DM Vindicator / Rokranon Events

[DM Vindicator]

"A Dragon Protector"

Mini Event
Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Kaltyra GreyFang was diving for oysters with her bear, Kile, guarding the shore when a great splash in the water announced the arrival of Pelisaruselni, the baby bronze dragon. The druidess and little dragon discussed a variety of topics when, without warning, a bolt flew straight from a clump of trees and embedded itself into Pelisaruselni. Enraged, Kaltyra shapeshifted into the form of a gigantic earth elemental and took a protective stance. A man walked from the grove of trees, introducing himself as Roland Darkhaven, famous dragonslayer. Few other words were needed for a fight to ensue. He was felled, and shortly afterward his companion crossbowman was taken down as well. With the danger passed, Kaltyra returned to her normal form and tended to the little dragon's wounds. Another gray orc came along, Dabok Queltosk, and the situation was tense for a bit, but quickly subsided. Pelisaruselni left to go hunting, and the two orcs conversed.

Rewards: 750 gold for Kaltyra (lvl 30), 150 XP for Dabok

[DM Vindicator]

"A Pirate's Life For Me"

Serpent Uprising Plot
Saturday, July 30, 2011

The Broken Goblet tavern is a fine place for privateers to relax and enjoy an ale or rum, and this day was no exception. That is, until a certain informant entered needing to speak with Captain Kalma Hellstorm. Kalma brought Alistair de Lioncourt into the back rooms to speak with the informant, where they learned a large naga force was headed toward Roaringshore as they spoke. Kalma barely had time to issue orders to head out the back as Big Robb came in and declared Roaringshore was under attack. Tamina Lightstep, Marros, Morticia, Jinni, and Kurttu quickly moved down to the docks with Kalma and Alistair. The group could hear sounds of battle from the top of the hill, and Kalma sent Jinni and Alistair to check their ship, the Wavewalker.

Alistair and Jinni found a few dead crewmembers, and the rest seemed to be missing. Worse, the sails were sliced up and cargo stolen. A few nagas were dispatched that had remained behind. Meanwhile, Kalma led the rest of his crew in defending the dock from nagas coming up out of the water. The fighting was rough, but not long. Soon Big Robb, bloody as all get out, arrived to inform that the nagas had pulled out, but nearly every ship had been raided. Even the wagon of rum was gone. The attack had merely been a diversion for a raid. Smelling opportunity, Kalma had Tamina and Kurttu ask around the docks as to what had been taken and which direction. Vicala Cavaless arrived at Roaringshore around this time, and joined the group as they set out, following Kalma's wolf friend Daghala's nose.

The crew went north from Roaringshore and were ambushed by a force of nagas. The fighting did not go especially well, and it was realized that nagas use tactical methods and were not merely dumb brutes. Continuing on, they were harassed by a powerful naga mage, seemingly to the delight of Morticia. It did quite a bit of damage to the crew before it was taken down. Nearby was an abandoned inn, boarded up and derelict. Vicala and Alistair broke open the door with ease, and a few of the crew searched the inside. They found little but a mass of rotting corpses and perused crates and barrels. Kalma opted to rest outside rather than in the fetid inn, and once the mages were ready he pressed on.

The crew found themselves deep within the woods, and were definitely not used to such conditions. The fought through a number of squads of nagas and followed a path outlined by the veiled urgings of Kurttu from Umberlee. A few of the group felt the remnants of magics worked in the area, and Morticia thought it may have been teleportation magics. Perhaps how the nagas got so much stolen goods there. The crew nearly fell a few times in combat, but Kalma relentlessly pushed them forward. Finally, they came upon a massive naga that caused even the bravest among the crew to pause. A few words were exchanged, but a fight ensued anyway. It fell, and the crew began to rush forward toward a huge stockpile of crates. This proved nearly fatal for some, as some assassins had been lying in wait. As the group recovered, they checked the goods to find the missing rum wagon, stolen spice, some food stuffs and healing supplies, and a crate of magical items. The crew put the crates in with the rum in the wagon, which was then shrunken with magic so the crew could get it back to Roaringshore more easily. Kalma also had the huge naga's head removed and brought along. Once home, they celebrated...or did they?

Rewards: 2750 XP for everyone, or 2750 gold for lvl 30s. Magic items were found as follows:
Kalma Hellstorm: Enhanced Boots of Striding +3
Alistair de Lioncourt: Ysridain's Soul
Marros: Assassin's Galoshes, Greater
Morticia: Anagry's Mindmaze
Jinni: Assassin's Hood of Night, Greater
Taminia Lightstep: Cut Throats Belt, Greater
Kurttu: Ring of the Wise
Vicala Cavaless: Cloak of Protection +4



Image shamelessly stolen from Gareut.

[DM Vindicator]

"Picking Up the Pieces"

Legacy of the Shadow Master Plot
Saturday, July 30, 2011

Exiting the bandit caves south of Baldur's Gate, two groups of adventurers combined forces as they were set upon by worgs and spiders. Eon Fawkes, Flurra Fawkes, Arthus Goodman, Dralik Va'Hanas, Gena Willomen, and Tualmasok were all baffled by this turn of events, but decided to follow the oddities to their source.

Along the way they were set upon by many of the creatures others in the region have been plagued by since Mauglir's reign of darkness, adding to it a plague-ridden grey render. They came upon and fought another enormous diseased treant, and conversed with the ancient unicorn about Mauglir and his terrible legacy.

Rewards: 1750 XP for everyone but Gena Willomen, who had to leave early and received 200 XP.

[DM Vindicator]

"The Pact"

Mini Event
Sunday, July 31, 2011

Pelisarius the wyrmling bronze dragon was curious as to why Renec Rokranon wore scales of a metallic dragon. A lengthy discussion ensued between the two and Aerin Inzilbeth Wavesilver about Peli's father and Renec's past that culminated in Renec pledging his sword to the little dragon's defense.

Rewards: 550 XP each

[DM Vindicator]

"The Gambit"

Demonologist Plot / Lance's Knight Quest
Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Vorena Milner, a paladin of Helm and member of the Order of the Radiant Heart, had been missing for nearly a tenday when Malandriel of the Doron Amar rangers gave Lance Renslin and Aerin Inzilbeth Wavesilver a golden chalice he'd found where he last knew Vorena to be. The chalice was identified as Vorena's. Within a few days, Lance had gathered a group: he and Aerin, Renec Rokranon, Siveyn Silverarrow, Vanira Talamora, Aranath Turambar, Julindra Meynolds, and Myrian Boggshill. From the church of Torm they all set out north toward the Trollbark forest where Malandriel found the chalice.

The Trollbark forest proved fraught with dangers as Siveyn identified the tracks of orcs, trolls, and nagas all over the place in the woods. Before long orcs from the Black Skull clan set upon the party and nearly decimated the adventurers as their wards untimely fell one by one. Pressing on they came upon a small troll that nevertheless proved very deadly and quick. The stench of it was nearly overpowering, but it did not prevent Vanira from noticing a small, strange stone in the brush. Realizing what it was, she tried to get the group to leave it alone, but curiosity won out. Next thing they all knew, they were in one of the pocket planes of the demonologist. The demonologist wasted little time in summoning in some demons to assail the group. But when Malandriel showed up telling them all how easy it had been, they knew something else was horribly wrong. As Aerin and Renec turned their eyes upon him, their magics allowed them to see Malandriel for what he really was: a doppelganger. Although it was dispatched, it left a feeling of foreboding upon the group, and especially Siveyn.

Devils attacked. More demons. Never at once. The demonologist alternates which planes he summons from so that the Blood War does not erupt on his little playgrounds. The group approached a building and walked through a door, and found themselves not inside a building but on a pathway. The twisted magics of the demonologist took a deeper toll when Juliandra saw Lance become a devil before her eyes and recoiled in shock and fear, only to realize soon after that it had been a trick of the mind. Myrian was struck with blindness, and when Juliandra took her hand in support, the woman's hand on the hins's felt like a scaly claw. Myrian nearly panicked, but the feeling too passed.

The group was feeling quite weary by now. Constant attacks and feeling lost can do that to even the best of people. It was then that a balor caught them unawares, and while the group fought, a hezrou knocked Siveyn unconscious and took the councilor through a portal. The party barely survived the encounter with the balor and collapsed in exhaustion. There was quite a lot of confusion and bickering at this point as to what to do, or which way to go, but Lance ultimately led the group back the way they came, and tried a different path. This one had led only to disaster.

Now they found themselves in a huge temple guarded by fiends. The constant ground shaking that had been plaguing them their entire time in this pocket plane grew worse, and strange flashes of bright-dark lights increased. They came upon Malandriel and Vorena, close to death, suspended in some sort of ward. Renec tried to heal them but set off many traps in the process, nearly killing himself. It was up to little Myrian to stand on a particular pressure plate and insert the stone that had been picked up hours ago in the forest into a particular slot. Upon doing so, the wards around the two near dead people fell, but too did the pocket plane begin to collapse. The group barely got to the two in time before they were whisked away back to the Prime. They journeyed as quickly as possible back to Baldur's Gate, and left Vorena and Malandriel in the care of High Priest Celwig Olwyn. Vanira ultimately took Malandriel home to Doron Amar as the paladins celebrated their 'success', but Siveyn was still missing...

Rewards: 3500 XP and 5000 gold for all participants. Siveyn still owed partial (left early)

[DM Vindicator]

"According to Plan"

Demonologist Plot
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Assisted by DM Iroh

Vanira wanted Siveyn back. In order to do so, she and Lanaya managed to get the jump on some of the demonologist's assassins and recover a pocket plane teleportation stone before it could be activated. An assault force was gathered in Doron Amar: Vanira Talamora, Lanaya Gwentheloden, Kald Blake, Rhys Feivra, Mealir Ostirel, Lance Renslin, Thedran Rock, Leonia Leviran'laelv, Wendel Ashby, Cassia Panima, Scarlett Willow, Aerin Inzilbeth Wavesilver, Eldunir Cys'varion, Azorel, and El'tier Ellandral. They all gathered around the stone as Rhys attempted to activate it, however the wards of Doron Amar prevented such planar travel and so the group had to move beyond the wards.

Once activated, the strange stone took the entire group into an unexpected place. Those who had been in one of the demonologist's pocket planes before were not expecting a pleasant landscape full of wildlife. The group was even more disturbed to find a wandering spirit that looked and sounded just like Siveyn Silverarrow, the missing councilor of Doron Amar. As some of the elf's friends tried to understand the spirit's disjointed communications, two balors appeared at the party's flanks, each holding a body that looked to be Siveyn's. They taunted the party a bit, but the group did not give chase as the balors departed.

Instead, the party decided to venture into a nearby building, hoping from experience that it would take them to a different pocket plane. It did. But it also divided the war party in half. Each half weaker than the whole, the two separated groups continued on as best they could, fighting baatezu and tanar'ri along the way. One group found themselves on a walkway that a few had been on before. A familiar plane. But at the end of the plane, at the large building that would take them to a plane that resembled a desolate cemetery, they instead were taken to an aimless place where they proceeded to get lost.

The other group journeyed along a path and came to a plateau covered in red mist. While trying to cross the mist, the elves present were nearly dropped to their knees in pain, while the other races were unaffected. Combined with constant lower planar attacks, they knew they had to get out of there. The elves endured the pain and pressed through.

When the groups reached new places to traverse, they found themselves in opposite locations. The group that had been lost now found themselves on the path up to the mist plateau, and the plateau group found themselves on the path to the building that led to the aimless wasteland. Both groups managed to make it through their areas, with more elves being nearly incapacitated by the red mist. During this entire time, Siveyn's spirit had been traveling back and forth between the various pocket planes, confusing the groups with his meaningless babble. In the end, they all found themselves together in one group again.

The huge building they found themselves in was identified as the same building where Vorena and Malandriel had been previously rescued. This time however there was an abundance of traps all over the place, making it very difficult to traverse with such a large group. To make matters worse, large sections of floor were rigged pressure plates. A lever to disarm the plates was spotted across the room. A variety of ideas were discussed, including Rhys shapechanging into something with wings, Wendel going over to the Ethereal plane and walking across, a few suggesting using summoned creatures to take out the traps (much to Kald's irritation)...but Vanira's patience was well beyond worn out as she took out a bow and began to shoot across the room at the lever. A lucky shot managed to knock it into position.

All along the planes had been shaking violently, and it was getting worse. They could hear Siveyn screaming somewhere in the distance with each rumbling. Finally, they came upon him suspended in a magical harness. Unfortunately, the stone could not be found. Vanira tried inserting a different one, but that merely set off a trap. She tried climbing up the terrible altar but was pulled down by Kald and Thedran. In the end, Kald marched up the altar ramp and withstood the traps, yanking Siveyn out of the magical harness. This caused some kind of explosive reaction, and the ceiling began caving in. Wendel was barely able to get the group out in time. Safely back near Doron Amar the group split up, but Vanira and Siveyn have looked terrible ever since...

Rewards: 2800 XP for all participants or 2800 gold if lvl 30. El'tier left a little early and received 2600 XP.

Penalties: Siveyn's ordeal and Vanira's rash actions resulted in a curse they themselves do not even know about. Obtained cursed item "Curse of the Demonologist"

[DM Vindicator]

"Broken Bonds"

Wandering Necromancer / Demonologist Plots
Saturday, August 13, 2011

After their venture into the depths of the Vault of the Dead in search of answers, two of the Slayers, Starkad and Toinus, met up with Wendel Ashby and Paus Nefzen once again. The Slayers also brought along their new friend Mealir Ostirel. The five went to Spellflicker spire where Wendel reported on the results of his scrying of the necklace they had recovered: the woman it belonged to was being tortured by drow. This was a surprising turn of events, but it was decided upon to attempt to save the woman. The group ventured to the place using the Path of Many, a powerful artifact of Candlekeep.

They found themselves in the torture chamber, a room with blood splattered on the walls and floor and a terrible chill to the air. Wendel himself felt something else, and was acting very strangely. With little choice but to look around, they began to do so, but found the place to be heavily trapped and guarded by some of the same large, powerful guardians they had encountered back in the Vaults of the Dead. They pushed on and found a board that contained a list of some landmarks of the region. A conversation ensued. Starkad bluntly asked Wendel what was wrong, and being a servant of Oghma, the Guide of Candlekeep spilled a secret he had been holding close. This secret immediately caused distrust among some of the rest of the group, especially Starkad. Toinus, too was distrustful, but Mealir and Paus tried to be voices of reason. In the end, it was a fragile alliance that continued forward.

On they continued, finding a strange construct that Mealir decided to poke with his sword. This proved fatal, and once he was revived the group hastily left this terrible chamber. On they went, fighting more undead guards along the way, finally coming to a portal of sorts. They went through, only to find themselves in what looked to be a tower of some kind. Fighting their way through a few corridors and rooms, they came upon a large library, and finally upon what seemed to be a lich who had just created a portal. The lich cursed at the dwarves for rushing his plans, and dropped the name 'Twisted Rune'. He attempted to go through the portal but Toinus managed to tackle him, and the lich was dropped. However, without destroying the phylactery, they knew it would just reform.

Moving on they started to encounter summoned demons, much to their surprise. A note was found in a hidden compartment, but no one could make out the script. On they went, until they exited the tower and found themselves in a cemetery. A very familiar cemetery. Mealir and Wendel realized this was all-too-similar to the pocket planes of the demonologist.

Spotting five or six of the powerful undead guards ahead, Starkad was ready to die in glorious combat. Toinus too was more than ready, and Paus too was willing to stand with his friends. Wendel however knew from past experience that to die on these plains was a terrible fate, and quickly teleported the group out without consent. This was the last straw for Starkad and Toinus, who saw it as a grave dishonor. There was now a rift between the Slayers and Candlekeep. Paus tried to conform his friends, and Mealir ended up with the strange note they couldn't decipher as all parted ways.

Rewards: 2250 XP for all characters, or 2250 gold if lvl 30