# Grim's Story Hour: An FR Campain



## Grim (Jan 20, 2002)

Grim's Story Hour
An FR Campaign.

This is the first time I have attempted to write a story hour, so bear with me.

Introduction: The City

Selgaunt is not a forgiving mistress. With 50,000 people inside her walls, it's easy for one or two not to be noticed. Especially if they aren't well liked.

That is why Lord Robert Elrond decided to hire Darvin Atuar, an up and coming duelist, to be his troubling daughter's bodyguard. Lord Robert is not a kind man. The highest compliment he ever paid Darvin was when Darvin told him how long the job of guarding Krellessa Elrond would take:

"As long as you pay me, Lord." 

Lord Robert only replied, "Your dirt Atuar. But at least you're honorable dirt. As long as you don't screw up, and my hands stay clean, the job is yours."

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The Cast

Darvin Atuar, Male Human Rog 1, Ftr 1:
Darvin is not tall for his age, nor is he handsome. He is wide shouldered, buff, and a bit touchy. He is most definitely not civilized. He growls when he is angry, drinks too much, and absolutely refuses to stay washed. He muscles his way through life, taking what he can, trying to take what he can't. He is the perfect company for Krellisa

Krellessa Elrond, Female Human Rog 1, Sor 1:
Krellissa is not a good girl. Some would even call her naughty. She dresses like a walking scandal, acts like she owns the world, and has a dirty, dirty mind. And she likes women. Which is not a bad thing, just *different* from what her parents think. She is a born troublemaker, a constant schemer, and gets raunchy when drunk. 
Which is exactly how she wants things to be.

[NOTE] Krellessa is ShadowJester's character
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More later.


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## Grim (Jan 20, 2002)

* Chapter One: In Search For Drink *

Our story opens in the Inn of the Green Dragon, where Krellessa is a frequent patron. The hour is late, the fire is warm, and the company is fine. On one side of Krellessa is her bodyguard, Darvin. On the other, snuggling against her, is Krellessa's newest "friend", Hannah the Halfling Barmaid. Across from them, sitting on a high stool next to Darvin, is Stimpy Vermincrusher, the Dragon's dwarven bouncer. He is in the middle of his latest drink-induced story from his past life as an adventurer.

"…So I was fighting this great beast, like a dragon with many heads-"

"A hydra?" Hannah inquired sleepily.

"Shut yer mouth, girl. Of course it was a hydra, yer lout! I was gettin' to that. It was right on the tip of my beard. Don't interupt me again, lassy. So anyways, I was choppin' at it with me axe, and I sliced its head off, right at the neck, if you take my meanin'."

"And then what happened?" Darvin said, as his eyes grew wide.

"It damn well grew back! So what did I do? I chopped it of again! And I kept on choppin' heads until the whole beast keeled over. So I poured some of my ale on it, and lighted it on fire. And for once, it stayed dead!"

Finally, Krellessa spoke.

"Shorty, that was the worst story I ever go past your beard. Why can't you go back to your old lies about adventuring? At least those were coherent."

"Girl, If I ever get my hands on you..."

Darvin interjected, "That will not happen. At least when I'm around."

Suddenly, a crash, like wood breaking, and a scream of surprise cut their conversation short. Hannah jumped at the sound, and quickly got up. The others followed, except for Stimpy.

"You youngins go find out what's happening. I'll guard the ale."

Krellessa giggled and hurried after the other two.

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Hannah took the lead, and after seeing where everyone else was running to, headed for the wine cellar. Krellessa and Darvin followed close behind, her preparing a spell, him drawing his longspear and longsword...

"At least that scream was human."

Krellessa looked up from the scroll she studied as she ran.

"How do you know?"

"I've heard them before."

...


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## Grim (Jan 20, 2002)

As they descended into the wine cellar, Hannah paused to find a lantern. Darvin drew out his own lantern and lit it. Krellessa did nothing. As they entered into the cellar, the saw two figures standing over a large hole in the floor. The cellar was packed with barrels and shelves full of wine and spirits, and the hole was directly in the center of the only clear floor space. Looking up, one of the figures caught sight of them. It was the innkeeper, and he motioned them towards him. As they approached they saw that the other figure was a steward, and he was hauling a rope out of the pit, a rope presumably attached to whoever had fallen in. The innkeeper whispered to the three patrons, "Whatever foul hole is down there wasn't there when this place was built. Something, or someone, must have tunneled through here. I will give you each 30 gold to explore what is down there, and then seal it up."

"Fifty," proclaimed Darvin.

"What?"

"I want a fifty gold bar tab for each of us to go down there. Things could be lurking... And I want it in writing."

"Want what in writing?"

"The adventuring contract. To make it legal. I want you to be our adventuring patron, and I want the contract in writing."

"Ok, fine. A fifty gold bar tab for each of you, and an adventuring contract to make it all legal. Now go. Do your work." The innkeeper left.

After the man in the hole had been lifted out, Hannah piped up, "I'm not going. I don't like adventuring. In fact, you both creep me out. Why risk your life for money? I'm leaving. I have a bar to serve."

Darvin whispered under his breath, "Fine, leave, small one."

Hannah called back, "I heard that."

Darvin pulled a silk rope out of his backpack instead of taking the one offered to him by the steward. As he tied it around a nearby support collumn, he asked the steward, "How deep is the hole?" 

"Lord, it is at least thirty feet. My rope almost did not reach."

"Good."

Darvin finished securing the rope, dropped it into the pit, and began repelling down with the practiced ease of years of thieves training. Krellessa, hiking up her dress and securing it with a ribbon, followed close behind. Her owl familiar, which had been silently shadowing them from the rafters, flew down after her.


* Chapter 2: Into the Darkness. *

At the bottom, the pit opened up into three tunnels, all about ten feet wide. One was directly in front of the two adventurers, and the other two were spaced evenly on the wall behind them, forming a triangular intersection. Krellissa lit a torch, and silently cast a spell, moving her hands in big circles, and speaking arcane words under her breath. She let go of the torch, and it hovered in place. 

She thrust her hand forward, and the torch began hovering forward. As the torch lit up the passageways behind them, Darvin saw that both were made of carved, chipped stone, and only extended about five feet. The other passage was longer, maybe fifty feet, and a faint light could be seen glimmering at the far end. Darvin motioned towards it, and began walking. Moving her hand around, Krellessa positioned the torch about 25 feet further down the passageway, and kept just at that range as the walked. 

The passageway ended at a T intersection, it being vertical part, jutting into a tunnel running horizontally in both directions. When the torch floated into the intersection, Krellessa heard voices from around the right corner. They spoke in a high pitched, guttural language, which Krellessa barely understood. It seemed to be a dialect of orc, but a corrupted one.

"Look! Look! A light!"

"Umm, what should we do?"

"Eat it!!!!"

Soft feet scampered as a quartet of goblins rounded the corner. They all had javelins ready, which they promptly threw.

Two flew at Darvin, but one missed, and the other bounced off his armor and snapped as it fell to the floor. Krellessa was not so lucky. Having nothing but a thin, revealing dress to protect her, she was an easy target. One javilin cut through her leg, slicing it to the bone. The other flew into her side, and stopped after hitting her ribcage. Roaring in anger, Darvin drew his bow and shot a goblin dead. After dropping his bow, he drew his longspear. Krellessa let the floating torch drop and reached for her belt. She drew her hand crossbow and fired. The bolt flew true, and struck one of the goblins who had hurt her in the eye. Krellessa then pulled the javilin out of her body, and held it ready

The two remaining goblins charged Darvin. Like lightning, his spear jabbed out at both, impaling them instantly. The three that Darvin had hit died within a minute, but the one that Krellessa had shot was only unconscious. Krellessa walked calmly towards it, brought forward the javilin that had struck her, and jammed it into the goblins green belly, mirroring the damage it had done to her. 

A sadistic smile crossed Krellessa's face. She whispered to herself, "Interogation is the funnest part." The goblin woke up, groned, and fell back into unconciousness after Krellessa twisted the javilin in its gut. She then began to bandage the wound, so that the goblin would be alive later, when she had time to let it screem.

Darvin, always the prepared one, sifted around in his pack until he found some manacles and bandages. He helped wrap the goblin's wounds, and put the manacles around its feet. About this time, the goblin woke up. One look at Krellessa's smile sent shivers down its back. The goblin croaked, "May the Breath of Hassin strike me dead!" before Darvin knocked it out. Krellessa only laughed.

Once Krellessa finished binding the goblin, she brought it back up the tunnel to the hole in the wine cellar. The steward asked what he was doing with a bound goblin.

"It's my prisoner, and if the town guard has something to say about it, then they can shove it! Oh, and tell the innkeeper he's got a little problem with goblins, but we are taking care of it."

"Right then, my lady. You keep on... working."

Krellessa smiled, and headed back down the tunnel.

Darvin was waiting, having already stripped the goblins of any valuables.

"Look. All the goblins were wearing these." He held up three small silver medallions. Each was imprinted with a strange symbol: A circle around a goblin handprint, with a background of wavy lines.

Krellessa frowned. "Who knows? It could be the symbol of a clan, or a religion, or just a weird goblin fad. "I'll check them for magic."

She concentrated for about thirty seconds. The medallions glowed a slight blue, then faded.

"Each one has faint amounts of clerical magic, but I can't read what school it is from. They are definitely holy symbols. Or unholy. That's what the "prisoner" must have meant by "The Wind of Hassin." But these will hardly protect them. They are just trinkets."

"I don't know. Lets keep exploring, and maybe we will get to the bottom of this."

Darvin drew his weapons, and walked towards the intersection.


...
Next: Hassin? What's a Hassin?


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## ShadowJester (Jan 20, 2002)

nice job, very cool!


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## Grim (Jan 22, 2002)

(bump)
must... get... someone... besides... player... to... respond...


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## someone else (Jan 22, 2002)

happy yet?


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## Grim (Jan 23, 2002)

someone else said:
			
		

> *happy yet?  *




YES!!! alright.. someone noticed me... bwahahahahah... wait... that post was made the minute the account was created... and its the only post Someone Else has made... ShadowJester! I smell foul play!!!


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## Grim (Jan 23, 2002)

* Chapter Three: Hassin? What's a Hassin? *

Reaching the intersection, Darvin looked both ways. The corridor he was looking into was made of carved stone, obviously part of the Cities original sewer system. To the left, the corridor extended about 10 feet, before dead ending at a flat wall. A small trough of sewage ran snug against the wall. Grates sealed both ends. Even if they were removed, it would be impossible for a human to get into the pipe, not that they would want to.

To the right, the corridor extended about 15 feet before making a ninety degree turn left. There was a small plaque on the far wall.

Darvin went right, and Krellessa followed.

When they had almost gotten to the corner, Darvin stopped and read the plaque:

FAMOUS LAST WORDS:
"Hey, I wonder what's around this corner? What? WAAAHHHHH..."
THUD

Krellessa drew her crossbow.

"Well? Keep going."

Darvin drew his crossbow, and turned the corner. He stopped, and then he laughed.

A small sign in the ground read:

PIT TRAP

Behind it was… a large pit.

They walked around it and kept going.

About 20 feet later, they reached a door. It had a sign on it:

DOOR

It was not a big door, but it wasn't particularly small either. Scratches marred the bottom, probably from the rats. The door had a wooden handle that was just a little too low for a human. Light shown out through the cracks in the wood, and loud goblin voices could be heard.

"Gee, guard duty seems pretty borin', Jankers. Why are we guarding this big door anyway? The only thing that's out there is them miners, and they've been pretty silent since those noises and screams I heard a few minutes ago."

"Awe, shut yo' hole, Devis! You talk to muc'! We's was trained to guard, not to hear thin's. Hearin' thin's you aint s'posed to is bad buisness, by Hassin's Breath! Just shut yo' trap 'n guar' the door."

Suddenly, Krellessa opened the door, yelled "DIE DIE DIE!!!" turned, and ran back the way she came. Darvin looked inside the room, and then followed.

"I'll get help!" screamed the goblin Devis as he ran down the steps inside the room.

Jankers calmly drew his crossbow, kneeled behind the stone bench he had been sitting on, and waited for the two humans to come back.

Meanwhile, Krellessa and Darvin ran back around the pit trap, and then turned the corner. Krellessa began casting a spell, while Darvin started explaining what he had seen.

"It was a pretty large room, maybe 15 by 15. There were 2 benches that the goblins were sitting on, on either side of a big statue they were leaning against. The goblin guards both had grey, almost black skin. I think the bigger one, 'Jankers,` was reading a book. The statue was of a big black goblin with wings, carrying a sword in one hand, and a book in the other. It had a plaque on it too:

HASSIN

Behind the statue and the guards, steps ran down along the wall, turning at the corners. They stopped at the door. One of the goblins, 'Devis`, ran down them. I didn't see what happened to the other, but I think he hid."

"What's a Hassin?"

"I think its their god. That's what the statue was of."

Krellessa finished casting her spell, and from her hands, clouds of mist started flowing. The think mist filled up the passageway, and began spreading outwards towards the door. It was thicker than pea soup.

Krellessa smiled.

"If they can't see us, they can't hurt us."

"Let's waste these suckers."
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Next: "They're not so tough... OUCH!"


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## ShadowJester (Jan 23, 2002)

I love notepad

|...[ ]....|
|.........|
|.........|
|.........|
|...OO1|
|...OO2|
|.........|
|.........|
|.........|
1=Kraylessa
2=Darven
O=scary pit
[ ]= where goblins be

{edit and I hate converting it to the boards}


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## Grim (Jan 23, 2002)

The whole dungeon is ASCII
......................................__.....__....................................
.....................................\...\.../.../......................................
......................................\...\/.../.......................................
........................................\..../.........................................
.........................................|...|..........................................
.........................................|...|..........................................
..............._______________|...|__.................................
..............|...._________________|...............................
..............|.P.|.......................................................................
..............|.....|.......................................................................
..............|.....|.......................................................................
..______|.D.|______..........................................................
|.S.........................D............................................................
|.S......[||]#[||]..........|.|............................................................
|.S......................S|.|...........................................................
|.S.____________.S|.|......................................................
|.SSSSSSSSSSSS|.|..........................................................

Key:
 P = Pit trap
D = Door
S = Stairs
[||] = bench
# = big statue


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## Broccli_Head (Jan 24, 2002)

Interesting characters....but I predict the campaign will be short-lived. Not enought adventurers to absorb damage.


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## Grim (Jan 25, 2002)

Its a play by email campain too, so it is kind of slow...


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## Grim (Jan 28, 2002)

Broccli_Head said:
			
		

> *Interesting characters....but I predict the campaign will be short-lived. Not enought adventurers to absorb damage. *




You were right. Check out what happened when we played in Real Life this afternoon:

Chapter 4: They're not so tough... OUCH!

Once they had prepared themselves, Krellessa and Darvin stepped out into the hallway, blue mist swirling around the sorceress.They crouched down next to the pit, and waited with crossbows ready. Suddenly, from behind the statue, Jankers popped his head up, saw them and fired a bolt, but not before both party members had pulled their own triggers. One bolt went wide, but the other sank into Jankers' flesh. His own shot went wild, sinking into the tunnel wall. Krellessa advanced and began casting a spell, and Darvin pulled out his longspear and charged. He almost hit Jankers, but instead struck the statue's wing.

Just then, two goblins advanced up the stairway, and two more could be heard behind them. Both ran past Darvin's lance, and both were struck down by his oppertunistic thrusts. (DMs note: Combat reflexes and reach weapons are cheap) Krellessa's spell, a ray of enfeeblement, shot out at Jankers, but he dodged it. Two more goblins ran up the stairs as Jankers backed up and shot Darvin in the gut, seriously wounding him. Krellessa climbed up the statue, and from her high position, shot at the ellusive goblin. She missed.

The rest of the combat went quickly. Janker's next shot felled Darvin, and over the next few seconds, several more goblins ran up the stairs and encircled the statue Krellessa sat on. She was outnumbered, surrounded, and bleeding. She started to have thoughts of parlay, and a peaceful way out of the situation. But then she thought better of it, and began *defiling* the statue. The goblins threw their javilins up at her, and then she blacked out...

She woke up a few hours later, in a dark room. She had been... taken. She felt around until she found a torch. She lit it. Around her were all the goblins who had attacked her. They were all dead. She got up, and looked around until she saw the stairs, the same stairs the goblins had run up from. She walked up them. Finding Darvin's dead body, she kicked his head like a soccer ball, gigling like a little girl. She was clearly delerious. A crossbow bolt sunk into her head, and the last thing she saw before she died was a lanky were-rat walking calmly towards her...

THE END

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It was a pretty dumb campain. It only lasted a week in RL. Their just weren't enough adventurers to stay alive. And they also refused to run. Maybe next time.

Grim


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## Broccli_Head (Jan 31, 2002)

BUMMER!! 

But alas, rash actions get you killed.  Way to not pull punches especially after the Krellessa thought she was going to be free and then got waxed by the were-rat....


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