red Dragonarmy soldiers and their black robed commander when it was realized they had emerged with no evidence of their kills to trade for bounty. Too tired to be dejected, the party returned to the inn and slaked themselves on the town’s thin beer.

Dolbinn had finally located his niece, Breccia, and had set up a meeting with the party on the town’s mine tip. She and her master were known to the Dragonarmy as resistance fighters, and so some care was required. Once Breccia was convinced of the party’s good intentions, however, she agreed to take them to her master to see what the old monk knew of their hidden monastery.

Battling their fatigue at every precarious step and ascent, the party made their way across an untamed rock face to the ledge where the monk had made her camp. A simple yurt stood by itself there, and when Breccia announced the party’s presence, a strange creature greeted them.

Breccia’s master was a githzerai, a visitor to Krynn from the alien realities beyond the Abyss, and a fellow seeker of the lost monastery. She introduced herself as Arzana, and revealed that she knew the location of the temple, but was helpless to reach it. The monastery had been cast down a great crevasse in the mountainside by the Cataclysm, and the descent by rock climbing was still beyond her skills despite years of training.

Arzana believed there might be a way to access the bottom of the crevasse through the Rayne’s Drop mine, but negotiations with the miners to open the tunnels leading to the kobold warren had been over before they began -- the miners had lost too many to the dragonkin and would not budge.

Almost in unison, the party informed Arzana that the tunnels had been opened, presumably to spite the occupying Dragonarmy forces. Excited, Arzana charged the party with re-entering the mine and seeing if they could find a route through the troglodytes’ caverns to the bottom of the crevasse. She presented them with a mindshard imbued with her knowledge of the location of the monastery, to guide them if their senses of direction failed deep beneath the mountains.

Chased by the dawn, The party returned to Rayne’s Drop with the crystal, re-energized with the thought of discovering the ancient monastery and completely oblivious to the fact that they had been tailed to Arzana’s hut….

Linaras, the 6th of Deepkolt, 352 AC

Late in the morning, the party set out once again for the mine but the ease with which they fooled the Red Dragonarmy on the previous day was not to be repeated. Flynt, in his white robes, sought to use the same disused side entrance he had the day before but was spotted by a sharp-eyed baaz draconian. He was forced to conceal himself with a hasty Darkness spell and try to slip away.

His companions, near the main entrance, heard the commotion and realized Flynt was in danger. Turning on the soldiers nearest them, they cut a swath to their ally while Arn pegged shut the door to the mine barracks with a fallen Dragonarmy short sword. The battle was long and bloody, and one soldier nearly escaped through Flynt’s side entrance to warn his fellows in town, but Leagh and Breccia made short work of him in an alley behind the inn.

The door to the barracks did not hold permanently, and soon the party was outnumbered and beset from both sides. While all fought valiantly, and no soldiers survived the day, a draconian ruthlessly executed Tuttle after the brave and foolish bard charged into the barracks, despite (or perhaps because of) the pitched fighting inside.

Believing correctly that they had kept the battle in the mine secret from the rest of the soldiers in Rayne’s Drop, the party divested the Dragonarmy corpses of their wages and hid them down the cave shaft. By grim necessity of stealth, Tuttle’s rent body suffered the same ignominious fate. The party occupied the barracks for a few hours while the elves rested to regain their spells and Arn, Leagh, and Breccia watched the mouth of the mine for any sign of curious Dragonarmy soldiers.

By some stroke of luck, none came, although a young Solamnic named Poezimius did appear at the entrance, claiming to have been summoned to Rayne’s Drop by a vision of Kiri Jolith. Upon hearing that the party was in search of the same dragonlances he had been instructed to find, the paladin of vengeance gladly joined the party.

At the entrance to the kobold warren, the party found itself confronted by an old kobold with an unexpected proposal. The kobolds anticipated the party’s return, but gathered from the ease with which they were driven off that their purpose was not to eradicate the kobolds from the mine.

The party confirmed that they had no quarrel with the kobolds specifically, and the kobold sorcerer offered them safe passage through the warrens so long as they harmed no more kobolds. The elder made it clear that while the party was formidable, his people would not tolerate deceit, and that they could put up a defense that would give the party pause if pressed to do so.

The party agreed, and passage through the kobold warrens was uneventful. The troglodyte caves were still abandoned, and so it wasn’t until the party passed into the long gallery beyond the troglodyte caves that they first encountered resistance.

The party became aware that they were being followed fairly quickly, due to the clicking and scratching sounds above them, but their stalkers remained out of sight until the gallery narrowed to the point that the party was forced to travel single-file. Then the hook horrors struck, attacking from the walls and using the prodigious length of their curved limbs to attack without fear of reprisal.

First Arn fell, and then Flynt. Bryn was not far behind. Desperate, Tharivol tried the spell Tuttle had used above to collapse the mine -- Shatter. The ear-splitting shriek of his lute rebounded off the close walls of the gallery and sent the hook horrors fleeing up them, clicking in panic as they were partially blinded by the sound.

Taking advantage of the break in the assault, the party picked up their fallen and dashed for the daylight they could now see at the end of the gallery. They plunged through the keyhole into the crevasse, blinking in the sudden brightness at the crumbling roof of the ancient Solamnic monastery beneath them.

Palast, the 7th of Deepkolt, 352 AC

The party slipped through a hole in the roof of the monastery and found a nearby cell in which to hole up for a much-needed rest. The following morning, they set about exploring the ruin around them.

They were hunted by a nest of phase spiders as they attempted a challenging traversal of a scree slope that had once been the monastery cloister, and nearly lost Arn to the slurping mass of an opportunistic black pudding while the rest of the party did battle with the incorporeal remnants of the monastery’s adherents. A hall full of massive and nearly pristine statues of the greatest of the ancient monks gave Leagh some pause, but it turned out to be just nerves. And finally, through a arched window in the ambulatory of the monastery’s hall of worship, the party caught sight of their prize -- ghostly white torchlight illuminated racks upon racks of weapons, only a few of which -- lances all -- had survived the rigors of the centuries. In the middle of the armory, however, sat a lone figure, wrapped in a faded brown cloak.

Rather than find the top of the stairs that were clearly visible from the window, the party decided to secure a rope to a nearby pillar and descend through the window -- an act that proved to be more difficult for some than others. Once Dale and Poe had checked the less agile companions for concussions, Flynt sought to approach the seated figure. Nothing could disturb the monk -- for that is whom the figure turned out to be when his cloak disintegrated at Flynt’s touch, an ancient, mummified monk, seated as though he were still meditating after centuries.

Flynt moved instead to gather the dragonlances, and it was only then, predictably, that the monk was roused. The monk stood, shaking the remnants of his cloak off dessicated flesh and impossibly immaculate leather armor. He challenged the party to a trial by combat, to determine their worthiness to carry the dragonlances, and did not give them a chance to refuse.

The fight was short but brutal -- every one of the monk’s attacks knocked the lights out of one of the members of the party, and if not for Dale’s continuous stream of healing, they could never have defeated him. Upon being struck by one of Bryn’s spells, the monk cried out in rage that such evil should have been brought into the monastery, and challenged the party to rid themselves of it even as he felled Bryn with an almost lethal blow.

In the end, however, none of the companions were lost, and Flynt’s Scorching Ray burned the monk away to nothing, leaving only his final admonition that the lances would never serve the party as long as they were tainted by evil. Exhausted again, the party thought to set up camp in the cramped armory, but in the process discovered that the monk’s onslaught had blown a thick covering of dust off a trap door in the middle of the floor.

Beneath the trap door the party found uncounted riches in ancient coin and a collection of powerful magic weapons and armor. As they armed themselves with the fortunate windfall, a great roar shook the ruin and a wave of heat rushed down the narrow staircase into the armory.

Magically amplified, the voice of the Wizardess commander demanded the party’s surrender of the dragonlances. Resigned and unrested, the party climbed the stairs into the monastery’s worship hall, there to find the wizardess astride her red dragon mount. To Breccia’s horror, the red dragon let the shattered and scorched corpse of Arzana fall from its jaws, and as one the party prepared for combat.

Although the battle seemed all but lost from the beginning, the spirit of the monk guardian fought alongside Poe and the young dragon was naive to the devastating effects of even lesser dragonlances in the hands of trained warriors. The party emerged victorious, slaying the dragon and forcing the Wizardess to use an Invisibility spell to escape their vengeance.

The journey back to Rayne’s Drop was uninterrupted, and once there the party found that what remained of the Red Dragonarmy presence there had either been taken care of by the town’s resistance in the absence of the dragon or had deserted once it had seen the writing on the wall. The miners thanked the party for liberating the mine and defeating the Red Dragonarmy commander and her dragon, and Dolbinn agreed to honor his commitment to supply the party with high-quality dwarven weapons as soon as he could retrieve them from Garnet. Breccia expressed her desire to found a new monastery devoted to Kiri Jolith and the memory of her late master.

Their tasks in Rayne’s Drop complete but their mission far from over, the party prepared to return to Maelgoth.

 

[Rhenny]

I just caught up on your adventures. Thanks for sharing them. It is always interesting to see how other campaigns progress. I'm getting nostalgic for Dragonlance now! (I love the Wizard Tests!)

Cheers.

 

[DMZ2112]

Dragons of Menace Session Report 4 – 2015 Jun-Aug

Dragons of Menace
Session Report 4 – 2015 Jun-Aug

Bracha, the 12th of Deepkolt, 352 AC

The party left Rayne’s Drop on the morning of Majetag, the 8th of Deepkolt, and found their return journey much longer without the aid of the Tower of Wayreth. Arriving back in Maelgoth almost five full days later, they found the town under much tighter control than when they left it. Blue dragons wheeled in the skies and the gates were all barricaded Dragonarmy checkpoints.

The party had little luck at the west river gate, where the soldiers saw fit to have some fun at the expense of the elves and Uri, ill accustomed to city life let alone martial law, choked. When asked what he was doing so far from elven lands, he announced himself as a forest trapper, failing to remember that Hinterlund was an arid place, where trees were a scant commodity. When Uri was asked, cynically, to display his furs, Lea sought to intervene, pretending to be an agent of the Dragonarmy commander in Maelgoth. Alas, he could not remember the man’s name, and the soldiers announced that the two were under arrest.

Realizing that their appearances put them at greater risk of identification later, the other elves, Flynt and Tharivol, and the minotaur, Arn, shied away from the ensuing battle, apparent as it was that the rank and file soldiers at the gate were no match for their fellows. The party managed to keep the soldiers from signaling for backup, and when the dust settled, they scattered into the city.

By the time everyone but Lea had found their way to the Mead and Measure by varied and secretive routes, the innkeeper there had already heard word of their exploits at the gate and denied them custom, expressing gratitude for their actions against the Dragonarmy but citing fear for his other patrons’ well being. He recommended the Steel Wheel in the Artisan’s District as a suitable but less conspicuous doss. The party moved on, not realizing that they left Lea behind in the room the innkeeper had allowed him...

Linaras, the 13th of Deepkolt, 352 AC

First day back in Maelgoth; meeting with Hennihoya; Lea initiates his plans

Awaking from an uneventful night at the Steel Wheel, the party was greeted in the common room by an unwelcome sight -- wanted posters in their natures if not their names, seeking a kender rogue, an elven ranger, and two men claiming to be priests of the gods who abandoned Krynn. The innkeeper gruffly clarified that she was required to display the posters, but so long as they caused no trouble for her or her other boarders, the party was welcome to stay and use the back entrance.

Tharivol and Uri resolved to stay at the inn for the sake of security. Dale and Poe concealed their holy symbols in their rooms and ventured into the city to gather supplies for the continuing journey. Arn, Bryn, and Flynt -- Flynt with his robe on and his hood up -- headed for the Wizards’ Quarter to meet with the leaders of their orders in Maelgoth.

Flynt met with Hennihoya the Wise, a young but well respected wizardess who led Maelgoth’s few white robes. She arranged to retrieve the party’s hidden dragonlances and conceal them in a shipment of vallenwood lumber bound for Vingaard Keep. The party could meet the barge at the wharf and travel with the wood that far, before they would have to make their own arrangements to travel overland and deliver the lances to the massing Whitestone Army at the High Clerist’s Tower.

Bryn, on the other hand, had a last minute change of heart. Fearing that the self-serving Amroth of the black robes might betray him to the Dragonarmy, he instead went to Iustus of the red robes, telling him of the party’s precious cargo and plans and asking for assistance. Iustus advised Bryn of a route over the rooftops of the Wizards’ Quarter that he and his companions might use to escape the walls of Maelgoth, telling him of a certain magical butcher whose assistance they would require in order to access the top of the eastern wall of the Quarter. Bryn sought out the butcher and gave the man a hefty bribe to leave both his front door and rooftop trap door unlocked for the night.

In the meantime, Lea had set about exploring Maelgoth’s underworld, seeking out the thieves’ guild and alchemists willing to supply him with contraband smokesticks and flash powder, before disguising himself as the retired gnome tradesman Hodor Longfellow and taking a room at the Steel Wheel, unbeknownst to his companions a few doors down.

Their tasks complete, the party -- sans Lea -- reconvened at the Steel Wheel to discuss what they had learned and formulate an escape.

Palast, the 14th of Deepkolt, 352 AC

Having procured the necessary supplies the day before, the party laid low at the Steel Wheel during its second day in town, venturing out only in the evening to set their escape plan in motion. They made it as far as the gates of the Wizards’ Quarter without raising any alarm, but passing the guards there without alerting them proved impossible.

The party sprinted through the Wizards’ Quarter after incapacitating one of the guards who sought to fire a flare arrow into the sky, dodging patrolmen and draconians from narrow alleyway to narrow alleyway until they were all safely atop the roof of the specialty butcher shop. From there it was a simple matter to creep along the rooftops to the archway over the southern road, onto the southern town wall and down into the wharf district.

There, the party found its way blocked by a group of draconians harassing a human girl. While they debated the relative morality of risking their quest to save her, a swashbuckling rogue by the name of Pieryan Salazar stepped in before them. When the battle appeared to turn against the rogue, the party finally rose to the occasion, only to be berated by Salazar once the girl was safe.

“I had them right where I wanted them!” Salazar protested, before departing with a wink and a grin. Nonplussed, the party watched him go and then walked to the dock where their barge awaited. They were welcomed aboard by stern-looking Solamnic rivermen, and the group shoved off for Vingaard.

Majetag, the 15th of Deepkolt, 352 AC

While the rest of the party fended off hungry trolls and waterlogged skeletons on the Vingaard River south of the town, Lea insinuated himself into Maelgoth as Hodor Longfellow. From his room at the Steel Wheel, he observed his companions prepare and execute their escape but did not contact them, merely observing from the depths of a well-groomed traditional gnomish beard.

Hodor arranged meetings with a number of power players in the town, including Major Clorphan of the Blue Dragonarmy (he was foisted onto the overworked Captain Methentt) and Lady Justcause of the Solamnic nobility, casing their homes and offices while professing shared interests. While speaking to Methentt, he noted evidence of a planned attack on the High Clerist’s Tower in just a few days’ time. Some quick mental calculations told him that afforded him only three days of plotting in Maelgoth before he would have to take to the road to warn his companions.

Bakukal, the 18th of Deepkolt, 352 AC

At sundown on the 18th, the party’s barge arrived in Vingaard Port and the heroes wasted no time in hiring a large wagon to take their lumber up the Knights’ High Road. The Blue Dragonarmy tried to stop them to inspect their cargo at both gates of the city, but Arn growled and threatened his way past both sets of guards, using his stature and the fearsome reputation of his people to intimidating effect.

Meanwhile, back in Maelgoth, Lea made use of the time he had left in town to take on a contract from the thieves’ guild, tracking and eliminating the lieutenant tasked with monitoring organized crime. He put a crossbow bolt through the officer’s head from 20 yards and gave his guild tail a nod and a bow before hurrying to the livery, borrowing a pony, and riding hard for the southwest.

 

[DMZ2112]

Dragons of Menace Session Report 5 – 2015 Aug-Oct

Dragons of Menace
Session Report 5 – 2015 Aug-Oct

Palast, the 21st of Deepkolt, 352 AC

The trip up the Knights’ High Road to the High Clerist’s Tower was almost too quiet. The Plains of Solamnia were seemingly deserted, in anticipation of the fierce battle to come. On the second day, Lea caught up to the rest of the party, riding hard on a “borrowed” pony, and brought with him reports of the legions massing at Vingaard in even greater numbers than the party had seen as they passed through.

The party’s resolve faltered, trapped between a colossal army and the teeth of a forbidding storm coming over the mountains, but in the end they pressed onward and reached the gates of the High Clerist’s Tower with the light of Solinari making every falling snowflake shine like polished silver. Their welcome was not friendly, but eventually Dale and Poe, both loyal Solamnics, were able to talk their way into the western courtyard, where Arn revealed their precious cargo hidden in the vallenwood -- the dragonlances.

The captain of the guard had nothing but derision for their so-called legendary weapons, pointing out that his garrison was starving and freezing to death, and that the Dragonarmy would not need dragons to take the Tower, but at the very least the lances earned the party an audience with Lord Alfred Markenin, commander of the forces at the Tower, in the Knights’ Spur.

Lord Markenin was more gracious but not much more grateful for the party’s mission, sharing as he did his guard captain’s grim outlook on the battle to come. Still, he invited the party to what meager dinner could be scrounged from the stores and introduced them to his other guests -- Princess Lauralanthalasa of Qualinesti, Sir Derek Crownguard of the Knights of the Rose, the newly minted Sir Sturm Brightblade of the Knights of the Crown, and the princess’ companions Flint Fireforge and Tasslehoff Burrfoot.

The hospitality at dinner was as meager as the fare -- Sir Derek and Sir Sturm nearly came to blows over strategy, if it could be called that, with Sir Derek eventually storming out of the hall swearing that he would march his knights out to meet the Blue Dragonarmy on the field as soon as the storm lifted, and that if Sturm did not follow his life and the lives of his men would be forfeit after Derek’s inevitable victory. The High Clerist’s Tower had never fallen while it was defended by true Knights of Solamnia, after all -- the overwhelming might of the Dragonarmy was of no consequence.

Lord Markenin was forced to acknowledge that this plan -- and this threat -- were well within the rights granted to Sir Derek by his court and military rank. Although he agreed the strategy was foolhardy, he also held out hope as Derek did -- that the Tower had never fallen. Everyone present had heard of the great magical treasures hidden within the High Clerist’s Tower and pressed Lord Markenin to open the sealed doors and see what inside might aid in the coming battle, but Lord Markenin was insistent that the Tower would not be opened until the High Clerist ordered it -- and there hadn’t been a High Clerist since the last one died inside the Tower during the Cataclysm 350 years before.

Laurana and her companions, at least, were grateful to the party for bringing the lesser dragonlances from Rayne’s Drop, as their own plans to provide dragonlances to the Whitestone Army were shattered when Theros Ironfeld, a skilled weaponsmith and the wielder of the Silver Arm of Ergoth, was swept overboard in an amphidragon attack off Sancrist.

This state of affairs did not satisfy the party, half of which wanted to abandon the Knights to their folly and the other half of which sought to ignore Lord Markenin’s warnings and search the Tower for artifacts. Ultimately unable to reach a consensus, the party split -- Arn, Bryn, and Flynt Frozenflame remained in the Knights’ Spur while Dale, Lea, Poe, Tharivol, and Uri joined Laurana, Tas, and a reluctant Flint Fireforge in investigating the Tower.

The explorers were ultimately unable to breach the broad portcullises at the base of the Tower, although Lea immediately surmised that the strange architecture was some kind of trap. But for what? And for what purpose? The party gained access to the Tower at the temple level and found themselves breathing air that had not been disturbed for centuries. The Tower smelled of ancient death. It was a vast and monolithic tomb.

No wonder the Knights wanted the Tower to stay sealed; it was the grave of hundreds of Solamnic souls, Knights and civilians alike. In the Temple of Mishakal, the party rescued the souls of five pilgrims who had been crushed under a collapsed pillar when the Cataclysm struck the Tower by moving the pillar off their powdered bones and bringing an end to their terrified scrabbling.

In a library on the third floor, a ghostly librarian conquered Dale’s mind and tried to force him to reshelve all the books in the ruined atheneum. In the ensuing conflict, the ghost struck at Flint cruelly, draining away much of what little life remained to the aging dwarf. Only by threatening to destroy the library utterly did Poe and Tas finally succeed in getting the ghost to back down and relinquish their friend. Poe sought to make amends by promising to return with aid, but the ghost was inconsolate.

On the fourth floor, the party interrupted a grim tableau that had been replaying itself for 350 years, as the spirits of the tyrant Kurnos’ mercenaries continually stormed an eternal gala ball and slaughtered the undead revelers. Wasting not a moment, Poe called upon the strength of Kiri-Jolith and struck the mercenaries’ leader in the face with such a blow from his warhammer that the soldier’s ephemeral skull was blasted into scattered ectoplasm and his spirit banished utterly.

Dale turned the other mercenaries in the name of Mishakal and the party had plenty of time to prepare for their return and exact vengeance for the suffering of the ancient dancers. As they exited to the stairwell, they were accompanied by the sound of a rousing ovation.

The party spent less than ten minutes on the fifth floor before abandoning its magical maze to its own echoing shadows, wondering if their lack of patience would come back to haunt them but unwilling to be delayed in their exploration of the upper floors. Unfortunately, the upper floors proved to be as devoid of potential aid as the lower floors.

After skirting a grand melee between undead mercenaries and Knights of Solamnia in the great council chamber, the party took a long, spiraling stair to the gallery circling the dome hundreds of feet above and lowered Tas down to High Clerist Yarus’ dragonchess room. Guided by Laurana and Lea, Tas completed the game in progress under the cold, ancient glares of Yarus and his opponent, Kurnos, leader of the mercenaries who attacked the tower three centuries before at the moment of the Cataclysm to free him.

The apparitions of Yarus and Kurnos shook hands and vanished, Yarus reappearing at the base of the tower to order Lord Markenin to unseal the High Clerist’s Tower. Shocked, Lord Markenin wondered aloud about what could have inspired this change in fortunes for the Knights, and Flynt, Bryn, and Arn informed them of their companions’ clandestine exploration of the Tower.

Sir Derek was enraged, but Markenin and Sturm shared a relieved smile. They both knew this turn of events, illegal and unauthorized though it was, could mean the difference between victory and annihilation come the morning. Back in the Tower, the rest of the heroes continued their climb through ancient war rooms and training halls.

At the top of the Tower, the party passed through a tholobate open on all sides to the elements. Wind and snow whipped through the archways on all sides, chilling the heroes but not deterring them from continuing upward to the lantern above the Tower’s final buttresses. There they found a pair of eagles in a huge nest on a wide pedestal decorated with a kingfisher motif, weathering the storm with their eggs.

Disappointed, the adventurers peered about the small room, intent on anything that might aid the Knights in the coming battle. The male eagle reared up, prepared to defend his mate and offspring, and Uri stepped forward, quickly and silently weaving a communication bond with the eagles. He assured the eagles that the heroes meant no harm, and beseeched them to share any knowledge they might have of secrets hidden in the Tower.

The eagles were not aware of any weapons or treasure that would aid the fight, but Flint caught sight of something blue beneath the talons of the male eagle and sidled up to Uri, quietly pointing it out. Although initially reluctant to give up any part of their carefully crafted nest, Tas offered his fur-lined cloak to be cut into strips as recompense and the eagle agreed. The blue symbol was the sigil of the blue dragonarmy, and the broad if crumpled and torn parchment detailed the battle plan for the siege of the Tower.

As they spoke with the eagles and set about preparing Tas’ cloak, the party could hear the wind dying below them -- the storm was ending.

Majetag, the 22nd of Deepkolt, 352 AC

Anxious to share their discovery with the Knights, the heroes hurried down the Tower, stopping only on the fifth floor to make one final attempt at the maze. This time, they successfully navigated the twisting, disorienting passages, finding themselves at the Tower’s treasury, suspended by chains above the main floor’s atrium 50 feet below.

Accessing the treasury was a simple matter for Lea and Tas, and inside the wrought-iron cage they found a wealth of magical arms and armor, enough to fit the whole party in formidable gear. They also discovered a large crystal ball filled with blue mist, which Flint, Laurana, and Tas immediately recognized as a dragon orb, like the one Tas had destroyed at the Whitestone Council.

Lea devised a makeshift pulley system over one of the suspending chains to lower their haul to the main floor of the Tower and followed it down while the rest of the party navigated the stairwells. Almost immediately upon alighting on the floor far below, a shout went up from outside the portcullises:

“It’s them! They’ve returned! Open the gates!” Unaware of High Clerist Yarus’ command to Lord Alfred, Lea prepared to defend himself or escape, but as the Knights rushed toward him it became clear that their intentions were not violent. Cheering, they lifted the kender onto their shoulders and tossed him into the air as his companions descended into the courtyard and the Knights’ leadership approached from the Knights’ Spur.

Arn, Bryn, and Flynt explained to the bewildered explorers what had transpired in their absence and everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief that they would not be punished and the Knights would be marginally better prepared to face the Dragonarmy come dawn. Flint and Uri turned the Blue Dragonarmy battle plan over to Lord Alfred, and Lea, noticing a similarity of form, tried placing the dragon orb in the concave pedestal at the center of the Tower’s atrium. Nothing happened... but it was a perfect fit.

The link between the dragon orb and the Tower was clear, but none present knew what it could mean. Lea recalled his earlier observation about the architecture resembling some kind of trap. A trap for dragons? Activating the orb would require a powerful wizard, and there were only two of them in the Tower -- Bryn and Flynt.

Flynt refused outright to wield the orb. He had seen firsthand the devastation caused in Silvanost by King Lorac and his dragon orb, where the king’s nightmares had warped the very land itself, and he was unwilling to repeat that mistake in Solamnia. He could not see a beneficial outcome of using the orb.

Bryn was tempted by the orb’s power, but also afraid to lose himself to it. In the end, it was not his greed but his desire to save his companions that compelled him to face the orb and learn its secrets. Fortified by his friends’ spells and prayers, he placed his hands upon the orb, and was drawn into its world.

Bryn did battle on a craggy, stormwracked mountaintop, against the spirit of a powerful blue dragon. Although the dragon’s claws tore at his flesh and its lightning breath seared his bones, Bryn matched it blow for blow and broke its will, driving it back into the orb’s deepest mists.

Back in the Tower, Bryn’s companions anxiously watched him writhe and scream as he fought in his mind, only to ultimately sag to his knees, insensate, his hands locked to the orb by powerful magic.

The next few hours were harrowing but all too short. When dawn broke, Sir Derek fulfilled his promise to meet the Blue Dragonarmy on the field with his Knights of the Rose and Lord Markenin’s Knights of the Sword dutifully followed. Sturm’s Knights of the Crown, spread too thinly to be adequate, tried to man as many of the Tower’s walls and defenses as they could.

A few hours after the Knights’ charge, the commander of the Blue Dragonarmy and his adjutant rode up to the tower under a flag of parley and presented Crownguard’s and Markenin’s heads to the defenders. Haughtily, the commander demanding unconditional surrender.

Lea, concealed in one of the Tower’s many arrow slits, shot him in the chest, thoroughly ruining his day. “That was far from honorable,” Sturm noted, scowling. Then his mustache twitched, and he added, “Nice shot, though.”

Kirinor, the 23rd of Deepkolt, 352 AC

The siege lasted for a full day until the Blue Dragonarmy’s ogres finally smashed down one of the side gates of the Tower and hobgoblin elites swarmed into the courtyard. The three blue dragons joined the push and for a handful of moments all seemed lost. The party met the assault in the courtyard and firing down from the walls, and at around the same moment Bryn regained consciousness, under Arn’s watchful gaze. The wizard looked up, words tumbling from his mouth about the secret of the Tower’s dragontraps. Arn ran to find Sturm, and the necessary troops to man the traps with dragonlances were found and assigned.

To buy Bryn the time he would need, Sturm went to the top of the wall with a few loyal knights to distract the swooping dragons, and Arn finally joined the grand melee in the courtyard, giving pause even to the massive ogres fighting there. Finally, when all was in place, Bryn activated the dragon orb.

Sturm paid for his bravery with a mortal wound from the blue dragon highlord’s lance, and Arn nearly paid as dearly, but Dale’s quick thinking and fast feet kept Arn upright and were even able to close Sturm’s grievous injury with a Revivify spell cast just barely in time.*

The Dragonarmy fared more poorly, with two of their three dragons swooping into the dragontraps to be executed and the hundreds of draconian troops on the field driven mad by the dragon orb’s power and proximity. The Knights routed the shattered Dragonarmy back into the Plains of Solamnia and the High Clerist’s Tower was spared.

(*That’s right, it happened: Revivify saved Sturm Brightblade. D&D does not seem to be ruined forever, neither my childhood, but I will keep you posted.)

 

[DMZ2112]

Dragons of Menace
Session Report 6 – Winter 2015-Spring 2016

Bakukal, the 25th of Deepkolt, 352 AC

Following the rout of the Blue Dragonarmy forces at the High Clerist’s Tower, Sturm asked the party to travel with him, Laurana, Tas, and Flint, along with a small contingent of knights, to bear the heads of the slain blue dragons to Palanthas and make another effort at recruitment.

The drive was more or less successful, with a few thousand men and women pledging themselves to the knights’ cause after Sturm’s austere address in front of the city hall. He called upon the duty and honor of every Solamnic. It was powerful, but not particularly stirring. The Steel General, as the knights were now calling him, was a formidable battlefield leader but leaned heavily on the party for diplomatic assistance.

Laurana was even more hesitant to take the spotlight, and Tasslehoff plunged into deep mourning, after their friend Flint died in his sleep during the first night in Palanthas. The old dwarf’s strength had been visibly flagging since the fight with the librarian’s ghost in the Tower, and with the Battle of the High Clerist’s Tower over, he returns quietly to Reorx’s forge.

Although Flint’s death brought a somber pall to the victory celebration, the party was hailed as the saviors of the High Clerist’s Tower, the Steel General, and even the Knights of Solamnia as a whole. Dale and Poe met with Elistan, an aged priest of Paladine who was greatly respected in Palanthas and among the Whitestone forces.

Although self-deprecating about any right or ability to confer priesthood he may have had, Elistan recognized Dale and Poe as true priests of the returned gods, a gesture that seemed to have great weight with the people of Palanthas.

The greatest advantage the Knights gained in Palanthas was the arrival of the metallic dragons from somewhere across the sea to the north. Laurana’s brother Gilthanas was among them, and he explained that the chromatic dragons had somehow obtained enormous caches of metallic dragon eggs, and had been using them as leverage to keep the metallic dragons out of the war.

However, he and Silvara, a silver dragon, had discovered that the Dragonarmies were corrupting these eggs with devils from the Abyss and using them to birth the draconians. With the chromatic dragons’ deceit exposed, there was no longer a barrier to the metallic dragons’ joining the fight against the Dark Queen. The Whitestone Army still had a difficult battle ahead of it, but it was now a battle they had a chance of winning, even if it is only a chance.

Tharivol and Uri met privately with Silvara, who until recently lived among the Kagonesti. She reported that their people are healthy and safe from the Dragonarmies, although relations with the Qualinesti and Silvanesti refugees, who have settled in Southern Ergoth after being driven from their lands in the south, are strained, with their more 'civilized' cousins treating the sylvan Kagonesti like servants and second-class citizens in their own homeland.

Arn was “befriended” by an arrogant Silvanesti elf named Berias, who was seemingly obsessed with learning why a minotaur is in Solamnia helping the forces of Good. The elf always stopped just short of enraging Arn, but his continuous stream of self-righteous questioning tried the minotaur's patience.

Majetag, the 1st of Brookgreen, 352 AC

At the end of their time in the great city, Sturm asked the party to return to Maelgoth with the bronze dragon Arcabeon to prepare for the Whitestone assault on the city and help minimize the loss of civilian life by undermining the already reduced Blue Dragonarmy presence there.

The party traveled northeast, overland through the foothills of the Vingaard Mountains, to avoid the massing Whitestone Army and Red and Blue Dragonarmies. Except for a single bloody and fiery encounter with an ettin and his pet hellhounds, the trip was without incident and the party arrived in Maelgoth to find only a skeleton crew of Blue Dragonarmy soldiers manning its gates and patrolling its streets, the majority of the forces garrisoned there having been called south to Vingaard to defend against the coming attack.

Majetag, the 8th of Brookgreen, 352 AC

The party arrived in Maelgoth just after dawn, and discovered how emptied the city had become of dragonarmy soldiers when Uri caused a commotion at the gate by claiming to be a fur trapper returning from Hinterlund’s trackless desert. Half the party scattered into the city but those trapped at the gate easily dispatched the few guards on duty.

The innkeeper of the Mead and Measure honored his deal with Lea and hid the kender in the back room, but when the rest of the party arrived he informed them they’d have to find other lodging -- the Mead was too exposed for a group with so much heat on them. The group met briefly with Arcabeon and Berias, and then left to take rooms at the Steel Wheel. After a good night’s sleep, they struck out for a farmstead in Nightlund in search of a local’s pocketwatch (and some spending money).

Lea stayed behind to further cement his place in Maelgoth’s underworld, establishing a safehouse in the wharf district. Taking advantage of the drop in city security, he began to lay the groundwork for a transition of power in the city from the dragonarmy to himself

They arrived at the farm as night was falling, and spent a harrowing night battling the physical, mental, and emotional nightmares of that cursed province, including a mysterious and deadly spectre taking the form of their absent companion, Lea. Uri fell in battle with a pack of wraiths, and while Dale’s entreaty to Mishakal saw him returned to life, his forelock had turned shock white for the trouble.

Powerful spirits taking the form of flaming drakes prevented the party from fleeing the farmstead, and forced them into combat with the evil Lea-spectre, which possessed a mighty stone statue of a Solamnic knight in the strange crypts below the farm. Its explosive demise knocked the party unconscious, and when they awoke they were in the basement of the farmhouse, the entrance to the crypt mysteriously vanished.

Returning upstairs, the party found the previously intact farmhouse burned out and mouldering, the timepiece they sought resting pristine in a desk drawer that had previously held only a tarnished chain...

Kirinor, the 9th of Brookgreen, 352 AC

The party returned to Maelgoth the following day to news that the Whitestone Army had taken Vingaard Keep and crossed the river into Nightlund. Seizing advantage of the even further reduced garrison in Maelgoth’s northern fortresses, Lea set about to sow chaos and inadvertently embroiled the party in open insurrection.

Fortunately, the rest of the party had been trying to convince the Resistance to take a chance at rebellion and when the party rode out to fight the commanders of the Blue Dragonarmy garrison, they were met on the field by hundreds of Maelgoth citizens, emboldened by the adventurers’ efforts on their behalf over the previous month.

Both barracks were set ablaze, with dozens of dragonarmy soldiers inside them. The party slew Clorphan and Methentt, and routed the black-robed wizard Amroth. The wizard Bryn carried a basket of Molotov cocktails atop the walls of one of the fortresses, but left it unguarded while he searched for viable targets below. When he returned to the basket, it had been discovered by an alert crossbowman.

Bryn hurled a lightning bolt to protect his ordnance and realized his error a moment too late when the energy arced to the basket of oil flasks, detonating it in a fireball that could be seen for miles. Bryn was hurled down from the wall and lay dying on the parade field. He was rescued by the quick action of his fellows but would be marked by his facial burns for the rest of his long life.

Despite its accidental origin, the rebellion was a success thanks to the party’s leadership, and Maelgoth was again a free city of Solamnia. In the following few days, before they learned of the Whitestone Army’s engagement with the White Dragonarmy deep inside Nightlund, the party made arrangements to retrieve their fortune from the monastery at Rayne’s Drop and invested heavily in the recovery of Maelgoth.

While Lea continued his efforts to establish himself in the criminal underworld, the rest of the party purchased a manor house near the Wizards’ Quarter and a storefront near the town square to be used as a temple to Mishakal and Kiri-Jolith, Dale and Poe’s patron deities.