Geo-Verse

Took the day off to spend with my youngest daughter. The Week in Geek will be up tomorrow night.

Geo

After dividing the loot, Zathras has Kalshala examine the rash he had on his shoulder and discovered he had developed a dragonmark.

The next few days were spent looking around Sharn and purchasing new equipment with their newfound wealth. While out and about, the saw an execution notice for Timmer the Bold and Helix. The group learned through the Inquisitor that these were the two youths that had turned Kessek d’Orien over to the ghouls.

Feeling restless, they decided to go see if Eligos had any word for them. Arriving at his manor, they learned from the butler that he had gone to Stormreach for some research, but was still working on their query. He left a message with the butler in case they called. Upon hearing the message, they were satisfied, but still restless.

They decided to try working for the guard again since the want-ads in the Inquisitor offered only ventures far away from Sharn. The local guard had nothing for them, but suggested they go to the Dura guard. As it happens, they were familiar with that station so headed there.

The Dura guard asked them to take another look at an apartment that had been burglarized. As they headed there, they realized the address they were given was to Allustan’s apartment.

Inside they found the apartment had been very thoroughly searched but it appeared that very little had been taken. One of the group discovered a symbol carved into the bottom of the overturned table, which was soon recognized as the symbol of the Ebon Triad.

A further search of the premises revealed a ring that had apparently been dropped by one of the burglars. The ring, which was three intertwining snakes biting each others’ tail, had the initials JDK inside.

Searching their knowledge of the city, one of the group remembered there was a custom jeweler in the lower city by the name of Jake Dams Kallen.

The jeweler, a gnome, recognized the ring and told him of a nautical looking tiefling with a tattoo on the back of his jaw. When they asked the gnome to describe it, they found that it was the emblem of the Ebon Triad. The tiefling paid in giant coins from Xen’Drik.

As the session closed, the group left the shop and were heading to the docks. It is now the 15th of Vult.

Action Items for Next Session

1) Create the warehouse map

2) Add last two items to loot list

3) Draw symbol of the Ebon Triad

4) Check out the Rod of Many Parts

5) Put a piece of the Rod in loot somewhere

6) Work in a little Draconic Prophesy

Behind the Screen (Spoilers)

After the shopping expedition, mostly done out of session, it was time to ease the group back into the storyline. The adventure calls for an attack at the Crooked House, but they have been spending very little time there.

Someone expressed an interest in going to Eligos, but I knew he did not have the information needed yet. He actually won’t get back to the characters until somewhere in mid-Paragon level.

I am starting to think that I need to have Eligos send them somewhere after the next module to get the characters where I want them for the subsequent module.

Since this adventure path was originally written for levels 1-20 and 4E runs 1-30, I figured that I needed to increase each level by about 50%.

Since most of the individual modules have far more than 10 encounters per level, I figured it should be pretty easy to adapt and expand.

This theory worked well for The Whispering Cairn and Three Faces of Evil. Encounter at Blackwall Keep was a bit more difficult, especially since I dropped about half of the module. That was supposed to last me from levels 7 through 9. We started Hall of Harsh Reflections at level 9 and have sort of been ambling through the module so far.

Since they were looking for work from the guard, I sent the group to look at something I had in mind for them several sessions earlier. Since they arrived several days later, they avoided the encounter with the burglars.

However, I was able to use clues at the crime scene to pull them back into the story and send them in the direction they would have probably gone had they run into the encounter at the Crooked House.

Another effect that this has had is now Zathras and Samael have been pulled into the search for the conspirators. By time they leave the warehouse, if they survive, they should have a personal interest in stopping the Age of Worms.

Until next time,

Geo

The session continued the combat at the top of the order. The misbegotten recognized its tenuous position and started slithering towards the portal, not wanting to get killed on the material plane.

Fewer nycademons were coming through the portal, but the demon lord directed them to attack Mellin, who was performing the ritual, and Teka, who was flying around being a nuisance.

Mellin ignored the attacker and kept on with the ritual as Jennia moved to divert the demon attacking her. Teka dropped the death knight, angering Razeth who wanted to deal with his counterpart himself. Isonnea did what she could while stuck to the floor by the elemental ooze that the demon used to glue her there. Hayashi worked on cleaning out the minions.

Very shortly the tide of the battle shifted. The worm-like demon slipped through the portal before Mellin got it closed. When the portal closed, a burst of necrotic energy washed through the room wiping out the remaining demons. Then the stone ring around the portal collapsed.

While Hayashi and Teka cleared the room of valuables, Razeth and Isonnea took the body of the death knight outside for a proper burial. Razeth broke the sword freeing A-Razeth’s soul to go to whatever fate A-Dravos might have in store for a fallen paladin.

Once they were back in the portal chamber, Mellin used her apparatus to form a portal to the fixed portal in A-Lachgel.

They talked to the magistrate about the situation and he sent scouts out to A-Tinpick. When the scouts returned, they reported that the situation had turned against the occupation forces and A-Tinpick would soon be free again. While the group waited, Mellin researched ways to get back home.

Satisfied they were done in A-Urkana, Mellin used the scroll that Daibora had given her back in the elemental chaos and used residuum from their home plane. The portal opened and they returned to their own world in the Sillock compound.

Behind the Screen (Spoilers)

Rather than prolong the combat, I felt that the demon lord would flee for its life while the portal was still open. That cut the remaining combat down to two rounds.

When they reported back to the magistrate, he raised some questions about the likelihood of the gate being opened again and the status of A-Tinpick. Listening to the players, I got the impression that they considered their job done here in A-Urkana. Therefore, when the scouts reported back, I had them give a favorable report so the group would feel the situation was in hand and they could return to their homes.

I offered the group several options of getting home and they chose the most practical of the offerings. Now that they are back in their own world, Rabos will probably seek their services once more. After all, he still has to collect the rod.

Until next time,

Geo

Announcements

Two of the podcasts featured in this blog, NewbieDM’s Minicast and The Power Source Podcast, have been nominated for ENnies. Winners will be announced at Gen Con.

Another podcast featured here, The Gearheart, has been nominated for a Parsec award. Winners will be announced at Dragon*con.

Podcasts

DM Roundtable – Session 4 – Somewhere I missed session 3. A lengthy discussion of various topics of interest to the 4E GM.

Gearheart –Re-listening to this series, but I didn’t get to any this week.

HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast – Episode 49: The Strange High House in the Mists. Hosts Chris Lackey and Chad Fifer discuss this curious story by H.P. Lovecraft. Scott MacDonell was this week’s reader. Next week’s story is Dream Quest of Unknown Kaddath. I’m pretty sure that will be a multi-part cast.

Radio Free Hommlet – Episode 54 – DM Tim, DM Kate, DM Dave, and DM Jackson discuss the Seeker. World Affirmations returns with a discussion on making Epic paths for the void shards campaign settings.

Tome Show – Episode 140 – Host Jeff Greiner is joined by Quinn Murphy and Mike Shea to discuss Wizards news and Monster Manual 3.

Books

Tomb of Horrors – Wizards of the Coast brings this classic adventure to 4E with this hardbound mega-adventure. It is designed to cover multiple levels starting from late heroic and going to early Epic. It may be just a coincidence, but I find it interesting that all of the mega-adventures released so far are solidly in the paragon tier.

Save the Cat – A curious title for a book about screenwriting. Recommended by several screenwriters.

Conventions

Dragon*con – held in Atlanta on Labor Day Weekend. This is a massive science fiction and fantasy convention on the east coast. I will be there at least on Saturday.

H.P. Lovecraft Word of the Week

Architraves – noun 1. The lowest part of an entablature, a beam resting directly on the tops or capitals, of the columns; epistyle. 2. The molding around a doorway, window, etc.
Excerpts were found on the website www.dagonbytes.com which has the complete text of most of Lovecraft’s stories.

Until next time,

Geo

As we closed the last session, the group was discussing the possibility of raising the d’Orien with the guard investigator as they walked along.

The guard suggested that the House d’Orien would probably prefer to handle that detail.

The group arrived back at the Slaughtered Boar and took the two boys that roughed up the d’Orien into custody.

Back at the guard station, Simath told the group that someone wanted to speak with them. The individual turned out to be Votek d’Orien. He quizzed the group on the specifics about the final hours of Kessek’s life, people he met, and who the suspects were. When they had finished answering his questions, he gave them a voucher for the reward.

On the way out of the station, the stopped by Simath, who gave them the stipend for their services.
Outside of the guard station, they saw Sasha being loaded into a fancy wagon followed shortly by Votek.

Deciding they needed to go collect the d’Orien reward before they changed their mind, they hired a sky cab and headed up to the upper levels of Sharn. They arrived at Dragon Towers and had to walk a short distance to the d’Orien compound.

Inside, the group had little difficulty contacting the seneschal and collecting the reward. They did have to wait for her to get it out of the vault, but the wait wasn’t very long.

Having obtained the reward, they headed back to the Crooked House where they divided the reward and other funds collected along the way.

Action Items for Next Session

1) Distribute remaining loot

2) Make a level 10 loot list

Behind the Screen (Spoilers)

I decided to go ahead and give the group the entire reward for finding the d’Orien youth. With the other loot they have collected, they have enough gold pieces for about a level 10 magic item. Since they are level 10 now, this really isn’t going to break the game.

I’m pretty sure that the guard of Sharn doesn’t ordinarily pass out 1,400 GP in coins and gems for free lance work. However, the loot tables are not supposed to represent a real economy.

D’Orien might actually offer a reward the size that I mentioned, perhaps greater if necessary, but they are a powerful house. I tried to emphasize this when the group stopped at the compound to collect the reward.

By time the group was done dealing with the various individuals, collecting the reward, and dividing the loot, there really wasn’t much more time to do anything.

The campaign has been running for about a year now, and I project it to go about two more years. We have had 51 sessions, which is effectively one a week, with a couple of breaks for holidays and such. On the 51st session, the group has reached 10th level. This works out to about 5.5 sessions per level. In my Urkana group, I give enough XP’s a week so the characters level after 5 sessions. That the Eberron campaign’s average is close to that affirms that the system I’m using is reasonable.

Next week, though, we should get back into the main adventure as things start crashing down on the characters’ heads.

Until next time,
Geo