# maddman75's Knights of the Gran March



## maddman75 (Mar 10, 2002)

The campaign takes place in the Gran March, in the world of Greyhawk.  I'll start here with a brief description of the characters and bring everyone up to speed on the events of the campaign.  Its turning into quite a good group, so I thought I'd share the experience.  I'm listing the classes and levels as they are now.  They started at third level and are now close to ninth.

Helios - A native of the Gran March and one of the few Knights left in Hookhill.  Most of the others have gone over to fight the giants in Geoff or the Ketites in Bissel.  He's a warrior-priest who has had special training from the church in slaying undead.  (Ftr5/Clr2/Hunter of the Dead1)

Vartan - A Keolandish man who grew up in the city, but left it for the freedom of the more rural lands.  He fell in with bandits right after leaving, learning much of woodcraft from them.  He didn't like life as a simple bandit and met Ellaria, a reclusive druid.  She taught him not just how to live off nature, but to live with it.  In the wilderness he is the party's strongest asset.  (Rngr2/Drd7)

Rytalyn - She didn't have a glorious background like the rest of her companions - she was a simple barmaid.  An orphan, the local innkeeper in Hookhill took her in and gave her a place to liev and work.  He was a kindly man that she loved dearly.  One fell day, some travelers got into a brawl in the bar.  One side said something about 'you'll learn to mess with the Horned Soceity' and magical lightning and fire began to fly.  The old innkeep pushed her out of the way and was killed by a bolt of energy.  Rytalyn stood and looked at the travelers with intense hatred.  Before she knew what she was doing, she raised her hands at them and muttered strange words.  Bolts of energy flew into the intruders.  They were slain, but so was the innkeep, and the tavern burned to the ground.  With her newfuond sorcerous powers, she looked to the life of an adventurer. (Sorc 8)

Salton - A warrior that the group picked up in the war in Geoff.  His term of service was up and he decided to travel with the heroes rather than continue in the war.  (Ftr 8)

Ameral - A shadowy character that joined with the group midstream.  He doesn't talk much, but he's very capable with a sword and an excellent scout (ftr4/rog4)

Jellyroll - The half elven maid is the group's archer and scout.  She's pretty quiet too, though she seems to have a knack for figuring out the best path to take (Ftr4/Rog5)

Coop - This monk came from the City of Greyhawk with two missions.  The first was to find Meditations of the Stars, a sacred text of his order.  He was also to start a monastery in the Gran March, as that kingdom is in need of protectors.  (Clr1/Mnk8)

Fallen Heroes

The following characters were also members of the Heroes of Hookhill, but they gave their lives for the cause

Beltar - A shaman from the northern barbarian tribes, he was also on a quest.  He came to the Gran March seeking the Mantle of Beorn.  It was once held by a great chieftan of the bear tribe.  He fell fighting giants in Geoff.  He didn't want to return, as he was a hero of his people for recovering the Mantle and was happy in the afterlife. (Sorc1/Barb7)

Assarial - He was a half-celestial paladin that fought with the group for a time.  A stern, arrogant man who knew full well that he was on the right side - the blood in his veins was holy.  He also fell fighting giants in Geoff and as an outside mortal magic couldn't return him to life (Pal6)

Other Allies

Coal - Vartan's longtime animal companion, he was Awakened by Ellaria recently.  He sticks to Vartan, and thinks of the other members of the party as Vartan's lackeys.  He's a fierce warrior but even more useful as a scout.  (panther ftr4)

Rel - A hobgoblin that was captured by the group and disillusioned with his people.  Some time spent with Helios has convinced him that the ways of Heironious are much superior to the Hextorian faith that helped lead to his tribe's downfall

Ellaria - Vartan's teacher and old friend, she lives in the wilderness around Hookhill and occasionally lends a hand.

Curate Malken - An old cleric of Heironious, he runs the temple in Hookhill and acts as an advisor, provider of healing magic, sage, and ally.


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## maddman75 (Mar 10, 2002)

*Mine troubles*

The characters adventures together began when ord Eldrad, Lord of Hookhill in the Gran March put out a call for adventurers.  Most of his knights were off fighting the wars, and there were a band of orcs harassing the local miners.  To make matters worse, the nearby dwarven mine was getting upset because they felt that the humans were starting to mine into dwarven territory.  The group was sent to investigate.

They found the miners were attacked whenever they tried to move the iron and gold into town.  The heroes took a wagon along the trail with the warriors in the wagon instead of metal.  Before too long they were indeed attacked by a small group of orcs.  Vartan entangled them, the archers cut down whoever tried to escape.  After some brief interrogation, they learned the orcs were holed up in an old fort to the south.  They tied the prisoners up on the wagons and had the driver take them back to the mine, figuring the miners would figure out how to treat them.  They took off for the fort.

There they found a ten foot brick wall with orc on the wall.  Vartan and Rytalyn hid beyond the back side.  The rest of the group prepared the horses.  Vartan started loosing arrows and Rytalyn fired magic missiles.  The orcs on the walls started running to that side of the fort.  With the front walls undefended, the rest of the group charged.  
As Vartan and Rytalyn knocked orcs off the walls, Helios and Beltar burst open the gate by charging a horse into it.  Coop and Coal leapt on the walls and started taking out archers.  Helios and Beltar cut through the orcs.  By the time the chieftan emerged, the forces were all but defeated.

After some brief interrogation, one of the orcs claimed that a dwarf comes and gives them money and weapons every couple weeks to attack the humans.  Dwarven minted coins in the chieftan's chambers and high quality weapons seemed to pan this out.

This seemed odd - dwarves may get terrirotial, but surely they wouldn't collude with orcs!  They decided to stay in the fort and wait for this dwarf to come by and get the truth out of him.

Sure enough, after a couple days the dwarf came right on time.  He seemed to be a noble man and certainly had a slippery manner around him.  After being threatened with being dragged before the king, he confessed.  He claimed that Dumathoin himself had appeared before him and commanded him to pay the orcs to harass the humans.  He was utterly convinced, but after asking a couple simple questions, they figured it was something a trouble maker with a couple of illusions could have pulled off.

They took off to the dwarven hold to explain this matter to the King.


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## maddman75 (Mar 12, 2002)

*Fighting for peace*

The King agreed to see them, especially given the nature of the charges they brought against the guildsman.  They were under heavy guard and the citizenry seemed to look on them with distrust.  The King listened to the story, and the nobleman denied nothing.  The King ordered him stripped of all titles and sent to the slums to live as a beggar.

Vartan spoke up here, and beseeched the King to be merciful.  After all this dwarf may have been foolish, but he thought he was following the edicts of his god.  The King relented, and allowed him to work as a miner.

However, all was not peaceful.  The dwarves and humans had broken into the same cavern, and the dwarves had several scouts disappear from there.  They accused the humans of murdering them.  The PCs promised to find out what was going on.

After traveling to the human mine, they discovered the same situation.  The humans claimed that the dwarves were murdering their scouts.  The PCs decided to scout the area themselves and find out the truth.  They went out into the cavern and looked for anything unusual.

They were soon attacked by a pair of grimlocks.  The creatures were tough, but defeated after a scuffle.  They had a small lair off to one side with several half eaten human and dwarven bodies.  The odd thing was that all the heads were missing!

The only other passage led to a chasm decending into the darkness.  They first cast a coin over the edge to see if it landed on rock or water.  They didn't hear it land at all!  

Vartan next tossed a torch over to see what happened.  The torch tumbled down about a hundered feet and stopped.  Then flames spread out from it and it tumbled on down.

They were perplexed and spent several minutes trying to figure out what was down there.  Finally they decided to tie a lantern onto a rope and lower it into the chasm.  It went down to the same level as the torch had but no farther.  Unable to explain what was going on, Beltar voluneered to climb down and have a look.

When he got down there, his foot got tangled in something.  Suddenly it made sense - his foot was in a spider web.  And three very large spiders were scuttling toward him.  

He fought them as best he could - as the rope was in teh webs as well, his friends couldn't pull him up.  With his strength sapped from the creature's poison, he barely managed to fight them off.  He burned the webs away and the group got down to the bottom.

They found a small chamber off to one side.  It was an ancient burial place, and a couple wraiths gave them quiet a scare.  A second room had some type of summoning circle.  When they entered it, an earth elemental rose up and attacked.  Luckily Helios had a couple Protection from Evil spells to keep it at bay.

In the third room was a small desk with a few scraps of paper and quill shavings.  In one corner was a sack.  Opening it Helios lifted out the head of a dwarf.  It had a hole in the forehead and the skull was completely empty.

He looked at the group and said one word

"Mind Flayers."


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## Tempest (Mar 13, 2002)

Hey maddman, 

It's always good to see a Greyhawk Story Hour on the boards!  You're off to a good start and I'll be watching for future installments.  

BTW, the hobgoblin, Rel (and his whole tribe) worshipped Hextor?  

Cheers, 

Tempest


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## maddman75 (Mar 13, 2002)

For the most part.  Most of the tribe were Hextorians, but the shaman of the tribe sort of leads them astray.  Rel comes in pretty soon.  All this happened quite a while ago, I'm basically catching up the campaign to where it is now.  I wanted to just pick up in the middle, but the game would make little sense without background.

The wars in Bissel and especially Geoff will become relevent soon as well - you might have seen in the descrtiptions above that we lost two PCs against the giants.  In the same battle as well!.  After that, things in my little corner of Greyhawk are going to take a serious turn for the worse .

I'll post another update tomorrow.


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## maddman75 (Mar 16, 2002)

*The Horde*

After putting the dwarf and human mines at peace, the characters returned to Hookhill.  There were mind flayers about, but they'd seen no more evidence of them.

Relaxing at the bar, they were approached by a half elf.  By his gear he looked to be a ranger or some type of explorer.  He also walked with a limp.

He told the heroes that the town was in grave danger - a horde of hobgoblins were gathering on the plains outside of town.  He'd spent several days eavesdropping and learned that the chieftan wanted the town.  The shaman however wasn't as foolish.  He wanted them to travel out to the south for more fertile grounds.  However, he was discovered before he could do anything about it.  

If the characters would go and take out the chieftan, the horde would move on.  He offered them potions of invisibility to help them sneak in.  The only thing he asked was that they retrieve a small pink stone pendant.  It wasn't worth much, but his father had given it to him.  The chieftan took it from him when he was found and beaten.

The heroes took off to the encampment and had little trouble sneaking in and suprising the chieftan.  They threw a detect magic to quickly find any treasure.  They got a couple potions, a nice greataxe, and the pendant that the ranger had mentioned also glowed.

They made it back to town and met with the ranger.  He was most happy to see them.  On impulse, Coop put the gem to his eye and looked at the ranger through it.  He saw the ranger, but could also see his true form superimposed on him.  It was a purple skinned mind flayer.  He told his freinds and they leapt to attack.  Their attacks seemed to be innefective, and the flayer shifted form to a red dragon and flew off.  Appearantly they were dealing with a mind flayer wizard.

There wasn't much to go on, they figured they'd have to wait for him to make another move.  A lead came in though.  A traveler was talking to Vartan in the tavern.  He had seen Ellaria, his druid mentor.  She'd disappeared a couple months back - it was what led him to travel to civilized lands in the first place.  She was headed to cleanse a place called Shadow Thaxus, an abandoned temple of Pelor.

Beltar also perked up at hearing this news.  Shadow Thaxus was the place that his tribe's great hero Belorn was to have fallen.  With the two of them having personal reasons to go, the entire group headed west.


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## maddman75 (Mar 25, 2002)

Shadow Thraxus

As the group approached the ancient temple, they saw that Pelor's blessings were long withdrawn.  The engravings and columns in the front were crumbled and overgrown.  The back wall seemed to have collapsed at some point.

They made their way inside.  The altar was destroyed, having taken the brunt of the collapsing wall.  The roof, once open to the rays of the sun, was thick and overgrown.  The shadows seemed especially thick here.  It had an eerie beauty, that was only enhanced by a lilting song that descended from the overgrown roof.

They all listened for a moment, but Jellyroll was paticularly enraptured.  She grabbed a nearby ladder and began climbing toward the source of the music.  Helios called out to her, but she completely ignored him.

Beltar went up right after her.  At the top, a harpy was perched, eagerly awaiting those who listened to her song.  Jellyroll started walking toward her, but the barbarian simply shouldered her aside.  He swung his greatsword, catching her shoulder and stopping her song.

Below, Vartan called out.

"Hey, you need some help up there?"

"No, I got it," he replied as he lopped the creature's head clean off her shoulders.  The group regrouped and explored the ruined temple.

Off to the left they found a hallway that led to a set of stairs.  At the bottom was a door made of iron.  It was locked and labeled "Disturb not the dead, Pelor has turned his favor from this place."  Coal sniffed at the floor, looked at Vartan, and pawed at the door.  He remembered Ellaria and could smell her.  She had been this way recently.

Amaril took out his lockpicks and worked at the door.  Before too long, he was rewarded with a resounding click.

Inside was a small chamber with a table and doors in front and to the right.  The table had a small dish that once held holy water.  Now it held blood.  Helios dumped it out and said a small blessing.

They opened the door to the left.  Several shadows emerged and tried to pull the life from them.  Beyond that, they had to cleanse a couple mummys.

Opening the door across from the stairs, they found a set of spiral stairs leading furthur down.  They came into a large circular chamber, full of bones.  They bones clattered together into skeletons and came at them.  The heros made short work of the simple animations.

After exploring a side passage, Vartan saw Ellaria in a cage back in a corner.  He stared over, but just before he got there she sat up and yelled "No!"

From a darkened corner a voice said "Halt!"  Vartan felt his muscles stiffen and was unable to move.  The rest of the group moved in and threw a torch into that corner.  A man in soiled robes stood there, holding a wand.  They could see straight through him and coal laid his ears back, refusing to enter the room.  He told him that he loved Ellaria, they couldn't have her.  He was once a cleric of Pelor, but when the temple fell he was trapped in the crypts.  He believed that the love of Ellaria would free him of his curse.

They tried to reason with him, but that didn't work out.  Coop ran over and threw some blow into him, but to no avail.  Helios ran over and sliced into him with his blade.  He began using his wand to incapacitate the party, but both the monk and cleric were too well trained to succomb to the wand's magic.  Within a few minutes, the undead had been laid to rest.  

Ellaria was freed, and the party returned her to town.  They planned to retun to the dungeon though, as Beltar had not found his mantle.  The group got her to her woods, but needed to have the clerics restore Helios the energy he's lost fighting the undead.

They returned and found the place undisturbed.  The spectre's lair had a tunnel dug into to and there was the signs of a struggle.  Beltar found a bit of cloth that was of the style his tribesmen wore.

The group followed the tunnel to a cavern.  There was a wide opening in the front.  The cave was filled with gold, a mithril longsword, and a mantle of bearskin.  Near the exit was a single claw print.  Most cautiously, they examined the area, coop making sure that no invisible dragons were lurking about in the caves.

None was found, so the heroes gathered the treasure and nervously moved back to town.  Within an hour, they heard a voice scream "THIEVES" and a rush of wind over them.

An emerald green dragon swept down from the trees. Luckily, they'd suspected such a beast and had spread out.  The beast breathed poison gas down into the forest.  Amarel rolled to the side, his eyes burning and his lungs searing.  But Vartan was not so lucky.  The druid tried to leap away from the gas, but tripped over a log and landed in the middle of it.  Unable to get air and the gas eating at his lungs, he breathed his last.

The dragon next landed and started swiping at Beltar.  The huge barbarian was hit badly, but managed to drive his greatsword into the beast.  It lifted off, Beltar getting one last swipe across its belly before he lifted off.  It circled overhead, building up its breath again.  Rytalyn coninued to pelt him with magic missiles.  He pulled into a dive and charged at her.  He bit into her deeply, leaving her near death.  Helios and Beltar charged over and flanked the creature, finally managing to put it down.  Vartan was dead, and Rytalyn and Beltar were about to join him.  Still, they had survived their first dragon.

They carried Vartan back to town, and the old curate raised him.  He was back amoung the living, but the magic had left its mark upon him.


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## maddman75 (Mar 26, 2002)

Hey - just to let whoever's reading I'm working on catching up to the group's current adventures.  They are currently in the Heart of Nightfang Spire.  We went through almost the entire dungeon in one session.  I had to call an end to it after 16 hours - I'm getting to be too old for that stuff .

I got some page views, so I know someone has been reading besides tempest .  Plus at least one of my players has started coming here, Helios's player.  Maybe he'll pop in from time to time or to call me out if I remember something wrong .

madd


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## CRGreathouse (Mar 26, 2002)

I don't have anything in particular to say, other than that I like your story so far.  I just thought you'd like to know you have readers...


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## maddman75 (Mar 27, 2002)

Thanks Charles .  Before long we'll see what the Mind Flayer is up to, and the characters manage to get some wishes, and sort of make a mess of things.


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## crystalblue (Apr 1, 2002)

jeezy creezy, we're STILL not done with nightfang spire? i would be so happy to never see another mindflayer again....

i finally remembered to come check this out. it's weird reading the adventures - half of this i'd forgotten already.

love this, btw - 

     He looked at the group and said one word 

     "Mind Flayers."

so when's the next game?

crystal/jellyroll


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## maddman75 (Apr 2, 2002)

Don't know - as soon as I talk to everyone I'll figure it out.  Probably in 2-3 weeks.  I'll call whenever I can get a firmer figure.  Not long - I want to finish this story arc.


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## crystalblue (Apr 2, 2002)

*s* that's cool. i think we all want to finish it.

i'm looking forward to reading your account of nightfang spire...


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## maddman75 (Apr 3, 2002)

*Assault on the Dwarf Hold.*

The characters were relaxing in town, listening for any news of mind flayers or any other troubles about town.  With the wars in Bissel and Geoff most of the garrison were still gone, and Lord Eldrad was using the group as unoffical keepers of the peace in the meantime.

A few days after their return, both a human and a dwarf rider came into town.  The human was covered in dust and told them that the mine had collapsed.  An Umber Hulk appeared and started hacking at the beams until the main shaft went down.

The dwarf was badly hurt, with several deep cuts.  Helios laid his hands upon him and asked him what was happening.  The dwarf told him that an army of hobgoblins had besieged the dwarf hold, led by a demon.  He begged the PCs for help in the name of the King.  The party headed out at once, not sure why the hobgoblins would be attacking the dwarves.

They couldn't get in through the stronghold's main gate, as the army was beseiging it.  The miners that had trickled back into town told the heroes of a side entrance that should be open.  They might find their way to the stronghold that way.

The headed out, and after a bit of spelunking they found the chasm where they fought the giant spiders.  It connected to the cavern that caused the problems between the humans and dwarves not so long ago.  But they were on the other side.  It was two hunderd feet to the bottom of the chasm, then a hundered and fifty feet up the other side.

Jellyroll and Ameral started counting out their rope while Rytalyn considered how many people she could enchant with _Spider Climb_.  WHile they were doing this, Beltar decided that the climb didn't look too difficult and started climbing down the side of the cliff.  He got about forty feet down when his handholds crumbled and he fell to the rocky bottom.  His companions didn't even know that he had left until they heard "OWWW!" from the bottom of the gorge.

The rest of the group got down and back up with minimal fuss with some ropes and magic.  Coop used his wand of healing to patch up the eager barbarian.  Once inside, the dwarven soldiers quickly summoned the heroes to the central chambers of the stronghold.


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## maddman75 (Apr 3, 2002)

crystalblue - as long as you're here, check out a couple of the other story hours.  Posy's diary is great, and Piratecat has been giving me all kinds of ideas 

Wulf's Collected Story Hour is one of my favorites, but don't read that one until after our next game.  They go through the nightfang spire as well.


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## crystalblue (Apr 3, 2002)

*l* yessir...


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## maddman75 (Apr 5, 2002)

*Defending the Temple*

The dwarven commanders gave the job of defending the temple of Moradin to the party.  Other stout dwarven warriors were lining up to defend the King's hall, the lower mines, the Forges, and the Merchant's Hall.  Before too long, they heard the hobgoblins marching through the cavern toward them.  Thirty seasoned hobgoblin warriors lined up and charged.

Rytalyn was up on a statue, and pulled out a scroll.  Chanting the arcane words, she summoned a small ball of flame to her hand.  She gracefully tossed it to a group of hobgoblins on the left flank that were pulling out heavy crossbows.  The flame exploded where it hit, dropping most of the archers to the ground, and those that remained standing were busily trying to douse their flaming hair and clothes.

Vartan, Ameril, and Jellyroll opened up with the arrows, while Helios, Beltar, Coop, and Coal waded into the line of Hobgoblins.  The were fierce warriors, but no match for the party.  Within a thirty seconds, the force was defeated.

As the last of the hobgoblins ran into the distance, the party could see that the dwarves were doing well themselves for the most part.  They had taken the biggest hit from the position to the right of their own, where almost a hundred hobgoblins charged the King's chamber.  The heroes grouped together and started in that direction.

Suddenly, they heard arcane chanting nearby.  A huge earth elemental rose from the ground just in front of them.  Helios, Vartan, and Coal leaped at him, while Coop raised his Gem of Seeing to look for the source of the chanting.

Coop saw a familiar looking mind flayer with a scroll in front of him, chanting again.  He dashed over, alerting everyone to the wizard's location.  Coal leaped at the spot, but hit nothing but air.  Coop gave him a firm kick in the gut, tearing the scroll and disrupting the spell.  Being unable to affect the elemental, the group charged at the wizard.

He cast another spell on himself, the characters missing the invisible spellcaster.  Having an idea, Vartan cast a _light_ spell and charged, hoping to drab him with his hand.  Ehlonnha gave her blessing, and the illithid was invisible but glowing in the cavern like a torch.

The characters threw attacks into him, but he had further protections than just invisibility.  He took off in a mad dash toward the King's hall as soon as the hobgoblins had broken the dwarven line.  He was unearthly fast - not even Coop or COal could keep up with him.  The elemental charged off toward the dwarven mines.

Not long after this, all the fighting stopped.  Dwarves and hobgoblins dropped their weapons, dazed and confused.  They all started slowly walking toward the King's hall.  The characters could feel something pushing into their minds, some powerful force telling them to come, to lie down in the darkness.

The temple doors were flung open and a dwarf leaned out.

"Come!  Everyone inside!  The Anvil of Moradin will protect us!"

The characters ran inside.  Immedietly inside the temple was a large iron anvil covered with runes.  They no longer felt the pressure of the voice in their heads.  There were a few dwarves that came in, but most did not make it.  They closed the doors after they could see no more stragglers.  They did feel deep trembles in the earth.  The cleric fear it was the elemental, bringing down sections of the dwarf hold.

The dwarven cleric explained that the Anvil was an ancient relic.  It held many powers, including the blocking of ill magics.  He suggested that they make a pallate for it and carry it to the surface, that they might escape and figure out what had happened.

The doors were flung open and a hobgoblin warrior came inside.  He looked at the characters and threw his sword on the ground.

"I surrender."


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## maddman75 (Apr 25, 2002)

*Rings and Wishes*

Sorry for the long delay - every time I'd go to update, the boards would be down!  Anyway, here's the next installment.
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The hobgoblin introduced himself as Rel.  According to him, the shaman of the tribe was in leauge with a demon.  It had the power to control the minds of the tribesmen and led them to assault the dwarves.  He himself was under the demon's thrall.  At the end of the battle, this power waned and he regained himself.  He saw the other tribesmen walking toward the inner keep, and decided to get out.  The shaman and the faith of Hextor - which taught that the strongest should always rule - had led his tribe to destruction.

Helios took Rel into his protection for the time being.  The hobgoblin offered no resistance.  

The dwarven cleric suggested that they make their way to Hook hill.  They put the Anvil on a large platform and carried it out, the relic protecting them from the psionic impulses emanating from deep within the mine.

Once back in town, they consulted Curate Malken.  He spent a few days pouring over his tomes before coming up with an answer.  He believed that the source of the psionic impulses came from an illithid god-brain that had laid dormant until this mind flayer wizard had reawakened it.  He also knew of a dungeon nearby said to contain a collection of magical rings.  The former owner was a wizard who was paranoid about someone taking control of his closest advisors.  So he had several rings constructed that would protect their wearer from such effects.  The group set off to retrieve the rings.  The dungeon was only a few days march from town.

About halfway there, two bears came up out of the brush at the heros.  These were no ordinary bears, but large and fierce dire bears.  The group hadn't fought any such threat before, and underestimated them badly.

Helios charged in with his shield.  The bear promptly snatched him up and ripped his throat out, dropping him to the ground unceremoniously.  The rest of the group stood in shock at the easy defeat of one of their fiercest warriors.

Beltar and Ameril charged in, with Rel leaping in and out of the bears' reach.  Coal and Coop leapt and tumbled about, keeping the bears confused with enemies on either side.  Jellyroll fired arrows while Rytalyn threw lightning over the groups' heads.

They put the bears down and carried Helios back to town.  Curate Malken managed to call his soul back from Arcadia, but he was weakened from the experience.  The group set out again, this time more wary of the wildlife.

The dungeon was simply built.  There was a group of ogres near the entrance, which the group quickly dispatched.  They were willing to give up information for their lives.  They only knew that the lower levels were hot.  One of the ogres managed to break open the lock and go down there.  He was burned, and said something about 'hot rock men' down there.  The lock seems to restore itself occasionally.

Ameril broke out his picks and made short work of the lock.  They descended the stairs, finding this area made of dark red stone.  The stairway led into a large chamber with three fire pits.  A short humanoid stepped out of each one, seeminly made of lava.  They gave off an unbearable heat.

After a few arrows and magic missiles, the magmin were put down.  There were two doors now, each on the far wall.  They opened the right hand door first and stepped inside.

Inside this was a room, about twenty foot square.  Nothing in it at all.  Coop picked up the Gem of Seeing from his necklace and gave the room a quick glance.  The wall was illusonary, and behind it was a twelve foot tall humanoid with red skin and flaming eyes.  He had a silver scimitar at his side and an iron key around his neck.  He sighed, and dropped the illusion.

The efreeti looked at them and said "You know I can't give you this key."

The group looked at him menacingly.  Vartan spoke up.  "There's a set of rings in here.  We need them.  Is the key what protects them?"

"I cannot tell you about what the key opens."

They back out of the room to discuss options.  They open the other door and find a large hydra, trapped behind a narrow bridge.  A few arrows and lightning bolts later, they are at the door.  It is sealed with powerful magics, and to none of the characters' suprise there is a large iron lock.

They return to the genie and ask him about his origins.  He says that the wizard who summoned him bound him to guard the key to the inner chamber for a thousand years.  He only has a year left, so he's not about to blow it now.  He draws his sword and says 

"You aren't getting the key.  Either I'll kill you, or you'll leave with your lives."

The rest of the group filed in behind Vartan and Helios.  The efreet started to look a little less sure.  "Look...I'm sure your mission is very important.  But I've got to finish my term!  Tell you what.  I'll grant you three wishes if you agree leave this dungeon and never return.

Helios perked up.  "Did you say wishes?"


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## Warpriest2002 (May 25, 2002)

*Cool So Far!*

Just wanted to let you know, madd, that your are doing a bang up job recounting the adventure thus far. This guy remembers everything! Hi Crystalblue!

Chris - Player of Helios


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## Randell (Jun 3, 2002)

Yo it's Randell

          Madd your doing a good job at the stuff. I know i forgot some of this stuff so it should be good to read some more of this stuff.




          PS I got the new guy made

       Randell-   Ameral the rogue


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## maddman75 (Jun 5, 2002)

*Be Careful What You Wish For*

Vartan looked over at Helios.  "You really want to deal with this creature?"

"No, but you don't just get wishes any day."

They left the room to discuss the matter.  They decided that one of them, Vartan, would go into the room to deal with the genie, coming out to discuss the wishes in between, and see if they couldn't manage to get both the rings and the wishes.

Vartan entered and said "Now, we agree that you will give us three wishes, and after the third wish is granted we will leave this dungeon and never return.  Any limitation on these wishes?"

"Just that I cannot directly affect my charge, the key, the door, or any guardians."

"Very well.  In that case I wish there was a four foot round hole in the wall right next to the door, large enough for us to pass through."

"As you wish."

Back in the other chamber, a hole appeared in the wall showing Helios, Rytalyn, and the others looked into the chamber beyond.  Within it was a great platform with an iron box.  Between it and them was a great spider with iron forelegs.  It turned its head and Helios heard within his head "Come mortal.  It has been long since I have tasted flesh."

He hightailed it back for the central chamber, where Vartan was ready to discuss the second wish.  Helios apprised him of the situation, and they both went their seperate ways.

Vartan strolled in and said 'Genie!  For my second wish, I wish that my friend Helios had within his mind the Holy Word spell and had the power to cast it once."

"As you wish."

In the room with the demon, Helios felt divine power course through his body.  Just as the demon reared up to plunge its iron-shod claws into him, he uttered a Holy Word.  Screaming in a flash of pure light, the foul thing was cast back into the Abyss.  Ameril walked over to the box and quickly had the lock popped.  Inside were eight plain iron rings.  They strongly glowed of magic.

Having the rings in hand, the characters had a third wish coming.  For his part, the Efreeti was glad the heroes had outsmarted the letter of his long ago summoners' orders.  He bade them make their final wish.

After some discussion, it was decided that since both Helios and Vartan had tastted Nerull's touch, they should try to use the wish to regain some of their lost power.  The genie warned them that meddling with such forces was certain to bring on unintended consequences, but they were determined.

After much deliberation, Vartan said "I wish that Helios and myself were brought back to life through a True Resurrection rather than a Raise Dead."

The world flashed before their eyes, the felt time unravelling.  The group remembered taking the heroes not to Curate Malken, but to the imposing Ebon Tower just outside town, where a powerful cleric of Nerull ruled the surrounding graveyard.  While they knew that it wasn't there before, they also remembered it being there for as long as they had been in Hookhill.

They remembered being resurrected by the Cleric, but at a high price.  Both Vartan and Helios had allowed the Cleric to place special enchantments on them, allowing him to call them to his service at a point in the future.

So, with the knowledge that their actions had brought a great darkness into the town that they fought to defend, the heroes headed back.  But they had the rings now, the mind flayer would get his due.


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## maddman75 (Jun 5, 2002)

Thanks for the bump man!  I haven't been able to get on for ages, and wasn't looking forward to digging though ten pages to find it.

Randy - read Wulf's story hour.  One of the characters suffers a fate strikingly similar to Ameril's.  Not quite as flashy though


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## maddman75 (Jun 7, 2002)

*Darkness in town*

_(Note: This game several players couldn't make it.  Real life does interfere ocasionally.  .  It was only me, Rytalyn's player, Jellyroll's player, and Warpriest, who managed to lose his character.  He introduced a couple others for this game, and I sent an NPC with them at one point since they were so short handed.  Still, we carried on.)_

Upon returning to town, the characters had some distractions.  It was a holy week for Coop's order, so he retired to the wilderness to contemplate the meaning of existence.  Beltar and Ameril heard some rumors of mind flayers being spotted in the south and went to investigate.  Vartan was helping Ellaria tend to her grove, and Helios had to heed the call of the Dark Cleric to retrieve a book of dark magics.  Afterward, he needed to Atone for his contact with the evil magics.

Jellyroll and Rytalyn were sitting in the tavern having a few drinks, contemplating the plan of attack once the warriors returned from their tasks.  They heard a lot of grumbling in town, appearantly Lord Eldrad had a new consort, and she was filling his head with all kinds of dark thoughts.  He wasn't the same, and had posted some harsh new laws in the name of order.  They met a newcomer to town, an elvish swordsman named Latheril.  The three of them decided to go and see Lord Eldrad and find out what was going on.

The post in the center of town was decorated with a new paper descibing the laws.

- No person shall bear arms against another within the town of Hookhill, on penalty of death.
- No person may cast magics within the town of Hookhill, on penalty of death.
- All magical items possessed by citizens of Hookhill or those entering the town will be taxed 10% of the item's value each month.

Finding these laws utterly unacceptable, they went to see the Lord that they had helped so recently.

He saw them right away and seemed a bit distant.  There was a raven-haired beauty right behind him the entire time.  He listened to their objections and then flatly stated "Though your service is appreciated, you are not the law.  I am.  You will obey all the ordinances or face the consequences.  Adventurers are in no way immune.  Order will be kept by the new guards I've hired."

Several dark clad adventurers came out of the back room.  One had the smell of brimstone about him, anothers' eyes glowed with hellfire.  Apperantly the Lord now saw no problem with using tiefling mercenaries as muscle.

The beauty behind the lord smiled and stared at Rytalyn.  She heard a voice in her head say 'Your priest isn't here to save you now, bitch.'

They returned to the bar to plan their next move.


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## Randell (Jun 13, 2002)

Yo
                    It's randell just wanted to tell u and all who read this i am going to start my own story but i dont know when.





    p.s. when i do get it started keep in mind that i am 15 and get sidetracked some times but for the most part i should be able to stay on track.




               Ameral


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## Randell (Jun 17, 2002)

Hey

                                       I just wanted to ask when will our next game be.





            oh and i found this riddle on the net and i just wanted to see if u know what it is.

  This is for everone if u think u know the answer send it to my e-mail address it is Big d9612@aol.com


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## Randell (Jun 17, 2002)

This thing all things devours: 
Birds, beast, trees, flowers; 
Gnaws iron, bites steel; 
Grinds hard stones to meal; 
Slays king, ruins town, 
And beats high mountain down.

that e-mail is wrong it is bigd9612@aol.com


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## maddman75 (Jun 17, 2002)

Next game will be on the 29th.

As far as the riddle, the answer is time.  Now to see if that site told you were that riddle came from.

What have I got in my pocket?


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## Randell (Jun 17, 2002)

good riddle




             it is inpossable to tell but i would have to say air or a ring.


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## maddman75 (Jun 18, 2002)

Good guess.  The answer is the One Ring, the ring to rule them all from Lord of the Rings.  Its the riddling contest that Bilbo used to get the ring from Gollum.  Ask Big D, I'm sure he'd let you borrow them .


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## maddman75 (Jun 18, 2002)

Things in the Dark

The group needed to know what was going on.  They met a young cleric of Heironeous named Jelar who was visiting Curate Malken.  He agreed to help them find out what was happening.  They decided to break into the Lord's offices to look for some clue.  Jellyroll took to the shadows and Rytalyn planned to become invisible.  Latheril and Jelar stayed a few blocks back.  Far enough not to arouse suspicion, but close enough to come running if anything happened.

They were about halfway there when four town roughs came up to the two women.  "Where do you ladies think you are going?"

They tried to get the ruffians to leave them be, but they were determined.  Latherial managed to catch up unnoticed and grabbed one of them by the shoulder.  "I beleive she told you to leave her be."

The youth spun around and hissed, revealing inch long incisors.  Latherial drew his sword and plunged it into the vampire.

It was hurt, but still fighting.  It locked his gaze and he felt its cold will pressing over his mind.  Rytalyn called within herself for the energy, and lightning burst from her fingertips into two of the undead.  They were smoking, but didn't seem overly bothered about it.  Jellyroll pulled out her bow and tried to back up to get a shot, but one of them was right in her face.

Jelar was struggling to join the fray, but the cleric wasn't the fastest runner on Oerth.  The fight stared going badly, with Latherial and two vampires on Rytalyn and two attacking Jellyroll.

Out of the darkness strode a figure.  He pulled two silver daggers and began twisting and slicing through the undead, dropping one of them immedietly.  The others broke, running for the alleyways.  He locked his eyes with Latherial and overcame the vampires' charm.

"Okay, and who are you?"  asked Rytalyn.

"Larkin."

"Why did you help us?"

"I hunt.  I do what I can to ruin the day of his minions."

"Whose?  Someone is leading these vampires?"

"The cleric in the tower.  I don't like him, so I do what I can to make his life unpleasant.  Little as that may be.  I'll be going now."

Without a sound, the figure vanished back into the shadows.  Wondering how the vampires were connected with the Lord and his new mistress (maybe she was a vampire?), the evil cleric, this vigilante vampire stalking the town, and the mind flayer was a bit too much for one night.  They returned to town for some ale and some sleep.


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## Randell (Jun 18, 2002)

i know i saw the cartoon movie they put out some time ago dont know when but my mom has them all. if i recall correctly were they not under the goblin stronghold and Gollum was in his lake for a little bit then he started to ask he some riddles but i dont remenber them and Bilbo thought he was going to lose because he could not think of anything the he put his hand in his pocket and felt the ring. Then he asked Gollum "What have I got in my pocket" Then i think Gollum got mad because he did not know. Then later when Bilbo was getting away I think he put the ring on and jumped over Gollum and got away. He found out what the ring was when he put it in the fire and it had some markings on it. 
                                                     Well it is 1:20 AM i need to get to bed oh and do u know where i can find new character sheets.


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## maddman75 (Jun 19, 2002)

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/DnDCharacterSheet.zip


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## crystalblue (Jun 21, 2002)

*bleah*

i would have guessed you had a chapstick in your pocket - but i _did_ just see 'the mothman prophecies'. 

bad movie, by the way. in case you couldn't already tell by the presence of richard gere.

uh, i guess i was just coming by to say 'what's up?'. hi to the exalted dm of our campaign, and to that war priest kinda guy, and randell... *s*

good reading so far... but i still can't wait to read about what went down at nightfang spire...

crystal
(she who is jellyroll)


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## Randell (Jun 21, 2002)

hey


  I read some of wulf's story hour and it was almost the same but he was a halfling but i like he was cool. oh by the way i found a new race and i was thinking i would like to be it but i would need an ok from u because it does give u some good stuff.
 what up jellyroll i heard the movie was bad. But so u all know the next one will be the new race or a dwarve

    one way or another i will be puting my shoe up a few a**s if u know what i mean


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## crystalblue (Jun 24, 2002)

"one way or another i will be puting my shoe up a few a**s if u know what i mean"

well, it's good to think positive...


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## Randell (Jun 24, 2002)

thats what its all about and i will be killing a lot of stuff the next game i hope


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