Clearing out the first level

Well the group has finally explored all of the first level and managed to convince Sir Keegan the fallen lord of the keep and he has gifted his famed longsword Aecris to Kara. Then the group found the secret armory and answered the riddle and Kara then was given black-iron scale armor. The group has taken a much needed rest as the group is now 4th level and everyone has gained in bonuses. Now they need to explore the second level to find the evil priest before it is too late.

Playing with Goblins

Well the last session was interesting as I quickly had the group on the ropes as they investigated the lower level of the abandoned keep. The group walked down the stairs and while the rogue skipped around looking down the corridors. Kara the large dragon-born managed to fall down the pit at the base of the stairs and was swarmed by a pack of ravenous rats. Then the goblin snipers started firing at the group from the shadows and they were forced to flee back to the surface with their tails between their legs as they agreed to retreat and try again the next day.

This was much easier than I thought as the group has been easy to distract and once they are separated a little bit easy to gang up on and knock down. Now to see if the group can learn to work together to at least survive.

Switching games for the season

Well the time has come to return to the summer game which is now 4th Edition. After a false start from not playing these rules for 7 months we managed to get through two combat situations in one session and now the group is going to try and spend some of the loot they acquired with only a small settlement to spend it in. Now its time to explore the abandoned keep where a major battle was fought only two decades before. 

The Assault of Gaping Maw

Well the group just spent the last five sessions of the season opening a beach-head on the shores of Gaping Maw. The group was assisted by a squad of Eladrin who helped in the attack. The fight lasted just over two minutes of game time and the group managed to either kill or drive off the demons guarding the site. But not before the two party mages were feeble-minded by the flying demon above them. The serious fight was with the three six armed Marilith demons that were a handful. Now thankfully we switch to 4th Edition for the rest of the summer and we will return to the Savage Tide Adventure Path will return with the finale in the fall.

Let the Battle Begin

Well the group has now presided over the council of war and the group has been tasked with taking out a bunker on the edge of the ocean so that an Eladrin army can appear and help in the assault of Gaping Maw. Now the battle to take out Demogorgon is about to begin. We have six sessions left before we switch to the summer game which is now 4th Edition and this will happen when the Savage Tide is done for the season to continue in the fall. I will try my damnedest to take out the party seeing as once the battle starts it won't stop until Demogorgon or the party is dead.

Finally the Last Chapter

Well the group has finally finished off gathering their allies for the war to come but first they need to get all their new found friends together for a council of war. This might be easier said than done as the only place they may be able to hold a meeting will be Sigil and this brings up another series of problems with the group leader, Adla the Lumi Crusader as she fled Sigil over a year ago to get away from her master. There is still another surprise to come before the council happens. I am just waiting for the right time and place. More to come...

Finishing Off the 11th Chapter

 Well the group has surprised me by managing to capture the aspect of a demon lord but not before the group took some serious damage and in fact the group had to use one of the wishes remaining in the ring in order to save the party healer from being consumed by raw chaos. It was a close thing but they managed to get in and out of the supply depot before the guardians even realized that they were there. Now that they have another piece of the puzzle they are headed to try and meet with one of Demogorgon's generals to try and turn him to their side. They have arrived just outside the base of operations of one of Demogorgon's favored legions. This means that the group will have to deal with thousands of demons if things go wrong. The next session should finally get the group to the last chapter, the actual invasion of the Gaping Maw, Demogorgon's home plane in the Abyss.
  Things are getting interesting as the groups travels along the River Styx have been noticed and other beings are starting to take note including the Prince of Demons himself. I am actually looking forward to finishing off this mega-adventure that has taken seven years to play out. The Savage Tide will finish for the season in two months so I am anxious to see how far along we are at the break.

Follow the River Styx

Well the group has spent the last few months using their new found ability to sail the Styx in order to gain new allies in and out of the Abyss. They have managed to get the agreement of the Prince of Undead himself, Lord Orcus. Then they managed to find the Eladrin from the Court of Stars and gained their favor after killing a legendary dragon but not before losing two members of the group to the dragon's disintegrate spell. One was returned to the living but the party wizard underwent a transformation when he was returned as a drow elf sorcerer but with the wizard's memories so things have gone strange for the group. Then they managed to get the Queen of Seductions to help also as they continued their journey. Now they have a minor artifact to use in capturing an aspect of a demon lord for further use. Things are rapidly coming to a head with one more part to go until we get to the last chapter.

First post of the Year

  Well the group has been gaming away during the holiday season and it has been getting very interesting. They have come up with a plan, they think and are now jaunting across the multiverse trying to gain allies in their upcoming battle with the Prince of Demons. So far they have gain valuable knowledge from the fabled Witch Queen of the Abyss but the group has had to sell their souls so to speak to gain her trust. Then they dealt with the Demon Prince of Undead on his own plane and that was very tough indeed. They managed to get the Prince to agree to start building up his fabled legions to assault Gaping Maw itself.
  Now they are climbing around the fabled World's Tree in order to slay Redfang, a fabled Linnorm Dragon who has fed on many of the inhabitants from the Court of Stars. If they managed this they gain another ally in their fight and then they will have to try to contact another demon Lord but in this case it is the fabled demoness known for her seductive powers of persuasion. Then they will still have a few more to gain before the group heads into the last chapter of the Adventure Path and this will finally be done...

Playing with Demon Lords

     The group has managed to do the unthinkable and that is to release a prisoner from the Wells of Darkness. The group was able to negotiate with Ahazu the Seizer, lord of the Wells and have agreed to replace the Demoness with another creature of equal power within 60 days. After releasing her and getting the information required the group was then forced to deal with another trap set by the Prince of Demons. This was a rupture in the Abyss that caused a rupture in the Layers that caused the River Styx to pour into the Wells of Darkness causing most of the group to lose the last eight hours of memory while that had to find more guardians sent by their master. They overcame these demons and moments later a strange fog billowed out from the water pouring down and a long narrow skiff poled by a gaunt skeletal figure wielding a long boat pole. To their horror they realized that this was Charon the fabled boatman of the Styx and looked very angry. With a gesture he stilled the roaring water as he asked the group why they had diverted his river.
     The group tried to blame the Prince of Demons but ultimately they apologized to Charon and he accepted it and then asked them onto his skiff. The group decided this was a good idea as it was time to get away from the Wells before the Prince decided to attend personally. Charon was full of anger with the Prince and told the group that he would help them with their problem and after sailing the Styx for close to a day he deposited the group along side the Sea Wyvern somewhere in the layers of the Abyss. He also gave the group permission to ply the waters of the Styx while they were fighting the Prince. The group was told to speak with the Lord of this layer and it was the fabled sorceress Iggwilv and they would need her assistance to start their plan of attack against the Demon Prince.
     More to come as the group tries diplomacy instead of combat to accomplish their deeds.

Taking a Weekend Off

Well our group will not be gaming over the holiday weekend so I get an extra week of planning on what happens next. In our last session the group had tried to overcome the guardians of the demoness trapped in the well. I managed to kill off one of the PC's with a brutal ease and have damaged some of the others with damage that can't be healed while they are in the Abyss. They finally got past the four armed gorillas and are now attacking the massive construct sitting on top of the well.

Back to Role Playing Again

     Well we have been back to role-playing the last two weeks and the first session was a bit scrambled but we managed to get in one short fight before we ended for the night. The last session was much better with us getting into two fights in the same time period. I must say I am liking the quicker combat with 4th compared to 3.5.

     I am looking forward to the next few sessions as we build into the first adventure of maybe many. I will have to see and I am still debating on whether to keep a log or journal.

Gaming with 4th Edition

Well we have started a new summer role-playing game with the ending of the Birthright Game that has run for over 15 years.  I convinced the group that if we wanted to continue role-playing then I had 4^th Edition ready to run and the group has surprised me in agreeing.

So the first session was the group making up characters and thankfully I have the program for making the PC’s so I had everything printed up for the entire group. They have surprised me with the choices they made with their characters and now we get to start with the group getting into their first fight when we start the next session. They even managed to give me the roll needed at the time so the entire group all started with a minor magic item.

The names of the characters are fairly standard other than our usual player who seems to come up with outlandish names and his name for his human was no exception. I will have to see if I want to continue with my writing as a GM for the sessions I have been running. We will have to see.

Summertime Gaming

Well the Birthright game has finally ended its run with one epic battle. The fight lasted just over two minutes of game time but took four game sessions to finally complete. Our group consisted of eight with the late addition of two NPC's to bolster our forces as we went up against the evil Lich and his two remaining minions were waiting for us. We had encountered the warblade before but not the big nasty fighter with a very big weapon who proceeded to butcher us until a failed saving throw brought him down. By the time the fight was over only one character was still standing and he was down to single digits.

This has ended a summer run of over fifteen years that Jeff has GMed and I thank him for that. I know its a pretty big commitment to plan and run a role playing game. Now we have spent a few sessions playing the board game Settlers of Catan and have even hosted Murdock's Marauders for a tabletop skirmish session. It seems the plan for the rest of the summer is for a random game to be played until the main Savage Tide game starts up again. We will see I suppose...

Savage Tide Season Finale and the return of Birthright

Well we have now completed another season of the Savage Tide with the group on the 73rd layer of the Abyss trying to find the well that contains Ahazu the Seizer. He is the demon lord responsible for keeping all the other prisoners in their wells. The group has found his well hidden by a stone structure and has managed to find where he is hidden and using an item that the group has carried for months to figure out how to get close enough to contact him. But first they have to get by the nasty guardians that are waiting for the group including some Abyssal Ants that are nearly a foot long with mandibles dripping acid. This was the perfect point to end the season with the ants pouring over the lip of the well to attack the group after they had dealt with some nasty Nightwings and the other guardians of the site.

Now we turn our attentions to the Birthright Game and the completion of our long campaign. The group is now about to fight a nasty lich and his minions in the final battle of the game. Either we win or the bad guys win and the game will be over. Then the group will make a decision on what to play next. Maybe even playing 4th Edition for the summer seeing that I have the core books and enough adventures to play for a few summers so we will have to see what comes next. We have to finish Birthright first.

Starting Chapter 10, the Wells of Darkness

Well I have finally got the group back to the World of Greyhawk and now the group is feverishly spending all the gold they have to stock up on magic items. They also have to find a sage who knows about the multiple layers of the Abyss and specifically about the first layer called Pazunia and one of the demons there called the Red Shroud. She resides in a fortified area called Broken Reach and is familiar with the demon they are now looking for. I think most of the remaining sessions for the year will now take place in the Abyss where the group will be severely challenged by having to take everything they need with them.

Chapter Nine Finished

     Well our last session was spent role-playing the next encounters and no dice were rolled. The group decided to check out the remaining area and had to converse with an evil lich who told them what they wanted to know when it found out that the Death Knight was now dead.
     But what they found out made them shiver as they have to find someone on the 1st layer of the Abyss. At least they were given a name and an area to find her but the rest will be up to the group. I gave them another plot twist when they went to leave and I forced them to give up the keys to the prison by trading back a couple of their cohorts that had been kidnapped from the boat. The work now begins for me as I have to get ready for what comes next.

Finishing Chapter Nine

Well the group has spent the last three months wandering through the infamous prison of the Prince of Demons and finally managed to encounter the bad guy they were looking for after rescuing their patroness from the clutches of a six armed demon. The fight was rather anti-climactic as the group again managed to gang up on a single opponent and pounded him to paste. Now to see if the group just leaves or takes the time to explore the areas across the bridge to get some information that they will need. The next session will be important to the group as they try to figure out how to stop the Prince of Demons Savage Tide from sweeping through the universe.

Gaming on Sunday Nights

Well it has been awhile since I have posted anything here so I thought I should put something up on my blog. The Birthright game ended with our group almost finished the adventure that our summertime GM is running. He has already informed the group that he will be done GMing for now after his adventure is done when we start up Birthright again sometime around the end of April.

So far with the Savage Tide Adventure Path the group has spent the last five months trying to rescue their patroness from the Infernal prison of the Prince of Demons himself. It hasn't helped that half of the group has been slain while in the prison and the party cleric has managed to bring the dead back to life and they have needed everyone. Thankfully the last session saw the group finally finding her and releasing her from her imprisonment. Now they thought all they had to do was leave but she has ordered them to find her tormenter, her dastardly brother who is now a Death Knight. The group has managed to find him moments later but he has over a dozen nasty minions and the group has been blocked in attacking him while they fight Shadow Demons and some very nasty Dread Wraiths.

Thankfully once they can deal with the Death Knight they can head back to their ship hidden in a small cove and hopefully escape. What the group doesn't know is that some demons have found the ship and attacked leaving some of the crew slain and the ship damaged before they were driven off. Now can the group get back to the ship before the demons return with reinforcements and escape with their lives. The next couple of game sessions will tell the tale and I will update later this month (I hope) with what has happened.

Birthright Game for the Summer

Well we have now been playing the Birthright game for the last month or so and the game is building to a climax where the Stellar Four Adventuring Co is trying to take out the group of usurpers that have taken over the country that the former cohort of the group is the rightful ruler of. We have encountered a few of the enemy and they have proven tougher than we first thought. Our casualties have been higher than the enemy and now we have been given an ultimatum by the undead leader and we are now pondering what to do next.

It has helped that my shift has been changed again and I now have my Sundays off and it makes for a better routine as I am not trying to figure out what our game schedule is week to week.