Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Witchspire Hill: Session 1


Date: April 22-25, 1,051 HR

Our first night of play began with our hardy adventurers arriving at dusk outside the gates of Null's Harbor, principle town of the the Kingdom of Gnut. Upon entering the town, the party lost little time tracking down the truth to the rumors that had been trickling down the coast road into central and southern Thrang. After some inquiries were made at The Green Griffon tavern, the party made the acquaintance of a local jack-of-all-trades known as "Filthy Pete," who claimed to have information about the strange goings on in the Stony Brow Hills and the stories that had lured the party to Gnut.

According to Filthy Pete, five months earlier, a mysterious black tower manifested itself one night atop a remote hill know as Witchspire Hill. No one witnessed any construction of the structure - it was simply "there" one November morning. Needless to say, the bizarre occurrence created a stir when news of it reached the Null's Harbor which lay just one day's march to the west. Unable to resist the lure, a local adventuring company known as "The Wild Boys" headed out to investigate. They returned to town one week later telling tales of an extensive network of tunnels, galleries, and chambers laying beneath the tower. Significantly, they also returned with treasure in the form of gold coins, gems, and some strange and foreign looking objets d'art. After resupplying, "The Wild Boys" headed out again to investigate "The Witchspire" as locals had begun to call it. That was late November.

As of yet, they have not returned.

Following the discoveries of "The Wild Boys," two other adventuring companies - "The Undermountain Boys" and "The Bronze Dragon Adventuring Club" - set out for hill hoping to recover additional loot. Not a single member of those groups have returned either.

Despite the obvious danger, our adventurers could not resist the lure of possible treasure to be found and quickly formulated plans to set out for the Witchspire on the following morning. After some negotiations with Filthy Pete, they managed to convince him to come along as a guide and even serve as a shield bearer for Igmar Houndhaven, one of the party's magic users. Filthy Pete offered to find an additional hireling to serve as shield bearer for Silas Graylock, the party's second magic user. Pete made good on his promise and returned the following morning with an affable if somewhat dim-witted bumpkin named Dent Footknocker.

Also at the Green Griffon, the party learned from three burly dock hands about the recent execution of Gnut's Queen. Apparently, King Hardric VII, current monarch of Gnut discovered that his wife, Queen Yvonne, had been cuckolding him with her music tutor. He promptly dissolved their marriage and had her executed. But because Queen Yyvonne was sister to King of Alfonso, ruler of the Thrangian Kingdom of Eknad, a political dispute has ensued. King Alfonso is not at all happy about the execution of his sister and tensions between Gnut and Eknad are nearing a boiling point.

The following morning, the party made ready to leave town by purchasing supplies and questioning some local merchants who had purchased some goods from the Wild Boys.

But while leaving Bytor's Magic Shop, the group's two magic users, Silas and Igmar, were approached by an indiviual identifying himself as Legas who claimed to be an agent of Hezroat, a prosperous local spice merchant. After cornering the two neophyte mages for a private conversation, Legas informed them that his master, Hezroat, would pay everyone in the party 100 gp each if they returned to town with the head of Bartok, leader of "The Wild Boys." Legas offered no information concerning Hezroat's motives in offering this deal. After some discussion, Silas and Igmar took the deal, but decided to keep the deal to themselves and not tell the rest of the party.

The rest of the morning was uneventful except for the actions of Thimble, the party's thief, who took the opportunity to pilfer a silver comb from a merchant's stall in the central marker square.

The trip to the Witchspire was uneventful and the party arrived late in the afternoon on April 24.

Upon investigating the tower itself, the party discovered what appeared to be a ransacked wizard's tower. Little was learned beyond that, but the group did find a secret compartment containing a scroll and book bound in red leather, both written in a strange and unfamiliar language. After camping for the night, our adventurers finally began their descent into the regions below the tower on the following morning.

There, the group began exploration of what they presumed to be a large underground complex. And sure enough, the complex was not uninhabited. Horrid undead in the form of ghouls and a strange bull headed skeleton assailed the party within their first hour of exploration. It was here that we suffered our first loss. Rayleen Marybegotten, a female fighter, was savagely gored to death by the bull headed skeleton during the desperate, torch-lit battle. Though shaken, the party decided to continue, and after stripping Rayleen's corpse of all useful items, they did just that.

And this is where we left off, poised on the edge of the unknown mysteries and dangers that lie beneath Witchspire Hill. Nice work everyone.

Experience Points Awarded: 43 points per character. 5 bonus points go to Thimble for her theft.

20 comments:

post festum said...

A very nice way to end a very long day. Thanks for the read. I find myself really looking forward to these things.

And, for the record, for those of you who grabbed Rayleen's adopted-family spears off her corpse, one was called "Fiend Feller" and the other "Secret Sharer".

post festum said...

Oh, and thanks also for a great night of gaming. Looking forward to the next session!

Riley said...

I really, really wish I could be there, but alas, Amsterdam calls.

Julia said...

(Thimble believes it's a silver brush, instead of comb. Her hairs too thick for anything else.)

Looking forward to the next session!

Riley said...

Even though I can't be there this time, I'd like to make a suggestion if I might. Since neither of the magic users has read languages or read magic, we might be missing several clues. Not only with the writing on the wall, but the secret scroll and book we found in the tower.

I suggest we head back to Bytor's Magic Shop before we go much further and see if he has scrolls of those spells available. With any luck--or maybe just a kindly DM--he will have them available and then we can head back to the tower. Thoughts?

post festum said...

Good idea Andy - I'll bring it up first thing with the group and try to convince them to allow the strategic retreat. I'll let you know how it goes.

Wish you were going to be playing, but hope you're enjoying the trip!

Riley said...

We leave Thursday and I can't wait. Remember, we have that skull that we can *try* and give to Bytor as Bartok's head. Whatever you think is best. Best of luck back in Thrang!

Batman1970 said...

Howdy all,

Two things - Before handing off the skull, we may wish to ask for any identifying marks or things like that - it would look really stupid to hand off a random skull and then be told that there was something special about Bartok's.

Second -- I hope everyone is pumped to meet at my house at 6:00 Friday night.

Looking forward to seeing you all (Except Andy, of course).

Riley said...

As much fun as I'll be having in Amsterdam, I'll be thinking of you guys. Get some good rolls for me.

Calysta said...

Hi everyone! I plan on joining you tomorrow night (permission granted by our noble DM), and I've read the previous posts, but I just was interested in knowing what the final character count was. Am I to understand we have a monk, a magic user, a fighter, a cleric, and a thief? Also, what are the races of said characters? I'm just trying to optimize my character. Thanks, and I look forward to tomorrow night!

Riley said...

I think that's the right list of classes. I have a cleric and a magic user, but they won't be there tomorrow sorry to say. I *think* they are all human, but I won't swear to that. Too bad I won't be there to play with you, Heather. Haven't seen you in person in a while. Have fun!

Calysta said...

Thanks, Andy! I miss playing "in person" with you too! Perhaps next time?

And thanks for responding. I greatly appreciate it!

Julia said...

If I remember correctly, we do have a couple of fighters and clerics. Not sure about magic users. And my fighter is a dwarf, but I believe she's the only non-human.

Riley said...

Bat's fighter died last time if I remember correctly. I know for sure we have two magic users and two clerics.

On a sweet and sour note, the Icelandic Volcano--coincidentally my nickname in high school--has cancelled my trip to Amsterdam so I'll be able to join after all. If Carl has room, I'll be there in person; if he doesn't, I can just Skype in. See you soon!

Batman1970 said...

Oh Andy! I knew the volcano had altered flights in Europe, but I never connected it to your trip! That's a bummer. Don't get me wrong -- playing with us is a blast, but that was AMSTERDAM!

My fighter lived through the night -- it was Matt's female fighter who did not survive the encounter with the bull skeleton.

My fighter only ended up being frozen by an undead -- a ghoul perhaps?

I have a female monk and a male fighter (both human).

Looking forward to seeing you, Heather!

Riley said...

You are absolutely right, Jay. Sorry for the confusion. Bones was laid to rest, not Murder.

Yeah, missing Amsterdam is a bummer because it's a fascinating place, but getting to hang out with you guys in the wilds of Thrang is a good alternative. I'll see you folks tomorrow night.

Calysta said...

Thanks all! Andy, I look forward to fighting alongside you in person. Sounds like everyone has 2 characters. I'll work on another tonight. See you tomorrow!

Riley said...

Can't wait, Heather. Carl had us roll two characters if we wanted to, knowing that if one died, we couldn't reroll another. Tell Matt to have a great trip.

post festum said...

With Andy now able to make it, we now have TWO magic users (the irrepressible Igmar Houndhaven and the cunning Silas Graylock) if that helps to make a decision...

Oh, and here's to Andy for remembering that the now-deceased Lady Merrybegotten was called "Bones" by Igmar! Much appreciated attention to fine detail.

Riley said...

I took some notes last time, Matt. You spent so much time developing her backstory I was very sorry to see her go because I was looking forward to seeing her develop from such a promising start. You inspire me to work on my backstories more.