9.30.2010
Simon's Whip of Vampire-Killer.
STR+3 vs AC; 2d6+3 dmg, and undead creatures are slowed until the end of your next turn.
9.29.2010
9.28.2010
Aratin's Bramble-Glove of Sting.
STR+3 vs AC; 1d8 dmg, and target takes a -2 penalty to all defense till the end of your next turn.
9.27.2010
Merciless Longbow of Bleeding.
Dex+2 vs AC; 1d10+2 dmg. If the target is bloodied before this attack, the arrow does 2d10+2 dmg.
9.26.2010
4. Death-Ride to Justice!
In the weeks following the dissolution of the Distaff Temperance Society and the demise of their gambler-patron, the vampire Lord Jasen, the wretched cesspool of Hodam has returned to its potent mix of drinking, gambling, prostitution, and violence. It's not quite as lawless as it used to be-- the newly self-appointed Sherriff Feer and her deputy, the tiefling Jarmangle, have seen to that. And while Hodam's famous brewery is back in business, now under the, uh, unique management of the eladrin warlock Tralamin, the economic damage done by the Distaff Temperance Society is still acutely felt: pubs and inns have no money to buy the brewery's goods, meaning they must do so on credit; likewise, their penniless patrons must have it put on their tab. A vicious cycle that shows no signs of stopping.
Tralamin, taking the advice of the madam Melany, decides it might be advantageous to open trade with other settlements and allow them access to Hodam's famous brew. The arrival of the outlaw Aratin provides an opportunity to do so; claiming to have repented his evil ways, he seeks safe passage to the city of Justice so that he might stand trial for his crimes, and likely be hanged. Enticed by the hefty reward and the possibility of opening trade, Tralamin gathers his friends Feer, Jarmangle, and Robyn. (The wizard Irving is nowhere to be found, or, perhaps, does not desire to be found, given his disagreements with their somewhat lax morals.)
Preparing for the journey
Tralamin puts Melany in charge of the brewery in his absence; Feer and Jarmangle, perhaps unwisely, appoint the developmentally-disabled dwarf Darface as a deputy. Jarmangle suggests that they not only take Aratin and their famous potable to Justice, but also the six best of Hodam's whores. Feer and Jarmangle commandeer two large wagons, one for each of their industries, as well as enough food for the four days journey round-trip. To pull the wagons, they hit up the stables. Inventing a fictitious law about horse-breeding, they threaten the stablemaster until he has surrendered all of his horses. Thus prepared, they head off to Justice.
Cult of the Cloth
As they ride across the dry, barren earth, two bizarre figures begin trailing them on foot. They are shaped vaguely like men, but are covered completely with rags and patches that have been clumsily stitched together. They have no eyes, no mouth-- just vague silhouettes made of cloth. Tralamin and Jarmangle, riding behind the wagons, take note of them, but say nothing, as they're moving much faster than the cloth-men, who are unlikely to catch up.
At least, until a giant beetle appears in front of the wagons. From the scars it carries, Feer and Robyn identify it as the same mother beetle they fought weeks before. Then, they had driven it away from the ailing civilized gnoll. It, too, recognizes them as the creatures that had butchered its two offspring. Enraged, the beetle begins to attack.
The group tries to maneuver around it, but has no luck. As the beetle attacks at the front, the two cloth-men quickly bring up the rear. One wields a powerful wizard's staff, and a bolt of electric power strikes the wagon containing Aratin and the prostitutes he was entertaining himself with. The wagon turns over and the cloth-men close in.
It's soon apparent why, as all of their attacks and movements seem focused on Aratin the moment he leaps from the wreckage. With their mouthless voices, they demand in unison that he surrender "the stone!"
The battle is tense but light on casualties; when one of the cloth-men falls to Tralamin's magicks and Aratin's blows, the one wielding the staff retreats in a puff of smoke. Jarmangle makes several attacks against the she-beetle Klikslyth, but many of his blows do not land or cannot pierce the beetle's tough hide. Feer and Robyn have slightly more luck, and soften the beetle up enough that Jarmangle is able to put out one of its eyes. The beetle is enraged but retreats, leaving our heroes to lick their wounds and investigate the destroyed wagon.
Amazingly, none of the passengers have sustained lasting injury. Room is made in the beer wagon, and they press on-- mindful to give the direction the beetle was headed a wide berth.
The "massacre"
As afternoon gives way to evening, our heroes come across the ruins of three wagons-- the handiwork of gnolls, if the giant turtle-tracks and gnollish markings are to be believed. Aratin, however, reads gnollish and reports that the markings are gibberish; not the work of gnolls, but the work of those seeking to blame them.
Searching one of the wagons alone, Robyn discovers some pieces of familiar-looking egg-shell. It's the same sort of mysterious egg that Jarmangle found in Firepalm. Robyn realizes what sort of creature lies within, and grabs an item necessary to train it. She does not tell Jarmangle this, thinking perhaps he will part with the egg in lieu of paying his monetary debt to her. In the same wagon, she finds an Owlbear Trap, which she gives to Tralamin-- who is eager to capture such a beast, so as to replace the rug he had cloaked himself in but had fallen into a miles-deep pit below the Tomb of Gnollish Kings.
The storm
Carefully examining the environment, Feer realizes that a sand-storm is brewing, and will soon be upon them. The group brings the ruined wagons closer together and herds the horses within. All of them-- the four adventurers, the outlaw, and the six prostitutes-- hold up in the beer wagon. Before the night and the storm come, Jarmangle borrows Tralamin's trap, setting it up outside the wagon as a precautionary measure.
The storm beats against the wagon, threatening to topple it, but it proves steadfast even when filled over capacity. What follows is a long night of drinking and debauchery, with Aratin and Tralamin both availing themselves of multiple prostitutes. Jarmangle, for all his bluster, does not indulge in that particular appetite.
Come the morning (and the hangovers), the group makes a horrific discovery; the sand-storm blew the owlbear trap through the air and into the face of Robyn's horse. Robyn is clearly not pleased, and is even less pleased when Tralamin asks Jarmangle to skin the horse so that he might wear it as he had the owlbear rug. Loathe to let the rest of the horse go to waste, Jarmangle cooks the meat, and the party-- except for Robyn-- consumes it. Now in addition to repaying his monetary debt, Robyn tells Jarmangle that he owes her a new and better steed. She'd be willing to forgive the debt, of course, if he would give her his egg. He refuses.
Fighting with a hangover
Their bickering is cut short by the sudden appearance of a group of human bandits. It turns out that the "massacre" site not only wasn't done by gnolls, but wasn't a massacre at all. Instead, it's a trap meant to lure the curious and altruistic so that these bandits might relieve them of their gold, goods, and lives.
Before they can do so, however, they are killed-- by cloth-men, demanding again that Aratin surrender the stone. Again, they focus their attacks almost exclusively on Aratin, making it relatively easy for the others to pick them off. When all of the cloth-men have been killed, reduced to harmless piles of rags (which Tralamin gathers up, insisting that he will make use of it), the group questions Aratin about these cloth creatures.
Aratin admits that he knows the stone they're after, and that he stole it, but that he doesn't have it on him any longer. He even offers to let the others search him. Tralamin performs a thorough search of Aratin's body but does not find the stone.
Friend to the gnolls
A gnollish huntress comes upon the group and believes that they have killed the human bandits that had defiled her culture to lay their trap. The group does nothing to correct this assumption, and Feer accepts the gnollish longbow that is offered as a token of thanks. "By this bow, you will be recognized as a friend to the gnolls."
Part II
Justice
Towards the end of their second day, our adventurers find themselves in the city of Justice. This walled city is shaped like an "X" and populated by seemingly upstanding, if self-righteous, folks. At the center of the town is a prominent and well-used gallows. They relieve Aratin of his weapons and begin looking for the sherriff. But before he is to be turned in, Aratin excuses himself to heed the call of nature.
Tralamin finds a pub and immediately begins negotiating with its owner with regards to the stocking of Hodam's beer. The pubmaster tries to haggle, even making thinly-vieled attempts to intimidate them, but the group gets him to agree to a fair price. The pubmaster goes inside and returns with a sack full of coin in exchange for exclusive rights to stock Hodam beer in Justice.
As he and his men get to work unloading the wagon, the quartet head to the necessary to check up on Aratin. They find him attempting to crawl out of a window. They prevent him from doing so.
He explains that he hasn't been completely honest with the group. Too many of his fellow outlaws had met their end in Justice, and he wanted a little vengeance. And he had had that stone the Cult of Cloth was after; he had ingested it, not knowing that it served as a sort of homing beacon, calling to them. Now that he was in Justice, he had passed the stone through his bowels. Soon, the Cult of Cloth would be here in full force-- an army of single-minded animates possessing untold destructive power. Aratin would have his revenge on Justice.
The heroes briefly consider coming to the city's defense, but then Robyn discovers that the gold they have been given is fake. The heroes rush to confront the pubmaster, who has unloaded half the wagon. It is about to come to fisticuffs when they see the swarms of cloth on the horizon. They leave the unloaded beer with the pubmaster, pack up the rest of their wares, and flee the town, running over one of the cloth acolytes.
Once they're a safe distance, they watch the carnage as the sun sets over Justice. Aratin bids them farewell, and they head back towards Hodam.
Tralamin, taking the advice of the madam Melany, decides it might be advantageous to open trade with other settlements and allow them access to Hodam's famous brew. The arrival of the outlaw Aratin provides an opportunity to do so; claiming to have repented his evil ways, he seeks safe passage to the city of Justice so that he might stand trial for his crimes, and likely be hanged. Enticed by the hefty reward and the possibility of opening trade, Tralamin gathers his friends Feer, Jarmangle, and Robyn. (The wizard Irving is nowhere to be found, or, perhaps, does not desire to be found, given his disagreements with their somewhat lax morals.)
Preparing for the journey
Tralamin puts Melany in charge of the brewery in his absence; Feer and Jarmangle, perhaps unwisely, appoint the developmentally-disabled dwarf Darface as a deputy. Jarmangle suggests that they not only take Aratin and their famous potable to Justice, but also the six best of Hodam's whores. Feer and Jarmangle commandeer two large wagons, one for each of their industries, as well as enough food for the four days journey round-trip. To pull the wagons, they hit up the stables. Inventing a fictitious law about horse-breeding, they threaten the stablemaster until he has surrendered all of his horses. Thus prepared, they head off to Justice.
Cult of the Cloth
As they ride across the dry, barren earth, two bizarre figures begin trailing them on foot. They are shaped vaguely like men, but are covered completely with rags and patches that have been clumsily stitched together. They have no eyes, no mouth-- just vague silhouettes made of cloth. Tralamin and Jarmangle, riding behind the wagons, take note of them, but say nothing, as they're moving much faster than the cloth-men, who are unlikely to catch up.
At least, until a giant beetle appears in front of the wagons. From the scars it carries, Feer and Robyn identify it as the same mother beetle they fought weeks before. Then, they had driven it away from the ailing civilized gnoll. It, too, recognizes them as the creatures that had butchered its two offspring. Enraged, the beetle begins to attack.
The group tries to maneuver around it, but has no luck. As the beetle attacks at the front, the two cloth-men quickly bring up the rear. One wields a powerful wizard's staff, and a bolt of electric power strikes the wagon containing Aratin and the prostitutes he was entertaining himself with. The wagon turns over and the cloth-men close in.
It's soon apparent why, as all of their attacks and movements seem focused on Aratin the moment he leaps from the wreckage. With their mouthless voices, they demand in unison that he surrender "the stone!"
The battle is tense but light on casualties; when one of the cloth-men falls to Tralamin's magicks and Aratin's blows, the one wielding the staff retreats in a puff of smoke. Jarmangle makes several attacks against the she-beetle Klikslyth, but many of his blows do not land or cannot pierce the beetle's tough hide. Feer and Robyn have slightly more luck, and soften the beetle up enough that Jarmangle is able to put out one of its eyes. The beetle is enraged but retreats, leaving our heroes to lick their wounds and investigate the destroyed wagon.
Amazingly, none of the passengers have sustained lasting injury. Room is made in the beer wagon, and they press on-- mindful to give the direction the beetle was headed a wide berth.
The "massacre"
As afternoon gives way to evening, our heroes come across the ruins of three wagons-- the handiwork of gnolls, if the giant turtle-tracks and gnollish markings are to be believed. Aratin, however, reads gnollish and reports that the markings are gibberish; not the work of gnolls, but the work of those seeking to blame them.
Searching one of the wagons alone, Robyn discovers some pieces of familiar-looking egg-shell. It's the same sort of mysterious egg that Jarmangle found in Firepalm. Robyn realizes what sort of creature lies within, and grabs an item necessary to train it. She does not tell Jarmangle this, thinking perhaps he will part with the egg in lieu of paying his monetary debt to her. In the same wagon, she finds an Owlbear Trap, which she gives to Tralamin-- who is eager to capture such a beast, so as to replace the rug he had cloaked himself in but had fallen into a miles-deep pit below the Tomb of Gnollish Kings.
The storm
Carefully examining the environment, Feer realizes that a sand-storm is brewing, and will soon be upon them. The group brings the ruined wagons closer together and herds the horses within. All of them-- the four adventurers, the outlaw, and the six prostitutes-- hold up in the beer wagon. Before the night and the storm come, Jarmangle borrows Tralamin's trap, setting it up outside the wagon as a precautionary measure.
The storm beats against the wagon, threatening to topple it, but it proves steadfast even when filled over capacity. What follows is a long night of drinking and debauchery, with Aratin and Tralamin both availing themselves of multiple prostitutes. Jarmangle, for all his bluster, does not indulge in that particular appetite.
Come the morning (and the hangovers), the group makes a horrific discovery; the sand-storm blew the owlbear trap through the air and into the face of Robyn's horse. Robyn is clearly not pleased, and is even less pleased when Tralamin asks Jarmangle to skin the horse so that he might wear it as he had the owlbear rug. Loathe to let the rest of the horse go to waste, Jarmangle cooks the meat, and the party-- except for Robyn-- consumes it. Now in addition to repaying his monetary debt, Robyn tells Jarmangle that he owes her a new and better steed. She'd be willing to forgive the debt, of course, if he would give her his egg. He refuses.
Fighting with a hangover
Their bickering is cut short by the sudden appearance of a group of human bandits. It turns out that the "massacre" site not only wasn't done by gnolls, but wasn't a massacre at all. Instead, it's a trap meant to lure the curious and altruistic so that these bandits might relieve them of their gold, goods, and lives.
Before they can do so, however, they are killed-- by cloth-men, demanding again that Aratin surrender the stone. Again, they focus their attacks almost exclusively on Aratin, making it relatively easy for the others to pick them off. When all of the cloth-men have been killed, reduced to harmless piles of rags (which Tralamin gathers up, insisting that he will make use of it), the group questions Aratin about these cloth creatures.
Aratin admits that he knows the stone they're after, and that he stole it, but that he doesn't have it on him any longer. He even offers to let the others search him. Tralamin performs a thorough search of Aratin's body but does not find the stone.
Friend to the gnolls
A gnollish huntress comes upon the group and believes that they have killed the human bandits that had defiled her culture to lay their trap. The group does nothing to correct this assumption, and Feer accepts the gnollish longbow that is offered as a token of thanks. "By this bow, you will be recognized as a friend to the gnolls."
Part II
Justice
Towards the end of their second day, our adventurers find themselves in the city of Justice. This walled city is shaped like an "X" and populated by seemingly upstanding, if self-righteous, folks. At the center of the town is a prominent and well-used gallows. They relieve Aratin of his weapons and begin looking for the sherriff. But before he is to be turned in, Aratin excuses himself to heed the call of nature.
Tralamin finds a pub and immediately begins negotiating with its owner with regards to the stocking of Hodam's beer. The pubmaster tries to haggle, even making thinly-vieled attempts to intimidate them, but the group gets him to agree to a fair price. The pubmaster goes inside and returns with a sack full of coin in exchange for exclusive rights to stock Hodam beer in Justice.
As he and his men get to work unloading the wagon, the quartet head to the necessary to check up on Aratin. They find him attempting to crawl out of a window. They prevent him from doing so.
He explains that he hasn't been completely honest with the group. Too many of his fellow outlaws had met their end in Justice, and he wanted a little vengeance. And he had had that stone the Cult of Cloth was after; he had ingested it, not knowing that it served as a sort of homing beacon, calling to them. Now that he was in Justice, he had passed the stone through his bowels. Soon, the Cult of Cloth would be here in full force-- an army of single-minded animates possessing untold destructive power. Aratin would have his revenge on Justice.
The heroes briefly consider coming to the city's defense, but then Robyn discovers that the gold they have been given is fake. The heroes rush to confront the pubmaster, who has unloaded half the wagon. It is about to come to fisticuffs when they see the swarms of cloth on the horizon. They leave the unloaded beer with the pubmaster, pack up the rest of their wares, and flee the town, running over one of the cloth acolytes.
Once they're a safe distance, they watch the carnage as the sun sets over Justice. Aratin bids them farewell, and they head back towards Hodam.
9.12.2010
Warwick's Stones of Stopping.
When thrown, stones cover the target in a statue-like casing bearing their likeness, paralyzing them. DEX+2 vs AC. Upon impact, 1d6 is rolled.
If the result is
1 or 2, the target is paralyzed until their next turn.
3 or 4, the target is paralyzed until the end of your next turn.
5 or 6, the target is paralyzed until they've made a saving throw.
Five stones only.
If the result is
1 or 2, the target is paralyzed until their next turn.
3 or 4, the target is paralyzed until the end of your next turn.
5 or 6, the target is paralyzed until they've made a saving throw.
Five stones only.
Belt of Radiant Beauty
Belt creates an aura in adjacent squares, dealing 5 points of radiant damage per round, only to creatures that are vulnerable to radiant damage.
Clawed Glove of Cling
Glove enables you to cling to most walls and eavesdrop undetected.
An ACROBATICS check to climb up,
alternating ATHLETICS and ENDURANCE checks to stay up,
and a STEALTH check to remain undetected.
An ACROBATICS check to climb up,
alternating ATHLETICS and ENDURANCE checks to stay up,
and a STEALTH check to remain undetected.
Thread of Shifting
Thread, when woven into a cloth garment, allows the wearer to shift out of the garment just before being struck by an attack. The garment takes the blow, fluttering to the ground.
To get dressed again on one's next turn is a standard action.
To get dressed again on one's next turn is a standard action.
Jeweled Gloves of Focusing
Glove focuses the power of a wizard, warlock, bard, or druid by giving a +1 to checks involving their dominant stat, including combat (INT for wizards, etc).
If one person is in possession of both gloves, the bonus is +3.
If one person is in possession of both gloves, the bonus is +3.
3. The Terror That Came to Hodam
En route to Hodam, the five adventurers who braved the Tomb of the Holy Gnollish Kings-- Filliam, Tralamin, Jarmangle, Robyn, and Feer-- meet up with their friend, the human wizard Irving. While the quintet had tried but failed to save the life of the mysterious civilized gnoll, Irving was far more successful in tracking down Kylia and retrieving the gold she had stolen from the others. Thus reunited, the six heroes press on towards "the wretched cesspool of Hodam", renown for its drinking, gambling, violence, and whores.
But as they approach the once-bustling frontier town, they meet a red-nosed dwarf with a sad story to tell: temperance has come to Hodam. The Distaff Temperance Society-- a group of moralistic widows and spinsters-- has won the brewery in a card game and then shut it down. The prostitutes have been disappearing at an alarming rate, and the tieflings, once tolerated, are evicted without a second thought. The dwarf announces his intention to press on to Firepalm, but then decides to head to the city of Justice when Irving informs him that the Firepalm Dwarfs have been driven insane by the Firepalm Ore in their blood.
Jarmangle, with the help of the others, covers up his red tiefling skin and horns with a mask and some toweling. Thus disguised, they head into the town.
The People of Hodam
Our heroes soon make the acquaintance of Danald, formerly the owner of the brewery. It was his disapproving aunt, Matilda, who founded the Distaff Temperance Society. Ironically, she passed away just before the Society finally wrenched the brewery from him in a game with a card-shark called Lord Jasen. The legitimate gambling has been shut down, but a secret game is still held by the Society, which they use to keep the city in a perpetual state of poverty-- and thus ensuring that no one can question their power.
It seems a little silly to our heroes-- in a lawless town like Hodam, why doesn't someone just take the brewery back by force? But the residents are hesitant, says Danald; the Society is a bunch of old ladies, after all, and even the worst of scoundrels has to draw the line somewhere. Something might happen soon, though, if things don't get better.
They meet one of the society matrons and her gnollish slave. She sees nothing wrong with the Society's "good works", proclaiming that "pure blood is healthy blood"; she's convinced that the town's economy will bounce back, that somehow, there will be honest and civilized work to be found in this wilderness. Her slave seethes not-too-secretly with rage. Across the street from the brewery is what he refers to as sacred ground-- a scene of a great battle between a gnollish prince and a great evil. The evil's body was interred in the ground, turning the large mound of dirt and rock blood-red; the evil's spirit was sucked into the prince's blade.
And what were the humans of Hodam using the Blood Circle for? For boxing matches to the death, and other debaucheries. The humans, he says, are always meddling in things they can't even begin to understand.
Across the street, they see a procession of Society members running a female tiefling out of town. Jarmangle recognizes it as the tiefling with whom he flirted and crossed swords with at the burial site of the Gnollish Holy Dead. The disguised Jarmangle leaves the group, following the procession.
The group, meanwhile, meets a former prostitute, Melany, who is concerned about the disappearance of the other girls. An atypical whore, Melany is well-read and seems well-versed in economics, proceeding to lecture our heroes about the dangers of basing an economy around ale, sex, and gambling.
Tyne's challenge
Jarmangle catches up to the procession and convinces the Society matrons to let him escort "this filthy tiefling" out of town, as she might be dangerous. The Society is duly charmed by this masked stranger and gives custody of the tiefling, Tyne, over to him.
Once on the outskirts of town, Tyne recognizes Jarmangle, who flirts with her incessantly. Tyne is not impressed, but doesn't give him the cold shoulder, either.
Tyne explains that when the tieflings were booted out of town, she was permitted to remain, so long as she performed missions for Lord Jasen. One of those missions-- the most important-- was to retrieve the sword of the Gnollish King of War, the very sword that was now in Jarmangle's possession. Because she failed, she was now persona non grata.
Jarmangle seems exquisitely single-minded, hand-waving all that off as he makes yet another lame pass at his fellow tiefling. Tyne hints that she might be amenable to his advances if he can get revenge for her and kill Lord Jasen. Without missing a beat, Jarmangle agrees and asks where he can find Jasen; Tyne doesn't know. Somewhere in town. He only comes out during the secret card game, and only when the house is losing. Tyne leaves, and Jarmangle rushes off to rejoin the others.
Finding the card game
Jarmangle suggests that they enter the card game, win back the brewery, and then kill Lord Jasen. Irving is all well-and-good with the first two, but blanches at the last: just kill him, without provocation?
In trying to find the card game, they make the mistake of approaching a priggish Eladrin called Ofscar. Jarmangle casually insults him by referring to him as an "elf"; Ofscar challenges him to a duel by slapping him with his glove. Jarmangle, in turn, steals the glove, further inciting Ofscar, who now threatens to "turn them in" for attempting to find the card game.
The elven bard Robyn, perhaps a little tired of this flighty Eladrin, knocks him over and steals his coin pouch, containing some 500 gold coins. Irving is shocked at the behaviour of his traveling companions but says nothing about it.
Jarmangle is about to temporarily paralyze Ofscar with some magical stones he acquired from Tyne, but Tralamin has a better idea. He helps his fellow Eladrin off the dusty earth, and ascertains that Ofscar shares his thirst for knowledge and awareness. Tralamin gives Ofscar a powerful ritual scroll that's intended to impart absolute knowledge of one topic. Said scroll will leave him in a trance for hours; if the question is too cosmic for his brain to comprehend, he might be driven insane. Tralamin, of course, doesn't tell him that, but instead advises him to ask the biggest question he can.
Irving, again, is quite appalled when he learns the true possible consequences of Tralamin's actions. And while Robyn is now considerably richer, they've no clue as to how to get in on the card game.
That's when they meet Darface, a dwarf suffering from severe developmental disabilities. Darface, it turns out, knows exactly how to get into the game-- which building to go into, what words to say, and what the answer will mean. Others might dismiss him as a simpleton, but Irving listens intently to his words and deciphers their meaning.
The Pawn Shop
Before they take part in the game, however, they decide to stop at the pawn shop just outside of town, where Jarmangle hopes to replace his grappling hook, among other things. The pawnbroker is pleased to see them; everyone's been selling/pawning these days, but no one's been buying because no one has had money. In bartering with the pawnbroker, Jarmangle offers him one of the paralyzing stones, inadvertently encasing the broker in a statue-like layer of rock. With some chiding from Irving, Jarmangle gives the unaware broker the rest of the promised payment.
Lord Jasen
The game our six heroes enter isn't really about the cards, but about bluffing. Through their combined efforts, they quickly drive the dealer to bankruptcy. That's when the Society summons Lord Jasen.
Jasen is a very sickly but elegant looking human who ups the ante aggressively and seems particularly focused on the disguised Jarmangle, making veiled references to something in his possession. Jasen's fabled luck, however, seems to have run out, as Filliam and Tralamin are surprisingly adept at the game. In a desperate gamble, Jasen puts the brewery on the table, hoping to chide Jarmangle into gambling the sword. Instead, Jarmangle folds.
So focused was Jasen on Jarmangle, however, that he quite forgot Tralamin, who wins the brewery and a sizable amount of gold. Enraged, Jasen grabs Robyn and demands that both the brewery deed and the gnollish sword be "returned" to him.
"Or else," he says, curling back his lip to reveal his sharp canines, "I'll open her pretty throat!"
Part II
The Vampire and the Daywalker
Lord Jasen is a vampire-- even when looking quite ill, he's still more than a match for our fledgling heroes. He has, however, overplayed his hand; the Society members are horrified to discover that the handsome gentlemen is a member of the undead. His support in Hodam is gone, and he knows he'll be hunted down by its enraged citizens. Jasen, terrified, bites Robyn-- draining her dry in but a few scant moments-- and turns to mist, escaping into the night.
Using the Peacebringer mace that she took from the Gnollish Queen of Peace, Feer saves Robyn from the brink of death. She is, however, still feverish and unconscious. Tyne appears and leads the group to one of the whorehouses where they can hold up for the night.
As they watch over the ailing Robyn, they begin to piece things together. Jarmangle is incensed that Tyne put them up against a vampire, but she claims that she had no idea of his true nature. That must be why he wanted to get rid of all the tieflings, though, she says; there's a legend that the oldest vampires couldn't handle the "impure" blood of tieflings. Remember the slogan of the Society-- "pure blood is healthy blood"-- they realize that perhaps the same could be said of blood containing high amounts of alcohol. Perhaps Jasen tried to feed on someone with such an elevated level of alcohol and the resulting toxic shock is what resulted in his current haggard and sickly appearance. Irving realizes that in order to be one of those oldest of vampires, Jasen must be the ancient evil that the gnollish slave spoke of, and that the sword Jarmangle holds must contain Jasen's spirit and power.
Come the morning, Tyne has left and Robyn awakes but discovers that she has changed; the interaction of the vampire's bite and the holy Peacebringer mace has transformed her into a living "half-vampire" daywalker, a dhampyr.
The Fearless Vampire Killers
When the six adventurers walk out onto the street, they find it a scene of drunken debauchery. The entire town, realizing that Jasen is a vampire and, like the visiting heroes, realizing that the alcohol is toxic, decided to break into the brewery as a kind of protection. The group considers leaving things be, but Irving convinces them that slaying the vampire is the best course of action. Jarmangle agrees, and all six down a frosty one before setting to work trying to find Jasen's lair.
It doesn't prove a difficult task; the Hodam graveyard, colourfully called the Corpse-dump, has caved in, revealing a tunnel leading towards the Blood Circle. Our heroes venture into the tunnel before coming face to face with a magical sentry. This Eye of Alarm guards the entrance to Jasen's lair.
Irving creates an illusion of mist, making it easier for Jarmangle to sneak to the door, unnoticed. Jarmangle takes note of a host of undead horrors: former whores turned into vampire spawn, animated skeletons, the rotting corpses of two large dogs, and a wight dressed in the garb of a Society member. And then, at the far end of the chamber, there sits the accursed coffin.
Desiring to catch the undead by surprise, the six rack their brains for a way to thwart the Eye of Alarm. Filliam suggests that Irving create an illusion, a sort of miniature magical "drawing" of the tunnel that can be conjured directly in front of the eye. Irving does so, and it works!
Aunt Matilda, the Deathlock Wight
The battle that follows is fierce and hard-fought; Irving and Jarmangle both come close to death's door. But through valiant effort, cunning strategy, and the powerful fireball magic at Irving's disposal, the living proves victorious. Once Matilda-- the now-undead founder of the Distaff Temperance Society-- falls, the other undead crumble to useless dust.
Tralamin creates a wooden stake from his quarter-staff; Feer opens the coffin with a mighty pull; Robyn drives the stake directly into the groggy vampire's heart. Carefully, our heroes take the dazed, pathetic vampire out of its coffin and carry its corpse up the tunnel. Exposing it to sunlight causes it to burst into flames. Even as they watch it burn, they all know that if they should meet a vampire lord again, they will not achieve victory quite so easily.
Denouement
Filliam, now a much richer man, bids his friends good-bye so that he might return to the wondrous house where they tried to save the mysterious civilized gnoll. The remaining five elect to stay in Hodam for the time being, with Tralamin especially pleased to be the new owner of its brewery.
But as they approach the once-bustling frontier town, they meet a red-nosed dwarf with a sad story to tell: temperance has come to Hodam. The Distaff Temperance Society-- a group of moralistic widows and spinsters-- has won the brewery in a card game and then shut it down. The prostitutes have been disappearing at an alarming rate, and the tieflings, once tolerated, are evicted without a second thought. The dwarf announces his intention to press on to Firepalm, but then decides to head to the city of Justice when Irving informs him that the Firepalm Dwarfs have been driven insane by the Firepalm Ore in their blood.
Jarmangle, with the help of the others, covers up his red tiefling skin and horns with a mask and some toweling. Thus disguised, they head into the town.
The People of Hodam
Our heroes soon make the acquaintance of Danald, formerly the owner of the brewery. It was his disapproving aunt, Matilda, who founded the Distaff Temperance Society. Ironically, she passed away just before the Society finally wrenched the brewery from him in a game with a card-shark called Lord Jasen. The legitimate gambling has been shut down, but a secret game is still held by the Society, which they use to keep the city in a perpetual state of poverty-- and thus ensuring that no one can question their power.
It seems a little silly to our heroes-- in a lawless town like Hodam, why doesn't someone just take the brewery back by force? But the residents are hesitant, says Danald; the Society is a bunch of old ladies, after all, and even the worst of scoundrels has to draw the line somewhere. Something might happen soon, though, if things don't get better.
They meet one of the society matrons and her gnollish slave. She sees nothing wrong with the Society's "good works", proclaiming that "pure blood is healthy blood"; she's convinced that the town's economy will bounce back, that somehow, there will be honest and civilized work to be found in this wilderness. Her slave seethes not-too-secretly with rage. Across the street from the brewery is what he refers to as sacred ground-- a scene of a great battle between a gnollish prince and a great evil. The evil's body was interred in the ground, turning the large mound of dirt and rock blood-red; the evil's spirit was sucked into the prince's blade.
And what were the humans of Hodam using the Blood Circle for? For boxing matches to the death, and other debaucheries. The humans, he says, are always meddling in things they can't even begin to understand.
Across the street, they see a procession of Society members running a female tiefling out of town. Jarmangle recognizes it as the tiefling with whom he flirted and crossed swords with at the burial site of the Gnollish Holy Dead. The disguised Jarmangle leaves the group, following the procession.
The group, meanwhile, meets a former prostitute, Melany, who is concerned about the disappearance of the other girls. An atypical whore, Melany is well-read and seems well-versed in economics, proceeding to lecture our heroes about the dangers of basing an economy around ale, sex, and gambling.
Tyne's challenge
Jarmangle catches up to the procession and convinces the Society matrons to let him escort "this filthy tiefling" out of town, as she might be dangerous. The Society is duly charmed by this masked stranger and gives custody of the tiefling, Tyne, over to him.
Once on the outskirts of town, Tyne recognizes Jarmangle, who flirts with her incessantly. Tyne is not impressed, but doesn't give him the cold shoulder, either.
Tyne explains that when the tieflings were booted out of town, she was permitted to remain, so long as she performed missions for Lord Jasen. One of those missions-- the most important-- was to retrieve the sword of the Gnollish King of War, the very sword that was now in Jarmangle's possession. Because she failed, she was now persona non grata.
Jarmangle seems exquisitely single-minded, hand-waving all that off as he makes yet another lame pass at his fellow tiefling. Tyne hints that she might be amenable to his advances if he can get revenge for her and kill Lord Jasen. Without missing a beat, Jarmangle agrees and asks where he can find Jasen; Tyne doesn't know. Somewhere in town. He only comes out during the secret card game, and only when the house is losing. Tyne leaves, and Jarmangle rushes off to rejoin the others.
Finding the card game
Jarmangle suggests that they enter the card game, win back the brewery, and then kill Lord Jasen. Irving is all well-and-good with the first two, but blanches at the last: just kill him, without provocation?
In trying to find the card game, they make the mistake of approaching a priggish Eladrin called Ofscar. Jarmangle casually insults him by referring to him as an "elf"; Ofscar challenges him to a duel by slapping him with his glove. Jarmangle, in turn, steals the glove, further inciting Ofscar, who now threatens to "turn them in" for attempting to find the card game.
The elven bard Robyn, perhaps a little tired of this flighty Eladrin, knocks him over and steals his coin pouch, containing some 500 gold coins. Irving is shocked at the behaviour of his traveling companions but says nothing about it.
Jarmangle is about to temporarily paralyze Ofscar with some magical stones he acquired from Tyne, but Tralamin has a better idea. He helps his fellow Eladrin off the dusty earth, and ascertains that Ofscar shares his thirst for knowledge and awareness. Tralamin gives Ofscar a powerful ritual scroll that's intended to impart absolute knowledge of one topic. Said scroll will leave him in a trance for hours; if the question is too cosmic for his brain to comprehend, he might be driven insane. Tralamin, of course, doesn't tell him that, but instead advises him to ask the biggest question he can.
Irving, again, is quite appalled when he learns the true possible consequences of Tralamin's actions. And while Robyn is now considerably richer, they've no clue as to how to get in on the card game.
That's when they meet Darface, a dwarf suffering from severe developmental disabilities. Darface, it turns out, knows exactly how to get into the game-- which building to go into, what words to say, and what the answer will mean. Others might dismiss him as a simpleton, but Irving listens intently to his words and deciphers their meaning.
The Pawn Shop
Before they take part in the game, however, they decide to stop at the pawn shop just outside of town, where Jarmangle hopes to replace his grappling hook, among other things. The pawnbroker is pleased to see them; everyone's been selling/pawning these days, but no one's been buying because no one has had money. In bartering with the pawnbroker, Jarmangle offers him one of the paralyzing stones, inadvertently encasing the broker in a statue-like layer of rock. With some chiding from Irving, Jarmangle gives the unaware broker the rest of the promised payment.
Lord Jasen
The game our six heroes enter isn't really about the cards, but about bluffing. Through their combined efforts, they quickly drive the dealer to bankruptcy. That's when the Society summons Lord Jasen.
Jasen is a very sickly but elegant looking human who ups the ante aggressively and seems particularly focused on the disguised Jarmangle, making veiled references to something in his possession. Jasen's fabled luck, however, seems to have run out, as Filliam and Tralamin are surprisingly adept at the game. In a desperate gamble, Jasen puts the brewery on the table, hoping to chide Jarmangle into gambling the sword. Instead, Jarmangle folds.
So focused was Jasen on Jarmangle, however, that he quite forgot Tralamin, who wins the brewery and a sizable amount of gold. Enraged, Jasen grabs Robyn and demands that both the brewery deed and the gnollish sword be "returned" to him.
"Or else," he says, curling back his lip to reveal his sharp canines, "I'll open her pretty throat!"
Part II
The Vampire and the Daywalker
Lord Jasen is a vampire-- even when looking quite ill, he's still more than a match for our fledgling heroes. He has, however, overplayed his hand; the Society members are horrified to discover that the handsome gentlemen is a member of the undead. His support in Hodam is gone, and he knows he'll be hunted down by its enraged citizens. Jasen, terrified, bites Robyn-- draining her dry in but a few scant moments-- and turns to mist, escaping into the night.
Using the Peacebringer mace that she took from the Gnollish Queen of Peace, Feer saves Robyn from the brink of death. She is, however, still feverish and unconscious. Tyne appears and leads the group to one of the whorehouses where they can hold up for the night.
As they watch over the ailing Robyn, they begin to piece things together. Jarmangle is incensed that Tyne put them up against a vampire, but she claims that she had no idea of his true nature. That must be why he wanted to get rid of all the tieflings, though, she says; there's a legend that the oldest vampires couldn't handle the "impure" blood of tieflings. Remember the slogan of the Society-- "pure blood is healthy blood"-- they realize that perhaps the same could be said of blood containing high amounts of alcohol. Perhaps Jasen tried to feed on someone with such an elevated level of alcohol and the resulting toxic shock is what resulted in his current haggard and sickly appearance. Irving realizes that in order to be one of those oldest of vampires, Jasen must be the ancient evil that the gnollish slave spoke of, and that the sword Jarmangle holds must contain Jasen's spirit and power.
Come the morning, Tyne has left and Robyn awakes but discovers that she has changed; the interaction of the vampire's bite and the holy Peacebringer mace has transformed her into a living "half-vampire" daywalker, a dhampyr.
The Fearless Vampire Killers
When the six adventurers walk out onto the street, they find it a scene of drunken debauchery. The entire town, realizing that Jasen is a vampire and, like the visiting heroes, realizing that the alcohol is toxic, decided to break into the brewery as a kind of protection. The group considers leaving things be, but Irving convinces them that slaying the vampire is the best course of action. Jarmangle agrees, and all six down a frosty one before setting to work trying to find Jasen's lair.
It doesn't prove a difficult task; the Hodam graveyard, colourfully called the Corpse-dump, has caved in, revealing a tunnel leading towards the Blood Circle. Our heroes venture into the tunnel before coming face to face with a magical sentry. This Eye of Alarm guards the entrance to Jasen's lair.
Irving creates an illusion of mist, making it easier for Jarmangle to sneak to the door, unnoticed. Jarmangle takes note of a host of undead horrors: former whores turned into vampire spawn, animated skeletons, the rotting corpses of two large dogs, and a wight dressed in the garb of a Society member. And then, at the far end of the chamber, there sits the accursed coffin.
Desiring to catch the undead by surprise, the six rack their brains for a way to thwart the Eye of Alarm. Filliam suggests that Irving create an illusion, a sort of miniature magical "drawing" of the tunnel that can be conjured directly in front of the eye. Irving does so, and it works!
Aunt Matilda, the Deathlock Wight
The battle that follows is fierce and hard-fought; Irving and Jarmangle both come close to death's door. But through valiant effort, cunning strategy, and the powerful fireball magic at Irving's disposal, the living proves victorious. Once Matilda-- the now-undead founder of the Distaff Temperance Society-- falls, the other undead crumble to useless dust.
Tralamin creates a wooden stake from his quarter-staff; Feer opens the coffin with a mighty pull; Robyn drives the stake directly into the groggy vampire's heart. Carefully, our heroes take the dazed, pathetic vampire out of its coffin and carry its corpse up the tunnel. Exposing it to sunlight causes it to burst into flames. Even as they watch it burn, they all know that if they should meet a vampire lord again, they will not achieve victory quite so easily.
Denouement
Filliam, now a much richer man, bids his friends good-bye so that he might return to the wondrous house where they tried to save the mysterious civilized gnoll. The remaining five elect to stay in Hodam for the time being, with Tralamin especially pleased to be the new owner of its brewery.
9.06.2010
d20 Poker.
The adventure I have planned for my group this coming Sunday hinges, in part, on a sort of poker game-- that would be the Old West part of my proposed genre trio High Fantasy, Old West, and Steampunk reasserting itself. The problem, of course, is that I don't actually know how to play poker, and that I'm not sure if my players do either, and, hey, we came here to play D&D anyway so what's with this poker, what's next, are we suddenly going to find ourselves playing a high-stakes game of Acquire against a bugbear so you can finally stop yammering on about you can't find anyone to play it with-- and, geez, I guess that's three or four problems, after all. So, um, problematic, that.
But I don't really want my PCs to play poker, but rather, "poker"-- that is, the art of lying to your opponent, of knowing when to bluff and when to call. That part seems to be a lot more fun than remembering what card trumps what, and that's the part that actually gives them something to roleplay. Which is kind of the point.
So, what I'm going to present them with on Sunday is what I'd call d20 poker. The characters in the game are playing some variation of a card game, but the players will just roll their d20, with the highest number winning. Once they've rolled the die, they can up the ante, match that ante or fold, bluff their opponent(s) into folding, and call it when the ante isn't being upped.
I won't know until Sunday how well it works, but it seems, from a purely mechanic standpoint, to be a fun, accessible and fast-moving way to simulate that sort of conflict in a role-playing context. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes after we've given it a try...
But I don't really want my PCs to play poker, but rather, "poker"-- that is, the art of lying to your opponent, of knowing when to bluff and when to call. That part seems to be a lot more fun than remembering what card trumps what, and that's the part that actually gives them something to roleplay. Which is kind of the point.
So, what I'm going to present them with on Sunday is what I'd call d20 poker. The characters in the game are playing some variation of a card game, but the players will just roll their d20, with the highest number winning. Once they've rolled the die, they can up the ante, match that ante or fold, bluff their opponent(s) into folding, and call it when the ante isn't being upped.
I won't know until Sunday how well it works, but it seems, from a purely mechanic standpoint, to be a fun, accessible and fast-moving way to simulate that sort of conflict in a role-playing context. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes after we've given it a try...
9.04.2010
Ritual of Detect Weakness
Level 2
After ten minutes of intense study focused on a non-living, non-animated object, you are able to determine the exact point or method with which to strike, destroying it.
After ten minutes of intense study focused on a non-living, non-animated object, you are able to determine the exact point or method with which to strike, destroying it.
9.03.2010
Ritual of Absolute Truth
Level 12
Ritual grants you full and absolutely objective knowledge in answer to a specific question. This must be carefully worded, as the powers of the universe that you are consulting are fond of exploiting whatever wiggle room they've been given.
Upon performing the ritual, you will enter an hours-long stupor; when you emerge from that stupor, you will have your answer.
A word of caution-- if the question is too cosmic in its scope, and its answer far beyond the ability of your brain to comprehend it, you will never emerge from your stupor, having been driven insane.
Ritual grants you full and absolutely objective knowledge in answer to a specific question. This must be carefully worded, as the powers of the universe that you are consulting are fond of exploiting whatever wiggle room they've been given.
Upon performing the ritual, you will enter an hours-long stupor; when you emerge from that stupor, you will have your answer.
A word of caution-- if the question is too cosmic in its scope, and its answer far beyond the ability of your brain to comprehend it, you will never emerge from your stupor, having been driven insane.
Tralamin's Eladrin Senses.
In our second adventure, Adrienne, playing the rather flightly male Eladrin warlock Tralamin, made a series of really bad perception and insight roles. And so it came to be that Tralamin determined that, since they all felt a great tranquility washing over them, they must be in the burial chamber of the Gnollish Queen of War, and not Peace-- and, in a keen bit of role-playing, wondered why the other chamber was filled with such hostility; that the ancient, magical door that appeared to be completely identical to the one they found in the Firepalm mine was "clearly" unrelated; that the group of Fire Dwarfs which attacked them upon exiting the Sacred Tomb of Gnollish Kings had no interest in said door.
In each case, Stephanie, playing the elven bard Robyn, also rolled the same check, came up with a better result, and then quietly shook her head to the other players, mouthing the word "no", rolling her eyes. Which seemed of apiece to her similar reactions regarding Jarmingle's less-than-impressive swashbuckling.
I talked to Adrienne a few days after the game, and asked her how she felt about that botched rolls. She really enjoyed them-- enjoyed that the character was so completely convinced that he was right, even when he was very very wrong, and enjoyed the way it fit into her Eladrin-as-Ann-Arbor-hippie characterization. Thusly encouraged, I asked her if we could make this a regular bit of shtick for her character-- every time Tralamin would need a perception or insight check, I'll assign an abnormally high difficulty class. Rolling a natural 20 would still allow him an occasional glimpse of being right, but in most cases, he would say the most ridiculous, off-base nonsense possible-- kinda like Wolverine's heightened senses, but in reverse.
This would also allow other characters-- such as Robyn-- to quietly make their own checks and to politely let the other players know that, no, those trusty Eladrin senses are wrong as usual.
In each case, Stephanie, playing the elven bard Robyn, also rolled the same check, came up with a better result, and then quietly shook her head to the other players, mouthing the word "no", rolling her eyes. Which seemed of apiece to her similar reactions regarding Jarmingle's less-than-impressive swashbuckling.
I talked to Adrienne a few days after the game, and asked her how she felt about that botched rolls. She really enjoyed them-- enjoyed that the character was so completely convinced that he was right, even when he was very very wrong, and enjoyed the way it fit into her Eladrin-as-Ann-Arbor-hippie characterization. Thusly encouraged, I asked her if we could make this a regular bit of shtick for her character-- every time Tralamin would need a perception or insight check, I'll assign an abnormally high difficulty class. Rolling a natural 20 would still allow him an occasional glimpse of being right, but in most cases, he would say the most ridiculous, off-base nonsense possible-- kinda like Wolverine's heightened senses, but in reverse.
This would also allow other characters-- such as Robyn-- to quietly make their own checks and to politely let the other players know that, no, those trusty Eladrin senses are wrong as usual.
9.01.2010
Edward's Owlbear Rug.
An owlbear hide, head intact, refashioned as a rug, and then, in turn, repurposed as a "cloak" (head and neck item), giving its bearer +2 to AC at a penalty of -1 to speed, as well as STR, DEX, and CON non-skill checks.
Theoretically, one could fool extremely stupid creatures into thinking one was some sort of deformed owlbear with a daily power, "Rrarr, I'm an Owlbear", CHA+4 vs WILL, burst-3 fear attack. Targets are stunned until the end of your next turn.
Theoretically, one could fool extremely stupid creatures into thinking one was some sort of deformed owlbear with a daily power, "Rrarr, I'm an Owlbear", CHA+4 vs WILL, burst-3 fear attack. Targets are stunned until the end of your next turn.
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