Midgard: Sessions 1-5
This campaign began with some, but not all, of the players with characters from a different DM. They had played in the same world and thought it would be fun to carry those characters over, which I was more than happy to oblige. Little did I know, that DM would then give them a huge sum of gold at the end of his last session which the players were not so keen on giving up. I was able to bargain them down to 10,000gp each, and they would gain a couple levels.
This campaign has an evil party, and has already caused a huge amount of chaos so I will be keeping track of their various misdoings throughout this and following posts.
Crime Counter: 15 (dealing in illicit markets, use of the Cartways, theft and sale of state secrets, kidnapping, 11 counts of murder)
After the far too quick events of the first session, I ended the railroad and asked the players where they wanted to go. Two PCs were assigned a job by one of the players, and one PC went looking for jobs, where she found a bounty placed on the head of a kobold named Yshka Bishka. The first two went off on their job, while the rest set off towards the Kobold Ghetto, a section of the town where nearly all the kobolds reside.
After struggling to find a way in, the party explored part of the Cartways (old, underground tunnels that act as havens to many of the illicit goings-on in the town), and made it into the Ghetto. They interrogated a few kobolds without learning anything, but accidentally tracked down the kobold King of Kings, the leader and spokesperson for all kobolds within the city, and immediately killed him.
This set off one of the other characters, who hates kobolds with a passion, who promptly went on a murdering spree. With the town guard being called in, two PCs slipped back into the Cartways, one PC fled above ground, and the other continued his massacre. The guard finally apprehended him, though he was shortly broken free by the ingenuity of another PC. The two PCs who slipped away continued their quest and eventually found Yshka Bishka, with whom they decided to threaten and extort rather than take in.
During this whole time, the other two PCs pulled off their mission easily, the assassination of a journalist working for the city-run newspaper (which the other player who assigned the mission said was writing scandalous things about him). After completing their various tasks, the party met back up at their hideout, each of which now being a very wanted criminal.
Crime Counter: 120 (assault of a town guard, assault of a citizen, use of the Cartways, extortion, illegal use of magic, liberation of a prisoner, and 99 counts of murder (97 kobolds, kobold King of Kings, and journalist))
The party spent the night in their hideout. Upon waking up, they found a threat pinned to the wall from a major gang within the city, the Cloven Nine. The party quickly realized what it was and decided it would be a good idea to purchase what they wanted and leave town. They went to a magic item shop known as The Black Lotus, which is run by the peculiar Painted Man. He was happy to take their money in exchange for simple or common items, but he promised he could also obtain much more powerful items for them if they would complete assorted quests.
This was instantly jumped on by almost all the party members, and he handed out a few quests, promising more upon their successful return:
After a couple days in the forest they found a small village built upon the ruins of a black stone castle, and found a guide who took them to a druid who cared for griffons in the Griffon Tower. They chose their words carefully, coming up with a terrible cover story, and were able to obtain some extra information from him, including the usual roosting spot of black griffons. Before heading out, a couple of the party members attempted to kill the man who guided them there, before being stopped by a spirit that claimed to protect this castle and its inhabitants.
The party ventured deeper into the forest, into the Black Hills, and began scaling a mountain in search of the cold climes that black griffons preferred. Nearing dusk, they found a griffon roost and after a difficult fight where they learned this black griffon could teleport, they were able to knock it unconscious and levitate its body back to the ground. They quickly journeyed out of the forest towards town, but kept outside and contacted the Painted Man.
The Painted Man came and conducted a ritual, causing both the griffon and the cart it was on to vanish, and handed out another task: to go to the Master of Thyles in Skaldholm and discover the secret which he has forgotten in exchange for the Archmagi's Robes. Warning that this quest would require a greater degree of difficulty, he recommended the party complete their other tasks first. And so, the party carefully collected traveling supplies and a carriage, and on the next morning set off towards the Seven Cities in search of Vedoma Donesti.
After traveling for only a couple hours, the party began to find individual travelers making their way. These people became easy targets for the party to kill, as they attempted to collect some of those "good souls". They learned that souls came in many colors, and only those of pure white would be gathered by the Soul Lamp. So they continued down the road, murdering any group of travelers they believed they could handle.
Crime Counter: 144 (capture and sale of an intelligent creature, accomplice to an outlawed magic, 22 counts of murder (two griffon knights, twelve soldiers, eight traveling persons))
And that is where we left off. We will be playing on Mondays, so come back then for additional updates on this particular group of criminals.
This campaign has an evil party, and has already caused a huge amount of chaos so I will be keeping track of their various misdoings throughout this and following posts.
Gameplay
The campaign began with the party having narrowly avoided immolation by dragonfire in the city of Capleon, and being teleported through a tree to the free city of Zobeck. I attempted to run through the level 1 adventure, "Streets of Zobeck", but learned about half way through that it wasn't meant to be run without additional prep. This lead to the short adventure being somewhat of a railroaded run-around for the players, but they were still able to meet various important characters within the city and obtain a useful item (half of a book that contains secrets and info on many of the nobles and powerful people in the city).Crime Counter: 15 (dealing in illicit markets, use of the Cartways, theft and sale of state secrets, kidnapping, 11 counts of murder)
After the far too quick events of the first session, I ended the railroad and asked the players where they wanted to go. Two PCs were assigned a job by one of the players, and one PC went looking for jobs, where she found a bounty placed on the head of a kobold named Yshka Bishka. The first two went off on their job, while the rest set off towards the Kobold Ghetto, a section of the town where nearly all the kobolds reside.
After struggling to find a way in, the party explored part of the Cartways (old, underground tunnels that act as havens to many of the illicit goings-on in the town), and made it into the Ghetto. They interrogated a few kobolds without learning anything, but accidentally tracked down the kobold King of Kings, the leader and spokesperson for all kobolds within the city, and immediately killed him.
This set off one of the other characters, who hates kobolds with a passion, who promptly went on a murdering spree. With the town guard being called in, two PCs slipped back into the Cartways, one PC fled above ground, and the other continued his massacre. The guard finally apprehended him, though he was shortly broken free by the ingenuity of another PC. The two PCs who slipped away continued their quest and eventually found Yshka Bishka, with whom they decided to threaten and extort rather than take in.
During this whole time, the other two PCs pulled off their mission easily, the assassination of a journalist working for the city-run newspaper (which the other player who assigned the mission said was writing scandalous things about him). After completing their various tasks, the party met back up at their hideout, each of which now being a very wanted criminal.
Crime Counter: 120 (assault of a town guard, assault of a citizen, use of the Cartways, extortion, illegal use of magic, liberation of a prisoner, and 99 counts of murder (97 kobolds, kobold King of Kings, and journalist))
The party spent the night in their hideout. Upon waking up, they found a threat pinned to the wall from a major gang within the city, the Cloven Nine. The party quickly realized what it was and decided it would be a good idea to purchase what they wanted and leave town. They went to a magic item shop known as The Black Lotus, which is run by the peculiar Painted Man. He was happy to take their money in exchange for simple or common items, but he promised he could also obtain much more powerful items for them if they would complete assorted quests.
This was instantly jumped on by almost all the party members, and he handed out a few quests, promising more upon their successful return:
- the capture and return of a black griffon in exchange for a Cloak of Invisibility and Dagger of Sharpness;
- the assassination of an individual known as Vedoma Donesti in exchange for a legendary two-handed sword called the Blackrazor;
- the obtaining of 40 "pure good" souls with the use of the Soul Lamp in exchange for the Book of Vile Darkness.
After a couple days in the forest they found a small village built upon the ruins of a black stone castle, and found a guide who took them to a druid who cared for griffons in the Griffon Tower. They chose their words carefully, coming up with a terrible cover story, and were able to obtain some extra information from him, including the usual roosting spot of black griffons. Before heading out, a couple of the party members attempted to kill the man who guided them there, before being stopped by a spirit that claimed to protect this castle and its inhabitants.
The party ventured deeper into the forest, into the Black Hills, and began scaling a mountain in search of the cold climes that black griffons preferred. Nearing dusk, they found a griffon roost and after a difficult fight where they learned this black griffon could teleport, they were able to knock it unconscious and levitate its body back to the ground. They quickly journeyed out of the forest towards town, but kept outside and contacted the Painted Man.
The Painted Man came and conducted a ritual, causing both the griffon and the cart it was on to vanish, and handed out another task: to go to the Master of Thyles in Skaldholm and discover the secret which he has forgotten in exchange for the Archmagi's Robes. Warning that this quest would require a greater degree of difficulty, he recommended the party complete their other tasks first. And so, the party carefully collected traveling supplies and a carriage, and on the next morning set off towards the Seven Cities in search of Vedoma Donesti.
After traveling for only a couple hours, the party began to find individual travelers making their way. These people became easy targets for the party to kill, as they attempted to collect some of those "good souls". They learned that souls came in many colors, and only those of pure white would be gathered by the Soul Lamp. So they continued down the road, murdering any group of travelers they believed they could handle.
Crime Counter: 144 (capture and sale of an intelligent creature, accomplice to an outlawed magic, 22 counts of murder (two griffon knights, twelve soldiers, eight traveling persons))
And that is where we left off. We will be playing on Mondays, so come back then for additional updates on this particular group of criminals.
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