5.2: "Lawfully" executed

Dramatis Personae

Beltin (Aasimar Dirge Bard/Cleric 8).

Bradley Weatherby (Human Dervish Dancer 8/Knife Master Rogue 7/Duelist 1).

Obnoxiously Long Name, aka Mac (not his real name besides the nickname, but he kept his sheet and his name was made to be ridiculously long and pretentious sounding; Ranger / Inquisitor 8).

Tarl (Aasimar Inquisitor 8 / Paladin 8).

"Lawfully" executed, Session 5.2 - 5/24/14

Day 8. The party gathers (Mac wakes up robbed and stinking in the gutter) and begin to head out of the Bender Brothers Inn when Tarl approaches them and asks if they require another stalwart soul in their quest for truth, justice, and such. Beltin's response: "Well yeah... about that." To paraphrase the rest: "Surprise! I'm a necromancer!" Tarl asks if he's evil. He says he is not.

Good enough, says Tarl and he joins the party. Yay! As they leave they have some small talk about the inn and its service, but notice how they always seem to get ill while there. They figure it must be from eating so much rich food after days of nothing but trail rations.

BW, Tarl, and Beltin go to see Samar at the Bard's Gate "embassy" (what appears to have been someone's office with all sorts of finery including a well made mahogany desk, tapestries, and rug, except transported to the back of a large covered wagon) to find Samar waiting for them and actually happy. He greets BW right away ignoring the rest and goes on about how the hostage (who was charmed by BW by the way) told him about how he mostly single-handedly rescued him from the creatures in the Chaos Rift and then slew some sort of mad four-armed fiend from the Abyss (Bol) that was going to consume him and then the rest of the Camp and perhaps the world.

He shakes BW's hand vigorously as he tells him this and then releases his hand and beams at him, telling him that he has done a great service for Bard's Gate. At this point Beltin steps forward and Samar seems even happier. Ah, he's with you, he says, I thought you were surely lost to the Desolation. Beltin tells him fortunately that isn't the case, but about that contract.

Samar pulls out the promised mad loot from his bottom right drawer (which the party sees is actually a safe): 500 plat (Glira, the silent NPC partner, takes her cut first and then leaves to enjoy her time as an occasional NPC seen in Camp; it didn't really affect how much you got, should you be a player in this game reading this). The party then brings forth the loot from the caravan that was Bard's Gate property, but tells Samar unfortunately the creatures seemed to have a taste for fine wine so some bottles are missing.

Quite all right, quite all right, says Samar, but bringing back the hostage and being so honest here with these goods when so many others here in Camp would have robbed me blind, I wish I could offer you a bonus, but right now I am tapped out until the next Bard's Gate shipment arrives.

Beltin points out the chest of money they recovered and says well there is that and rolls diplomacy. Samar is all for it and pushes it toward them, thanking them again for their service. Yay, more loot!

While Beltin talks, BW is working on a letter to the trade consortium explaining about the Bender Brothers and how they could be a good investment. He finishes and has Samar add it to his outgoing mail (into the safe it goes), but it won't be sent for until the next official courier from Bard's Gate arrives, says Samar.

BW then asks about the Benders but Samar says (truthfully) he doesn't know anything except they run a rather quaint inn from what he heard (he can never visit as he is always required in the embassy, he explains, stretching in his rather nice chair behind his desk) and that Bender is a shortened version of their real name no one can pronounce. People in town don't like to gossip about them, adds Samar as an afterthought, so they must be very well respected.

That's all very good, says Beltin, but we have some more news... and he explains about Clantock. Samar is very interested and immediately asks for their services again; though they would need to wait for payment, they would be true allies of Bard's Gate should they intercede on the city's behalf in this matter.

He pulls out some forms, fills them out, signs, and then stamps it with Bard's Gate seal. Behold, an official writ of execution for Clantock and his Furious Fourteen! He hands them to Beltin... and then hems and haws about how maybe he should hold onto them and can present them as needed if the Camp denizens interfere (they are technically under the control of Bard's Gate, even if they and no one in Bard's Gate quite believe it).

Beltin takes no offense and hands them back, saying he knows it would be bad for Samar if Clantock found those if they failed. Samar thanks him for his understanding and tells him all he knows of Clantock ("The man is some sort of brutal savage, but he can supposedly cut his way through anything on a charge") and his men ("He is supposed to have four captains that are a cut above the rest, one hobgoblin and three orc, but the rest is essentially just loosely organized rabble, but they have some discipline from hobgoblin captain and a few others of his kin in the Fourteen.")

He also heard that they just arrived back in town and some are celebrating at the Sip of Blood.

So the party goes to the Sip of Blood and immediately see four orcs in matching blackened chain shirts with a 14 made of lightning bolts emblazoned on one shoulder; they are drinking heavily and involved in a poker game near the back with two townies (Campies?). BW and Tarl immediately make their way over and pretend to watch the game.

Beltin spies Lucky Fjork the same time and he sees him, and Fjork enthusiastically waves him over; it is such a joy to be understood. Fjork tells him he thought he was dead and it is good to see him, as he pours him a drink. Beltin refuses it, saying he's on business, but asks if he knows anything about the 14. Fjork can only tell him what Samar said, but point to the four in the back. Beltin then asks him about the Benders and Fjork becomes much less open. He says he doesn't know anything really that they already don't.

Beltin shows him the Decanter of Endless Grain alcohol the party took originally from Gurg and then Bol; Fjork clearly knows what this it. It's yours if you tell me, says Beltin, and Fjork makes a show of stretching and dropping his rag over the decanter before quickly pulling it back to him and stashing it under the bar.

So no one has ever seen them or caught them, but people go in and don't come out of the Benders', says Fjork. And then old Griswald, the "undertaker," (the sarcastic nature of the title is lost on Beltin as they haven't meant Griswald the literal ghoul yet) stops by at odd times and takes "things" away. No one who lives in the Camp will stay in the place, but some are paid to point well off travelers to it... like that's needed as it is the only inn in camp, adds Fjork.

At this point Beltin looks up and can guess what BW is about to do and tells Fjork there may be trouble. He gestures to the girls to back up and he sits down on the floor behind the bar. And then things escalate. BW suddenly steps forward and cuts a throat; 1/14.

There is surprised silence and stillness for a second as blood sprays all over the table and card players before everyone moves at the same time: The uninvolved locals duck for cover or escape out the back and front doors (batwings of course in the front), but the two townies at the table make sure to grab all bits then can off the table first; the three now truly furious members of the 14 jump up, ready to kill.

Beltin ducks and starts commanding his archers to come in; Tarl steps forward and makes the party's score 2/14. The fight commences but it quickly looks bad for the two remaining. The archers step in and Beltin tells them to stop or get fired upon. The healthier orc stands his ground and covers his friend who jumps over the bar for cover and is soon cut down for his troubles. The last tries to escape but dies too.

Time in Camp: 36 hours. Self-defense kills: 1. Murders: 2. Maimings: 2. "Lawful executions:" 4.

Fjork stands up and looks around his bar, obviously annoyed by the state of his establishment but not at all surprised. He looks at Beltin and Beltin know he will end up paying the bill for this, but he has more important things to do. He begins casting Speak With Dead, and in the 10 minute time it takes no one comes back or seems to be approaching the bar.

No one in the party is checking but the wenches are and getting more and more concerned as they talk to Fjork. The party ignores them. Beltin speaks with one of the dead orcs who they quickly realize is an unhelpful ass even in undeath and after failing his Will save. They learn nothing new from him and then begin wondering how they will assault the merc group's "clubhouse" on the edge of the Camp. They step out, archers in front and learn that won't be necessary. The street is deserted except for one, and that one is obviously Clantock.

He is obviously barely controlling his rage as he sees them and asks who they think they are assaulting his 14. Beltin, from within the safety of the bar still, denounces him for selling out the caravans to the creatures in the Desolation. Clantock is supremely unconcerned with this news being public and asks him, "So?" It occurs to Beltin that none of the locals would care, the same way they don't care about the Benders' side business. Silence... and then combat.

The rest of the 14 (besides the four conspicuously missing captains) stand up from their spots on the roofs of nearby building and fire their bows (poor tactical choice as they were made for melee, but poor DMs make poor choices). Clantock charges and nearly destroys one of the archers and wounds Tarl (Barbarian / Scout Rogue 10 now for Clantock... pounce and sneak attack off charging, oh yeah).

The undead try to attack both the archers and Clantock, and the hydra begins scaling the closest building to go for archers. Mac, who isn't there in player but is being played by BW's, runs into the middle of the street and hits all the archers with Blistering Invective... and all are now demoralized and one is burning. They decide killing him will make them feel better and they all shoot... and miss. The burning one stops, drops, and rolls... right off the roof onto the street below.

At this point three captains make themselves known, right from the roof of the Sip of Blood. Two land on either side of Tarl, sneak attacking and greater dirty tricking him with blindness and sickening him (spun his helmet the wrong way and then sucker punch to the kidneys through a weak spot on the armor). Tarl fixes both with a standard action and Lay on Hands (so near death).

The third captain swings through the batwing doors from the roof like a badass and punches Beltin in the face with some sort of ball with dust on it. Roll versus poison? Failed? Excellent. 1 con drain with several more con damage to follow makes Beltin a sad panda, who then goes invisible to escape his would be killer.

Then Clantock finally goes down (Dr 5/- and 200 HP later) and it is clear the cause is lost to his 14. The rest on the roof tops who were getting ready to finally charge into melee instead charge the opposite direction. One of the captains who is near dead stays and attacks Tarl again and his friend next to him retreats out the back door along with the one who poisoned Beltin.

The captain still the fray yells out "Do it!" and the party wonders do what? And then they know. The last captain on the roof gives a parting shot, a blast of Dust of Sneezing and Choking. Beltin is inside and shielded from it, but Bol, BW, and Mac take it; Bol and BW makes it and are stunned for the next 14 rounds, but Mac... he has 14 con.

I tell BW's player to roll the damage so that he can be responsible for the death if it happens. And... 13 con damage. Still alive though he wishes he were dead! Some undead try to follow the escaping assassins, but they quickly escape. The hydra and archers (now using claws) take down the two remaining Clantock mooks on the ground who couldn't get away; the archers shred one and the hydra is about to crush the other one when Beltin commands it to bring him back alive.

The man in question can't wait to talk. With Clantock dead the men in his command are done; they had no real say in the deal with the spitters, but didn't really care. They were only loyal to money. But the captains... they were loyal to Clanotck, and acted as his assassins. The party should watch their back says the captured merc. He then rips the 14 off his shoulder and says that since they obviously no longer need him he will be going. And then Tarl commits a lawful execution on him.

Time in Camp: 36 hours, 30 minutes. Self-defense kills: 1. Murders: 2. Maimings: 2. "Lawful executions:" 8. Sworn enemies of: at least 3.

People begin to mill about the street again, including some adventuring sorts, and murmur about what just happened, but none approach the party. Beltin casts Speak With Dead on the dead assassin and they learn that they will seek vengeance (the dead one says he will be seeing Beltin in hell soon and can't wait) and reveals one of their meeting spots.

Note, one of them, hence forcing Beltin to use more questions to ask about the others. He gets the assassin to reveal the one they would be heading for, which is near the mountains to the West, but they decide not to follow as the dead assassin told them quite willingly and with a hint of a laugh. After their conversation, the party decides to point anyone they really need dead in that direction and that they never will go that way themselves.

The party heals up and restores some constitution right in the middle of the street (Beltin was at 11 con base, so 1 drain means he doesn't even care). They then wonder about selling some of this loot they have... yeah... DING! LEVEL 9!

1 Casualty: Bol. Cause of Death: A poorly worded wish and party members who don't miss you.

5.1: Murder & Metagaming

Dramatis Personae

Beltin (Aasimar Dirge Bard/Cleric 8).

Bol (Tiefling Vivisectionist Rage Chemist/Barbarian 8).

Phil (player kept his sheet so his character gets to keep his name; Oread Ranger/Empyreal Sorc 8). ABSENT PLAYER

Bradley Weatherby (Human Dervish Dancer 8/Knife Master Rogue 7/Duelist 1).

Obnoxiously Long Name, aka Mac aka Sun Bro replacement character (not his real name besides the nickname, but he kept his sheet and his name was made to be ridiculously long and pretentious sounding; Ranger / Inquisitor 8).

Tarl (Aasimar Inquisitor 8 / Paladin 8); there's a new crusader in Camp and he has a thirst for justice and smiting evil! But secretly he is only here for one reason... as a replacement for a dead player character! DUN DUN DUN.

Murder & Metagaming, Session 5.1 - 5/24/14

So the party is told about a magical item Clantock has to communicate with the garygoyle tribe ("See this necklace? See this spot? There used to be crystal here. Clantock has crystal. Kill Clantock and take crystal and we can speak," explains the shaman) and it seems all that has to be said has been said.

BW is still considering killing them all, but the party decides to see what kind of treasure haul they get from their first tribute before they make up their mind for realz. Also the hostage (whose name I can never recall) is getting antsy and wants to leave.

The spitters call out and tell him how they had a wonderful time with him and that he should come on back anytime. Tears start to flow from the hostage's deadened, thousand-yard-stare eyes, but hey he can suck it up; other people get systematically tortured for days all the time and you don't hear them complaining. The fact that Bol exists and there is an undead entourage surrounding him does not help his anxiety.

Up and out! The party travels the 200 feet up and gets back to ground level. They try to head southward but eventually realize they are trapped on an island of level with chasm all around; eventually it is decided Bol will Ant Haul and make multiple trips to get everyone across. The few hours roll by uneventfully and BW makes friends with the hostage (aided by Charm Monster after a certain point), who then starts to calm down, but he won't have Bol near him and is reluctant for the "fiend" to dangle him offer the Chaos Rift; he eventually sucks it up.

As the final flight across the chasm is being made, Bol sees a group of margoyles start to fly toward him to engage, but then they stop and turn tail; either they heard of the alliance or margoyles will now forever have some sort of intense fear of flying 4-armed demon spawn embedded in their genetic memory. Party doesn't give a shit either way.

South to the road! Onward they trek, encountering nothing besides a handful of Ghoul Wolves (which we don't even run), but eventually perception checks and the party notices some things, namely the broken fragments of armor and weapons throughout the area they are traveling. A knowledge check reminds them that this was once the main encampment for the Army of Light, so left over crusader garbage is to be expected... but what's that shiny thing? The party notices polished and gleaming pommel and hilt of some sort of blade... and it detects magic.

Jackpot! After spending a few minutes studying it they come to the conclusion the magic is keeping it nice and shiny, and BW pulls it out. It's a broken sword with Prestidigitation permenancied on it; appears to be an officer's blade from the war. The party keeps it and begins to discuss how much a "relic of the Army of Light" would sell for.

As the hostage discusses this with his new best friend BW, Bol suddenly approaches him from behind and for no good reason tackles the hostage and carves the symbol of his lord, Demogorgon, into his arm. He then releases him but the hostage understandably freaks the fuck out, and begins to scream and cry about how the beast has marked him and now will consume them all. BW works to quiet him down and makes Bol tell him that he has no intention of eating the man's flesh, but then from nearby they hear a deep chuckle from something that had been watching but now has decided to show itself.

A wild Nabasu demon has appeared! He watched the drama unfolding while invisible (because I misread his statblock and thought he had Invisibility like any other self-respecting demon). He has eyes only for Bol; he finds his refusal to eat the man amusing and he has just shown himself to be an enemy of Orcus. Time to get real. Initiative and Nabasu opens with an Enervation on Bol, because why not if you have it 3/day? His eyes then flash dangerously and Beltin is reminded of what it feels like to be level 7. He goes into the air and now it is an angry Bol's turn.

Bol buffs. He Rages. He flies up... and is out of actions. BW keeps an eye on the hostage, guarding him; Mac turns invisible for some reason; Beltin stares determinedly at the ground, and the archers do meh damage because of DR. Nabasu uses Enervation... it's not very effective and Bol only takes 1. Lucky. He then nearly proceeds to show the Nabasu the error of his ways; silly NPC, the only condition worth inflicting is "Dead."

Nabasu survives with about 2 HP and then is promptly dropped by archers. Beltin excitedly prepares to make himself a new, shiny undead but Bol puts his foot down. He disembowels the creature on the spot and draws a symbol of Demogorgon as a warning... to whatever. He then remembers that there were plenty of pre-made crosses at the Crossroads and that's where they were going! He takes the Nabasu corpse because there's nothing like crucifying corpses to send poorly defined a message. Beltin looks sad.

The party makes it to the Crossroads and camps. Not a single worthwhile encounter; based on what has happened and the demon corpse, anything with a semblance of intelligence has decided not to engage, at least at this time. BW makes a Tiny Hut and Bol hangs his trophy from a cross. All is right with the world. OR IS IT? The party gets some rest and BW takes first watch... at 11:59 p.m. a strange feeling like static electricity and malevolence fills the air.

BW feels the power all around him, building, building, and... midnight. It is gone, but a shadowy figure stands now in the middle of the Crossroads. Staring right through the opaque surface of the Tiny Hut at BW. He knows how this works and walks right up to the Dweller of the Crossroads and asks if he gets a wish. The Dweller replies he only offers solutions for immediate problems. Oh, I have one, thinks BW and he wishes "for a way to control Bol."

Granted. The alarm spells in the Tiny Hut start blaring and BW turns to see a shadowy figure plunge an equally shadowy blade into Bol's chest. 5d6 say 18, add 10 for the coup de grace DC for a grand total of 28 fort save or die. Bol rolls 22 and dies. The others in the hut and the undead begin to attack the shadowy figure (which is identified as some sort of assassin shadow creature thing from the plane of shadow) but after its deed is done it is already dissipating back to nothing.

So you asked for a way to control someone and you have a necromancer with a horde minions that obey his word as though he was their god... now all you have to do is raise Bol and he is controlled. Thank you for the wish, come again! The party is in disarray wondering what just happened and BW does his best to lie... but then at the same time both he and Beltin notice what appears to be a business card at his feet.

BW gets it first but Beltin insists on seeing it: "Bradley Weatherby, It was truly a pleasure doing business with you. Please feel free to stop back any midnight. Sincerely, the Dweller of the Crossroads." Yeah... BW comes clean about his wish ("It offered me a wish. Why wouldn't I make a wish?") and after some discussion the party decides Bol was a bit of a liability, so screw him, we're not using our Resurrection scroll on him. They loot him and don't even make him into an undead. Mac burns the body and back to sleep they go.

Meanwhile, Bol finds himself before a very upset Demon Lord and is asked why he failed his master... he doesn't know. But he will. And I will bring him back as an NPC... preferably in the form of a super low tier demon that will maintain his exact stats and class levels and also have an extra set of arms and has a fixation on murdering BW. Come on party, summon a demon. Demogorgon fucking dares you.

Day 7. The party continues back to the Camp, but besides the eeriness and loneliness of the wastes, they encounter nothing but the incessant howling of the wind that carries of the shrieks of the damned... and the screams of those on their way. As the sun begins to slip below the western mountains, the Camp is in sight and after a long journey they are "home." It appears as though there are more tents and ramshackle buildings; more have taken up the call for loot and glory at the crusade's call it seems. The hostage parts company and heads to the embassy and tells the party to come in the morning. To the Bender Bros!

The brothers are more than happy to see the party and welcomes them most graciously. They are just in time for dinner. Joining them are two shifty looking fellows and a noble and powerful looking Aasimar who introduces himself as Tarl, a paladin who has answered the call to cleanse the desolation in the name of good. BW strikes up a conversation and says that the desolation sucks and he never met a place that needed cleansed more.

They enjoy a pleasant dinner, with BW and Mac drinking some fine wine but then the Benders come out with something a little stronger. On the house as business is booming, they say! And because, they tell the paladin, men like him are the true heroes here. And then they thank him for his service. Fort saves are made for the dinner. Beltin, Mac, and BW fail... DUN DUN DUN. Everyone knows what this means out of game, with predictable results.

The shifty guys leave, but conversation continues at the table. On of the Benders sits and drinks with Mac, an angry drunk, and commiserates, always being sure to keep his glass full while drinking suspiciously little himself. BW, a sly bastard out of game, strikes up a conversation with the other Bender and says how impressed he is with the place and that he has trade consortium connections; they may be able to do some real business together and maybe even invest/expand Bender Bros Fine Accommodations!

The Bender seems intrigued, and BW's player gives a satisfied smirk as he knows he will not be murdered while on the crapper... maybe. Eventually Mac insists that he must leave in order to send a status report to the church of Muir/Thyr as he is behind schedule due to his being captured and all and staggers out, despite the best diplomancy the one Bender can offer. Meta-gaming bastards.

Like clockwork Beltin awakes in the night and heads to the privy (no one noticed the trapdoors in the rooms yet... maybe next time I'll use em'), one of his disguised archers in tow. The Benders are not fooled, but they also know he has the rest of his menagerie out back. And if he dies they may go berserk. The necromancer gets to live as he is a time bomb. Next up is BW. He is told that there is a 10% chance the Brothers decided they don't need him. Roll... and he's safe. He has his issues and sleeps fitfully, but everything is fine.

So Mac. He stumbles around in the dark, bumps into some people asking if they are adventurers, and then passes out in an ally but casts Alarm and Sanctuary on himself first. Sanctuary ends after 40 seconds and then he drunkenly sleeps through the Alarm as he is robbed of all his gold and the fine wine he insisted on taking from the treasure cache. And then he vomits and shits all over himself in the gutter.

Such a magnificent and shining example of the church of Muir/Thyr. We all see why he was sent to the Camp. The night passes uneventfully, but those two scruffy guys at dinner? Yeah, no one will ever see them again.

TO BE CONTINUED...

4: "Are you sure you guys are heroes?"

Dramatis Personae

Beltin (Aasimar Dirge Bard/Cleric 8).

Bol (Tiefling Vivisectionist Rage Chemist/Barbarian 8).

Phil (player kept his sheet so his character gets to keep his name; Oread Ranger/Empyreal Sorc 8). ABSENT PLAYER

Bradley Weatherby (Human Dervish Dancer 8/Knife Master Rogue 7/Duelist 1).

Obnoxiously Long Name, aka Mac aka Sun Bro replacement character (not his real name besides the nickname, but he kept his sheet and his name was made to be ridiculously long and pretentious sounding; Ranger / Inquisitor 8). Mac was sent to the Desolation on behalf of the church of Muir/Thyr to investigate the evil that lurked there, but this was well before the current crusade was even an idea. It was more a punishment (i.e. death sentence) for certain issues with certain daughters of certain members of the church... if you follow me here. He has spent the last last year or so exploring and cataloging the dangers of the Desolation, but has never penetrated it so deeply before now. Thinking himself a bit of a naturalist he tried to open a dialogue with the tribal gargoyles in the Chaos Rift. Long story short the tribe had two tortured captives when the party encountered them.

"Are you sure you guys are heroes?" Session 4 - 5/17/14

Day 5, dawn. The party buffs up and gets pumped for a lightning raid on the unknown number of combatants in the gargoyle caves. Beltin tells his Chimera and Hydra to start climbing, and then he takes off on his zombie mount with BW on the back and a skeletal archer in each claw. Bol downs an extract of Ant Haul, grasps Gurg in 2 of his 4 arms, and takes off. Woosh!

Now when they are near the lip of the cave their blitzkrieg strategy breaks down. Imagine you are a stupid tribe of spitting gargoyles/margoyles. You get one warning danger is on the way. You laugh and kill the messenger because nothing can reach you. Then several crazy ass ghosts show up and drive 5 of your number insane. What do you do later that night? You may be stupid but not that stupid; you stay alert. When the party gets near several battle cries come from all three watch towers and all 9 margoyles fly out to engage, with the other remaining 6 suiting up further in the caves.

Battle is joined in the air 30 feet below the lip of the cave! The skeletal archers manage to focus fire down several even with their negatives from being held in a zombie griffin's claws! Bol gets angry and any that get near him and skeletal giant he carries die quickly. BW, all buffed and ready to go, crits and crits and crits for max damage, 50 damage a pop. With a kukri. Beltin sings! And then gets bull rushed off his mount and barely dangles from the reigns.

One of the margoyles takes charge and cries out in Terran with a cackle, "Kill the rotting flying horse and down they all go!" and Beltin gets to have an oh shit moment as he has Comprehend Languages. Full attack, full attack, full attack go the margoyles! "..." says the destroyed zombie griffin and the now falling skeletal archers! Beltin slow falls himself and the archers and he eventually reaches the wall about halfway down and meets his Chimera and stays with it, but BW decides to be a badass.

Out comes the Immoveable Rod and he balances on it, dancing, challenging all to come. The margoyles accept his challenge and one gets decapitated, another loses a wing, and the third begins to question his life choices and starts to flee. With his foes dispatched, BW begins to acrobatically spin on the rod, getting ready for a daring acrobatic leap! At this point the three spitting gargoyles stick their heads out and do what their name implies.

Bol is having none of that and throws the skeletal giant 30 feet air and into the cave mouth, knocking one of the gargoyles prone. He then spies one of the two surviving, escaping margoyles and takes off after it.

Genocide survivors? On BW and Bol's watch? Oh hell no. BW unclicks his rod and makes a death-defying leap onto the back of a margoyle, stabbing his blade behind its wing and the margoyle fights for its life as they both tumble toward earth. And then BW puts the rod in front of the creatures neck and clicks the button. Crunch! And one broken neck later it's out of the fight, but so is BW, too far down with no way of getting back up. He unclicks and feather falls to earth.

Bol catches up with the escaping margoyle a couple hundred feet away and the battle is short and the victor obvious. Realizing that his party has retreated, Bol flies down to earth and stands with the rest of them among the broken and tattered remains of the margoyles slain in the air above.

Gurg fights on and takes down one of the spitters, but alas he is only a stupid undead and they are flying creatures with ranged attacks. He goes down with only that one kill. Several spitters land and prod the bloody bones, when they get a nasty surprise; the hydra with its 20 climb speed has finally entered the fray! Attack! 11 damage... DR negates 10.

The spitters laugh maniacally and kite it further into the cave and finish it. Flush with victory and hubris, the spitters begin to form up into a hunting party and 6 leap into the air to search for those who dared attack their nest. The standing figures below are easy to see and they dive toward them, screaming and laughing their maniacal war cries, perhaps some of that being Allip influenced.

The party was healing and saw them coming. Beltin tells his archers to play dead, and then tells them to drop prone when they stare uncomprehendingly and then goes Invisible himself. BW takes cover behind a boulder and stealths. Bol picks up a giant rock and gets ready. The spitters dive... and then Beltin hastes and commands the archers up. The volley cuts down one on the approach. Bol throws his rock and hits and one nat 1 on a fly check later, that spitter is falling, falling, and prone!

The spitters spit, but to no avail and those that landed get cut to pieces by the dancing BW and the savage Bol. Finally one remains, and after destroying one of the skeletons bows, he realizes it's over, glares at the party surrounding him and growls: "Parley?" Bol refuses to accept his surrender, and about 6 seconds later he's making himself a nice spitting gargoyle cap from the creatures severed head.

High above the party can tell they are being watched, but don't even care. They settle in for breakfast amidst the carnage, and that is Gurg hits the ground nearby with a white cloth tied around him with a crude message in blood, written in common: "Stop attacking. We can talk. We have deal. Wave fire if yes." The party briefly deliberates and then lights and waves a torch. Beltin shovels the remains of Gurg into his Bag of Holding, as Bloody Skeletons reanimate when destroyed normally.

A few moments later there is more activity above. A sense motive check reveals its almost like penguin behavior; one is going to involuntarily take one for the team by being pushed into potential danger. A spitter is thrown off the ledge and recovers in the air about 50 feet down, flies the other 550 feet down, and then lands near the party. He eyeballs them and begins to speak. And that is when Bol smashes him with a rock and keeps smashing until he's dead. It seems diplomacy has failed.

Above, the party can see several spitters watching, one flailing about wildly. They ignore it and debate what to do. This keeps happening. And the DM begins to roll a d20 in the open every 6 second. Finally after 30 seconds, the air around them is ripped apart with a fiery explosion; the reigning shaman who had a +5 to Use Magic Device finally triggered that Fireball wand, DC 20.

The others split up and take cover, but Bol is done with this shit. He takes off into the air and flies up for battle. Alone. He rises steadily and as he does so 2 more fireballs slam into him, but he succeeds and with fire resistance is unaffected. When he is 100 feet down the figured disappear.

He flies into the cave and sees 6 spitters on the walls ready to act with three further back in, one holding a wand. The other two have their claws at the throats of two heavily wounded humans. The wand holder speaks: "You come in and we kill them!" They have no idea if the ploy will work, but they generally know these adventure types are into saving people so they figure it's their only shot.

Bol doesn't care about human life, but he does know that Bard's Gate will pay more for rescued prisoners, and regardless of his savagery in battle, he likes the money as much as any other self respecting PC. He agrees to talk. Wand holder tells him if they cease their assault they can come to an arrangement. Bol says he needs the rest of his party, but to give him the wand as a sign of good faith. They agree and the party comes up.

Spitter shaman explains about evil magic far inside the cave that their leader wished to harness, but failed. They also mention that if had been here they would not be speaking, but rather peeling the flesh from the partys' bones at this point. He also calls them murderers, oath breakers, and child killers. BW tells them that the party holds eviler magic then anything they have to throw at them and glares at them. He also asks about Rupert Smitty, and is told they saw such a man but he managed to kill three of them before escaping into the rift.

That aside, their new leader, wand holder, went on, destroy the evil within, stop killing us, and we will give you these prisoners, some information, and some loot. The party demands the prisoners in advance. The leader asks if he looks like an idiot. They eventually come to terms and get one prisoner and his gear in advance; Mac joins the party!

They also manage to convince the spitters to allow them to roll a potion over for the wounded prisoner. They force it down his throat and he starts to moan in indescribable agony. Close enough, at least he won't die now, says the party and they go on. Beltin slips the hydra remains into his bag while the conversation is happening, as he entered invisible.

The party goes into the blocked passage and they see the long drop, waterfall, and pool below and after much discussion finally go down to the ledge ready to be attacked... and are not. Slightly disappointed, they continue onward but keep an eye on the pool behind them when it is in view just in case. Finally they reach what appears to be a fairly large lake deep in the caves.

The water is clear and lit with some sort of luminescent moss. Dark patches of what appears to be seaweed floats in clumps in areas, but besides that nothing. Some of the seaweed residue also appears to be on the walls, which the party then begins to examine for secret doors. A few spots of Olive Slime land and slide down some shirts, with PCs being none the wiser. The skeletons stand at the edge of the lake.

Eventually Beltin and Mac notice one of the seaweed patches moving near them and as Beltin quietly orders Gurg to be ready, it moves quickly to the ledge, and jumps out, revealing a bones bound together with a plant like substance instead of muscle. It tries to push past Gurg and the archers to reach living creatures, but fails. The undead pummel it and then Mac and BW move in for the kill... and it explodes onto them.

Mac, always the dry academic, then successfully makes his knowledge nature check and tells them that he has heard of this. It truly is a fascinating organism, Olive Slime, with how it mind controls its host into caring for it and protecting it as it consumes it before finally using its bones for movement. It's amazing really. At the mention of mind control I ask for Will saves as everyone is covered. Everyone but BW makes it.

The other start to remove it, but BW refuses saying its not hurting anything. As the party gets ready to subdue him, Bol has a better idea. He pulls out his Decanter of Endless Grain Alcohol and BW is drenched with the force of a fire hose. Beltin casts Spark and then BW gets to stop, drop, and roll. After being put out, BW thanks them and Bol cleanses of all residue in the cavern via his improvised flame thrower.

They find the bones of the leader among the residue from the creature they slew, but decide to rest before heading back to the spitters; they intended to finish the genocide as soon as they got the other prisoner, so they would near their strength. They gather some of the boiled cave fish from the lake (yay, flamethrower!), have dinner, and sleep.

Day 6. The party returns to the spitters and gives them the remains and tells how they, the party, were a greater evil than that below. The spitters seem inclined to agree. They are brought onto the torture plateau and see on the other end the current leader, with his claws at the throat of the caravan survivor, who is now in the same condition he was in before being healed. He asks if they think him stupid; he knows what they will do if he gives the hostage, but he can change that. He has an offer. He tells them of the arrangement with Clantock and offers them the same deal as they are mightier than he.

If they leave them in peace and pass info to them about good groups to hit and/or point weak adventurers their way they will give them a cut as tribute. At the mention of continuing "tribute" the party was sold, besides Mac and he voices his displeasure about it and the spitter hospitality, but does it in an incredibly dry, mellow, "that wasn't cool, guys" kinda way. I think the player is going to play him like a stoner. The spitter leader suggests they could trade Mac back to them as a prisoner... and the party considers before I tell them I was joking, please don't kill the same guy's character two games in a row (Mac's player found it funny though so no hard feelings).

The deal is made and the party gets the treasure haul according to the book! Wow is there a lot, but it's only about a third of what the spitters have; it is obviously going to be a profitable venture with them... the PCs reconsider genocide out of greed, but decide not to when I say its all just mundane wealth and all the magic was from the caravan.

They consider withholding some of it as Samar, the Bard's Gate official from the Camp, said he wanted the cargo back as part of the contract, but then they remember (i.e. are told by me) that according to the found manifest only the non-magic goods were actually owned by the caravan; the rest was the property of the enterprising wizard who booked passage/was hired to help the caravan, and he's dead so finders keepers.

And there was much rejoicing among the PCs, who then stole two bottles of the 100 gold per wine anyway to celebrate.

Fun fact: After they killed the Slime Zombie and searched the pool for treasure only to find none, Beltin's player give me a dirty look and said they were never going to get loot in this campaign. Joke's on you, asshole.

Casualties: 1 zombie griffin. Beltin has to walk now.

3: Inter-party harmony

Dramatis Personae

Beltin (Aasimar Dirge Bard/Cleric 8).

Bol (Tiefling Vivisectionist Rage Chemist/Barbarian 8).

Phil (player kept his sheet so his character gets to keep his name; Oread Ranger/Empyreal Sorc 8). ABSENT PLAYER

Glira Cross (Human Gunslinger/Magus 8). ABSENT PLAYER, now dropped from game

Bradley Weatherby (Human Dervish Dancer 8/Knife Master Rogue 7/Duelist 1).

"Sun Bro" (Can't remember his character name or classes, but they are no longer relevant as you will see). He is a warrior from a tribe of sun worshiping nomads in the desert to the north and he and several other warriors were sent on a pilgrimage to the Pillars of "Light" (i.e. Orcus) to restore his tribe's fortunes, but a flash flood in the rift claimed the lives of his companions. Now alone and lacking ranks in Survival, Sun Bro continued his search for the pillars, seeing his misfortune as a test of his mettle. Being completely lost just makes it more challenging.

Inter-party harmony, Session 3 - 5/10/14

Day 4. The party met and nearly killed Sun Bro as he was climbing toward the rift genesis and they into the rift proper; they met almost directly below the chasm in the road. Skelly Gurg was leading the way with orders to attack anything ahead when suddenly perception checks. What's that Gurg? You sense something ahead and you have orders? CHARGE.

Meanwhile from around the bend Sun Bro heard what sounded like a troop of something at the same time Gurg heard him, so he found an opening in the rift wall and hid. From his vantage point he saw some horrifying things: a gigantic bloody corpse carrying a great club the size of tree trunk... then several archers made of the same stuff. "Holy shit what's that" goes through his mind as he sees Bol, a walking abomination if there ever was one, walk around.

The man on the undead flying mount is strange as well. The sight of BW, a man of fashion (now ruined and tattered) and taste, confuses him, but he's seen enough to know that these are bad people. So he waits. Bol is suspicious and drinks an extract for scent and shit gets real.

Bol engages and nearly kills Sun Bro who is hiding in the rift before diplomacy prevails and each realizes the other isn't a creature of the Desolation. Sun Bro has joined the party! While this is happening, Beltin sees the remains of the smited hydra from the bridge and happily adds it to his menagerie.

After hearing the story of the flash flood (and me out of game letting the players see what it does), BW is completely paranoid and takes to riding the newly created hydra as it climbs along the cliff wall... 40 feet up just to be safe. Traveling. What's this? A wild black pudding has appeared! And oh wow does it appear with its surprise round followed directly by its turn it earned with a nat 20 initiative. I think BW thinks I want him dead...

The portion of the wall the hydra is climbing on suddenly begins to move and squirt out, grabbing and digesting. BW makes a reflex save and is given the choice of taking it with the hydra or jumping, and decides to feather wall his way down to relative safety. Knowledge dungeoneering checks! Failed? Excellent! The hydra battles the black pudding, biting it repeatedly, which turns out to be a poor choice.

Split, split, split, split, etc. Most of the smaller puddings rain down on the party below and some remain attempting to consume the hydra. As no one knows how to stop the splitting it keeps going until it can go no more and the party is almost overwhelmed for a second. Sun Bro goes down and begins to be consumed. Bol is nearly there too. BW's favorite non-magical kukri gets corroded to uselessness. But alas they can only split so much and eventually the puddings were defeated.

Beltin goes over to check on Sun Bro with BW, when BW stops him and suggests they check his bag first... and they find something that makes them happy. Sun Bro was carrying all the wealth of his tribe to (literally) pay homage to the sun, 10,000 gold worth of gems. Beltin and BW make an accord, agree to split it (though it all goes into BW's handy haversack for the moment), and then fill up the sack it was in with rocks and return it to their tribal friend's bag. Bol is off in his own little world, unaware of this or I'm sure he would have wanted in. They bring Sun Bro up and continue on their way.

As they continue on, they realize just how large the rift is and how they are essentially having some needle and haystack action going on, so Beltin flies up out of the rift to try to scout anything they should head towards. He comes up at just the right time and sees a fairly large group of winged creatures descending into below the lip of the rift and they realize if they continue east they will reach that spot, which is actually the lair of the spitting gargoyles (not that they knew that). As the caravan was attacked by flying creatures, this seems like a good lead. Onward!

A little bit later as they are descending a series of short drops in the rift they encounter a group of 5 margoyles, which don't do much overall, but the party has difficulty breaching the DR 10/magic and the fight is more difficult then it perhaps should have been. One of them breaks away and escapes, but the party has no idea if these creatures are related to the ones they saw before... they are.

When it is nearly nightfall they see a wounded margoyle, the one who got away several hundred feet up... and he disappears into the wall. Huh, maybe there's a cave up there? Bol turns invisible and flies up to investigate. As he goes up higher he hears horrible laughing and ripping noises and sees a grotesque scene; more creatures like the ones they fought tearing apart the wounded one who had returned.

The conversation is half terran, half common so Bol gets the impression the wounded creature was murdered by his kin for little reason other than his cries of "danger" woke them up early and they never really liked him anyway. Still, maybe they should fly out to check if there really is danger on the way. Screw that, we'll see em coming if they come says another and laziness prevails. Bol goes to leave, but before his does he hears a distinctly human cry come from the other cave, along with some more cruel laughter.

He goes down and reports. More of those creatures, looks like a lot and it sounds like they may have Rupert Smitty and the other missing man. In the right spot after all! The party sees more activity above and realize the creatures are mostly nocturnal so they decide to assault them at dawn. A magical hut is made and time for sleep. Except not.

Night 4. As they are getting ready for bed, Sun Bro discretely slips away and checks his belongings. He puts 2 and 2 together and realizes his new friends robbed him. He plays it cool and goes back like nothing it wrong but he has a plan. A poorly conceived plan. BW is on watch first and Sun Bro feigns sleep. Once everyone else is asleep his casts Deep Slumber on BW, who makes it and realizes it is time for violence.

He begins to silently dance and Sun Bro rises, an unspoken agreement that this is between them, hence the stealth. No one else need be involved. If BW thought he was getting a fair fight, he was wrong. Deep Slumber again, this time he fails. Sun Bro grabs his Handy Haversack and flees into the night. He casts Disguise Self to make himself look like a woman, under the impression he will rejoin the party later disguised as a different traveler.

He ducks into a small cave and begins to search through the bag for his stolen wealth, when he suddenly hears a whisper in his ear: "What are you doing here, little girl?" And then more voices, hundreds, thousands, gibbering, insane, damned voices. The three allips who he had walked right into float around to block his escape from the small crevice, laughing and gibbering.

They touch him and destroy his mind. Sun Bro throws the bag at one in desperation (it goes through and hits the wall in the back of the crevice) and runs. The allips pursue, telling him unknowable things as he runs, stroking him as he runs, and suddenly it all begins to make sense to him. He hears the laughter and the screaming and the gibbering is his head, but also he realizes, from his own mouth. As he runs back to party, they hear it too.

Bol steps out and is immediately fascinated by the allips, but Beltin is not and he has a plan. He dominates the allips one by one, but not before they bring Sun Bro down to zero wisdom. With the mad ghosts temporarily under his control he does the obvious thing: He commands them to go play with the creatures in the cave above. They happily comply and the party hears the sounds of screaming and laughter in the distance, finally silenced by a loud explosion. Out of game I roll 2d4 and tell the party that the allips managed to take down 5 of the creatures above, which is great because I think they'll need every advantage they can get.

As the sounds of allip battle from above trickle down, BW finally wakes from Deep Slumber and steps outside. He sees Bol and Beltin above the unconscious Sun Bro and walks over and nonchalantly cuts his throat for attacking and "robbing" him. They follow his back trail and recover the Handy Haversack and return to the magic hut to sleep and await the dawn.

1 causality: Sun Bro. Cause of death: Inter-party conflict.

2: "This place sucks."

Dramatis Personae

Beltin (Aasimar Dirge Bard/Cleric 7).

Bol (Tiefling Vivisectionist Rage Chemist/Barbarian 7).

Phil (player kept his sheet so his character gets to keep his name; Oread Ranger/Empyreal Sorc 7).

Glira Cross (Human Gunslinger/Magus 7). ABSENT PLAYER

Bradley Weatherby (Human Dervish Dancer/Knife Master Rogue 7). The replacement for the deceased Desert Wind. He's a "problem solver" for a trade consortium in the south. One of their members skipped town with a sizable amount of gold and ran north, and now BW is looking to collect. Word is that his quarry, who is using the pseudonym "Rupert Smitty," was attempting to join the Bard's Gate caravan to reach the city of Parsantium in the north. BW set off on his own after the caravan before the party arrived and killed Gurg, but he underestimated the dangers of the Desolation and got lost and sidetracked. He ended up in the Boiling Lands before he met a couple of Skeribar's rangers who found his trail and were planning on taking him to the Redeemers for a nice sacrifice.

"This place sucks," Session 2 - 4/26/14

The session started with the main party reaching the crossroads as night was falling on Day 2 of the adventure and it seemed a good place to camp. Meanwhile BW and his new ranger pals were approaching the crossroads from the Boiling Lands and met them. BW talked with the party and learned they were looking for a supposedly destroyed caravan, the one that Rupert Smitty was supposed to be a part of.

BW explained why he was there and asked to join in their search, much to the chagrin of the three rangers. BW noticed their annoyance and asked what the issue was, but the rangers replied it was fine and they were leaving. BW tried to pay them a small token amount, but they told him they were more expensive than that but were content to say he owed them for now.

The rangers cut off road toward the Dead Lands and were soon lost in the night. BW told the party about how those guys were creepy and he didn't trust them and the party bonded before heading to bed. That night the only possibly dangerous encounter was some Acid Rain which Phil spotted miles off, so adequate shelter was prepared well in advance.

BW took first watch and at around midnight things got weird. He felt a surge in the area, almost like static electricity and he was sure something was about to happen, but then it suddenly stopped. Instead he heard a squeaky cart from the North and encountered the Midnight Peddler; the Dweller at the Crossroads was about to manifest when the Peddler intervened. Next time they stop there they will meet him and get their Corrupt-a-Wish. BW didn't wake anyone, but bought the fish.

The Peddler then told BW the man he sought was in the Rift and that he would face many dangers he was not ready to face there. And then the Peddler wheeled away South. Confused and a bit troubled, BW threw away the fish carried out his watch. A bit later in the night a Bonestorm happened, but it was a weaker one and was not much of a threat because shelter had already been prepared. Next morning BW tells about the "strange fishmonger" whom he assumed was some sort of Daemon. The party wonders if they had been sold a Red Herring, but as BW threw it away and the bone storm after, they had no way to check.

Dawn of day 3, party heads north along the road and Beltin catches first sight of the Chaos Rift from his airborne mount. They proceed for a few hours before eventually realizing something is flying toward them from the North. Eventually they realize it is a Chimera and they get ready for it to finish its approach. As they are waiting on the road, they suddenly hear movement and growling coming toward them from a dune on the side of the Chaos Ride; 9 Ghoul Wolves!

The party has time to get ready for the dual onslaught and the wolves get mostly cut down before they can do anything. Three survive and rip into Bol, tripping him and dealing decent damage, but fortunately for him he rolls his fort way in the 20s for each check against paralysis. The Ghoul Wolves get finished without fanfare and now the Chimera is nearly upon them... and Beltin's undead archer horde, buffed with Haste and Bard Song, rip it nearly to pieces.

With its final, and only act, the Chimera flies toward the largest cluster of enemies, all the undead and an invisible BW, and uses his cone of cold breathe weapon... which the undead are immune to and BW Evasions out of. The Chimera then gets killed, partially eaten raw by Bol, and then reanimated to join Beltin's growing menagerie. And the walk north continues.

Eventually the party comes to a gap in the road a hundred or so feet across, but luckily it appears that though some old wooden structure was once here, someone recently decided screw that and used magic (several Wall of Stones) to create a more permanent and safer bridge across the gap. Yay magic! The party continues on the bridge and BW decides to look for traps. He sees nothing but what appears to be scorch marks all over the midpoint of the bridge.

Beltin sends an undead over. Nothing. Must be safe says the party as they walk across the area, and that is when four heads rise from the hydra clinging to the underside of the bridge. 4 breathe weapons later the undead are in bad shape as is Phil. The hydra manages to kill one of the bloody skeletons and throws it into the Rift, but with his 80 speed mount Beltin saves it for another day.

The heads go down quickly and eventually realizing its mistake, the last head pulls back under the bridge as if the enemy can't see you then obviously you are safe. Bol was having none of that and flew down to finish it, and then barely managed to avoid its falling corpse that would have hit him and taken him 300 feet down into the Rift.

Northward again. The party eventually finds the caravan in all its destroyed glory. They find a bit of gold and some bits as well as a dead wizard who still has his spellbook; looks like they found the Wall of Stone caster. They realize he died unprepared, so he must have been targeted first. The party finds no tracks of any kind, which they take to mean flying enemies must have done this. BW realizes Rupert Smitty isn't among the dead and when the party finds a manifest they realize two non-ogres/giants are missing.

They also realize from it that valuable trade goods are gone as well as something marked "Magical Goods" on the list. Going with the logic that flying things would have a better time in the Rift than the Boiling Lands, plus the fishmonger told him so, they decide to explore the Rift for the two caravan survivors. This is reinforced when a Speak With Dead with one of the soldiers says that the attack involved fliers who came from the East. They also asked what was in the magical goods box, which the corpse replied "I dunno, magic?" The party decides that the tendril of the Rift that the bridge went over probably would be a good place to enter.

Southward! At the bridge they cut west following the fissure until they reach its genesis in the beginning of the Boiling Lands where the ground is only a bit marshy as opposed to a godforsaken poisoned swamp. It's dusk as they reach the high point of the fissure so they decide to camp above before heading down the next day. It is now the night of Day 3.

To summarize the rest of the session: Haha, oh wow.

The slightly longer version of the end of session 2 involves one successful perception check, several failed DC 19 fort saves versus petrification, and the DM feeling bad and lowering the DC to 15 so that at least one PC made it.

Full version: Upon entering the "Rift Genesis" the party picked their way through the mud pools and filth but something seemed wrong... perception checks were made and only Bol realized something was lurking in the mud pool behind them. So he did the obvious thing and pointed to the pool and called out "There's something there!" at which point the entire party turned to look one head of the amphisbaena basilisk directly in the face. Roll fort! FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL.

At this point I decided to show mercy (a weakness I know) and decided that since the it all happened so fast and so chaotically they would have gotten a +4 bonus versus the gaze attack so now Bol and Beltin made it while poor BW and Phil started to enjoy their new lives as statues. The two headed basilisk went down like a chump unfortunately the next round.

I did get to enjoy BW's out of character panic as I described the basilisk corpse sinking slowly into the primordial muck, perhaps never to be seen again, lost forever... and then Beltin made a knowledge check concerning the blood of a basilisk restoring the victims so his undead Gurg was able to pull it out in time. I had one last bit of fun by pointing out the corpse had enough blood to restore 1d2 creatures... the dice were on the players side there, so both were restored.

No casualties and DING, level 8; the DM got peer-pressured into it.

1: Fitting right in at the Camp

Dramatis Personae

Beltin (Aasimar Dirge Bard/Cleric 7). Undead master, neutral, only character with a non-negative charisma. He started with four Azanti bloody skeleton archers and a fast zombie griffin under his control. He seeks the mad loot and magics. He joined up with Glira and the Desert Wind in Bard's Gate as a "hireling whose job it is to put our deeds to epic song."

Bol (Tiefling Vivisectionist Rage Chemist/Barbarian 7). Natural attack based abomination that was summoned from the Abyss. He met the party on the road to the Camp and joined up with them because of the Desert Wind; they have a history as rivals apparently. He seeks to steal the power of Tsar for his own demonic master.

Phil (player kept his sheet so his character gets to keep his name; Oread Ranger/Empyreal Sorc 7). Character was half done when we started, so don't know much. He seems to be aiming to be one of those "actively neutral" people, so we'll see how that works out and develops.

Glira Cross ( Human Gunslinger/Magus 7). Played by a guy. Badass mercenary who takes no shit. The Desert Wind respects her strength so they decided to set off together to the Desolation to do some free-lance work. Strictly in it for the money.

Al Kedish Vin, the Desert Wind (Tiefling Weapon Master Fighter/Kensai Magus 7). Essentially a caricature of a medieval Muslim holy warrior. He seeks to spread the word of the prophet and feels the need to be an ass to everyone he meets, as he does have 5 charisma. He constantly mocks Glira for being a woman and acting like a man. He seeks greater challenges worthy of his skill, so he has decided to come to the Desolation and Tsar.

Fitting right in at the Camp, Session 1 - 4/12/14

Upon arriving in town the group quickly dispatched Gurg, the crazed, heavily wounded Hill Giant barbarian, without taking any damage whatsoever due to the Desert Wind's 30ish AC and Crane Wing (using pre-nerf version). Poor Gurg even got souped up with extra levels and Impact on his club.

Upon striking the killing blow, Bol consumed most of Gurg's flesh and then Beltin raised him as a Bloody Skeleton; Gurg gets to keep his club in undeath, but lost his Decanter of Endless Grain Alcohol. Bol seems willing to put it to good use.

After seeing Gurg go down like a punk, one of the townies drew the short straw among his friends and was pushed out to get some money from the group by offering a guided tour. Before he could speak, the Desert Wind would keep interrupting him and he and Glira tried to extort the man for "saving his town." The man got flustered and then Bol, with his massive strength, clamped down on the man's shoulder and asked his friends if they were being bothered.

I deemed Bol's strength sufficiently high to break the man's collar bone. Now crying and rolling on the ground, the Desert Wind was disgusted by the man's weakness and went to kick him in the ribs. Instead he missed that part and kicked the man hard enough in the face to break his neck.

Time in Camp: 5 minutes. Self-defense kills: 1. Murders: 1.

With that issue taken care of and most of the locals still out of sight, they spied the Sip of Blood and decided to go in. Upon ordering a beer they discovered that gold was not the currency, so after being an ass to Lucky Fjork, the Desert Wind departed with Glira to do some money changing. Bol made a bit of an ass of himself by pouring himself a beer in the meantime, but Beltin smoothed things over and made a friend of Fjork, as long as he is willing to pay for any damages caused by Bol and pay his tab.

As Beltin has an item that gives comprehend languages, the wenches did not need to translate and he found that Fjork is surprisingly well spoken. Bol also made a deal with Fjork to sell him hang over remedies (some sort of alchemical item) at the rate of 2 remedies for 1 bit; I don't think the player thought that through, but then again I don't know how much it costs him to make them.

Meanwhile the Desert Wind and Glira make their way to the blacksmith. They see some recent construction off to the side of the shop labeled "Money Changer" and go inside; with the recent influx of people to the Camp the Usurer has created a separate area and hired a townie and 2 mercs from Bard's Gate to do the money changing so that he can work in peace. The DW thought a rate of 4:1 with a 1:1 return was bullshit and demanded a 3:1 buy in, threatening the clerk and calling him a thief. The clerk explained that was too bad and one of the guards moved in to subdue the angry customer.

Instead the DW crit him dead with an Intensified Shocking Grasp via Scimitar. The other guard seeing this ran, but Glira shot him in the knee-cap, leaving him to crawl away instead. During this exchange the sound of blacksmith work ceased, but only Glira noticed and she didn't care. As the DW made good of his threat and cut off the clerk's hand (because "that's what happens to thieves where I'm from"). Glira took the initiative and robbed the desk of about 4,500 bits, and then they walked out.

Time in Camp: 30 minutes. Self-defense kills: 1. Murders: 2. Maimings: 2

Immediately before them was an irritated Usurer who promptly Power Word Stunned Glira for 7 rounds, took back his bits, and had a conversation with the DW about how things work in the Camp. He then offered him the new rate of 10:1 and told him he was lucky he didn't charge him for the townie and the guards. DW made a further ass of himself with a negative Diplomacy roll, trying to get the Usurer to hire him as a guard and give a better exchange rate.

Glira got a rather large bonus by actually apologizing, so the Usurer decided to keep her at the standard rate and told her that if she and her group survive a few weeks he may have work for people with their talents. He then turned DW's 33 gold into 3 bits and did the 4:1 exchange to give Glira 25 bits.

Hearing the gun shot, Beltin went to investigate and encountered the Usurer outside, putting up a sign saying "See Blacksmith for Money Changing." Beltin cured the injured guard, but the bleeding to death townie was just shut in the shop, presumed to be dead. After a pleasant exchange, Beltin got his bits including enough to pay off the debt to Fjork.

Back in the tavern, Beltin learning about the players in town, the destruction of the crusader camp*, and about Gurg and his latest job (protecting a Bard's Gate caravan heading north through the Desolation), he and Glira went to negotiate at the Bard's Gate embassy. They found the man forlorn and pretty drunk, but got the details that if they found out what happened to the caravan, as well as cargo and survivors they would get paid. Quest accepted.

After that everyone but Bol got rooms at the Bender Bros Inn. Originally I had decided that one of the misc adventure guests would be the victims of the Bender Bros that night, but the DW being the DW commented how he liked how the lesser races knew their place serving the higher races at dinner. Yeah... he was then the only one to fail the DC 22 Fort save to avoid being sick from the spoiled food, as per the Benders' strategy for isolating "guests."

The party failed to spot the trapdoors in their rooms and went to bed. DW got sick in the night as planned and went to the privy, sword in tow just in case. As he was doing his business he noticed it suddenly got super quiet (but his Spellcraft wasn't high enough to recognize Silence) and then a stab in the back of the neck later and rolling a 1 against the DC 12 death attack, he was paralyzed and got to watch as one of the smiling Benders finished him.

Cut next morning. Beltin asks where DW went to one of the Benders. Smiling and sweeping up, the Bender explains that he left early, muttering something about revenge. Huh, well that fits him and he was an ass thought the party, so they left into the Desolation without him. They were pleasantly impressed with the Bender Bro Inn and the hospitality, so they are sure to visit again when they need to relax and recover from their time in the wastes.

Cue out of game laughter. Glira was excluded from the following and the Bender Bro exchange as the player had to leave early.

Following the road north, the party got cocky as they found nothing but the desolate wind (and maybe the sounds of screams on it far away), but eventually a Bone Storm happened which promptly wrecked Phil, but their skeletal Gurg did a decent job acting as cover and digging them some impromptu shelter, and then Beltin made the survival check to know about wet cloth. Phil would have died on his own, but the party made it through alive.

A bit later down the road the party encountered 3 of the spiders from the Ashen Wastes; they did minimal damage and went down easily, but unfortunately for Phil he failed against poison: 5 rounds into the poison duration he finally ended it but was down 11 strength. He got 6 back from Beltin. About of a third of the way to the crossroads, visibility suddenly improves. Off to the east they see buzzards circling, then visibility drops. They decide to investigate.

Phil hops on the zombie griffin with Beltin and Bol flies along side and they eventually encounter A1, Screamer Sign. They notice that the people are very freshly dead (maybe those were the screams they thought they heard) and they see that the wounds appear self-inflicted. They notice the tracks of a survivor and follow for a while, but after it becomes clear it is banking away from the road, they head back as Gurg and the 4 non-flying minions that were left on the road, plus these guys obviously weren't from the caravan. So screw them.

1 Casualty: The Desert Wind. Cause of death: Rudeness, 5 charisma, and the Bender Brothers.

*The Crusader Encampment - Rumors and DM notes

There will also be talk around the town of the fate of the first official group of Muir/Thyr crusaders; it seems that their leader was none too impressed with the iron bits currency in the Camp, and was even less so when the Usurer offered him the special crusader rate of 7 gold per bit. The crusaders set up their own camp a few miles away from THE Camp, but it seems it didn't end up so well for them. Some sort of massive creature (almost like a level 16 Eidolon, wink wink) from the Desolation slaughtered most of them, leaving the survivors to limp back under the Usurer's protection. To show he had no hard feelings the new crusader rate was adjusted to 8 gold per bit... which was readily accepted.

What is Dying in the Desolation?

"What the hell am I reading?"

Though I don't expect anyone besides those directly involved in the game to ever read this, it seemed like a good idea to explain what exactly this blog is on the off chance that isn't the case: It's about a Dungeons and Dragons game, more specifically Pathfinder. Still interested? Yeah figured not, but just in case, this blog will give the blow by blow for my current game which is based on the Slumbering Tsar Saga, an incredibly long and deadly adventure path; the link and others can give it more justice than I ever could, but to put it simply, as a player you are fucked.

If this confuses you, then I'm sorry to say you will remain confused; the purpose here is not to explain tabletop roleplaying games or the Pathfinder system. Sorry for the inconvenience if you somehow managed to get tricked into coming here because you liked the thought of people dying in deserts and misunderstood the title, or if someone currently has a gun to your head and is forcing you to be here; if the latter is the case just man up and hit the X already.

"I totally understand what you are talking about."

So really I'm making this record of my game as it occurred to me that as a long time player that sometimes I just completely forget what the fuck is going on or what I should be doing, though my character certainly knows... or should at least. With that in mind, yay reminder text! If you happened to stumble here from somewhere else, I hope it keeps you amused; it certainly did for me.