More Skulking in the Darkness

Picking up where we left off last week I came to the realization that, though it’s been a month in “real life”, they’ve been playing one really long day in the game… the day began With the pegasi depositing the group in a mountain pass overlooking the swampy ruins of Xak Tsaroth at dawn. Since then they walked down the mountainside and into the swamp, been ambushed by draconians while crossing open water on a fallen tree, crossed more bridges and made their way to the central plaza, entered the Temple of Mishakel and fought a bunch of Dragon Hatchlings, Fought some draconians in the upper part of the temple, took the elevator down, fought some more draconians.. then some more .. then some ogres… then some more draconians…. That’s a long day… So I convinced them to fnd a moderately secure location to have a bit of a rest or they might have to start making vigor rolls and suffering fatigue. Their first inclination was to press on – a couple of htem nothing that they were pretty vigourous and could take it…

Eventually they were convinced that some rest was required… A couple (game) hours later a patrol of Draconians searching for the intruders interrupted their slumber…


Caramon and RAistlin were on watch and heard the patrol coming and hastily awakened the others (who started the encounter “shaken”).

They all got pretty good cards and rolled some amazing recovery rolls and were, for the most part, all awake and fighting before the Draconians even took an action!

The group went back to sleep for a couple more hours (hoping that no one would miss the patrol or figure out where they had gone…). After some breakfast they continued their exploration – following their de facto leader - the curious kender (played by the five-year-old…).

The Kender next blundered into the Draconians barracks…


I should not that she’s figured out that, while curious, she can exercise SOME caution in the form of entering new areas with some stealth and observation. While very stealthily entering this room, she was completely oblivious to the rumbling of the snoring draconians… it was Tanis, the half-elf ranger, that drastically failed in his attempt to be stealthy that woke the Draconians.


After the first round of combat…


After another round or so…

These draconians that I originally thought would be too powerful are proving to be little challenge to these seasoned explorers…

After that they Kender lead them on a circuitous tour of the ruined under city eventually returning to where they had come down the elevator to check a door they realized they’d forgotten…


Here they found three more draconians. I decided to make one of them a wildcard sorcerer – just to make it more of a challenge.

Goldmoon got beat down pretty good- Incapacitated with one mighty blow!!

Raistlin cast a 3d6 bolt and hit with a raise (making it 4d6 damage and managed to roll this:


What are the odds of that!? 1:1296!?

The two lesser draconians were easily overcome, but the sorcerer eventually realized he was outclassed and cast obscure and scarpered – to go fetch some reinforcements!

And that’s where we had to call it a day!

I have to admit I’m a little concerned the players might be loosing sight of what they came down here for in the first place – Keira at one point (tired of opening doors and finding more monsters to fight) suggested that they just go back up and leave…!? At one point they had started going in the “right” direction, but then decided to turn back and check out other empty corridors… Do I need to send draconians by the dozen chasing them fro every direction other than where they need to go!? Probably wouldn’t work – they’d just try and stand and FIGHT them all!?

Maybe alert them to the sinister sounds of and undetermined “many” approaching draconians could spur them on their way….

Elvenhome

The Elves that saved our heroes from the Slave Caravan led the group on through the Elvish woodland realm of Qualinesti to the capitol of Qualinost. There they had meetings with the Speaker of the Sun and it was eventually decided that they should go to Pax Tharkas to free the slaves (including some of their own families!) and try to take some of the pressure off the Elves by leading the Dragon Army within off in pursuit in the opposite direction… or something like that…

Gilthanas, The elf they’d met in the caravan, was to lead them to a secret entrance to Pax Tharkas known as the Sla Mori (which only the elves know about).

Along the way they came across the scene of a recent battle – and were ambushed by Draconians.


The Draconians were dealt with in short order…


Amid the bodies and carnage they found one survivor, who joined their merry gang.

In the valley that leads to the Sla Mori they ran into some Ogres


It was supposed to be trolls, but trolls look a little bad-ass in Savage Worlds… of course, considering how fast they dealt with the ogres, I probably could have thrown the trolls at them…

Next Week: Into the Sla Mori to infiltrate the mighty fortress of Pax Tharkas!

Skulking in the Darkness

After two weeks of life intervening since our last session, the kids finally got together for another session of our Savage Worlds Dragon Lance campaign.

Once again the curious Kender led the way, since no one else felt the urge to take the lead or convince Tasselhoff to go any other way…

She was determined to see what was back up the street back the way they had came and strode back in that direction – being none to cautious about it. She got out of the ruined building they had been in and crossed the street and didn’t even notice the Draconians back down the street – where they had came from – investigating the dusty remains of the sentry by the “elevator pot” and just about to form a search party (to find the intruders that had vanquished him). They, however noticed her… and Goldmoon, who was the second out the door.


The Draconians rushed them! The rest of the heroes poured out of the building and dispatched the group of Draconians.

The Kender continued to lead them hither and thither, up and down the ruined streets of the subterranean ruins of Xak Tsaroth. Eventually her wanderings led them into a building occupied by two ogres. I think Keira shrieked… (I very definitely remember her saying “I don’t want to be there!)


The Kender ran for a corner to hide in while the rest of the crew stormed into the room and dealt with the ogres handily…

Again the Kender set off to explore with the companions following… The third and final encounter took place in an ancient armoury


Again a group of Draconians.

I think someone was actually injured in this battle… I should take better notes… or do these up quicker after the game – it’s hard to take good notes while trying to keep the game moving along at a fast, furious, and fun pace!

I think in game terms it must be late-late-late at night… perhaps I’ll have to have them hunker down for a couple hours shut-eye before they press on (or start having them roll for fatigue…)

Hopefully Bruce and the gang will be able to make it again tomorrow and the adventures will rage on!

Slave Caravan Ambushed

The whole crew was actually on hand to play their own characters tonight! Woot!

Picking up the action where we left off last week; Marcus Cabot, Norfindel, Henry FitzArnulf, and Roscoe Thorngage had, after destroying a few Draconians in the ruins of the Inn of the Last Home, slipped out the back door to find themselves surrounded by dozens of orcs and goblins and draconians. They were arrested and hauled to the center of what remained of Solace and locked in a big cage on the back of a wagon.

Up on the mountainside Lorena Whiteswan, Magnus Blackburn, and Goldmoon lie moaning in pain under the ever watchful eye of Riverwind. Lorena (through a fog of pain) spotted a patrol of Draconians headed their way. When she reported this to the others both Riverwind and Magnus (drastically failing stealth rolls) stood up to look around shouting “WHERE!?” The group was surrounded and also captured. They were roughly hauled down to solace and imprisoned in the same cage as their compatriots.

After a day of hanging out in the cages a caravan was finally organized and head out towards Pax Tharkas. After a couple days the caravan was traveling near the Qualenesti wood when the caravan guards started dropping like flies – felled by Elvish Arrows!

So… we started with everyone (well all the player characters, plus Goldmoon and Riverwind, and Tike Waylan and Gilthanas – two additional NPCs picked up along the way) in one of the cages and unarmed – but with the locks just busted off by a Gully Dwarf slave (who wanted to sticki it to his soon-to-be former master – before scarpering off into the underbrush). I focused the encounter on just the area around the wagons – there would have been dozens more Orcs and Draconians on either side, but we assumed they would be kept busy by additional ambushing Elves. So on the table I have 7 Elf Rangers, 8 Kapack Draconians (the ones that melt into a pool of acid upon dying) 13 Orc warriors with either sword and shield or great axes, and 7 orc archers….


The Caravan rolls along what remains of the old road leading to Pax Tharkas


When the ambush was spring the Elves got to take one shot with the drop – and they dropped six foes right then and there.


On the Orcs first move they rushed the ambushers, not yet aware that the Gully Dwarf had broken the locks on our heroes cage…


Part of The Gang. From left to right: Christian who plays Henry FitzArnulf, Amanda who plays Lorena Whiteswan, Curtis who plays Magnus Blackburn, and Patrick who plays Roscoe Thorngage.

Also present (but not in any pictures) were Jackson who plays Marcus Cabot, Dave who plays Norfindel, and Rick who has been playing Riverwind since Curly plummeted to his doom off a subterranean waterfall…


When our heroes finally went (Gilthanas was blocking the door out) Gilthanas in one deft (multi-action) move leapt out, picked up a sword from a wounded orc and cut down another!


The rest blundered out scrambling to pick up weapons from injured foes…


Fighting other orcs, or trying to free the other prisoners…


The ambushing Elves.


In the end most of the orcs and Draconians in the center were slain and the remaining ones on the flanks (not on the table) fled! The Elves were dealt a serious blow – three of the seven on the table here were killed in action (by naughty orcs delivering killing blows!) one was seriously injured and another was lightly wounded.

In the melee Riverwind was seriously injured, but Norfindel was able to path him up pretty good afterwards.

Tika the barmaid was the champion of the day taking down at least four Orcs (I can’t say “singlehandedly” because at least two of them had been previously shaken by Roscoe!?).

After freeing the rest of the prisoners and recovering their personal effects the lot of them scarpered into the Qualinesti woods with the Elves…

Huzzah!

Heading Home

Session Seven… and just starting DL2 Dragons of Flame… this campaign’s going to take a year – for sure… Unless I pull a TPK and abandon it…

In our last episode, the group had escaped from the collapsing ruin of Xak Tsaroth, fighting a few bands of Draconians along the way. It was nearly morning and they had been on the run for nearly 24 hours… Two of the group were critically wounded (3 wounds!) so they all collapsed into a bush somewhere to hide out and wait until sun up… They listedned for a while as the ruins collapsed into the sea and the draconians rampaged and fled hither and thither.

As dawm broke on the fifth day since their adventures began it seemed like it had been months… (in real time, it HAD been!?). They lay low in the swamp for a day then decided they needed to press on. They headed back up into the mountains through the pass and sought out shelter in one of the secret hiding places of the Que Shu. The arrived to find the scene of a recent battle and the cave deserted. With seriously wounded companions they decided they could travel no further. They hung out in the mountain valley for a few days to recover – ever aware of smoke rising from beyond the Sentinel Peaks beyond the plains.

Lorena Whiteswan and Magnus Blackburn both recovered one of their wounds (still two each). It was decided that they could wait no longer and had to pres on.

Another days travel brought them to Que Kiri – the town at the entrance to the mountains – reduced to a smouldering ruin. They found a dying man who told them of great flying wyrms with leather wings that destroyed their town…


And then they were attackecd by a group of Draconians – a new type, that melted into a pool of acid upon dying!? YIKES!

Goldmoon was critically injured in their encounter with them!? They stayed the night in the smouldering ruins and then pressed in the morning – Riverwind carrying Goldmoon – and climbed the pass through the Sentinel Peaks. They camped in the pass and in the morning were exposed to a horrific vista – the valley many of them had grown up in was reduced to a smoldering ruin….

Stumbling down out of the pass they approached Solace. They found what was left of it to be occupied by Draconians. Leaving the injured behind, Norfindel, Henry FitzArnulf, Roscoe Thorngage, and Marcus Cabot tried to sneak into town. They found the ruin of the Inn of the Last Home – Tika the barmaid was there and serving up food and ale – but shortly after their arrival a group of draconians entered the establishment and picked a fight with an Elf and Tika…


Our heroes intervened, but as they tried to beat a hasty retreat from town they found the Inn to be surrounded by Draconians…

Down into the Deep Dark!

Bruce and his kids came by and we got in a second game this week with the kids! Huzzah!

Picking up from where we left off on Tuesday, The group rushed the pair of Draconians and dispatched them in pretty short order.

As they looked down into the hole to see what the chains were all about they spotted another group of Draconians in a giant metal pot – suspended from the chain coming up towards them!! Arrows and bolts of macical energy were loosed at them as they ascended – but with little effect.


Eventually they popped up through the hole and were immediately in combat! This was a bit more of a slog – Tasslehoff and Goldmoon were both injured.

Afterwards Goldmoon attempted to heal herself and Tasslehoff, while the others had a brief conversation with some Gully Dwarves that were skulking about. It was eventually decided to try and ride the big pot down.


As they reached the bottom they encountered another Draconian standing by a big gong. Caramon and Riverwind rushed him and took him down before he could raise an alarm.

There was a bit of poking around in the ruined city and the bottom of the deep dark cavern and a stash of weapons was discovered, but that’s about as far as week got before Bruce and co. had to skedaddle.

Stay tuned for more action as the Saturday Savages rage ahead with DL02 Dragons of Flame – and next week when the kids group continues their exploration of the subterranean ruins of Xak Tsaroth!

Xak Tsaroth! (with the Kids)

Finally got in another game with the kids – and this time we had new players join us! Yay! Bruce, C., and V.

C. took over Goldmoon, V. took Caramon and Tanis, Bruce took Raistlin and Riverwind, Finnegan kept Sturm Brightblade and Flint, and Keira kept Tasslehoff… I decided the blue crystal staff was a bit “weak” and so healed a couple wounds of those injured in the last session; making Tasslehoff all better again and Caramon slightly less... well... dead…

Picking up from where we left off in the swamp, the group found a fairly well-worn path – with lots of Draconian footprints. Flint figured the Draconians were there looking for the same thing they were. They decided to follow the path to see where it led. Not too far along they came across a second, less traveled path branching off fro the main one. Discussing it a moment it was decided a less traveled path would likely mean running into less Draconians, so they followed that one.

This lead them across a few more slippery woven vine bridges – which burned a few bennies in attempts to not fall in the swamp! The path led tehm by an evil-looking black water pool. On the edge of the pool they found what looked like a number of leathery egg shells from what must have been and enormous reptile of some sort (Dragons? Pffft! Nobody’s ever seen a Dragons – that’s kids scary stories and legend…).

One more woven vine bridge brought them to an open plaza in what seemed to be the center of the ruined city. The group explored the only standing building and (with a couple of insanely lucky common knowledge rolls!?) determined it to be a temple of Mishakel.

Entering the temple they discovered what probably came out of those eggs – three enormous black reptilian creatures were waiting in the entrance hall and attacked. After dispatching the creatures they had a really good look at them and determined they looked like miniature versions of the dragons they’d all heard about in the legends of old. They figured they must have been hatchlings…

Further into the temple they found the statue of Mishakel which came to life and charged them with recovering the Disks of Mishakel from the dragon horde in the caverns below that they may bring knowledge of the True Gods of Krynn to the people and lead them out of darkness… So they set of in search of some stairs.

They eventually found some that lead down into some catacombs – with some very unstable floors. After searching around a bit they heard a strange noise – a distant gong… followed by a whip cracking and the shuffling of feet… followed by a loud mechanical clanking noise…!?

Following the noise lead them to a chamber where they saw two great dark holes in the floor with a chain coming up out of one, trough a series of wheels suspended from the ceiling, and plunging back down into the darkness of the other hole. Also in the room were a pair of draconians!?


And that’s where we had to leave off!!

The kids are super excited to carry on, hopefully we’ll be able to meet up with our fellow adventurers and bash on soon!

Marcus Cabot

Marcus Cabot - Wildcard Ranger - Jackson
Ag d10, Sm d6, Sp d6, St d8, Vg d8,
Pace 6, Parry 6, Toughness 6
Skills: Fighting d8, Shooting d10, Notice d6, Stealth d6, Survival d8, Tracking d8
Edges: Woodsman, Quick, Quickdraw
Hindrances: Code of Honour, Loyal
Gear: Bow (Range: 12/24/48, ROF1, Damage: 2d6), short sword (Str+d6)

Marcus was born in to a small woodland village. Out of necessity he learned to hunt and gather at a young age like all woods people must. He had no brothers or sisters and not many friends, he found joy practicing archery training to become a masterful hunter like his father.

Although he liked hunting, is true calling was adventure and the thrill of the unknown. Eventually his curiosity got the best of him and he decided to leave the village in search of a suitable quest. His perseverance paid of and over time he accumulated a group of fellow adventurers. These were his first real friends and he quickly developed a brotherly bond with them.

They set up the home base of Solace. Whenever they went there separate ways they always knew to meet back there for their next adventure.

He recently got a letter telling him to meet there but when he got there he found that they had already left with two plains people. He began the long tedious job of tracking them. With the help of some footprints and some lucky pegasus feces (he believed to be dropped from very high up) he eventually caught up with them at a ruined city in a swamp next to the sea....... thus the adventure continues.

Escape from Xak Tsaroth!

The Sixth Session of the Saturday Night Savages DragonLance Campaign…. (Finishing off DL01 Dragons of Despair). This post is a couple weeks late – we played this session on 22 November 2011, The following week I was at the opera, and this past weekend we Played Hordes of the Things since I wasn’t quite ready to move on to the next adventure and half the players were absent….


Rick took over playing Riverwind (since Curly met an untimely end last session).

So we started in the remains of the Dragon’s Lair with the cavern beginning to collapse around them – Larana severely wounded. Magnus had spotted the Disks of Mishakel at the end of the last episode so he went and picked them up…

Now I was curious, and had thought about trying to figure this out before (but didn’t get to it before…) about how much these disks are supposed to weigh… the disks are 18” in diameter and 1/16” thick… and there’s 160 of them all bolted together!? The game doesn’t even list the gold-piece-weight of them… but Dave quickly figured out for us that a cylindrical block of platinum 18” in diameter and 10” tall would be 894kg (or about 1900lbs) I think that exceeds the load limit of the entire party!? Now they were supposed to “quickly” escape this collapsing cavern with this?! I wonder if Mr. Hickman thought of this…? Actually, the more I read through these adventures the more I have to stretch the limits of my suspension of disbelief! Ah well.. it’s fantasy…

I said for anyone of “good alignment” (which in our game is anyone with Code of Honour or Heroic hindrances) it would “magically” be the weight of a heavy book… for anyone else it would be the full weight… (much in the same way that anyone of evil or neutral alignment would get zapped for 4d6 damage if they tried to touch or read the discs). Of course that would have caused some other conundrums a little later on if I’d been thinking about it…

They made their way out of the Dragons’ lair to the underground plaza as the whole subterranean city and cavern began to collapse around them. There they thought of the great chain they’d seen. Norfindel finally saw it in action and figured if they could get to it maybe it’d be a way out. They found the giant pot at the bottom of the chain, climbed in and rang the gong. Gully Dwarves jumped into the other pot a couple hundred meters above them and up they went.

Of course half way up they realized that the Gully Dwarf that acted as the counter weight were riding to certain doom – so as they passed by the dwarves going down they shouted at them to stay in the pot – thinking they might be able to find something else to fill the pot with to bring up the gully dwarves… Unfortunately, just as they got to the top and bailed out of the pot the whole apparatus crumbled and fell away into the cavern.

The gang pulled themselves together and scrambled up and out of the hall of the dead. In the upper part of the temple they found Goldmoon by the statue of Mishakel.

As they left the temple…


…there was a group of Draconians just rushing up the steps!

They were beat down and the group scrambled away back into the swamp. Behind them they could hear the crash of rock collapsing and falling into the great void, and and sound of rushing water – the water level in the swamp was noticeably lowering and as they stumbled through he swamp…


They ran into another band of Draconians!

It’s been a couple weeks now so I’m not sure where everyone was wounded, but in my notes Lorena currently has three wounds (I’m pretty sure those were from the dragon), Magnus has three wounds (I think that was from the last encounter), and Roscoe has one wound…

And that’s where we’ll pick up – hopefully this (Savage) Saturday!!