| 
  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

Campaign Notes: Greenlake

Page history last edited by Gillian 2 years, 4 months ago

(Back to Greenlake) (Back to Laketower). Notes Page 2, Notes Page 3

 

The Greenlake Campaign begins in year 2637. Calendar  

 

In the Barony of Greenlake, at Laketower, Baron Dmitri hires a band of adventurers, consisting of:

Eric - a human wizard (evoker/Academy Graduate), member of the Red Wizards, Dmitri's own apprentice (run by Jeff)

Rebexa Estietillon - a half-elven ranger (Guild Artisan Finesmith), who grew up in Laketower and the surrounding forest. (Tara)

Vivian - a human cleric (Guild Artisan Alchemist) of Mikol, who has recently departed from the Temple of All Gods in Greenvale to fulfill her lifelong goal of serving her God as a wandering acolyte and adventurer. (Julia)

Thorazin Greymantle - a human fighter (Soldier/ex-Greenvale Guard) who seeks adventure and has heard that Baron Dmitri is hiring. (Travis)

Revian - elf rogue NPC - not bad with a rapier!

 

Session One (5/1/21)

Baron Dmitri recruited the PCs to explore ruins around and within his Barony, offering a 30/70 split of treasure, and a 50/50 split of magic items. He suggested they begin by exploring a set of ruins a day's hike south, near Nettlebed village. The PCs agreed, traveled south, avoiding a Hangman Tree that was luring travelers off the road between Chetwold and Nettlebed. They camped in a clearing that Bexa was familiar with, and were attacked by winter-hungry wolves in the night. Thori killed two of them in one swift onslaught, and the third fled from Eric's burning hands. Revy was knocked down and nearly died, but Vivian managed to heal him. After a day of rest for Revy to recover, exploration of the ruins commenced. Circling around, they explored a number of empty structures, and Thori fell in the stream when he attempted to jump over it. "Hey! I made it across the second time!" They found an old woodpile stashed in one building, a wolf den in a cellar, and eventually found a building with a tower still mostly intact. A jump-snake attacked them from the tower; Thori missed it as it fell almost on top of him, but Revy finished it off after Eric used his magic missile. No treasure was found near the snake. 

 

Session Two (5/9/21)

The PCs finished searching the ruins, and found only one sad thing; a trapdoor in the best-preserved building led to a cellar where several people were apparently trapped when the building above burned and a beam fell on the only trapdoor down. 100 silver obols (400 sp value) and a sheaf of papers, book, and map were all recovered near the bodies. 

 

They then spent another day and a half mapping and sketching the ruins. On the evening of the second day, a horse appeared, wandering out of the woods. It was one that had last been seen by Bexa being ridden out of Laketower about 4 days earlier by a group of her "friends" who were "going adventuring" to Kassem's Tomb. The next morning they followed the horse's trail through the woods, and eventually found themselves at the Tomb. Several dead horses were surrounded by the tracks of skeletons, all of which emerged from the tomb, where the doors stand ajar. 

 

Exploration followed; skeletons were slain in the main entry chamber. "I killed five them them with one hit each! MWAHAHAAA!" Revy nearly died again. 2 of the 6 missing adventurers were found here, and crying was heard from deep inside the tomb. Following the sound, they eventually found Roldare (after Thori fell in a pit). "That pit had to ambush me, otherwise it wouldn't have been a fair fight for it!" He told them that he saw Dimira dragged off by an undead with "the voice of death" or something like that.  Roldare was able to sketch a partial map of the dungeon; he also mentioned keys that were underwater. They fished keys out of a pool near the entrance, using detect magic. "And their trusty fighter!" Then they explored further, and found a round room. 

 

Session 3 (5/23/21)

The round room was a simple arrow trap, foiled by triggering it with a weighted bag, and closing the door until it had expended all arrows, with a pit around the arrow-firing pillar. Exploring to the south, a sort of triangular room was found, wherein stairs descended downward. A few skeletons were present, with an odd ability to regenerate themselves. They were defeated fairly handily. The adventurers threw the bony skeletons into the pit in the previous room, where even when they regenerated, they were harmless. They found a nice bit of silver jewelry on one bony corpse. Then they went downstairs, and found a circular chamber. From it, three halls led off to the west, south and east. West was rotten smelling, south was silent, and east dripped water. A message engraved on the floor mentioned Kassem's tomb to the west, a "wheel to open the gate" and contemplation to the south. They chose west first, and found a crypt full of freshly-created plague zombies, which were defeated, but not before Thori was badly wounded, and cursed with a slow-acting rotting disease. A backpack with a curious map leading to the tomb, and a "bill" advertising for adventurers, and a small amount of silver, was found nearby; apparently the zombies were tomb-robbers! There was also a healing potion.

 

They continued to the south through a locked door; it showed signs of having been opened recently. They passed into a room with a long pool in the floor, and badly defaced murals on the walls. When Thori looked into the water, he was caught by a fear spell; he saw himself become a zombie and attack his friends. He panicked and ran screaming for a brief time, disturbing a colony of bats.  The way further was barred by a gate. The PCs retreated, searched south and found a small chamber with a magical fountain on the wall; it offered them rest and restoration in Kassem's name. Drinking healed and cured Thori. To the east, they found a water-filled region. They avoided a room that sounded like it housed frogs, and crossed a lightning-generating mold chamber by triggering it and running while it regenerated. On the far side, another door into the frog room, and a large chamber with the wheel that raised the gate, guarded by two skeletons hidden in the water. Here, Revian was knocked down and nearly died, again, but the skeletons were defeated, and the gate lifted. 

 

Returning to the west side, they passed the now open gate and entered a second set of crypts. There were bats here, but nothing else. Moving beyond, they found their way into a room guarded by a pair of statues - a trap designed to push those who tried to pass into a pair of pits. With some clever use of Revian's weighted bag, the trap was again defeated, and the statues rendered harmless. Behind them, a pair of large double brass doors opened into the last chamber - Kassem's tomb.

 

Here, the evil Asar, Kassem's foe, awaited, roused from his long slumber by tomb robbers. He boasted that he intended to raise an army of undead, and march on his foe Kassem's village. And then the battle began. Six skeletons and Asar were able to seriously wound both Bexa and Thori to start... things seemed unlikely to go well. A quick attempt at turning by Vivian, however, was resoundingly successful! Both Asar and all his skeletons fled before Mikol's light, and were then slain at a distance by Eric and the boys. 

 

Dimira was safely found, unconscious, by Kassem's tomb, and Vivian healed her. Asar's weapon and armor were stripped from him; both were masterwork, and a healthy bit of silver was also recovered. Two amulets, one worn by Kassem and one by Asar, were also recovered. When Kassem's tomb was restored, his soul rose up and he spoke to the party, telling them a few more details about his enmity with Asar, and he explained that the two amulets were part of a three-part key to open a vault; he told the PCs where and how he and Asar recovered the keys long ago, before they had a falling out. They were, however, never able to find the third part of the key, nor find and open the vault.

 

One last thing the PCs found - a body of the lead tomb-robber, slain by Asar when his tomb was violated. He had another map, and a note about the two amulets, instructing that they were to be "brought back together". He was apparently a follower of Mikar, the evil 'reflection' of Mikol, Vivian's sun god. He also had a spell-book that Eric claimed as his own.  [PCs leveled up]

 

Session 4 (5/30/21)

Leaving the tomb with Roldare and Dimira mounted on the single rescued horse, the PCs journey back towards Laketower. They stop at the edge of Grey Pond when the horse goes lame (casts a shoe), and there find a body - apparently one more tomb raider - which had a backpack that contained a black wood covered book, which also housed a map that the PCs became very intrigued by, and desire to investigate later. Otherwise, the trip back to Laketower was uneventful. 

 

Baron Dmitri offered to buy the spellbook the PCs found in the tomb, but has not got the ready cash to pay them for it. Instead, he requested that they act as escort to a merchant who is traveling to Marble Falls in Greenvale to sell a wagonload of furs. Once there, he will pay them the funds they earned for selling the book to Dmitri (320 sp). They decided this sounded like a fair offer, and off they went a few days later. They traveled to Briar Glen without incident, and there heard an anarchist priest preaching his theology in the village. Across the lake, they had a troubling incident with some locals, who called them bandits and scum, citing recent raids from "the southern baronies" on Greenvale's border.

 

Up the road a ways, in Rygrove, the PCs met Lady Linnet at the Lady Pegasus Inn. The innkeeper informed them that she was looking for escort to Marble Falls, and asked the PCs if they could provide such for her; she offered a token payment. Merefredh the merchant agreed and she left with the PCs the next day. That night, in the village of Belstar, the PCs camped. Linnet and her maid Suli slept in one tent; Merefredh had his tent nearby. Bexa slept under the wagon; Eric and Revian stayed inside it, and Thori & Vivian slept out on the ground under the sky. It was a cloudy, dark night with no moon, but while Thori was on watch, another traveler walked by; Thori demanded to know what he was doing, and the man introduced himself as Tobiah and implied he was simply looking for a place to pee. Thori ran him off. Later, as Merefredh awoke in the morning, he discovered his tent had been entered and his pouch of money was missing! Bexa was unable to determine who entered the tent or where they went. 

 

The next day the party reached Knedale. They stayed the night in the Happy Hound. The next day, within an hour of leaving town, they were assaulted by bandits in the hills. Lady Linnet was revealed to be one of them when she tried to grab Revian and take him hostage. Thori was put to sleep by one bandit, and Bexa killed the bandit leader almost single-handedly. Eric, Revian and Bexa all took on Linnet. Suli the maid and Merefredh both hid during the whole fight. One bandit got away, but was badly burned by Eric before he fled. 

 

The PCs recovered one magic longsword from Linnet, two potions from the bandit leader (CLW and Blur), and about 85 sp. The leader had a key on his person; the party decided that they want to find the bandit lair and the leader's putative lockbox... also, Lady Linnet had an odd tattoo that no one recognized: a black moth, placed just below her throat.

 

Session 5: 6/6/21

Bexa was able to follow the bandit who escaped, and the PCs reached the bandit camping spot - they had a rough camp in the woods, where they found 2 more bandits and 2 servants. The bandits fell to Eric's sleep and Thori's sword; the servants were two teens forced away from a local farm, who were overjoyed to be rescued. Once the camp was searched, the PCs gained two more horses (a total of 4, as they also claimed Lady Linnet's horses), and found the lockbox, which held a fairly nice amount - 35 sp, 8 gold crowns! and two gems, worth another 100 sp total. Also various tents and camp gear. 

 

After releasing the one captured (slept) bandit to go to Lake Tower to find honest work), they rode on to Marble Falls. There, Merefreth was able to complete his business, and the PCs got their spellbook money. 3 days passed uneventfully, and then the return to Greenlake was also uneventful! The return journey took 8 days. 

 

After returning to Greenlake (where their bandit "friend" was now gainfully employed) and spending a couple of days relaxing, the PCs decided to investigate the "Book of the Raven" that they had found earlier. Examining the map enclosed in the book, they decided that "Chalet Brantifax" (they said it was actually a chateau) had to be located on the western side of the Barony, beyond the lake. They rode out that way, circling south of the lake, and then cross-country. This took 4 days, but at the end, they had little trouble discovering where the Lodge was located. It was an old house-like structure with a set of stables, a dog run, and a small graveyard, with 4 graves. One was the Baron's, one was a daughter, one belonged to Bjorn (faithful servant) and the final grave was a female's name, but with an unclear relationship. Once they went inside, they found stairs down to the cellar where both Revian and Vivian heard a male voice speak to them. Once it said "I cannot get out" and the other time it demanded to know "Where are you Bjorn, boy?". In the kitchen, they found signs of someone cooking, perhaps for one or two people, but no tracks leaving the kitchen. 

 

Session 6, 6/13/21

Exploring the rest of the lodge, the PCs disccovered more signs that someone(s) was living in the house; in the upper level, the master bedroom showed signs of occupancy. Eventually, the PCs discovered that a group of Wereravens, calling themselves the Red Sashes, live in the tower, and use the kitchen and master bedroom on occasion. They tried to claim ownership of the house, but the PCs informed them that Baron Dmitri had claimed this land, and was recognized as the rightful Baron; the ravens, never having paid taxes nor acknowledged him as their overlord, had no legal claim to the Lodge. Brantifax Hill belongs to the PCs! They finished exploring, and discovered a poltergeist in the children's bedchamber, which Vivian drove off with a turn undead. A journal belonging to the Baroness indicated that Sylphene, the elder daughter, died at age six perhaps because of her birth defects which kept her bedridden and in pain. The younger daughter Heluthe died at age 9, in a hunting accident when wild bears attacked; her father's prize dog Bjorn died in the same incident, trying to defend her. It is unclear how the Baron died. They never did figure out that he drowned in the well! However, the were-ravens and the PCs did come to an agreement; they PCs would allow them to roost in the top floor of the tower, which would be remodeled for access by them, and the PCs would claim the rest of the building. The ravens told them that Sylphene's grave was a shadowgate to the Feyshadow realm, tho they were not sure why this was true. 

 

The PCs dug up each of the four graves, destroying some sort of undead that occupied HELUTHE's grave - they burned it without ever closely examining it, but it was apparent that the skeleton was adult, not child-sized. This led them to dig up the Baron and the dog's graves, and they found the baron's signet ring. This item, along with a few paintings that had some value, were the only actual treasure the PCs got. They're feeling very poor right now, even thought they claimed the Lodge. The PCs sprinkled holy water in Sylphene's grave after inspecting her remains and determining that she had some sort of non-human bloodline (which they assume means the Baroness was cheating on the Baron to create) which could explain her deformity and the link to the Feyshadow Realm. 

 

Session 7 (6/27/21)

The PCs spent two weeks at the Lodge, now officially named Raven Hill. They began cleaning it up, and making it liveable. During this time they also paid a visit to Baron Dmitri, and he officially gave them title to the Lodge, but also asked them to be Stewards to the villages of Bridgewater, Aberdovy and Hinden. At the end of the two weeks, a Bard naming himself Rylueneth Mistsinger arrived to pay them a visit. Eric vaguely recognized his name as someone he might have heard of once before. He questioned them extensively about their adventures exploring Kassem's Tomb, and they eventually realized he was most interested in the bandit raiders, and the two amulets the PCs gained from Kassem and Asar. They told him they never saw nor heard of the amulets, but described the "iron-faced" priest of Mikar - Rylueneth tells them he's investigating a cult of Mikar, and wants to prevent them from getting the amulets, which may open a treasure vault of Mikar's powerful artifacts somewhere... eventually Rylueneth leaves, assuring the PCs he will continue his hunt for the amulets.

 

Two weeks later,the PCs received word from Dmitri, asking them to come visit him, as he has two problems needing his attention; bandits and orc raiders. His dwarven mercenaries are handling the bandits, but he needs the PCs to investigate what's happening around Penney. They went, and he filled them in on details; a boy was killed near Penney by the orcs, and they need to stop the raids.

A day later, the PCs arrived in Penney and met Rix and Narder. Rix is the village reeve, and Narder is their "guard captain". Questioning them made the PCs decide they'd best go see what the orcs were up to, so next day, after watching Narder and his "troops" fight like total amateurs, they went hiking. The orc castle was easy to find, only about 4-5miles south of Penney. The orcs had plowed gardens, repaired walls, armed watches, etc... and didn't seem very orclike. So they ambushed a hunting party and questioned them. The orc "sergeant" (actually a half-orc Ranger) told them that they stopped raiding the village farms 20 years ago, when Osbeorn the huntsman helped form a truce between them. But he refused to admit they had anything to do with current raids. After a brief discussion, they were able to meet with Chief Gadel and his "shaman" (a woman). They weren't orcs, but half-orcs, and Gadel claims the trouble between his people (the Greywhisper Clan) and the villagers is over a dispute of ownership of a coal mine between the village and the castle. Next morning he took the PCs there, and showed it to them. There were signs it had been attacked several times, and the half-orcs definitely were in control of it. So the PCs returned to Penney. Further questioning of the farmers who were attacked, a priest, Osbeorn the Ranger, etc... finally led the PCs to the realization that the half-orcs were telling the truth. In fact, Osbeorn reveals taht the trouble dates back about 6-8 months to the arrival of a group of dwarves, who claim to be from the Barony of Thrak. These dwarves want to trade for the coal, and are willing to trade iron for it. But they apparently don't want to deal with the half-orcs.

 

7/18/21 Session 8 

After talking to the village leaders again, Eric and Thori warn them to wait for Dmitri to tell them what to do next. Thori got quite pushy, almost threatening, when Narder tried to talk back. Rix kept him under control, but didn't like what the PCs did. The PCs also chatted with the dwarves from Thrak. Eric remembered Thollar, the leader dwarf as a very unusual dwarf wizard who was studying under Dmitri 5 years ago, when Eric first became Dmitri's apprentice. But soon after, the dwarf left, and Eric has not seen him since. He does remember Thollar being from Thrak. Eric and Thorazin warn the dwarves that they're making the trouble between the half-orcs and the villagers worse, and "suggest" that they leave. They agreed to do so, but didn't seem very happy. The next day, to pass the time until Dmitri responded to their messages, they went "monster hunting". They heard in the village about some unusual statues in the woods a few hours' hike away, so they went to investigate. This lead to a cave with 2 adult and many baby cockatrices. The PCs battled them; Vivian roasts a few babies and they find a strange "gate" that leads to the feyshadow, according to their understanding. They break a magic stone, which also seems to break down the cockatrice petrification, and they rescue 4 people who had been turned to stone. Two were very ordinary folk (one hobbyt and one dwarf) and two were elves. One, Celestia  Avondel, commanded the other, and he obeyed her. She was a wizard, who had come here 150 years ago, through the gate, though she never said why. The other elf was a hunter, and had been searching for the gate from this side. They also found a rather odd statue, not petrified, of an elf wearing a wooden bracelet, which Eric took. It has on it a fey sigil, probably representing the man from the statue. Eric did not give the bracelet to Celestia. She rewarded the PCs for rescuing her with her sword - a +1 scimitar that can cast "gust of wind" once per day on command. The dwarf gave the PCs a 50 sp gem, and the hobbyt had no treasure. Her name was Myla Rosewood. The dwarf was named Gundra, and the second elf was Sevel Greyblossom. 

 

Session 9 (8/1/21)

After the PCs returned to Penney, they received a message from Baron Dmitri saying he was delayed another day by business; also a dwarf warrior bearing a message for Dmitri arrived in Penney - he said that the dwarf soldiers were having trouble routing the bandits east of East End, and they needed help. He went on to Laketower after a meal and a brief rest. The PCs hung around for a bit, and then decided to follow up another story they'd heard from the local fishermen; there's an island out in the lake that is home to a lot of man-eating giant frogs! They talked to one fisherman turned farmer who said that five years earlier he and 3 friends went to the island, and the other 3 young men were all killed. He barely escaped, but was able to say that the frogs were indeed big enough to swallow a man, and that there were at least three, maybe 4 of them. The PCs hired a local fishing lad to take them out to the island, and they began to explore. Within minutes, they were in combat with the frogs. Eric enlarged Thori, Bexa was grappled and swallowed by her frog, but nearly cut her way out as Thori slew it. Thori and Revian put the second frog down, while Eric and Vivian toasted a third frog, and the fourth one fled. Further exploration revealed a pit that opened into a cave chamber below. Thori, still enlarged, lowered the others into the cave, and they began to explore. Thori jumped down to a lower area, and then his enlargement wore off. At about this time, six stirges attacked, severely draining Thori, and slightly draining Eric. After beating them off, the party examined 3 skeletal bodies they found in the cave. Two might have been adventurers, and a third might be one of the missing fishermen. The bones were packed up for return to Penney. A passage at the back of the tunnel continued to slope down, into a watery darkness (the tunnel was only 3' deep in water); the PCs decided to return to Penney at this point as they were exhausted, soaking wet and out of resources. 

 

Back in Penney, Baron Dmitri finally arrived early the next morning, flying in by himself. He listened to the PCs adventures, bought twelve of the 24 eggs they found in the cockatrice lair, and asked the PCs to please go east and make contact with the bandit-fighting dwarf soldiers. He said he would take himself to Castle Greywhisper to meet the Clan Chief there and come to some agreement as to whether they would join the barony or whatever... And so the party journeyed two days east to East End. No significant encounters on the way. (Level Up)

 

Session 10 (8/8/21)

 

After arriving in East End, they met Fari, the leader of Baron Dmitri's dwarven mercenaries. He asked them to please do one of two things - either act as a rear-guard for the dwarves as they attacked the bandit encampment, or sneak around the back of the camp, and provide a rear assault to distract the bandits. They chose to do the  latter, but first, they searched the woods around the camp. In doing so, they came upon a smaller group of bandits hiding in the woods, and took them out. They consisted of a sorcerer and 8  bandits. It was a fairly easy fight, as they managed to completely surprise the bandits; several of them fled, however, and were caught by the dwarves before they could reach the encampment. The PCs then split into two groups; Eric and Revian climbed a tree, and used ranged attacks (flaming sphere and arrows) to take out several bandits on a watch platform high above the pallisade. Thori, Bexa and Vivian on the other hand waited until the last moment and then ran out of the woods and scaled the "cliff" around the leader's tent; Vivian had some trouble climbing, but Bexa gave her an assist, while Thori was attacked by the bandit leader. Thori managed a double hit and crit, taking the leader out in two rounds, just as Bexa approached from the rear, through the bandit tent. She was almost ambushed by a sorceress, apparently the leader's girlfriend, who attacked her with burning hands. Bexa was able to kill her with a single attack. The PCs then moved to help the dwarves handle the bulk of the bandits, but once they realized their leaders were dead, they quickly surrendered. Six or eight were taken prisoner and hauled back (eventually) to Baron Dmitri to deal with. The PCs looted the camp, and came away with a fair amount of treasure, much of it in the form of potions and a couple of prize magic items - they kept a wand of magic missiles, several potions, a couple of scrolls, and a handy haversack. Two prisoners were also rescued; a paladin of St. Romanus the Thiefslayer and his squire. The paladin, Sir Leofwine, assured the PCs that he would spread word of their heroic deed, their honesty, and the trustworthiness of Barony Greenlake far and wide.

 

After a day and a half at the bandit encampment (the dwarves burned the tents and demolished the pallisade, so no one else could use the location), the PCs and the dwarves with their prisoners headed back to Greenlake. They met Baron Dmitri again, in Penney, after his consultation with the Greywhisper clan. They immediately noted that he was sporting a bandaged shoulder. He assured them thtat the Greywhisper clan had agreed to pledge their loyalty to him, in return for certain commitments on his part, including a promise to rid them of the ghouls that plague the ancient battleground outside their castle. And Baron Dmitri has assigned that little task to the PCs. He also told them that his bandaged shoulder is a result of an encounter on the road to Greywhisper - he was attacked by Thollar the dwarf wizard and several henchmen. Dmitri drove them off, apparently with a fireball among other magic, and killed one of the dwarves. He shows the PCs a very unusual axe he "rescued" from his attackers - it is a strange black metal with acidic characteristics. Bexa has never seen anything like it before, and takes it to show to her father the weaponsmith. 

 

The PCs decide they want to rest up for a few days before they head down to Greywhisper, and take the time to finish up their exploration of Frog Island in the meantime; rowing back over to the island, they find it free of frogs at this point. They go back down into the caves, where they wade into the water-filled passages. Almost at once, Revian finds a secret door, but before he can open it, a giant frog attacks from the rear of the party, where Vivian is forced to face the brunt of the attack; she is grappled, but manages not to be swallowed. Several weapon blows and a spell or two eventually slay the foul creature, and frog legs are stripped for later eating. 

 

The secret door was opened to reveal a trio of trapped ghouls; the PCs had no trouble with them, as Vivian turned them almost immediately (although Thori did get paralyzed, briefly). They had no treasure. Moving on, they found another door, this time swollen shut. Revian forced it open after Thori could not, and then Thori waded into the dark hall. Leeches immediately swarmed over him, and he took quite a serious amount of bloodloss before Vivian was able to invoke her Sun God's hatred of water creatures, and turned them as if they were undead. She then healed Thori. Beyond the leech passage, they found a small chamber that housed a dry area, and a coffin. In the coffin were two bodies; one was of a fisherman, possibly one of the missing men from Penney, and a much more ancient corpse, with no treasure at all. They left Frog Island, neither wealthier nor wiser, but scarred by leach and ghoul. 

 

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.