06-20-2006

Session 1; June 20, 2006

return to "adventures"    return to home page    next session

This was the first session so we spent a few moments discussing the table rules and meeting some of the new players as well as handing out some bonus skills based on character background. I had promised that the first thing we would do is "roll initiative."

Dave wrote up a "Nick's Journal #1" of the session -- events from the point of view of Nick the rogue!

Session 1: Meeting In Cauldron.

Glyn (Halfling Thief, male); Nathan
Celceor The Wise (Elven mage, male); Dave M.
Nakama (Human ranger, female); Tom S.
Skylar (Human Duskblade, male); Al G.
Angrod Moonstar (Elven Cleric, male); Mike M.
Nick (Human rogue, male); Dave P.

It was another weekend night in Cauldron, the city where only the Volcano sleeps. Having arrived in town two days before, Celceor the Wise was proceeding down Obsidian Avenue from the west gate to his digs at The Drunken Morkoth when he heard cries for help and angry shouts from an alley ahead. He ran forward to see what was the matter.

Nick the rogue was returning from one of his favorite dining spots and had just turned the corner onto Obsidian Avenue when he heard the rukus from an alley ahead. Since there seemed to be a fight going on in an alley just beyond The Madcap Monkey Tavern, Nick dodged into 'The Monkey' and headed to a window that he knew looked out onto the alley and would be open to the evening's breeze.

Glyn the Halfling was considering heading into The Madcap Monkey for a beer in order to wash the dust of the road from his throat when he saw some of the townspeople running in fear from the mouth of an alley beside the tavern. He could hear cries for help and meaty sounding smacks from within the alley so he ran towards the alley in order to see what was going on.

Angrod Moonstar was marvelling at the imposing stone buildings of Cauldron and wondering where he would stay the night when he heard sounds of a fight coming from an alley ahead. Loosening his sword in his sheath, he ran towards the mouth of the alley.

Skylar the Duskblade saw an elf in armor, a halfling and another elf in a cloak running towards the alley that everyone else seemed to running away from. He could hear some cries for help and angry shouts so he moved down the street in order to see what was going on.

Nakama the Ranger saw townspeople milling about the mouth of an alley ahead and could hear the sounds of a fight. Although the ways of the city were unfamiliar to her, her instincts took over and she ran towards the fracas.

In the alley, three men were kicking a man in robes who lay on the ground while a fourth kept an eye on the crowd. Celceor saw a fifth figure -- which looked like a human woman dressed in dark clothing, clinging to a parapet above the fight keeping an eye on the proceedings. All five had their faces painted, half black and half white, with a twisted smile painted across the lips. The men wore heavy boots and peseant's clothing and each had a shortsword at his belt. As they kicked the prone man, they shouted, "This is a warning, priest! Stay away from the orphanage! Don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong!"

Angrod, Nakama and Glyn moved forward while Celceor and Skylar observed from across the street and Nick raced through the tavern.   Angrod told the thugs to leave off beating the priest as he drew his sword and Glyn demanded to know, "Why are your faces painted?"

"Bugger off," one of the thugs told Glyn. Glyn responded by kicking the man in the shin. Nick vaulted out the window, landing like a cat beside the fallen priest. Since the beat down they intended to give had apparently been administered, the thugs began backing down the alley and then turned and ran. Celceor saw the woman who had been watching from above climb onto the roof and dissapear without a sound.

As Angrod tended the fallen priest, the town guards finally arrived. "What goes on here?" demanded the guard serjeant. "Some thugs were beating this man," the group responded. "They went down the alley!" The guards ran, clanking in their armor, round the corner but the thugs were long gone. A heal spell from Angorod revived the unconscious priest --- apparently the thugs intended the beating to hurt rather than kill the man, and he introduced himself as Rufus Laro, a minor priest of Saint Cuthbert. Rufus stated that he had been visiting the Lantern Street Orphanage earlier in order to comfort the orphans and make sure they were all right. Apparently four of the orphans had been mysteriously abducted a few days before --- this was one of the many strange abductions that had occurred in the past few months. Rufus didn't know who the thugs were who had attacked him or what connection they might have with the abductions but asked them to come see his superior at the temple in order to help him tell the story --- Rufus was certain she would be interested. A few of the party gave the guard serjeant their names and promised to report to the Guard Captain's office in the morning in order to give their version of events. Nick elected to run down to the orphanage and check on his friends there -- he apparently was friends with the headmistress and another person named "Patch" who lived there.

The group escorted Rufus to the Temple of Saint Cuthbert -- a tall structure of white marble with blue accents and two huge statues of mace wielding warriors out front.   Above the door it said, "Within law lives hope."

<>The players were escorted into a reception area where they met Priestess Jenya Urikas. Jenya was an attractive woman in her mid thirties with premature streaks of grey in her dark hair. She thanked them profusely and lamented the rash of abductions that had plagued Cauldron for the last few months. She told them that when the children had been abducted a few days before, she had used a relic of the church to perform a divination and had obtained this cryptic response:

<>"The locks are key to finding them. Look beyond the curtain, below the cauldron. Beware the doors with teeth. Descend into the malachite hold, where precious life is bought with gold. Half a dwarf binds them, but not for long."
<>

<>
Jenya asked the players to inquire into the dissapearances using the clue she had obtained and offered them cure moderate wounds potions as an aid in their investigations. She also promised possible gold rewards and aid in obtaining scrolls and similar items should the need arise. They asked about the "locks and keys" mentioned in the riddle and Jenya wasn't certain, but she said a locksmith of great reputation lived in town -- a gnome named Keygan Ghelve. The "Malachite Hold," according to rumor, had something to do with a long abandoned dwarf stronghold beneath the city. She also gave them a list of all of the people who had been abducted.

The party set off immeadiately to Keygan Ghelve's place on Lava Avenue. They beat upon the door and demanded to be let in but Keygan insisted he was closed and asked them to come back the next day. They continued to insist, shouting that they wanted to help the missing orphans and Keygan finally opened the door, insisting loudly that he knew nothing about the orphans and telling them if they wanted to know anything they should visit the orphanage. Keygan seemed very nervous and mouthed the words "help me" while protesting his innocence and then slipped them a note asking them to meet his the next day at the Slippery Eel Tavern where he often ate his lunch. The note indicated that "they" were always watching him and he had to be careful.

The party retired to the Drunken Morkoth Inn. The next morning they went to the guard's barracks and filed their report. Captain Terseon Skellerang, an older gentleman of military bearing, thanked them for their help in driving off the thugs and confirmed everything that Jenya had said about the abductions. He further stated that several witnesses had claimed to have seen groups of small people, perhaps halflings, in the city at night and it was thought that these might have something to do with the abductions but nothing else was known. Guard patrols had been doubled and they had combed the list of victims and interviewed everyone in order to discern a connection but nothing had turned up. In the course of conversation he mentioned a stronghold of gnomes that once lived beneath the city who had mysteriously dissapeared but didn't know anything more about it.

In hopes of getting more information, they stopped at The Blue Crater Academy. Classes were in session and the doltish doorman did not allow them inside to use the library. The headmistress of the academy could apparently not be disturbed when classes were in session.

At noon the players went to The Slippery Eel. Keygan sat with his back to them and whispered that he could not be certain that he wasn't being followed. He babbled something about "invisible ghosts of dead gnomes" and didn't seem entirely sane. In questioning Keygan, the players learned that he was being forced to cooperate with some mysterious evil doers who Keygan said were coming up through a secret tunnel in his workshop and that he had been forced to help them by giving them a set of skeleton keys that would open most of the town's locks. Keygan begged the players to help him, saying that the ghosts had taken his familiar, Starbrow, a rat, as a hostage and followed him and spied on him constantly. He said that his rat was in a dark place within one mile of his workshop and due to the empathic link he can sense Starbrow's hunger and fright. He further stated that some of the beings were tall as humans, but thin, hairless and sexless with grey skin and very blue eyes and they seemed to be able to dissapear at will while others were small, dark and wore black cloaks and had little hooves instead of feet. Keygan slipped them the key to his shop and told them that he would be gone for the lunch hour --- if they wanted to investigate, they had to do it now.

The players immeadiately set off to Ghelve's Locks. The key opened the stout front door. Beyond a workbench, some locks and a mechanical clock, the player's didn't find much of interest until Angrod located a secret door in the base of the staircase that was "beyond the curtain" (reference to Jenya's divination?) and Nick figured out how to open it.

The secret door led to a narrow stairway -- three feet high and five feet wide. The stairs led down to a square room decorated with copper masks that looked like gnomish faces. They could hear constant giggles, rustling breezes, chirping birds and other noises -- apparently magical effects of some kind. Two doors shaped like gears led off to one side -- one of the doors was chocked open with a block of stone. An archway led to the north and mysterious runes spelled out a word above the archway:

Each door had one of the mysterious runes above the keyhole in the center.

As the stood before one of the masks, it suddenly spoke:

Welcome to Jzadirune - behold the wonder!
But beware, ye who seek to plunder.
Traps abound and guardians peer
Beyond every portal, behind every gear.

They went to investigate the slightly open gear door and Glyn stepped through in order to check out the room. The others heard a scream and Glyn fell over. Nakama tried to reach through and grab the halfling by his heels; a rapier held by an invisible hand tried to stab her in the arm. The group tried to force their way through the door and several of them were stabbed by unseen attackers. Nakama was reduced to 0 hitpoints and had to drink her healing potion just to stay alive. Finally Nick managed to kill one of these creatures, which seemed to have some sort of chameleon ability, and they were able to get into the room. The second attacker seemed to have dissapeared. The room had some ruined gnome sized bunks and footlockers as well as a lot of spiderwebs and rubble in it. Their mysterious attacker seemed to be human in shape, but naked, sexless and with large blue eyes. As he/she lay on the floor dying, the chameleon effect wore off and the skin of the creature turned a dull grey.

A five foot diameter tunnel was carved through the far wall of the room and rubble littered the ground.

Character / Player:	Race / Class & Level:	XP at start:	XP at end:	Notes:
Glyn; Nathan	(Halfling / Thief 1)	0	375
Celceor The Wise; Dave M.	(Elf / Mage 1)	0	450
Nakama; Tom S.	(Human / Ranger 1)	0	450
Skylar; Al G.	(Human / Duskblade 1)	0	375
Angrod Moonstar; Mike M.	(Elf / Cleric 1)	0	400
Nick; Dave P.	(Human / Rogue 1)	0	450

The XP awards this session were nothing too exciting. Everyone who wrote a character background got a little perk; the players who put a lot of effort into the background got more. You got a partial award for helping Rufus the cleric after his beating and more XP for tracking down Keygan Ghelve; the gnome locksmith and convincing him to help you. In the dungeon itself you got XP for the single combat encounter.