D&D: Straying off the path

CAMPAIGN SETTING:  Forgotton Realms
SESSION: 3
GAME MASTER: Farseer G
PARTICIPANTS:
Alfard the Half Elven Bard (Ryanbo)
Weed the Human Wizard (Raiz)
Pink the Human Cleric (Vio)
Valenna Denethall the Human Paladin (Me)

NPC Companions
Eldeth - A Female Dwarf
"Prince Darendil" - The Ape-man that claims he is an Elven Prince
Brinjal - A sentient humanoid shroom, Brinjal is now unofficially Violet's pet
Bipipdo - A Deurgar (Dark Dwarf?)

Introduction:
Alfard the Bard while trying to lead his companions to him startle upon a group of Gnolls (a race of humanoids with canine head/features) and the Gnolls don't appear to be particularly friendly...
Previous Session

The Story so far:
It appears that the Gnolls do not take kindly to Alfard's appearance and is in no mood to talk.   Sizing Alfard up, the Gnoll pack leaves the runtiest among them to dispatch the fragile looking Alfard.  Not confident to take on the Gnoll mano a mano, Alfard makes a run for it while dropping Caltrops on the floor to dissuade the Gnoll from chasing him.

The Gnoll whips out a bow and unleashes her arrows at Alfard, one arrow hitting the bard squarely in his butt cheeks.  Despite the pain, Alfard continues to speed away.  Brief moments later, the companions catch up and witness Alfard fleeing for his life.  Valenna rushes forward with her sword drawn, bellowing at the Gnoll to surrender.  The Gnoll pays Valenna no heed and continues attacking with her bow.  The rest of the party patches up Alfard.

Valenna finally closes in on the Gnoll and both have their feet stung by the Caltrops that was dropped earlier by Alfard.  After a brief moment of battling each other, the adventurers finally triumphed.   Concern with more Gnolls in the vicinity.  They retreat back to entrance of the side tunnel and began to rest and regroup.

Darendil & Bipipdo were both tasked with keep watch while the rest recuperate.  While Deldeth forage for edible mushrooms.   Hours passed while the party rested, all of a sudden they are alerted by a loud scream.   Rushing to the vicinity, they find Bipipdo lying in a pool of blood.  It appears that someone or something has ambushed Bipipdo.    Pink the Cleric tries to resuscitate Bipipdo but he was already dead and there was nothing the party could do.  Valenna mutter a prayer for the fallen and the party set-off to investigate the "mysterious feminine voice" they all been hearing in their heads.

Following the voice, the party finally came upon another side entrance.   Pink notices that the floor was covered with tracks and this part of the tunnel appears to be constructed.   Cautiously the party advances into the tunnels.   As they delve deeper, they came upon an ante-chamber with a door in front and an ornate side door.   Inside the ante-chamber are two Gnolls and they surprised to find the party.   Alfard recognizes these as the Gnolls that he meet in the caverns earlier.

A fight ensues and the party emerge victorious due to overwhelming numbers.   While the party searches the ante-chamber, the door at the end of the chamber burst open.   The Gnoll pack leader standing one head taller than the earlier Gnolls faced by the party strode forward bellowing at Alfard.     The party turned their attention towards the Gnoll leader and dispatched it after an exhausting battle.    Searching the body, the party discovers that the Gnoll Leader was wielding an exquisitely ornate looking long-sword.   As no one was trained to wield martial weapons except for Valenna.  The Paladin picked up the longsword and handed her sword sword over to the Bard.  Taking the risk, the party decides to rest in the room and recuperate from their injuries.

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Things goes smoothly as their rest is not interrupted.   The band of adventurers then discovers that the side rooms were filled with sarcophagus and this place was a ancient temple of sorts dedicated to a forgotten god from a forgotten civilization.   As the party plans to plunder the tombs, Valenna was against the notion of ransacking the graves of the dead.  She prayed to her god and then mutter a prayer for the fallen as sign of respect.  The party truly carried out their plans to ransack the tomb and Valenia stood in their way.

Alone and not strongest in the group, Valenna was quickly overpowered by the rest of the party.  An ghostly being appeared above the tomb of the ornate Sarcophagi and warned the party not to disturb their rest.  Alfard being the one who pry the coffin lid off the Sarcophagi was filled with ill feeling.   After ripping the lid off, they discover that the ornate Sarcophagi contained only skeletal remains of the dead and nothing of value.

Moving to the next room, Valenna once again block the entrance to prevent her companions from looting the other sarcophagus.  As usual, not being very strong, the party shove her to the ground and continue their ways.  Unfortunately for them, neither of them is very strong either and they only manage to pry the lid off two Sarcophagus and found nothing of value on them.  After several minutes of searching high and low, pink discovers a lever behind one of the sarcophagus.   Weed, quickly runs into to pull the lever and this reveals a hidden door way but also triggers a trap.  Darts flew out at amazing speed and struck Weed in the chest, injuring him.   The party resumes formation with the Paladin in the front again as they descend the stairs and finally came upon another ornate tomb.

Seeing the party up to loot the tomb, Valenna once again stood in their way.  Alfard explained that they are here to free that "feminine voice" and the owner of the voice could be within the Sarcophagus.  Valenna also sensing a presence of evil finally relented and aided the party in lifting the lid off the Sarcophagus.

After several exhausting attempt by our not so strong adventurers, the party finally lifted the lid off.  A dark smoke billowed out and formed into a menacing smoky humanoid with skeletal feature.   The undead proclaim its identity and cursed the party for trepassing and threatened them with their doom.  Alfard & Weed both attempts to negotiate with the smokey ghostly figure but does not appear to have much success.

The Paladin sensing an immense presence of evil emanating from the ghostly figure, draws out her sword and threatens to smite the Wraith as negotiations break down.  Lunging forward, Valenia strikes at the Wraith repeatingly.  The rest of the party now forced to fight, join in the battle.  Crossbow bolts from Alfard and Pink pierced into the ghostly figure.  Darendil & Deldeth slashed their shortswords at the Wraith.  Weed struck out with his twin daggers.   The Wraith then, gestures in a dramatic fashion and yelling for his minions to join him in dispatching the foolish trepassers.  An eerie howl was heard from above the above the underground temple.

Knowing that they could be surrounded anytime, soon the party rained flurry of blows upon the Wraith.  Yet the undead still stood before them.   Again, it howled out for aid and another eerie scream was heard from above.  Within moments, another ghostly figure with skull appeared behind the party.  The specter lashed out at the Bard but the Bard deftly stepped aside.   Weed mutters an incantation and blasts the Wraith with a ray of frost.  The Undead howled in rage and struck back at Weed with cold & lifeless dark tendrils.   Weed, collapsed to the ground as he was already injured by the traps earlier on.   Pink quickly rushes to her husband's side and attempt to stabilize his condition while the party continue to focus their attacks on the Wraith.

After a grueling battle with the combined attacks of the whole party, the Wraith is finally weakened.  The Undead let out a blood curdling howl as the Ornate longsword plunge into its skull.    The Wraith rapidly dissipated into nothingness.   The Specters that it suppose also faded into thin air.

Gathering their senses, the party search the tomb and discovers an ornate staff, beautifully carved.   The party could once again hear the feminine voice thanking them for releasing her.   Weed picking up the staff realizes that the voice belonged to the ornate staff.   And that he is wielding a sentient magical item of power.

After spending time resting and communing with the staff, Weed learns that the Staff has capability to dispense fireballs.  As a sentient, it also has its own memories and knowledge which Weed may later be able to tap on.   With Bipipdo dead, the party had no guide as to where the village they could properly rest up and resupply themselves.

While Weed consulted his staff, Eldeth pointed to a general direction which Bipipdo said the village was.  The party once more set off to find a resting place while foraging for food in the underdark.   While doing so, the party once more encounters blood sucking giant mosquitoes and with some effort finally got rid of them.


Several days passed and the party found the tunnel they had to passed through filled with Cobwebs.   Weed decides to demonstrate the power of the Staff of Fire and let loose a ball of fire.  The fireball flew into the tunnel and exploded, engulfing giant spiders and their webs in fire.    With the giant spiders effortlessly dispatched, they continue their way.

Days later the party finally arrives the massive underground lake.  This area was so massive that no ceiling can be seen and the only light source appeared to be luminous fungi.  With limited lighting, the party could not make out where the boundaries of the lake are but could tell that it might be the size of a small sea.

Moments later, a group of fish like people appeared out of the bushes.  Alfard attempted to negotiate but only to learn that the fish people are not cooperative and only saw the party as food or sacrificing the party to the Deep Father.
 Several minutes later, the group hears another rustling and are surrounded by another group of identical fish people but with different color markings.  The second group introduced themselves as worshippers of the sea mother and demanded that the party assist them in slaying the first group.

Alfard continues to buy time by talking to the fish people.  Valenna unsure who to aid, kneels down and pray to her god seeking guidance.  Eldeth joins Valenna in prayer and prays to her Dwarven gods.  Weed frustrated that this is going nowhere, rips out his two daggers and rushes forward to stab one of the fish people.  Unfortunately, he trips over and falls down.  The fish people sensing Weed's aggressive intentions now ready their weapons to do battle....

D&D: The Escape

CAMPAIGN SETTING:  Forgotton Realms
SESSION: 2
GAME MASTER: Farseer G
PARTICIPANTS:
Alfard the Half Elven Bard (Ryanbo)
Weed the Human Wizard (Raiz)
Pink the Human Cleric (Vio)
Valenna Denethall the Human Paladin (Me)
Gothmag the Half Orc Fighter (Chaoslord SJ)
Titus the Half Elven Rogue (B)


Introduction:
After fleeing from their Drow captors our intrepid adventurers must now seek shelter to rest and recover their injuries.   Along the way, they run into Gothmag and Titus who also escaped from the Drow.  The party also picked up a few other ex-captives that decided to tag along.
Alfard recognizes the Rogue as his cousin Titus, as they both look quite similar to each other with exception that Titus resembles Alfard after his face got smashed by a treant.   

The other prisoners that escaped with the party includes:

Deldeth - A Female Dwarf
"Prince Darendil" - The Ape-man that claims he is an Elven Prince
Brinjal - A sentient humanoid shroom, Brinjal is now unofficially Violet's pet
Previous session


The Story so far:
The party with the new additions continue to seek out the nearest village as suggested by one of the ex-prisoners.   The party tries to put as much distance between them and their captors knowing that the Drow are not far behind.   The party takes a short rest and discuss their options before continuing with their journey.  By now the Bard has established himself as a leader of the party. 

Valenna's crudely drawn map of the underdark

While traveling through the underdark, our adventurers are ambushed by a swarm of giant Spiders dropping in from the ceiling.    After some fighting, the adventurers emerge victorious once again.   In the process, accumulated small bits of treasure as well as fresh injuries...  With most of their spells expended... the party is growing desperate to find a settlement to rest and replenish their lost resources.

The adventurers finally decide to head towards the closet village by the under ground lake.  The Rogue and Bard decides to scout ahead of the party.   While doing so, the Bard hears a comely feminine voice in his head, beseeching the Bard to deliver the owner of the feminine voice from her predicament.   Intrigued, the Bard decides to investigate, while the Rogue turns around and head back to the party to warn them.

The Bard ventures deeper and deeper into the side cavern and realizes that it may not be prudent to go alone.   Casting a cantrip, he creates a special glowing sign in the darkness so his companions can see it from a distance.  Unfortunately, as the cantrip lights up the dark cavern.  It also reveals another four large humanoids with large canine like heads.    Surprised by the sudden light and presence of Alfard, the four creatures brandished their weapons menacingly while snarling angrily at our fearless Bardic Leader....

D&D: Captured!

CAMPAIGN SETTING:  Forgotton Realms
SESSION: 1

GAME MASTER: Farseer G
PARTICIPANTS:
Alfard the Half Elf Bard (Ryanbo)
Weed the Human Wizard (Raiz)
Pink the Human Cleric (Vio)
Valenna Denethall the Human Paladin (Me)


Introduction:
After committing murder, Dragonman the Dragonkin Barbarian realize that he has done something wrong and it won't not be in his best interest to stay longer.   Abandoning Alfard, Dragonman fled the village.  Alfard now realizes there are too many ruffians to deal with alone and return to the village to seek aid.
Previous session

The Story so far:
Having return to the village, Alfard meets Weed & Pink a spellcasting human couple.  Weed is mysterious wizard and Violet is a shy and quiet cleric.   It is unknown which pantheon she has dedicated her prayers to.  Alfard also meets Valenia, an aspiring Paladin of unknown knightly order but shows extreme enthusiasm in apprehending the ruffians.

The adventuring party, venture to the ruffian's den.  Outside of the den, they stay hidden and observe the enemy.   Until finally deciding to act, the party manage to surprised the ruffians briefly.  After much fighting, they finally dispatched the ruffians and return to the village victorious, the ears they bring back as proof of those ruffians slain by the party.

While the party retires to rest, Alfard stays the ground floor of the tavern continuing to party and drink to his heart content.  All of a sudden, the lights went out and all was dark.  Alfard was knocked out by an unseen assailant.

When Alfard finally came about, he finds himself in a dimly lit jail cell and is surrounded by many others including his fellow party members.   Everyone has their equipment removed and is clad only in their under garments.   Brief moments later, a drow elf accompanied by another two male drows visits the jail cells.
The female drow is intrigued by Alfard and orders the jail keepers to release Alfard to her custody for soft duties.   While the rest of the prisoners including the party is sent to do hard labor.

Crude sketch of the prison

Hours of backbreaking labor later, the party is reunited back in the squalid and dimly lit jail cell.  They acquaint themselves with other prisoners and devise of a way to break free.  Sometime later, an opportunity arises.  Alfard "befriends" one of the drows who in return, promises them freedom.

Hours pass as the prisoners all fall asleep.  When they awaken, they find the door of the jail cell, slightly ajar.  The prisoners sneak out and hear sounds of fighting echoing down from the corridors.  Seizing the opportunity, they jump two unsuspecting guards and free themselves from the shackles.

In the chaos, the prisoners all flee in separate direction except for our intrepid heroes.  Who climbed up the stairs to reclaim their equipment.  There they ran into more drow guards and dispatched them after some combat and flinging of spells.   Realizing they are in an armory of sorts, the party quickly grab any armor and weapons that they could find before a patrol runs into them.   It is only then do they realize that to regain their equipment, they will have to fight their way through even more Drow guards and patrols.

With insufficient equipment, the party decide to flee in the other direction.   The party finally came upon a wooden bridge held up by rough hemp ropes.   The wooden bridge is their only way across the deep chasm and on the other end, another group of Drow guards.  After much rushing and fighting, the party defeated the drow guards and fled deeper into the underdark.

After what seems like an eternity, the party finally descended into a cavern so vast, that they cannot see the ceiling.  As the party tries to regain their sense of direction a strange vulture like monstrous humanoid with wings swoop from above.    Frightened by the appearance of such an ugly creature, Pink the cocked her Crossbow and fired at the monster.   Threatened by Pink, the monster stomp forward and took a bite out of her.   The sharp beaks tore through flesh and Pink collapse onto the ground on her own blood.

Shock at seeing their fellow companion drop down so easily.  Weed the wizard unleashed his offensive spells, while Valenna charged at the winged monster.  After a grueling battle, the winged monster wounds Valenna before it is finally dispatched.  The party patches up Pink and continue on their way trying to find safer place to rest and catch their breath.

D&D: Prelude to a new adventure

CAMPAIGN SETTING:  Forgotton Realms
SESSION: 0

GAME MASTER: Farseer G
PARTICIPANTS:
Alfard the Half Elf Bard (Ryanbo)
Dragonman the Dragonkin Barbarian (Raiz)



Introduction:
The duo started in a sleepy village somewhere in FR, looking for some quest, adventure or work.
Here we meet, Alfard the lecherous and dashing bard whose good looks come from his lineage.  Joining him is a mysterious Dragonkin Barbarian whom we know very little about.  That is why he is mysterious.


The Story so far:
While the duo is shopping around town for supplies, Alfard hears some scuffling and screams coming from within an alley.  He ventures into the dark alley only to find a lady accosted by two ruffians.  After some fighting, he managed to successfully dispatched the ruffians and rescue the lady.  It turns out that the lady is a barmaid working for the local tavern known as the "Horny Unicorn".

Alfard being the lecherous person that he is, spent 50 gold pieces just to get fresh with the barmaid.    After sometime, they were informed that there were more such ruffians harassing the village.    This time, lead by the barmaid, the duo traveled to the ruffians hideout.  Dragonman heard of how Alfard was swindled by the barmaid, murdered the barmaid to get the gold back.  Unfortunately the gold isn't on her and the duo discovered that they were too few of them to take on the whole den of ruffians.

Dungeons & Dragons: A new beginning

How it all started

Our gaming group knew each other by playing MMO, and stuck together for several year.  The journey started in Ultima Online and we eventually progressed to other MMOs throughout the years.  Dark Age of Camelot, City of Heroes, Star Wars Galaxies, World of Warcraft & Star Wars The Old Republic Online and Guild Wars 2. 

It has been a long journey but finally came to an end when people's interest in the current MMO started to wane and people went their separate ways.   Two prominent members got into WH40K, which I joined about 10 months later.  One of my friend expressed interest in getting back together but since no MMO could hold our interest but WH40K is too cost prohibitive for him to start.   He suggested that we started with D&D and it went from there.  When I heard about it, I was excited, I have not played D&D for almost a decade and was interested to get back into it.