2017-06-29

Sundered Lands 30

The Sundered Lands of Palladium

Session 30
October 26 - November 5, 2016


Down the Hall

Saturday October 28

Through the Wall

As the dust settles from the most recent explosion, Cruncher bolts down the hall and through the illusionary wall, following Fortis’ suggestion of finding the leader of the Sea Harpies, a mysterious woman known as Lady Lotus. Shouts and panicked voices can be heard from further down the hall where Silver saw the thrown concoctions come from.



Seeker moves forward after Cruncher. He dodges past Moonscar, assuming that they will leapfrog up the passageway. He sees another tendril patch ahead.

Seeing Seeker in full military action mode, Valinya opts to keep out of the way as much as possible, keeping to the middle of the pack.  Not that her current vaporous condition impedes much but still, there is the principle.  

Fortis waits a fraction of a second to see what the remainder of the team will do, longing for just a few more moments of rest before moving in stealthily to support the landbound warriors charging into the unknown. Seeing that he is not going to get it he resigns himself to providing a diminished effect later in the excursion. Apparently we can rest when we're dead… though I do hope it doesn't come to that.

Seeing another set of obstacles in front of her companions, Silver moves down the hallway, stopping behind the crouching Seeker and snakes her head past him, letting go of a mouthful of dragon fire, spraying the dark tendril patch in front and turning it into a smoking black stain on the floor. Moonscar moves up cautiously in a defensive position, following the charging Cruncher. Arn also charges up, trying to keep pace with the others, bellowing out incoherent taunts and obscenities!

Down the hallway a ways, a Sea Harpy with a crossbow leans around the corner and sends a bolt flying right at Seeker. The bolt goes wide though, missing its intended target and striking Silver instead! The Dragon twitches to get out of the way but the bolt hits anyway, bouncing to the ground beneath her feet.

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Taking advantage of the enemy’s need to reload, Seeker moves forward deliberately, his shoulders brushing the low ceiling. His paws catch briefly in the patch of tarry stuff. “Careful, guys, this stuff is sticky!” He can see the thug’s eyes widen as the Wolfen fills the corridor. “Start running and don’t stop, Human. It may save your life!” Seeker’s voice is low, but it carries to the crossbowman.

Cruncher also moves forward, running on all fours and leaps the black, sticky patch. He lets out a deep, rumbling growl as he lands a mere yard away from the startled Sea Harpy. The young Human calls out, “Cruncher! What are you doing? Turn around, get ‘em!” Cruncher does not seem to hear him.

As Fortis moves forward he reestablishes his masonry disguise. That Worg really is turning out to be quite vicious, and incredibly effective. I hope we don't end up having to fight him when this little adventure concludes. Of course that leaves open the question of exactly what will need to be done with an evil apex predator in the middle of a city filled with people it considers tasty playthings. I somehow suspect that waiting for nature to take its course would lead to a high level of dissatisfaction and upset, for the populace, the authorities and our team, not to mention Cruncher himself.

Keeping pace with her companions, Valinya floats along keeping  a wary eye … or two … for things they might have missed, noting the action up front.  

Silver moves up on the right, into the opening of the intersecting hallway, and then blasts the newest obstacle on the floor with a mouthful of Dragon fire, hoping that her flame will burn away whatever sticky substance threatens to slow her companions down. Arn also moves up the hallway, following Seeker and Cruncher, but stopping just short of where Silver is frying the floor. The charging Dwarf flings his mace at the only opponent he can see, weaving his shot right between Seeker’s long, striding legs. The magical bat mace narrowly misses Seeker, narrowly misses its target, striking the corner of the hallway and sending several old bricks to their demise and then flying back, narrowly missing Seeker once again! “Dammit!” the Dwarf shouts! In the rear, Moonscar slides along the wall, keeping his companions and the rear approach all in his vision, watching for an ambush from behind.

The Sea Harpy disappears from the hallway and jumps back around the corner, dropping his crossbow in the process. Lots of panicked shouting can be heard around the corner and what sounds like a door being slammed as well.

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Cruncher continues his mad dash forward, skidding around the corner to the left, following the retreating the Sea Harpies. The Worg can be heard slamming into and busting open a door somewhere just around the corner to the left and growling viciously.

Fortis summons and holds a ball of distilled sunlight as he takes a cautious step forward, preparing to  immolate any opponent vicious enough to best a rampaging work in a crowded tunnel fight… which upon further consideration is probably a fairly small subset of all potential opponents.

Seeker and Arn continue down the hall and around the corner, following the Worg and hoping to find some Sea Harpy opponents. There are some Sea Harpies there, though they are fleeing away and going around another corner some 15 feet further on. Silver follows the Dwarf a little more cautiously and Moonscar moves slowly, taking up a position near Fortis so he can watch down both ways of the long hallway as well as the short corridor heading north that is full of dust and debris. The most recent explosion came from that direction, though all Moonscar can see through the dust is a dead-end hallway.


Cast of Characters: 

+Arne Jamtgaard plays Seeker, a teenage Wolfen Warlord
+Stephen Kolmetz plays Valinya, an Elven Wildsong Mage
+Mike Biancone plays Arn, a surly Dwarven Warrior
+Amergin O'Kai plays Moonscar, the esoteric Kankoran Druid
+Daniel White plays Silver, a young and curious Dragon
+Mike Williams plays Gorgukk Torgnaz, an Ogre sailor and mauler
and +Jason GURPS as the GM



2017-06-22

Grand Duchy 104

Grand Duchy of Adventure

Session 104
October 4, 2016


This Way to the Egress

Draven senses a great evil
The Grey Company, having recovered the item which they sought, begins making their way back out of the Vault of Elders. Upon retreating from the secret vault, Draven feels the great evil presence he had felt dissipate. 

Slowly the group makes their way through the many passages and doors, having to only open one at a time before the next one can be opened. Just as the group climbing the stairs back up to the main temple room, they are beset by several Hutaakan mummies. 

The Company quickly engages, using their flaming weapons to the best of their advantage. Iris and Kasiex are both wounded by the deadly and diseased mummy claws before Draven summons the might of his Immortal Patrons to drive the undead back into the ground.

Ree calls up from the rear, back by the open door and asks if she should close them so the group can make a run for the front doors and escape. Just as Iris shouts back to her to do so, Draven is overcome with the feeling of great evil again. As the battle rages up above her, Ree closes the door and instructs the group to make a run for the main front doors.

Before this part of the plan can be worked out though, the double doors leading further into the Vault slide open, revealing several more mummies, including one that bears a fancy, bejeweled headdress and mighty staff, some sort of Mummy Lord. 
The Hutaakan Mummy Lord reveals himself

Ree regrets her decision
The battle is raging again, bolts of magic, sunlight and now skull-sized stones from the Mummy Lord fly back and forth across the room. Shouts and curses also fill the air as Ree apologizes for closing the door and allowing these new combatants access to the room. 

As the Grey Company fights for their life, a heavy, dark fear settles over them, terrifying them right to their bones. Some of the members of this brave company find themselves paralyzed in fear.



Cast of Characters: 

Garrett "Griffin" Constantine, a Thyatian rogue of a gambler from Penhaligon rolled by +Arne Jamtgaard 

Draven Rickart, a Thyatian Acolyte of the Church of Karameikos ministered by +Jason Packer with help from +Patrick Burke 

Remar Umerusan Alphatian battle mage that escaped forced service in the Thyatian army currently marshalled by +Patrick Kelly 

Iris Vardaa Thyatian explorer and historian searching for answers and adventure, now guided by +Stephanie Kelly 

Kasiex, a Hutaakan Wildsteward used to ranging the mountains and valleys now led down a new path by +Patrick Burke 

and +Jason Woollard as The DM






2017-06-08

Sundered Lands 29

The Sundered Lands of Palladium

Session 29
October 9, 2016


Deeper Into the Harpy's Lair

Sunday October 28

Battling the Sea Harpies

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Seeing that Silver is a bit banged up by the recent cave in, Valinya casts a spell to magically heal the dragon while Seeker advances to keep up with Arn.

Moonscar sees that some of the Harpies have little pouches and clay vials strung at their belts.
He scans the prone thugs quickly for Bags of Naughty Tentacle Terrain Control or other useful tricks. “Cousin Magpie,” he calls to Fortis, “Can you see any magic tricks on any of these guys?”

Fortis listens to Moonscar's request and quickly scans the fallen Sea Harpies for magical auras and sees that some of the pouches and things hanging from some of the Sea Harpy belts radiate magic, but some of them are turned and laying in a way that it makes it hard to see everything in just one second.

Silver charges down the hallway, following Seeker and Arn,trampling right over the fallen Sea Harpies.

Cruncher continues savaging the downed Sea Harpy around the corner.
Arn continues down the hallway, running and looking for bad guys and Seeker advances to keep up with Arn.

Valinya says "Yes, I see that some of the items at their belts radiate magic as well. " She points at the one at her feet. "That clay pot and that pouch are both magic!"

Moonscar calls out, “Let's grab what we can quickly and catch up. Use their toys against them!”

Cruncher says "Grrrrrr" and looks at Silver with narrowed eyes as the Dragon approaches.

Arn continues his charge, hoping to find an enemy to hurl his enchanted mace into. He rounds the corner and sees an empty hallway, a closed door to his right. The Dwarf’s momentum carries him to the door on his left and he attempts to bash through it with his shield up. The door was not locked, just a bit stubborn in its jamb and flies open at Arn's shield bash.

The smell in this room is almost overpowering. Broken and gnawed bones line the floor. No lights burn in here and a pile of decomposing animal carcasses sit in one corner. Some ratty, torn up blankets lie in the other corner. This is probably Cruncher's lair. Another closed door leads south. No Sea Harpies are present.

Valinya floats about the room, pointing out several magical items to Moonscar. Fortis moves up to support his companions pointing out any trinkets Valinya failed to communicate to Moonscar.

Seeker charges up the corridor and through the door next to Arn. He calls out, “It's through there, Arn”

Arn replies, “I'm on it lad!”

Moonscar says, “Thanks Cousin, Sis! We need to spot any doors - don't want to get jumped from behind.” The Druid starts grabbing up what he can see and tucking it into the empty pouches of my harness. Moonscar starts looting the second Sea Harpy, rummaging around in the dark trying to find the Sea Harpies belt.

Valinya replies, "Ill watch the back way, Moonscar."Then adds, "Ill get some light!"
Fortis is in nearly complete darkness and can barely make out the light coming from around the corner to where Seeker and Arn ran off to.

Cruncher continues tearing the dead Sea Harpy limb from limb.

Arn continues further, turning left and heading south to the next door, looking to bash through that one as well. Again, the door flies open violently, slamming into the wall beyond it.
Fortis finds himself in an abnormally dark place and pauses for a moment to cast Continual Light at Moonlight strength

Moonscar thinks of traditional Kankoran tactics - ambush in a clearing, fall back and ambush surviving pursuit in another. This complex models the concept reasonably well and he worries about  Arn charging into one!

Seeker see caltrops in the doorway. The only way past them would be to jump over altogether. He calls out "Careful, Silver! Caltrops in the doorway!" as he runs forward and then bounces through the doorway, avoiding some caltrops on the ground.

Valinya casts a continual light spell on Sunstroke, Moonscar’s Ironwood staff.

Valinya says "That better, Moonscar?"
Moonscar blinks, “Woah! Uh, yeah! Thanks!”

With better light to see by, Moonscar then finds a black pouch and a small clay pot that Valinya indicates are both magical

Valinya says "The dazed guy behind you has some on his belt too!"

Moonscar puts pouches on the left side of his harness and vials on the right.
Silver Silver approaches carefully, examining the ground ahead of her, not wanting to step on any caltrops!

Ahead of him, Arn sees a door and a hallway, both heading west.

Arn continues the same charge, hoping to leap past any caltrops or issues on the floor and attempts to slam into the door.

This room feels a little drier than the others in the complex, and the air smells slightly less musty. The room itself is furnished as a lounge, complete with stuffed couch and low table. Several lamps hang from the walls, but they are not lit. The ceiling is 10’ high.
Fortis moves forward to support the charging maniacs he considers friends.

Seeker does recall that there should be a passage that way but the wall he is looking at appears to be real, possibly like the one that had been blocking up the main entry way earlier. He stops short. "Hey! There should be a passageway here." He tries to disbelieve in case it is some sort of illusion blocking the passage.

Seeker stares at the damp, brickwork wall ahead of him and calls "Okay, Arn, clear that room and the one beyond it. Let's rally here."

Seeker ponders "If they have an Earth mage who can create walls, they can probably do what Valinya does and carve out new passages. The map Eilar gave us may be deceptive."

Moonscar is busy  snagging tricky treats while Silver moves up slowly, being careful to avoid the caltrops. Arn moves into the room to make sure it is clear and look around to see if it leads to yet more areas and continues his momentum into the next visible door, turning his Dwarven form into a door smashing juggernaut! Another door goes flying open in Arn's wake

Arn sees that the next room contains two fairly comfortable looking bunks. A small table sits between them against the far wall. The sheets on them only sport a few spots of mildew. There are no light sources in this room. Fortis stops in the room and takes a moment to help regather the dispersed raiding force and calls to his new thrall, "Cruncher, please come here." Fortis hears Cruncher make an almost cute doggie noise somewhere behind him in the darkness

Seeker can see that the room that Fortis and Arn are in has a much higher ceiling than the short hallway he is still in. He moves into the taller room and says, "Okay, let's take five, folk. I think they walled us off again, so we will probably need Val to work her mojo."

Back behind the main group, Valinya and Moonscar pick over the defeated Sea Harpies. Valinya says, "Should we hurry to catch up with our companions? Who knows how far ahead they have gotten."

Moonscar agrees with Valinya, “I think so Sis - let's wrap it up,” as he finds yet another black pouch and clay pot.

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Looking at a dazed Sea Harpy, Moonscar says, “This one looks like he can answer some questions in a minute or so - can you keep him drooly enough to bring along maybe?”

Valinya says "Come’on Moonscar, they went this way!" The two companions hurry ahead to catch up with their friends.

Silver sees that all of his companions have gone through the doorway ahead so she moves up to follow the crazy Dwarf. Arn investigates the next room but doesn't see anything interesting.

Fortis rests while the others continue exploring. He calls to the Worg again, "Cruncher, please come here. I need to ask you something." A distant yelp indicates that Cruncher is approaching.

Seeker stretches and cracks his neck. "Everybody okay?"

As Silver moves forward, she is confused by the lack of opposition, "Hmm, where's all the Harpies?" she says to Arn who has moved on to the next darkened area ahead but finds no further avenues of forward progress.

From somewhere nearby, Fortis hears Cruncher cry out in pain! This prompts Seeker to move to the other door to warn Moonscar of the caltrops while Fortis looks to see what happened to Cruncher. Seeker greets the now hobbled Worg in Wolfen, "Oh, hi, Cruncher." Cruncher is hunched over in the hallway outside the room, gnawing violently at his feet. He seems to have run afoul of the caltrops.

Moonscar and Val finally catch up tot the group, Cruncher growls at Moonscar, and Silver some more.

Seeker points to the new wall that is not indicated on the map that Eliar provided for them. "They're trying to slow us down with another wall, Val."

Moonscar adds, “We have a door left back here to check and drooling harpy we could question.”

Fortis looks around at the others, “If someone would kindly help Cruncher I'd like to heal him so he can continue to help us.”

Seeker says, in Wolfen, “You want me to look at those paws, bug guy?"

Seeker says in Wolfen, “You want me to look at those paws, big guy?"

Cruncher says in Wolfen, ““Yes, please. If you hurt me, I will bite you." The Worg then looks to Fortis for reassurance.

Moonscar puts his hood up to hide his silent laughter.

Fortis says, “These are my friends Cruncher, We would like to help you and like you to help us.”

Seeker says, "They've blocked off the passageway we wanted to go down; If we want, we could try and bore through here like we did before." His eyes gleam. "Or, we could bore through the wall of that far room and hopefully come out somewhere they don't expect."

Cruncher says "Ok. But do I get to savage some more?"

Valinya checks out the new wall.

Moonscar says, “I grabbed a couple of those tentacle bags - at least I think that's what's in them - and a couple of other magic vials”

Valinya says "Um, or we could just walk through. Its an illusion."

Seeker kneels by the Worg and gently picks up a paw.

Fortis says, “Yes, you can savage them some more later. Have they hurt you?”

Cruncher says "Your Dwarf hurt me with his mace. And those spikes."

Fortis says, “The dwarf thought you were going to eat the Kankoran... do you remember threatening to do that?”

Cruncher responds, "I still might if I get the chance."

Moonscar says, “Little Sister got trapped on the far side of the explosion and is waiting for us. At least the boat is guarded.”

Silver says, “Well, if that's an illusion, why are we waiting here?”

Seeker says, "Okay, good point, Silver. Are we ready to press on? The fake wall is to slow us down. Be nice if it didn't…”

Fortis looks at Cruncher, checking over his wounds. The Worg looks to be pretty seriously wounded.

Fortis says, “Well, the Kankoran is my friend, and a druid. I would have thought you would have had more respect for the wild places,” while Seeker removes the caltrops from Cruncher's paws. The Ellyl continues, “What can you tell us about the Lady Lotus while I heal your wounded paws
We need to find her.”

Cruncher says, "The Lady is good to me. She feeds me good meat, takes me to run, gives me play things to savage! The other two-legs here are scared, they stay away. I want to eat the Lady's pet though, he smells funny."

Fortis casts Major Healing on the remainder of Cruncher wounds, drawing on Narcelissa's necklace for power. Fortis asks, “Different how? and do you know where the Lady Lotus is?”

Cruncher says "Umm, yea, kinda. But not like these two legs. He's like your dragon there, but different."

Silver perks up at this comment. “Like me?” she asks.

Seeker muses, "Interesting."

Cruncher responds, "Kinda. It don’t have those wings and he’s green. Smells nasty. He’s mean"

Fortis shifts his illusion to imitate the description. "Like this?"

Cruncher says "I like mean, but she won’t let me play with ‘em. And by play, I mean eat."

Moonscar asks, “Hmm - does he always look that way - or does he look the rest sometimes?”

Cruncher answers, "He looks like that every time I seen it. "

Moonscar turns to Seeker, “We've ran into a couple of different kinds of reptile assassins before - think you'll recognize any of their scents brother? We may have found one of our quarry after all. . .”

Cruncher looks at the tiny green dragon illusion cloaking Fortis and says "Greener. Thicker scales. the spiky thing on the back looks good. It's got them front legs, but they are too short to run on."

Fortis modifies the illusion according to Crunchers corrective descriptions until he has a decent approximation and Cruncher looks it  over, nodding. He says "Yes, that’s more like it, but with the thicker scales and the yellow fin. And bigger, more this dragon's size, not tiny like a puppy."

The illusion that Fortis is now wearing does not look like any Chaos Lord agents that have been battled before. It looks like a small, wingless dragon. Moonscar looks the illusion over carefully and sifts through his memory of Chaos agents that have been encountered but comes up with nothing. He turns to Seeker and Valinya, “Brother, Sis, any recall?”

Fortis asks again, “Do you know where the Lady Lotus is?” and then another, “Do you know who was casting magic in here?”

Cruncher looks as if he is getting confused with too many questions at once. Fortis slows down and concentrates his questions on the Lady Lotus. Moonscar chimes in, “Hey Cousin - keep that face up for a while - could be handy!”

Cruncher says "The Lady is probably in her chambers, I don’t know where that is. Beyond the training hall, I don't go back there. I can wander some hallways but not them all."

Valinya says "Hey are we gonna do anything about this illusion wall? You know we can walk right through it right?"

Arn chimes in...."Illusionary wall? send me through!"

Seeker says, “Okay, we ready to go? They know we're here - they're probably trying to leave”

Moonscar adds, “Or setting traps. Yup, let's course on”

Silver tries to poke her head through the wall. She sees past the illusion, a long hallway stretches out, some passages to either side and a T intersection at the end.

Fortis speaks to the Worg, “Cruncher, if you go find Lady Lotus and savage any Sea Harpies who get in your way well see about letting you play with her pet wingless dragon. I think you might be fiercer than it is. What do you think?

All of the sudden, another explosion rocks the compound. Dust and debris fall from the ceiling

Silver sees an arm poke out of one of the passageways on the left and fling two small objects down the hallway.

Silver takes a breath and breathes flame down the hallway

Another patch of tendrils appears a ways down the hallway and dark spot appears past that.

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Cast of Characters: 

+Arne Jamtgaard plays Seeker, a teenage Wolfen Warlord
+Stephen Kolmetz plays Valinya, an Elven Wildsong Mage
+Mike Biancone plays Arn, a surly Dwarven Warrior
+Amergin O'Kai plays Moonscar, the esoteric Kankoran Druid
+Daniel White plays Silver, a young and curious Dragon
+Mike Williams plays Gorgukk Torgnaz, an Ogre sailor and mauler
and +Jason GURPS as the GM