D&D: Bob's Forgotten Realms

[Bob's Forgotten Realms]

Signed up (1/50):

[Dat]

We escaped the unknown adventuring parties' home/fort atop the icy cliff. The wolf transforming man who has been following us for ages, attacked us there with ettins and wolves. We escaped through an unusual portal room, activated by our wizard alishan.

We wound up on another planet with three suns and plenty of jungle. Brother Malts' lens guided us through some tough terrain down into a stone circle with entrance to an underground passage. We got ambushed in the circle by velociraptors, monk Hob got pushed into a thorny bush of paralysis. Raptors got burned & sliced and survivors were chased down and slaughtered.

The party entered the tunnel, found carvings hundreds of years old, and a room that teleports you into different doorways. Man-cat Bac downed the teleporting tunnels by getting his nose stuck in a now dead end wall. He was freed with a stony nose and Malt opened a secret door. The new tunnel lead to a room with illusory water, another with invisible path and finally a jail room. Jail keepers' room had books with elvish script and money transactions. Jails had skeletons of different races.

[Dat]

Back in the jail, orcs started falling from the sky in the invisible path room. It is thought they were trying to swim the illusory water above the path. Investigation of the corpses revealed them to be mooks of Paladin Abrakus' enemy Netheril (?) who has chased us so competently all this time. Realising he was on this planet, we hastily left the jail room and came out of a cliff-side into a less tropical forest. Brother Malts' spyglass kicked in and directed us to a village of elven lookalikes. The distinctly not-elves revealed their penchant for piked orc heads and gave us food and shelter for the night. We warn the unelves about the orcs. In the morning we talk some more with the unelven people and realise the next piece is off-world. We end the session helping an unelf shaman to open another portal to the next piece.

[Sam]

we hastily left the jail room and came out of a cliff-side into a less tropical forest.

Between these two places was an underground city build by some kind of dark dwarves (dwarfs?). The jail lead into the city, which was dealthy quiet. Until we reached the main square where two armies of dead folk faced off against each other. This was at the command of a powerfully bored sword. We took the sword with us when we left (in the care of the paladin), and had it re-animate some of the armies to fight off the people who followed us from the jail. The exit we used collapsed as we left. We then descended into a forest.

[Dat]

Landing in a city surrounded by desert, our team started negotiating with the guild of people who seem to oversee everything in town. We had managed to barter for a loan of a ship and crew in exchange for most of the treasure that is to be found at the remote site of the next sword-piece.

The next session, we all found gainful employment in various competitions while sylvie magically upgraded brothers Hob and Malts' weapons. Abrakus set about getting the ballista repaired, getting hollow-tipped bolts and acquiring night-vision goggles for some of the crew.

Brother Hob won a wrestling/gladiatorial championship, brother Malt did well at dagger throwing, Marog won an archery competition and sister Lucy did her healing thang. Bardryn sold his magically replenishing dwarven beer at a beer stall with great reluctance. Much money was made and some proceeds were put towards acquiring poison for the few hollow-tip bolts we constructed.

At the docks by the sand-sea, we were warned about rumors of our wolfman stalker, who it seems is at a nearby town with a ship of his own and the favour of a local cult.

[Dat]

Setting sail on a sea of sand, our salty seadogs are set-upon by seafood...

Not long after setting off, snake-like creatures that are reptiles, but not snakes were spotted off the stern of the ship, trailing in its' wake. one of the sailors demonstrates its' capabilities to the dwarf Bardryn by dangling meat off the side on a string. Tentacle-like mouth parts peel open with teeth on them, revealing a beak in the centre. Meat is devoured.

After anchoring for the night in a bay, Abrakus hears scraping noises on the hull of the ship and informs the crew. The party is woken by the shout of 'all hands on deck!' as they arrive topside to see masses of Large lobster-like creatures scaling the ship. Abrakus immediately sets about attacking them as soon as they reach the deck and brother malt climbs the ships' mast to throw daggers at them from above. The rest of the party join in afterwards, with Alishan burning them good and brother Hobb leaping around with psionic fists.

Sister Lucy heals brother Hobbs' injuries and Brac tranforms into a werecat after gaining many wounds. Bardryn heals him and lends a helping shield before chopping a lobsterman in two. Were-Brac offs a couple more seabeasts with a ball & chain and Marog realises an old arrowhead find of his returns to him after being shot from his bow. More wizard fire and great attacks from the party kills all but two of the ambushers. One monster flees into the sea while another is pushed off the ship and 5ft into the air, facing a painful fall.

What next? What are those things? What were they attacking us for?

[Dat]

Dear Homarids,
You got served.

sincerely,
The Party.

[EvilGinger]

Very very funny but I think it needs a bit more context, how what & why where they evicted?

 Ginger

[Dat]

Our tasty, would-be usurpers are shelled and pan fried in butter while the party inquires into their nature. It turns out these creatures normally attack in smaller numbers where the sailors roam closer to home. Sometimes the creatures have even attacked the ports of the town. The crew have never seen them in these numbers before though, but that may be because no-one ever goes this far out.

We set sail on the high sands. Early on we spot a 30ft 'sand leech' off the side of our ship. We are told it is harmless and warily carry on. A bigger, near 60ft creature called a 'sand sea dragon' is spotted later on, a short distance away. We are told it looks like a crocodile with protruding, forward facing tusks and long tail. The sailors have hunted it in the past, but it has been known to wreck ships. We sleep a little less easily that night.

The next morning we are told to get below deck because a sand storm is on its' way. We sit below for a couple of hours while the ship is sand blasted. A little off course of course, we make corrections and travel for a while before spotting a jet of sand fly up into the air just off the starboard. Another bleedin' sea-sand-dragon cruises beside us while we wonder about whether we are going to die. Bardryn spots jewels encrusted all along the dragons' back plates and gets a little excited. Dread takes over as two more appear and help to flank us as we steadily continue onwards, hoping to be left alone. Sister Lucy makes a calming drink for a dangerously scared crewman and manages to calm him down. We spend three days and nights with the creatures singing like whales when light fades.

The next day, a big SSD is seen checking us out a short distance away. We all get nervous again, including captain Gobol. He tells us he has readied the ballistas and a big cannon thing that fires a large kite-sail for extra speed. We spot some mountains in the distance, but our relief is short lived as the BIG dragon bursts from the sand, beheading one of our school of juvenile dragons. The sail is fired and we gain an early lead on our giant persuer. Over the course of a couple of hours however, the beast catches us up and we assess our options. Abrakus and Marog spot a missing armour plate above the creatures' eye and a crewman fires, critically hitting it in the exact spot. It rears and roars, Marog responds by critically hitting it in the mouth with our own magical ballista. Miraculously, the brained creature falls dead and the crew and dwarf help remove a total of 8 plates from its' back before the sand claims it.

We reach the shore of the island and beach the ship on wooden logs. It is rocky and has one mountain in the centre. We see short, stubby trees with fleshy leaves, some of which are covered in large webs. Sister Lucy accidentally walks into one and is cut by it shortly before it falls and shatters. Bardryn is slightly scared by this, and his fear is well founded as three large spiders leap out, narrowly missing us. A crewman lobs a 'soundbomb' at one, killing it instantly. Abracus throws a second, but misses. Brac has his go off in front of him and is deafened for a bit. Bardryn spurs Brac into killing the second and Abracus finishes off the third.

All that's left for us is to follow the spyglass to the top of the mountain...

[Snakes in the Tiki Lounge]

Bardryn is slightly scared by this, and his fear is well founded as three large spiders leap out, narrowly missing us. A crewman lobs a 'soundbomb' at one, killing it instantly. Abracus throws a second, but misses. Brac has his go off in front of him and is deafened for a bit. Bardryn spurs Brac into killing the second and Abracus finishes off the third.

All that's left for us is to follow the spyglass to the top of the mountain...

Scandal! Libelous lies!
There was no soundbomb throwing crewman. Brac dropped one at his feet, deafening his dippy kitty self. Then Abracus blew the first spider into smithereens with the second and final soundbomb, thank you very much. :p

[Dat]

After the glass/crystal spider ordeal, the party decides to press on up the islands' mountain, following the blurry trail through the spyglass. Before we set off, the ships captain informs us that two ships are battling offshore a short way away, one of them is assumed to be the ship our stalkers acquired.

The journey up the lower slopes passes uneventfully. It is only when we get higher up, - to the snowy upper part, that things get weird. Brother Malt throws a snowball at Brother Hobb and Bardryn decides to join in. He forms a snowball with his ungloved hands and reels in pain as it burns him with icy cold. Alishan confirms the dwarfs' suspicions that the mountains' snow is magical along with the majority of this area of mountain. We move on and camp in a cave for the night. Various party members keep watch over night, ending in Brother Hobb. His vigil is cut short however, as he quickly succumbs to a magic induced sleep-state as dawn rolls around.

In the morning, the party awakens to find the mountainside transformed into a lush forest. Vegetation is growing around them and trees are sprouting everywhere. A tree is climbed to see if we can still see our ship and to tell if time has passed. Our ship is still where it is and we find our stalkers' ship parked on a beach on the opposite side of the island. We press on through sprouting vines and thorns, spending hours travelling just a few miles. The trees start falling over for some reason, so we set about uprooting two to protect us from the others falling on our heads. The barrier is successful at saving us and we determine the soil was too thin to support the trees roots.

Even as it gets dark, we carry on walking, dertermined to get to a safe place to sleep. As we near a new cave entrance, the forest becomes more swamp-like, buzzing with insects and creepy-crawlies. At the entrance, the vegetation starts to melt into a soup, mildly disturbing some of the party. A couple of characters become ill and start throwing up. Sister Lucy helps to ease their illness and determines that they must have been infected by the insects outside.

Not far into the cave, we find four wood and iron doors very solidly built into stone and expertly locked. Brother Malt has trouble picking the locks, but gets through one and sprints off down its corridor to discover a room full of mirrors. Brother Hobb teleports through another door and travels down the corridor to find a room full of mirrors, but notices a presence in the room. The rest of the party spends some time trying to bash open the doors only to find the doors magically proctected. Alishan weakens the protective magic on the door frames though, so Brak and Bardryn concentrate on rock breaking around the lock area. Brother Malt finds his mirrors show different versions of himself and pockets a few of the jewel encrusted ones.

Let loose on a poor, unsuspecting dungeon, can these subterranean chambers defend themselves from those marauding, destructive, psychotic lunatics?

[Snakes in the Tiki Lounge]

Couple of things; The fact that the snow was there was down to magic, but it hurt because it was just That Damn Cold_(tm).
I'm also sure we slept a second time before getting to the cave with the doors, actually. The first night, we all fell asleep at sun-rise. The second night, Brother Hobb was able to stay awake and see the sickly orange sun that rose, with a wave of unnatural lethargy. The third night, in the cave that was the dungeon entrance, Abrakus the Undying managed to stay awake, and the sun was a darker, more horrible red colour for a few moments.

Also, it wasn't because of insects that the two got sick. Both had infected wounds from the sharp rocks of the region and the necrotiscising filth that used to be a jungle getting all oozey on them.

Otherwise, not far off. 

[Dat]

Nicky decides he has finished acquiring mirrors in the mirror room, but has a bit of trouble finding a way out. Luckily, a
dirty handprint he lay down on a mirror helps him trace his way back the way he came. On his way back to the cave entrance
where the three doors were, he finds the first door we were bashing open to be 'healing' itself, - crumbled stone rolling up
into the doorframe, bent metal hinges straightening. Walking through the open portal, he finds Alishan has heated up the metal
of a second door and lucy & Brak are bashing it down using the first door as a batttering-ram/crowbar.

As the hefty hunk of wood and metal is torn down, a black expanse is revealed beyond the doorway. All lightsources put into the
darkness are dulled as if by magic. This doesn't put off Abrakus and Brak however, as they both move forward down a short
flight of stairs. Suddenly a barely perceivable shadow attacks Brak from the darkness. As Bardryn joins them and the rest of
the party fire from the stairs, our best attacks seem to bounce off of the creatures. Bardryn boosts Abrakus and Braks defences
as they huddle back to back with an aim to shift towards the doorway. No sooner does this happen than the shadows step into the
light to reveal themselves to be seemingly exact duplicates of each member of our party. A few of us can see discrepancies in
their disguise however.

Bardryn immediately responds by putting a dead duck from his pack on his head. Thinking this will differentiate him from his
mimic, it does however provoke an attack from duplicate-Abrakus. Real Abrakus lets loose a devastating attack on duplicate-
Brak, bloodying him while Malt fires from the doorway, finishing him off. Real Brak slashes away at duplicate-Bardryn and kills
him with an inspiring command from duck-festooned Bardryn. Abrakus shows fighting form once more with a critical hit on his
duplicate, slicing him in two. Duplicate-Brother-Hobb runs away up some stairs on the other side of the room. With the fight
over, Lucy inspects the creatures who transform, in death, back to grey humanoids. Her experience tells her we surely faced
Doppelgangers...

[Tombwalker]

After dealing death out to the dopple gangers like candy, the group have a bit of a wander round the corridors till they find a secret door.  This leads them to a set of stone steps which takes them into the bowels of the mountain. 

They enter a huge hall with 200yrd bridges spanning a lake of lava.  eight bridges link the outer rock platforms to a central column platform.  six of the platforms hold forges with moulds for great weapons.

They disturb the resident wraiths whilst investigating one of the forges.  So begins a battle which results in a few bloody noses and a race to the other side of the huge chamber.  All fight hard and fast but it is Alishan who shines, blasting wraiths apart with a barrage of magic missiles, cutting the number of wraiths down by half. 

They exit the chamber, still with a hoard of wraiths still in pursuit.  What will become of the band of heroes.

[Snakes in the Tiki Lounge]

To elaborate further on parallels drawn in the last game;
The Artifacts having been successfully seperated from their forms, leave the world and all the planes behind, to create one of their own, seperate from the rest of creation.
Meanwhile, in the chaotic void that would one day become Hyrule.

The Goddesses descend upon the void and create a world, populating it with people of their own design. Once their work is done they leave and at the point that they leave three Golden Triangles form. Artifacts of immense power with the ability to grant any wish...

So I figure that Din (Goddess of Power) is the Blade, Naryu (Goddess of Wisdom) is the Orb and that leaves Farore (Goddess of Courage) as the Hilt. Once they finish creating the world, they shed their Goddess shapes and retreat from the world into a form more natural to them, from which they can observe their world.

Evil of course would eventually try to taint or even destroy their creation, only to be thwarted time and again by the actions of those dedicated to the three goddesses, often using the Sword of Evil's Bane which was in part created by the Goddesses...

This is my personal Fanon, for the campaign ending, and what I shall be assuming actually happened.