Entry XIV

[This entry is a recap of the 14th gaming session, which took place on February 20th, 2011. The characters had just defeated the goblins in their cave, an encounter which I had adapted from the solo adventure contained in the new Red Box starter kit.]

I was awoken in the night by the sound of battle. Close by, Trax was also waking up, but we could see no sign of either Gilthos or Immarel.

We got up and ran towards the cave's entrance. Once outside, we saw that our friends had been fighting some kobolds. I say "saw", because the fight was over, and standing there next to the two Eladrins was a tall human woman, obviously hurt but looking very relieved at the kobolds' demise.

Gilthos turned to me and Trax and explained what had happened…

He and his brother had been awoken from their light sleep (Eladrins needing only to enter a recuperative trance for their repose) by the sounds of a screaming woman: “Kobold scum! You’ll not take me alive!”

Those shouted words roused them at once. It was dark. The campfire had died down to glowing coals, so they knew they'd been resting for hours, but the night was still dark.

Running outside, they saw the woman surrounded by five kobolds, fighting for her life.

They rushed to her aid. Immarel fought them with his greenflame sword, and Gilthos fought with sword and bow, both of them getting a few scrapes, but mostly it was the woman who got the worst of it.

Thankfully, they were up to the task, and defeated the kobolds. It's about then that me and Trax woke up.

The woman introduced herself as Aleena. She explained that she had been trying to find us ever since she got to Fallcrest and heard of our recent exploits. Wanting to join up with people who were doing good, she left after us, trying to catch up with us and Traevus's wagon. She found him a few hours before, and he explained what had happened. He then indicated to her where we had headed off to, and told her that he was going to wait for us (and his box) in Fallcrest, afraid that he was of being attacked once again.

She had followed our trail and just as she was reaching the cave, she had been waylaid by the kobolds.

She then offered to become part of our group, saying that she could take care of herself and that her divine powers could be useful in our adventures. We all agreed, we shook hands, and then went back to sleep for a few more hours.

Level 3

[This entry is a summary of the changes our three characters went through by going up to level 3.]

Reaching level 3, all three characters gain a 3rd level encounter power, and the usual hit point and skill improvements.

Here are the choices that were made:

- Gilthos [Colin's character]: He wanted a power that would be good for his sword, so he chose the ranger encounter power called "Shadow Wasp Strike", which is actually good for melee and range attacks.


- Trax [Xavier's character]: He chose the fighter encounter power called "Precise Strike".


- Kaleth [Simon's character]: He chose the wizard encounter power called "Fire Shroud".

Entry XIII

[This entry is a recap of the 13th gaming session, which took place on February 13th, 2011. The characters had just defeated the last villain from Into the Shadowhaunt, a 4th Edition Game Day module from 2008 that I adapted so that I could make it part of the town of Fallcrest.]

We took a few minutes to recuperate, and then we searched the necromancer's body. Aside from his amber-tipped staff, we found a foul-looking ritual book

and an evil-looking sacrificial dagger.

When the two boys saw the dagger, they told us he had shown it to them a few times, saying it would be the last thing that they saw before they died.

They were pretty eager to get out of this place, so we all headed for the surface.

Reaching the outside world, we were greeted by the two guards who seemed amazed by the fact that we were coming back out, alive, with the two lost boys! They asked us a few questions, mentioned that part of Tombwood (the small wooded area situated in the middle of town) had collapsed a few hours ago, which corresponded to the time when we had (unintentionally) activated the magical trap which had triggered an underground collapse.

We talk with the guards all the way to Lord Farkelhay's manor.

Upon reaching it, we were greeted by Lord Farkelhay himself, along with Farmer Quinn, who was overjoyed to see his two sons alive. He thanked us profusely, giving us the 300 gold pieces he had promised us, telling us that although poor we would be forever welcome in his home. This being said, he and his two boys hurried off to get back home.

As for us, we were once more greeted by Lord Farkelhay and his staff. For the next few days, we rested and we trained.

(We also destroyed both the ritual book and the dagger.  How?  We went outside, put the two objects on some rocks, and then Trax blew his acid breath on them, reducing both things to a shapeless blob of melted matter.)

[The characters had by now gained enough XP to go up to level 3. We chose our new level 3 encounter power, then resumed the session.]

Eventually, Lord Farkhelhay mentioned that if we wanted to, a dwarf by the name of Traevus would have a job for us. We agreed, and met him the next morning in Farkhelhay's study.

The dwarf explained to us that he needed to bring a box to Sunderpeak Temple, located in the Thunder Peaks (or the Cairngorn Peaks, as he called it). He said that he would make it our while. We accepted his task, and agreed that we would be leaving the next morning.

Traevus left, but not us, as Farkelhay told us to stay some more. "I have a surprise for you, Gilthos," he said with a smile.

"Come in, Immarel," he then said.

A tall, regal looking Eladrin came in, and he and Gilthos immediately embraced. It turns out it was Gilthos' brother.

I then learned how their father had deemed it a good time to send Immarel out in the world, giving him the task of finding Gilthos to make sure he was okay. After having used magic to figure out Gilthos' general location, he had then arranged a teleportation ritual which took him directly to the wizard's tower here in Fallcrest.

It was heart-warming to see them together, and I retired early so that they would have some time alone to catch up.

The next morning, we met with Traevus and left Fallcrest on the old King's Road. We were sitting in the back of the wagon, and the going was slow.

The wagon rattled and creaked as it rolls along the old trade road. Traevus was guiding his team of mules with a steady hand, more interested in the road ahead than in our attempts at conversation, but I guess that's part of dwarven nature.

The sun was low in the sky, and we were expecting nightfall soon.

To our left, the Moon Hills stretched off southward and reached up toward the darkening sky. The fall air was growing cooler with night's approach.

Suddenly, a noise shook us out of our reverie—the twang of a bowstring, coming from the shadows beside the road. Traevus cried out as an arrow sank into his shoulder. With a shrill cry, a pack of goblins ― short, ugly creatures with green skin and fang-filled mouths -- ran toward the wagon, brandishing weapons.

I could see another goblin pulling an arrow from a quiver on its back. It was clear these creatures meant to steal the wagon—and that probably meant eliminating both us and the merchant first!

We got out of the goblin and sprang to action. Gilthos was shooting arrows, Trax and Immarel fighting with their swords, and I was shooting bolts of magic at them.

Soon, they scattered, and we were left with the bodies of dead or dying goblins.

The whinny of a horse caught our ear, and as we looked around for the source of the sound, we saw a rider at the crest of a low hill, a few hundred yards away. The rider seemed to be human, but as the goblins fled he shook his fist in frustration. His jet-black horse reared and whinnied again, and the rider's red cloak billowed behind him in the wind. Then the horse galloped off toward the southwest, into the Moon Hills.

Traevus was not seriously injured, but as the goblins ran away he glances into the back of the wagon and swore vigorously. "They stole it!" he shouted. Then he turned to us. "You… you were incredible in that fight. You probably saved my life. But I need your help again. The goblins stole the box from the back of my wagon ― something precious. I need to get it back."

Traevus promised us a reward of 30 gold pieces, on top of what he was already going to give us, if we returned the stolen item. He asked you not to look in the box if we foundd it, though, blushing slightly as he explained that the contents were personal.

Making a wide circle around the site of the goblin attack, we looked for tracks that might indicate where they came from, and where they ran off to. Though they scattered after our display of strength, they had likely regrouped somewhere nearby and made their way back to their lair together.

Trax decided to question one of the goblins, being gentle but firm with the dying creature. He managed to convince the goblin, with its last breath, to tell us where the goblins' lair was.

It was getting darker and darker, but we decided to pursue them right away.

Trampled grass here, footprints in the dust there ― Gilthos was pretty sure he had identified the goblins' path away from the scene of the attack. Following the tracks led us through some rough terrain. Either the goblins were trying to throw off any pursuit, or they clambered up cliffs and through ravines without much thought. We thought we could follow, but it was going to take some work.

It turned out the goblins' treacherous path barely slowed us down as we scrambled along after them. We soon find ourselves looking at three cave entrances that were almost certainly the goblins' lair, and so far we didn't think we'd alerted the goblins to our presence.

As quiet as possible, we neared the cave. Trax examined the body of a dead kobold nearby, and then we headed for the middle entrance.

Inside, we could see two goblins sitting by their fires. Slowly, one of them noticed our presence. Trax tried to bluff his way in but they saw past the ruse, got up, and a fight ensued.

Two more goblins joined the fray, but we had little trouble in disposing of them.

The area secured, we inspected the cave, found a tunnel going deeper in, but decided to camp for the night before going further.

Entry XII

[This entry is a recap of the twelfth gaming session, which took place on January 30th, 2011. The characters were just about to enter the third room of Into the Shadowhaunt, a 4th Edition Game Day module from 2008 that I adapted so that I could make it part of the town of Fallcrest.]

We were taking a short rest, talking about the fight and watching the oil-fires burn down, when we felt (rather than saw) something appear in front of us. It was, once more, the spirit we had seen above. It gestured with its inky claw towards the spilled bones scattered on the floor, and it in its cold voice it said: "Honor them."

We looked at each other, and it dawned on us that it wanted us to gather the bones and put them back in the sarcophagi. One had burned almost completely, and another one was half cinders, but still, we did the best we could and put all the bones we could find where they belonged, more or less. No sooner were we done than the spirit floated to the stairs we had come from, and pointed down to the first step. Upon inspection, we noticed that a stone slab was covering a small indentation in the rock, in which a little vial was hidden. We picked it up, and Trax put it away for later inspection. By then, though, the spirit had vanished.

This being done, we got ready to move on down the hallway. Soon, the hallway became more of a tunnel, the stone turning rough and twisting, finally leading into a large natural cavern.

Water dripped like a light rain down the stalactites. Glowing fungi illuminated the warm and humid chamber. The eerie light reflected off many small pools of water dotting the slick and irregular floor.

Across from us, we saw a large alcove cut into the side of the living cavern. Ancient, crumbling masonry adorned the alcove, bearing vile pictographs and strange, spidery writing. (Clearly, the architectural style and the script dating it to the later days of the empire of Bael Turath) A sinister iron-bound portal stood at the back of the alcove. An immense devil's head was carved upon the door, and its eyes were glowing with a faint green light. The effect was startling, but it soon became obvious that the light was coming from the other side of the door, from which also came the faint sound of crying.

We got closer to the door, and saw that the devil's eye-sockets served as windows into the room beyond. Trax peered in, and told us he could see two young boys in chains.

Immediately, he proceeded to try to break the door down, to no avail. No sooner had his body struck the door, though, we heard the boys crying out to us. "Who's there? Please, can you help us?"

Gilthos told them not to worry, that we would get them out of here.

Joining Trax in his efforts, they both ran and bashed the door hard enough to break it open.

The chamber beyond appeared to be a long-abandoned tomb or temple. On each side, a line of stone statues stood watch.

In the middle of the chamber, a circle of glowing magic adorned with geometric runes was glowing with an emerald radiance. The magic of the circle was palpable, drifting upwards like an eldritch vapour, slowly dissipating into the stale air of the ancient room. And cowering in the center of the circle were the two boys. As soon as he saw us, the oldest one told us to stop: "The elf who captured us told us this place was trapped. I we leave the circle the ceiling will come crashing down on us!"

I made my way past Trax and Gilthos, and kneeled next to the circle, seeing as magic is (supposedly) my area of expertise. I closed my eyes, my right hand hovering just over the edge of the circle. I could feel the magic, old and destructive. Then, in my mind's eye, I saw that it had been tuned so that anyone leaving or entering the circle would trigger its effects. I then tried to settle my psyche so as to be able to disable the magic, but it seems I was not powerful enough, as I felt it come to life. Opening my eyes, I told my companions of my failure, and at this moment we started to feel the cave shaking and grumbling. It was collapsing, and fast! Already we could see rocks falling down in front of the door to the alcove. Quickly, we grabbed the kids (the smaller one on Tigrallin's back, the other one riding piggyback on Trax's back) and ran out of there. All of us made it through relatively unscathed. Halfway between the alcove and the exit to the sarcophagi room, we noticed two things.

First, the Shadow Spirit was back, pointing towards the exit and urging us to run, quickly, and make our way out. Secondly, while looking back to wait for Trax, we noticed that two of the statues we had seen in the alcove had come alive, and were marching towards us. It was then that I used my Expeditious Retreat, rapidly making my way to the head of the group so as to be able to better help anyone in trouble.

Just as we were getting back to the man-made hallway, we heard a scream: "Don't let them get away, after them!"

We didn't stick around to find out who that was. We ran, from the collapse and from the statues, making our way through the sarcophagi room once more…

And back to the first room through the secret door.

But we were not alone. Four skeletons had come out of a sarcophagus (evidently another secret door). Being in such close quarters, the fight was unavoidable. We told the two boys to go hide in the corner, and the fight started.

The skeletons were tougher than expected, and did not fall (or even seem phased) by a couple of my magic missiles. Things still looked hopeful until finally we saw an elf come out and immediately start to use his dark magic (most probably necromantic) against us. Both sides were taking a beating, and then the two statues came out, still after us. Or after me, should I say, because I was the one to trigger the trap, and so their only focus was me. One of them got to me and punched me bad, and I tried to use my magic against it but it didn't seem to do much. Gilthos came to my aid but he was also wounded.

A few of the skeletons went down and Trax and Gilthos made their way to the necromancer. Eventually, the Shadow Spirit materialized once more, and after having said the word "Revenge!" he swopped down on the necromancer.

With his helped, we defeated him, after which the remaining skeletons collapsed and the animated statues stopped moving.

We had won!