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.

Into the Abyss

Well the group has managed to sail their ship onto the Abyssal Ocean using an item called a wakeportal to gate from the Azure Sea to the Abyss. Now they have to find their way to the Gaping Maw, currently the location of their patron Lavinia. Their main problem is no way to tell were they are. There are no land masses and the brownish purple water seems to blend with the reddish overcast sky, and there appears to be no sun. Now the group has to decide which way to sail.

Now the fun begins for me, they are now in the Abyss, home to so many demons that if all of them were aware of the group they wouldn't stand a chance. Thankfully no one knows they are there yet, and they do not want to attract the attention of the Prince of Demons.

Heading to the Abyss

Well the group has finally finished off Chapter 8 of 12 with just a little mopping up of the pirates lair and now they have to load up the treasure and prepare to find and rescue their patron Lavinia. Unfortunately they hare going to have to travel to the Gaping Maw, the 82nd layer of the Abyss to find her. They will have their work cut out for them as this is prime demon territory and any they come across will attack them on site. The group is now mostly 15th level and is a little lower than recommended but there is also more PC's in the group. So I think it balances out in the end.

I have liked that the group is taking the time to cast lots of spells before they get into combat but they will have difficulty once they are off the Prime Material Plane. I will be curious to see what they do to prepare for their journey to come.

Fighting the Crimson Fleet

Well the group has spent the last six sessions attacking the lair of the Crimson Fleet that was a stack of ships stuck on a massive dead tree. The fighting was brutal and some of the group came close to death but timely spell casting from the healers managed to keep the group alive. The final encounter was the demonic leader of the fleet who decimated the group before they finally ganged up on him and killed him off. Now they have to continue on without resting as they don't know when another pirate ship will return. The next few sessions will be interesting as they quickly explore the remains of the ships.

The Candle Dragon Inn

Well I see it has been awhile since I have posted anything here so I thought I would write something before the year is out. Our Sunday night game has been forced to change a little bit seeing as my new shift with my new employers has made me work alternating Sundays.
Thankfully the group has agreed to play on Wednesdays on the week I can't play Sundays. This has worked out nicely as we play four days apart and I found it makes it a little easier on me to keep the flow going with two sessions in a week.

The group has managed to find the clues needed to find the lair of the Crimson Fleet, the largest pirate gang on the Azure Sea. The group is now trying to infiltrate the lair but they didn't knock off the guards in one of the first areas and now the pirates have been alerted and are preparing for the group to attack. Things will get ugly in the next few sessions as the big bosses get ready for them. It doesn't help that the strongest warrior in the group has been grabbed by a Bar Igura Demon and it teleported him over a thousand miles away and now the group has to try and find and retrieve him but that may have to wait.

Dak-Kon 16Bit

Well another Kon has come and gone and for the first time we have gone to a three day event starting on Friday night. I was surprised at how many people were there to start the con and the Warhammer miniature game that went first thing was awesome. They had taped off a major section of one room in order to play and it took them an hour just to set up the minis.
It was great that players showing up had their choice of games to play as there were RPG's every session along with a variety of board and card games. The RPG tournament was OK as it was Savage Worlds and had 20 players throughout the day Saturday with three GM's to handle the action. The storyline was a little different and darn right confusing at times and I managed to sit in with each GM during the tournament.

I was a little put out that no one wanted to play in the D&D 4th Edition session that I had prepared but I got to play in a Death Watch Sci-Fi session and then played in a 4th Edition session to close out the con. I think that the players there for the whole weekend got very good value for their money and I am curious to see what the committee is planning for next year.
Rumor has it that there may be a venue change as the building we were in has just undergone major renovations and the rental is being raised for next year. I guess I will see when the after con meeting goes ahead and the planning will begin again.