Here is the second edition of the D&D Game Summary. Please refer to the first edition for character backgrounds and geography. Summary of "NorCal Campaign" Part 2 ----------------------------------- This adventure was based on "The Moor Tomb Map" which appeared in Dungeon Magazine issue #13. NEW CHARACTERS: Galen (Andy Pippin): Human Mage. From Vinyard orginally and schooled on the other side of the contains. Came to Highland for the festival. Met the current group while they were training in Highland. DEPARTING CHARACTERS: Schwa Yaret and Captain Krunch left the group to persue their own ventures. ADVENTURE NOTES--Day #5--01/15/93 Resolution of Last Time: (May 13, 696) After their recent bout with Hadonis, the group came back to Highland to rest. They resolved their cashflow problem by selling one of the two spellbooks they found in Hadonis' lair. This found them with enough cash to pay for training to second level. At this point, Schwa and Krunch decided to leave the group and find their own fortunes. The dwarf Spike formed a friendship with a human mage named Galen at this time. Rhodan worked during this time because he did not earn enough for second level. Sneak Attack: (June 11, 696) Shortly after they finished training (almost a month after raiding Hadonis' place), the group was attacked during the night. It was a coordinated attack with each character being separately approached during the night. Some characters were hurt. Most of the brigands were killed, except for one that Melody was fighting, a female, which got away, and one that Rhodan managed to knock out by fighting with the flat of his sword. The prisoner that Rhodan captured was taken to the Temple of Hastenzi so that Furnes could interrogate him. Rhodan got more than he bargained for when Furnes first burned the dead brigand that attacked him, and then set fire to the brigand he was interrogating (when the guy seemed to stop talking)! It turns out the fire was mostly psychological since Furnes secretly had placed a "protection from fire" spell on the brigand. He left the man burning and told the priest on duty to take care of him. They discovered that Hadonis was behind the attack. This prompted them to get out of town quickly, so they went south to SouthMoor and prepared to follow the map they found in Hadonis' place. Town was full of gossip about the bandit hoardes in the area. ADVENTURE NOTES--Day #6--01/29/93 There and Back Again: (June 20, 696) In SouthMoor, the group spent some time sampling the life of the town and equiping themselves for a trip into the moors. Melody found a man named Harvey and his partner Wynne to be guides out onto the moors. Only a few hours out of town, they came across a broken down wagon and stopped to help the driver of it. Surprisingly, the driver turned into some sort of wolf-man and attacked. Simultaneously, a pack of 6 wolves came into the fray as well. The group fought well and downed all of their opponents, but in that time Furnes was bitten by the wolf-man. They were all damaged, so they decided to claim the treasures and belongings on the wagon and go back to SouthMoor to recuperate. It was the night of the full moon. (48 gp, 259 sp, 7 gems, Potion of Extra Healing, Potion of Vitality) The Turning Point: (June 22, 696) They set out again along the road into the moors. This time they came across a pile of bodies by the side of the road which _large_ vultures were picking at. Furnes scared them off and burned the bodies and did a ceremony of death for them. Not long thereafter, they came to the river and the long rickity looking bridge across it. Harvey cautioned that it might be dangerous, so the group should follow him. Wynne would take up the rear. When they were about halfway across, six Lizard Men came up out of the river (3 on each side) to attack the group. Harvey rushed to attack but was accidentally taken down in Galen's sleep spell. During the battle Wynne turned on the group and attacked Melody and then Furnes. It was a long battle wherein most of the available spells and hit-points were used by the group. When Harvey woke up, he was interrogated by the group as to his part in the Lizard Man ambush. He claimed that Wynne put him up to saying that the bridge was rickity (during the combat the players found out it wasn't) and that he'd only been working with the reclusive and secretive Wynne for a short while. Harvey was not widely trusted, but people decided they had little to fear from him now and decided to keep him on. They searched and found the Lizard Man lair (and a Potion of Heroism). They spent the night in the lair ADVENTURE NOTES--Day #7--02/12/93 Anyone for Salad: (June 23, 696) The next day, they set out into the moors with Harvey as the guide and Rhodan using his Ranger skills to help. Near lunch, they came across an abnormally large grove of willow trees. Studly and Rhodan did some careful scouting, and then the group proceeded as a whole into the grove. In the center of the grove was an abandoned cabin. A careful search discovered nothing of value or use. The place seemed to have been abandoned a long time ago. Further marching across the moors brought them to a place that smelled sweet. As they came closer, a great urge to relax and enjoy life came over five of the seven adventurers. Spike, Melody, Furnes, Galen and Harvey all made themselves comfortable on the leaves of two large plants. Rhodan and Studly were unaffected, and were forced to free the others quickly as the plants began to eat their companions! The cleric, Furnes, was freed first, and then attempts were made to kill the plants. Melody and Galen were well into negative hit points before they were rescued. It took all of Furnes' spells and most of the potion of Extra Healing to bring them back to positive hit points. The fight took a lot out of them all, so they decided to spend the night near the (now dead) plants. During the night, a pair of Ghouls attacked, but were repulsed by Furnes when he Turned them. Riddles Galore: (June 24, 696) The next day, the group found themselves approaching a small circular lake with a large stone obelisk in the center of it. This was the final destination on their map and was labeled "The Key to the Tomb of Dalvan Meir" (Melody, with her Bardic knowledge had explained that Dalvan was a powerful mage who lived about 200 years ago. He was said to have great riches and to have lived an extraordinary time for a human) On the way to the obolisk, Rhodan and Studly were attacked by snakes which were dispatched handily by Rhodan's sword. The obolisk itself was covered in bizarre script. Melody used a Comprehend Langauges spell to read it. Mostly it was bragging by Dalvan Meir about himself and his wealth. Studly then noticed how the writing was carven into the obolisk in such a way to provide good handholds. Melody climed to the top and found four riddles (one on each of the faces) and the eyepiece to a "telescope" mounted in the top. Looking though the eyepiece showed an island, and a doorway... the tomb?! We'll Cross it When We Come to It: (June 24, 696) They made overland for the island to find it situated in a large river. On the island was a pair of doors, and a statue. Some scouting also discovered two fishermen's huts on the island, along with three boats. When they discovered small white fish (pirranha) in the river, they decided they needed one of those boats. Two fishermen were there but they went into their huts after a while. The group then used rope tied to arrows to shoot one of the boats and pulled it across to their side of the river. They carried the boat around and crossed to the island. ADVENTURE NOTES--Day #8--02/26/93 Do You Smell Something?: (June 24, 696) The characters surmised from the riddles that the doors might be dangerous, so they studied the statue (it had a riddle on it too). They tried giving money to the statue (as one riddle suggested), and eventually managed to allow one person to touch the doors without being electrically shocked. It was tough, but they pushed the doors open with a minimum of damage. Spike spiked the doors open. Inside, Spike led the group using his dwarven skills and infravision. The others followed down the 150 ft long tunnel that descended 50 ft. At the end was a 30 ft square room. When light was brought to the room, they found eight masks on the floor (Happy/Sad, Greed/Generosity, Courage/Fear, and Serenity/Disturbance). About this time, someone noticed a smell of gas. The group panicked and tried to run back out of the dungeon, to find that a metal plate blocked the tunnel near the entrance. Taking poison gas damage all the way, they went back to the room and tried a few masks out (hoping it would help). Spike tried Happy and Sad masks... the emotions took him over. Melody tried on the Serenity mask and went to sleep. Eventually, after several people were on the verge of dying and the cleric's spells were running out, Studly tried the Greed mask (as suggested by one of the riddles) and a previously hidden secret door was seen). The group rushed out the secret door and closed it behind themselves. They found themselves on a staircase down. They spent the night on the staircase. Boil, Boil, Bubble, and Trouble: (June 25, 696) After resting they descended to a 10x20ft room in which most of the floor was missing... it desceneded 6 ft into a pool 4 ft deep with a bubbling liquid. Only a ledge ran around the edge of the room. And, the only exit was guarded by a statue. Studly used his climb walls to go around the room without touching the ledge, but as he neared the other end, he slipped and fell onto the ledge. A little later, the statue animated, grabbed him and threw him into the pit... of _acid_! The others quickly helped him out, but he and his belongings were very damaged. Then the group tried to hook the statue with a grappling hook and pull it into the acid, but the statue kept removing the rope from itself. Then they tried shooting it with arrows. Then they made a daring plan to have Rhodan rush the statue (while tied to a rope). Galen would feather fall the pair of them and with its reduced mass, Rhodan should be able to push it into the acid. He would, in turn, be pulled back on the rope before he fell in. The first attempt failed because the floor itself was trapped and Rhodan fell into the acid for some damage. The second attempt worked, and the party ran past the statue to the hallway beyond. The statue clibed out and went back to standing in the doorway. A Ghastly End: (June 25, 696) The hallway ended in a door to a larger room, 20x20, in which the only feature was a large stone coffin. A quick search showed nothing else was there. When searching for secret doors, though, Melody found one, but an undead creature leaped out of it and paralyzed her. It then began screaming about how it was Dalvan Meir and how the group had fallen for its trap. It was having fun playing and would soon use spells to utterly destroy them. The combat was long and fierce, as no one could seem to get a good hit on the Ghast. The cleric's turning failed, and several people were paralyzed. Eventually, they won, and they waited for the paralyzation to wear off (a few hours). Beyond the secret door was a room with another stone coffin (this one apparently pryed open from the outside with a sword) and a lot of treasure (including that placed into the pool by the statue at the front doors). ADVENTURE NOTES--Day #9--03/12/93 Money, Money: (June 25, 696) The treasure amounted to an impressive 833 gp, 5 pp, 22 ep, 251 sp, 356 cp, 2 gallons of holy water, a silver plated longsword, a gold ring, a gold necklace, a gold headband, a silver plated dagger, a broken bracelet, 4 potions, 43 gems, and 8 pieces of jewelry. Without a "detect magic" they could not figure what was magic, so they took it all. Also, a casual search of the second coffin found a large crystal on the destroyed remains of a body... and they thought of a "magic jar"! Speculation ran that Dalvan Meir set up this series of perils to make sure a worthy adventurer made it this far and would be taken over... but the ghast seemed to have triggered it instead. They pondered whether the crystal was still dangerous, and opted to (without touching it) drop it in the acid (when they later passed it). They spent the night here and healed themselves. Getting Out: (June 26, 696) Spike, Rhodan, and Harvey used the coffin lid as battering ram to hit the statue this time and knock it into the acid. The party then ran through the room to the stairway beyond. Rhodan and Studly were sent through the poison gas to find out if the door was open. It was, and so the rest of the party followed them out. (BTW: They later found out that Studly was carrying the magic "key" to the front door... if anyone else had it, they might not have gotten out so easily) Anyone for Fish?: (June 26, 696) Melody and Furnes approached the fisherman by his fire to ask for a boat ride off the island. He offered them breakfast, and then a ride. The rest of the group came over, except Rhodan who kept hidden (he feared the fisherman was not what he seemed). It turned out that he wasn't. When the party had gathered, 10 bandits came out of the two huts and engaged the party to take the "great treasure" that they must have found under the hill. The bandits were obviously waiting for them... but no one yet knows why or how. It was Melody's sleep spell which downed 5 bandits and made the combat simpler. The other bandits were dispatched, but the leader drank a gasseous form potion and left, and one bandit made his escape. Down the River and Through the Woods...: (June 26, 696) They decided to leave quickly with their hoarde by boat. Harvey had suggested that this was probably the same river that they crossed on the bridge days ago. They spent half of the day on the river and made it to the bridge. They decided to stay the night in the Lizard Man lair again and heal before returning to town. The next day, they went back to town and acted poor. They wanted to keep a low profile due to the money and the fact that Hadonis may be after them. They cleaned up, spent the night and then departed in the horse drawn cart they took from the wolf-man thing. A short distance out of town, they put Harvey through an "initiation" ceremony (Harvey was one of the gang by this point). They had him run across a live fire pit (after Furnes "protection from fire" spelled him). Twas a fun encounter. Dotting the I's and Crossing the T's: (June 28, 696) The group then traveled to Turthan (a large city) and set out to identify the various magic items. Galen got a +2 Ring of Protection, Rhodan got a Potion of Healing and some extra cash, Studly got a +1 Dagger, Spike got a +1 Cloak of Protection, Melody got a Periapt of Would Closure, Furnes got a Ring of Clear Thought and a Potion of Healing, and Harvey got a Potion of Healing and some extra cash. They liquidated the non-magic items. With lots of experience (a few people event maxed out), they trained to the next level. Galen did not train. Rhodan trained to second. And the others trained to Third. Studly and Melody (natives of Turthan) helped find good prices, food and lodging. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES (Mar 93) The characters now have magic and some wealth. Many are also close to making another level. A small adventure is probably what they need now. Future adventures are being planned, but nothing obvious has been fed to the characters.