SOTDL CAMPAIGN DIARY: N1 SESSION 2 - EXPLORING THE HUNTSMAN’S ISLE, 4/23/19

The Cast

• Brother Aron Waverly: Human priest of the New God
• Calista: Ferren rogue
• Nikolai  Petrechko: Human veteran (Warrior)
• Perry Flaxseed: Halfling hunter (Warrior)

After finding the likely source of the corruption that the spirit of Baron Stoceca asked them to find and cleanse the isle of, the heroes of our tale decide to explore the rest of Stoceca Isle to try and find a way to do that.  They spend time at the stone circle and find it badly weathered such that the ancient runes of the Old Faith that had once covered the stones were now barely visible.

The group move to the end of the isle where they find the ruins of the baron’s vassals, and while exploring they are harassed by several small, multi-armed creatures and are forced to leave the area.  They follow the trail to the northern shore where they find a boat recently moored to a dock and three beastmen fomor emerge from the nearby dilapidated boathouse and attack the group.  After a brief battle, the heroes defeat the fomor and find a few items in the boathouse before returning to the ruins of the baron’s keep.  

There they find that Lord Kornwall decided to do some exploring himself and left the relative safety of the keep to search the burial mounds for the baron’s family treasure.  There they got a vial of the Eitr water for Weezer without triggering the pool again.  They also find a capstone removed from one of the mounds where Kornwall entered and follow him down.  Below in the catacombs they encounter a tomb guardian that attacks them.  As they fight the undead protector of the Stoceca family, Brother Aron finds a large chamber with a strange symbol painted upon its surface and atop it a large monster that spots Aron and tries to get to him but is unable to get its bulk through the small opening.

The group manage to kill the guardian, Calista finds Lord Kornwall in a nearby room and another creature, a pale humanoid crawling along the ceiling, that pursues them.  Calista gets Kornwall to the others and Aron’s torchlight repulses the pursuing creature.

The group leave the catacombs and return to the keep.

End of session.

SOTDL CAMPAIGN DIARY: SESSION 1 - THE HUNTSMAN’S ISLE, Part 1, 4/16/19

SOTDL CAMPAIGN DIARY: SESSION 1 - THE HUNTSMAN’S ISLE, Part 1, 4/16/19

The Cast: 

• Brother Aron: human priest of the New God
• Perry: halfling hunter
• Nikolai: human veteran
• Calista: Ferren rogue

Having traveled for weeks to escape imperial lands, and having witnessed a horrific, titanic monster emerge from a sinkhole, the refugees find their supplies low and food and water scarce.  But hope rises when they hear the sounds of running water.  As the group head in that direction they are intercepted by two Orcs who mean to slay them all.  They attack fiercely but find the group well protected and the orcs are killed.

The group proceeds to the water sounds  and find a large river with an island in the center of it.  Hoping to find food and shelter they cross a ford and head to the ruins of a keep.  Behind it they spot a circle of stones and burial mounds. 

The group’s protectors enter the keep ruins to see how safe it would be to leave the defenseless members of the group in as they explore the island.  Within they find a ghost haunting the ruins.  Nikolai confronts the spirit who says that he is Baron Stoceca and was the last son of the Stoceca noble family, but died heirless.  His love for his families land keep him here, but his island has been invaded by a monstrous presence.  He bids the group to find the source of the corrruption and free his island of this presence.  In exchange he will show them where his family treasures are hidden.

Nikolai agrees and the ghost agrees to watch over their people.

The group head bring the people in but as they leave the keep they are confronted by the baron’s hunting dogs, horribly mutated into overly muscular mastiffs the attack.  The group manage to kill the beasts and head towards the burial grounds.  There they find the Stoceca family mounds and a strange pool of liquid that beckons them with its sweet odor.  Both Calista and Perry are poisoned as they drink the liquid, and the pool begins bubbling and produces a floating, tentacles monster which attacks them.  They manage to kill the creature and move away from the pool, which they now believe to be a mythical eitr pool, which creates monsters.  Indeed, they find monstrous tracks in the are and must now seek these creatures out and slay them to honor the bargain made with the ghostly baron.  But the must also find a way to rid the island of the eitr pool.

End of session.

SOTDL CAMPAIGN DIARY: SESSION 0

ESCAPE FROM CAECRAS 

4/9/19

The Cast:

- Brother Aron Waverly: Human priest of the New God

- Calista: Ferren rogue

- Nikolai Petrechko: Huan veteran (warrior)

- Perry Flaxseed: Halfling hunter (warrior)

This session was mostly a review of the rules being used, a description of how this ties into the "mega campaign" that began with the previous Tales of the Demon Lord campaign that featured the Brotherhood of Shadows as the primary antagonist. 

The prelude to the start of the campaign was a description of how the Orc Uprising went down and how the characters were caught up in it, as they were all in Caecras at the time.  They managed to escape orc capture by hiding in sewers, ruined buildings, basements, etc., for months.  The orcs were rampaging for a few days after the uprising, but afterwards they just maintained a heavy presence in the city, preventing the characters from escaping.  Nearly a year later, the orcs began mobilizing out of Caecras, making escape a possibility.  The characters, along with the 2 dozen other people that were hiding together, began planning an escape route, when a strange figure robed in black appeared.  The stranger, a wizard from the Tower Arcane that floats perpetually above the city of Caecras, was there to warn them that their escape attempt will fail as the new emperor, Drudge, has set up traps around the perimeter of the city to catch anyone trying to leave.  The Black Wizard gave them an item, a small reliquary with a single bone inside, and gave them specific instructions on how and when to leave the city.  When asked why he/she was helping, the Black Wizard stated something that was unintelligible and disappeared.  

The characters and their other companions (Mother Sabra - blind priestess of the World Mother, Gordy, 10 year old orphan boy, Weezer, alchemist, and Lord Kornwall, pompous jerk noble, plus 13 others), did as the Black Wizard instructed and managed to escape the city, nearly being caught by an orc patrol, but somehow they miraculously were not seen.  

The travel through the wilderness of Caecras has been difficult and they have lost two of their companions due to dangers in the wild.  Food has been in short supply and avoiding the Emperor's Roads has made the travel slow and difficult.  Weeks pass as they make their way east towards the Confederacy of Nine Cities, where they plan to take one of their fellow refugees, Lord Kornwall, to Kem (the City of Gold), where he claims to have family that will reward them all.  As they approach the borders, they spot a group of orcs, strangely not outfitted in the Imperial Army garb, heading in their direction.  However, before the orcs could find them, massive quake hits the area, but when they look for the orcs again, they see a massive sinkhole has appeared, which swallowed the approaching orcs and released an enormous, monstrous creature that lumbered off towards the south.  

Session 0 ends there and Session 1 begins with the characters embarking on their first adventure!