Savage Tides of Kalamar - Epilogue

So that last session was dated January of 2009 and we played into October - I'm sure we hit at least 30 sessions in this campaign. Somewhere between March and October we had the greatest adventure finale I've ever been a part of with the climax of the original Freeport Trilogy which became a ferocious running fight up the giant lighthouse in Freeport's harbor and ended with all but one member of the party dead or dying, and that last member was unconscious and at zero hit points but they managed to slay all of the evil cultists and traitors behind the grand plan to summon the serpent god - it was Epic and one of the great confluences of roleplay, mechanics, and die rolls in my gaming history where everything seemed to work out in the most dramatic way possible.

Also during this time Lady Blacksteel and I got married and she joined the campaign (her first time to try this thing of ours) in time to be a part of that epic conclusion, which was cool. The married thing has worked well too. Hi honey, glad to see you're reading the blog.

After the Freeport Finale we moved into playing through the Savage Tide adventure path as the sole focus of the campaign and it seemed to decline for a variety of reasons. I liked that set of adventures but by the time we were making our way across the Isle of Dread I was burning out on 3rd Edition, Kalamar, and my then-current group. Running 3E for 7-8 players at a time was a pretty big load even with a published adventure. With that many players I think the published adventure has some downside as that level of options and resources completely destroys many basic assumptions about encounters and balance, requiring a fair amount of rework to present a reasonable challenge. It would probably have been better to take the concepts and the high points of the adventure and just rebuilt the whole thing from the ground up (kind of like I later did with my 4E Ruins of Adventure campaign) rather than trying to use some version of what was presented. Ah, well ...

So, while some lessons were learned in hindsight we never made it past the Isle of Dread, roughly halfway through the campaign. It would be six months before I ran anything again and that would be Necessary Evil, a completely different kind of game, and then eventually D&D 4th Edition.

I still like both sets of adventures and I think they work well together, intermingled into a single campaign. Maybe Pathfinder, maybe Next - my 4E plate is full for quite a while, thanks - or maybe a non-D&D system altogether will be the framework for the next attempt at them - we will see.

Flashback - Savage Tides of Kalamar - Session 20

 Session 20
Behind the Green Venom-ed Door
January 24, 2009

Players:

Sean – Dorian Windseeker, High Elf Ranger/Rogue

Gary – Katan, Half-Hobgoblin Paladin

Bec – Arianne, Grey Elf Cleric of The Lantern

Rebec – Quillathe, Grey Elf Paladin of The Lantern

Steve – Tylock, Human Fighter

Sherry – Michella, Human Wizard

Will – Solveliss, High Elf Sorcerer

[No Razik – wait a second, WHERE’S RAZIK?! Did anyone hear a splash a minute ago? Hey what are those bubbles in the water?]

We begin in the sea cave in front of a giant, ancient stone door with a serpent head in the middle. In attempting to open the thing, Arianne, Katan, Tylock, and Quillathe have all been poisoned and weakened badly.

Undeterred, Dorian attempts to diarm the venom spray, fails, is blasted by the fountain of green death and collapses like a marionette whose strings have been cut. Tylock, not totally helpless yet, decides to make another attempt and shoves his arm into the mouth of the stony reptile. He is blasted and keels over.

Unafraid but verging on depseration, Quillathe thrusts her arm into the fanged stony maw and releases the catch. The great stone door opens up.

Entering the open room behind the door (and dragging the paralyzed ranger with them) the group sees a large statue of what must be the serpent god Yig. Finding nothing of interest, they approach the stairway leading down and notice it is filled with water. After some experimentation the party swims (or is dragged) through this level and down to another stairway which remarkably is not filled with water.

Descending to the much dryer 3rd level of the place the band notices a shadowy form making passes in the air near an altar to Yig. Watching for a bit (and not being attacked), they decide to attempt to make contact with the being. This turns out to be fairly easy and the being turns out to be the shadow form of the last high priest of Yig, who has been trapped in this tower for millenia. Since he and his fellow priests failed to stop the collapse of the serpentmen civillization, they were cursed by Yig to stay locked in the tower until they could atone for their failure. He is very hopeful that the party represents the chance for release. He tells the party he needs 4 items recovered from the rest of the tower, and that if they can bring him these items then he can recover the Jade Serpent Of Yig, the artifact the party needs to stop Sea Lord Drac and the Unspeakable One. The group agres that they will try to do this, and heads down the next set of stairs…

DM Notes (2012) - This session and the next one were a nice back-to-some-dungeon-crawling sessions after all of the urban and social stuff of the previous few sessions. That poison door trap (just to get into the place!) was nasty, and in hindsight I should have reworked that one. There were several battles, mainly against undead, and at least one magic weapon was recovered in addition to the quest items.

Flashback - Savage Tides of Kalamar - Session 19

 Session 19
The Big Dance
January 10, 2009

Players:

Sean – Dorian Windseeker, High Elf Ranger/Rogue

Gary – Katan, Half-Hobgoblin Paladin

Bec – Arianne, Grey Elf Cleric of The Lantern

Rebec – Quillathe, Grey Elf Paladin of The Lantern

Steve – Tylock, Human Fighter

Sherry – Michella, Human Wizard

Will – Solveliss, High Elf Sorcerer

Dave – Razik, Human Fighter/Rogue

...and the dance begins! As the applause dies down music fills the chamber and couples take to the floor. Our heroes gradualy become aware of the main intrigues at the ball, namely the politicking going on to determine who will replace Lord Verlaine on the council and how this will affect the balance of power in the city.

This part of the session involved a lot of NPC and intra-party interaction, so we’ll hit the highlights here:

- Tylock and later Michela make friends with Lady Elise, Drac’s main opposition on the council. She introduces them to Petra Fricke, leader of the craftsmen’s guild and her candidate to take the opening on the council

- Arianne introduces herself to Gwendolyn, high preistess of the sea goddess.

- Michela and Solveliss spend some time with Tarmon, head of the Freeport Mages’ Guild

- Razik and Michella dance for a while, checking out the crowd of retainers and hangers-on at the dance.

- Quillathe dances with Sea Lord Drac himself and has an interesting coversation

- Michella spends some time with Arias, leader of the elven pirate faction in the city, and quite a fine singer

- Dorian poses as a servant and sets Quillathe up for a dance with the arrogant human Torsten Roth. Later, when she is speaking to Captain Lydon, reformed pirate leader, Dorian points this out to Torsten, who proceeds to intervene and Captain Lydon finishes the ball sitting at a side table under discreet guard.

- A merchant leader, one Brock Wallace, attempts to convince Tylock and the rest of the party to strike at Drac after he is lured away from the ball. The party discusses for a while, then decides to pass.

- At midnight, as the ball is in full swing, a mad prophet appears and speaks a dire prophecy, then disappears. The ball breaks up soon after as the mood is just not the same.

- Thuron departs after telling the party that he recognizes some of what the prophet refrred to and wants to do some research back at the temple. Tylock fears for his life but the old man-serpent survives.

- The party depatrts soon after this and returns to the quill without incident.

Gathering the next day at the Temple of the Mule, the party decides to follow up on some clues. Thuron has found a fragment of a story related to the old pirate Black Dog that looks like it could lead to an ancient temple of the serpent kingdom where the party might be able to recover an item useful against the Brotherhood. Doing some legwork around the town they eventually talk to Old Gareth, who did some pirating with Black Dog in his youth. After a small payment, he tells the group how to find the entrance to the caves described in the log Thuron found. He also tells them where to buy a boat and about the timing of the local tides.

The band gathers their supplies, gets the boat, and heads out to sea.

They soon locate the landmarks described by Old Gareth and venture inside the cave. Handling is tricky inside the cave and a fair amount of bumps and bruises are collected getting through the initial portion of the tunnels. Quillathe and Michella fall out of the boat and are whisked away by the rushing water. Eventually the amphibous members and the boat emerge (albeit backwards) in a large sea cave. They notice something shining in the darkness but before they can investigate a different something bumps the swimmers legs. This rapidly progresses into clawing and biting the swimmers legs and combat ensues as the party faces off against a pair of turtle-crab-things that the group later identifies as Tojandas. The non-swimming members quickly beach the boat near the light they glimpsed earlier but one of the things crawls up into it anyway, as Katan battles the other one in waist deep water near the beach. Dorian, Razik, and Tylock pull the swimmers out of the water while Solveliss blasts away at the creatures from a distance. The creatures are eventually driven off and the group sits down to rest on the small rocky beach they have claimed.

Quillathe investigates the shine they saw earlier and notices that among the bones scattered on the beach there is a sheathed sword stuck into the ground. The golden hilt reflected the partiy’s lights when they entered the cave. The scabbard is battered black leather of some kind. The pommel is shaped like a clenched fist, while the quillions end in sockets that each hold milky white stones that are perfectly round, almost pearl-like. Unable to resist, she draws the blade…

As the sword bursts into flame, she realizes what she has found. As a shape rises from the sand behind her and an insane babbling fills the air, the rest of the party realizes what she has disturbed. The soul-draining unded creature is clearly tied to the sword somehow and attackes Quillathe immediately, draining bits of her soul with every strike. the ghost-like being is difficult to hurt, but the group is persistent and the wizards do their part, soon reducing the the thing to wisps of drifting smoke and an agonized moan as it disperses. Quillathe, satisfied, snaps the blade back into its sheath and fastens it around her waist.

The team presses on, piling back into the boat and moving towards one of the exits from this large cavern.

In the first, they come to another beach, this one sandy, and with several skeletons impaled on spikes decorating it. The group moves on.

Turning down one passage, the boat is caught in a fast current and pulled along until they come to a wooden barrier, waterlogged and decaying, painted with a warning to stay out. Katan smashes it down and the trip continues. They soon emerge on another beach.

This cave is dominated on one side by what is obviously the remains of some kind of building, fused into the rock. it looks like an outer wall, with a large door still accessible from the cave. In the center of the door is a serpent’s head sculpted out of stone. This matches the description found in Black Dog’s log entry describing how he first found his treasure cave. After some debate, Quillathe places her arm in the seprent’s mouth and attempts to open the door. The serpent begins to bite down on his arm and he yanks it back out whereupon a stream of horrible greenish venom sprays out in a massive stream, washing over serveal party members and weakening them to the point of collapse. Shocked, the group pauses to rethink their approach…

By the Numbers:

NPC’s Encountered: 17 Freeport movers and shakers! Plus Thuron the disguised serpent man, Old Gareth the retired pirate, and old Sammy the used boat salesman

Righteous Kills: 1 Allip returned to the dead, plus 2 Tojandas were at least wounded and driven off

Bodacious Loot: 1 Flame Tongue Sword

DM Notes (2012) - This was probably the most fun I have ever had in a pure roleplay type scene - there was enough going on to give every character something to do, every player was engaged, and I had a sizable roster of NPC's with intertwined agendas to keep the conversations interesting. Much was learned, the party's investment in Freeport was turned up a notch, and potential deals were set up. Then of course they got to go on a small nautical adventure and get in some combat before the evening was over. 

Working through these again has made me appreciate (even more than I did at the time) what an interesting spread of encounter types were included in these adventures. I really need to run these again - maybe in Pathfinder. 

Flashback - Savage Tides of Kalamar - Session 18

 Session 18
The Pursuit of Pete
December 27, 2008

Players:

Sean – Dorian Windseeker, High Elf Ranger/Rogue

Gary – Katan, Half-Hobgoblin Paladin

Bec – Arianne, Grey Elf Cleric of The Lantern

Rebec – Quillathe, Grey Elf Paladin of The Lantern

Steve – Tylock, Human Fighter

Sherry – Michella, Human Wizard

Will – Solveliss, High Elf Sorcerer

[No Razik – he was STILL busy skulking about the back streets]

We open in Freeport, at the inn called the Scholar’s Quill, where Quillathe has agreed to help Maggie smuggle Pete out of town. In the pre-dawn hours the group has rested and is eating breakfast. Maggie returns from setting things up and declares that the time is now – follow her to meet up with Pete. The adventuring band heads out into the streets.

Maggie takes a somewhat roundabout way to the docks, apparently attempting to avoid the city watch as much as possible. Approaching one particular dock, the party notices a struggle, and Maggie screams when she reconizes Pete, caught in a net near the end of a dock – a net held by Calybdus, the bounty hunter from the Rusty Hook!

The party springs into action as several thugs acompanying the bounty hunter move to refuse their assistance. A fierce melee ensues where the dock meets the shore as Quillathe, Tylock and Katan engage while Dorian tumbles over the guards and advances towards Pete. Arianne, Solveliss, and Michella assist with various spells. Calybdus turns to face his nemesis from the prior day and engages Dorian in a whirling swordfight. Quillathe manages to get past her opponent and moves in to free Pete from the net. As the guards fall, other party members also advance down the dock.

Once freed, Pete leaps for a small boat tied up at the dock. Calybdus leaps free of Dorian to land in the boat himself, as does Quillathe. Surrounded, Pete disappears from view. Confused briefly, the party focuses on disatching the most dangerous antagonist - clubbed, shot, and hit by several scorching rays from Solveliss, Calybdus is hard pressed and falls, toppling into the water from the small boat. Catching their breath, the team realizes that Pete is nowhere to be found, one last thug is swimming away, Maggie is in tears, and Calybdus needs to be looted before all of his gear drops away.

The party never sees Pete again. Consoling Maggie, Quillathe and Arianne help her board a ship for Sasserine where she plans to start a new life. She does give them a large emerald for the trouble they went through, and promises to use better judgement when it comes to men. the team splits up for a day to purchase weapons and supplies, heal wounds, and Michella investigates the Freeport Mages Guild.

Meanwhile, back at the Quill, a messenger is delivering invitations. Invitations to the Sea Lord’s Ball, where the party will be given medals for their efforts at rooting out the cult hidden beneath the city and exposing the treachery of Lord Verlaine. Surprised but excited at this opportunity, much of the team goes shopping for finer clothing. Dorian wins the prize for most exotic dress when he searches hi and lo for a real griffon feather, not some mock feather or false feather, with which to decorate his hat. He eventually procures one, and makes certain that all within earshot know of his accessory’s authenticity.

The night of the ball arrives and the group is escorted in by the High Chamberlain himself, who is pleased to see that the group has chosen to follow local custom in only bringing bladed weapons to the ball, preferably only in a fine sheath. Speeches are made, drinks are consumed, and Sea Lord Drac personally congratulates and hangs the medal around each members neck. After rousing applause, the real party begins…

DM Notes (2012) - This was another good session - the groups was really on a roll in this part of the campaign - and though they felt somewhat like they had failed on the whole Pete thing they finally felt properly appreciated with the invitations to the Ball and the medals.

Flashback - Savage Tides of Kalamar - Session 17

Session 17
Barfight Tonight!
December 13, 2008

Players:

Sean – Dorian Windseeker, High Elf Ranger/Rogue

Gary – Katan, Half-Hobgoblin Paladin

Bec – Arianne, Grey Elf Cleric of The Lantern

Rebec – Quillathe, Grey Elf Paladin of The Lantern

Steve – Tylock, Human Fighter

Sherry – Michella, Human Wizard

Will – Solveliss, High Elf Sorcerer

[No Razik – he was busy skulking about the back streets]

We open in the Temple of The Mule in Freeport. The party has just assisted in the defense of the temple against an attack by the evil Brotherhood of Yig. As the wounded are tended to and the dead are blessed, the High Priest of The Mule, Thuron, beckons the party to follow him…

Heading down below the temple and into the catacombs where generations of loyal priests lie entombed, Thuron stops at one tomb. Opening it, he reveals the embalmbed and peaceful body of…THURON! He then reveals to the party that he too is a serpent man, but he is not a follower of the evil Yig. He is a priest of a good serpent folk deity who opposes Yig, and he decided to take Thuron’s place when he died to have a better view of the cult’s activities in this city. He pleads with the group not to reveal his secret, and they agree for now. Since more of the cult’s activities are known, he needs a few days to do some research and suggests that the group amuse themselves in the city and prepare for the final push by the cult. Given some downtime the band decides to pursue cash.

One rumor that comes around is that the Captain of the Sea Lord’s Guard is offereng a 2,000 gp reward for a certain human named Pete, who was rumored to be involved with the Captain’s mistriss. Pete disappeared as soon as the reward was offered and hasn’t been seen since. Working the streets, the party decides to investiage the Rusty Hook, where a new bard has been getting good reviews, and Pete was known to be a player.

At the Hook, a near-windowless converted warehouse, the heroes mix with the crowd. Their suspected target is performing onstage and the place is packed. Searching the crowd, Quillathe notices one man near the stage watching the performer intently. When Pete’s false mustache falls off in his lap, the watcher stands and shouts “AH-HA!” and a massive bar fight begins.

This is an old tactical boardgame that I played a lot and has a board and counters perfect for D&D bar fights

Amidst tables, chairs, punches, and thrown mugs, Dorian leaps after their quarry, trying to block the rival bounty hunter. The rest of the group spreads out, trying to block escape routes. Quillathe and Arianne make their way to Pete and ask him to accompany them through the brawl. Being a player and facing two very attractive and heavily armed elven women, and having failed in a charm attempt, he agrees. Katan secures the only door in or out of the place while Dorian duels the bounty hunter and Tylock attempts to clear a path through the center of the room.

Our map was significantly more crowded than this but you get the idea. Having counters for mugs and chairs and  tables opens up the door to a lot of creative action beyond "I hit him with my sword".

As the Elven Ranger and the Bounty Hunter duel, one of the other brawlers gets stabbed. A cry of “They’ve drawn steel!” rings through the dive followed by the sound of bottles breaking and knives being drawn, along with not a few spiked clubs. The brawl gets serious now as the blood starts to flow. Solveliss fires off a few scorching rays to help clear a path as Elven Extraction Team works its way towards the door. Michella Color Sprays several tables wrth of combatants. Katan fights off several attackers who object to his standing near the door.

At one point during the escape Quillathe has Pete turned invisible, and leads him by the hand thinking this will make him less of a target. It does, but the downside becomes apparent once they finally reach the door (Thank you hobgoblin Paladin) and step outside whereupon Invisible Pete promptly snaps his arm free and escapes.

Dejected and bounty-less, the party returns to the Scholar’s Quill and drinks heavily. Later they are contacted by Maggie, Pete’s girlfriend, who wants their help in smuggling Pete out of the city since they treated him fairly even as they attempted to apprehend him. She offers to match the 2,000 gp reward if they will do this. Intrigued, the party begins to plan…

DM Notes (2012): Despite only having one combat this session it was a lot of fun as there was a LOT of RP before, during, and after the bar fight. It was a lot of fun and the players had a blast with it too. I need to dust off the old Swashbuckler set sometime soon too.

Flashback - Savage Tides of Kalamar - Session 16

 Session 16
The Big Brawl
November 29, 2008

Players:

Sean – Dorian Windseeker, High Elf Ranger/Rogue

Gary – Katan, Half-Hobgoblin Paladin

Bec – Arianne, Grey Elf Cleric of The Lantern

Rebec – Quillathe, Grey Elf Paladin of The Lantern

Steve – Tylock, Human Fighter

Sherry – Michella, Human Wizard

Will – Solveliss, High Elf Sorcerer

Dave – Razik, Human Fighter/Rogue

We pick up with the party in a hidden temple somewhere under Freeport…

As Brother Egil finishes his story sounds of movement emanate from the hall. The heroes draw weapons and prepare spells as at least a dozen serpent men rush the temple, enraged. The battle is surprisingly brief as the degenerate fiends are cut down and blasted apart by the now veteran adventurers. None of the creatures survive and they inflict only minor wounds.

Razik notices a secret door behind the idol atop the temple dais. Investigating, the band finds another steep shaft leading upwards. Dorian secures a rope and makes the ascent. he emerges in what appears to be a wine cellar (an unfortunatley poorly-stocked wine cellar, he notes) and drops the rope down to the rest of the party. Moving uptairs, they quickly determine that they are in a house – a rather nice, large house.

On the top floor the group encounters a gang of assassins who appear to have already been at work – but who are not finished yet! Ambushed, the party is pressed at first but then numbers and toughness begin to tell and only one memeber of the gang, the toughest, nastiest one, escapes through a window, slides down the roof, and bounds off into the city streets.

Searching the upper rooms, the heroes find the mangled body of Lord Verlaine, hacked up in his own bed. The party finds some evidence that they are to be blamed for this incident and begin discussing how to deal with that.

Meanwhile, Quillathe has been trying to get Tylock raised from the dead, which is turning out to be a little more difficult than expected. She eventually does find the donations neccessary and a temple that is willing to do it, and 5,000 gp later Tylock is back among the living. Quillathe and the still – recovering Tylock head for the temple of the Mule.

Coincidentally, the rest of the party has also decided to head for the temple and our heroes finally reunite there. Comparing notes, the group is convinced that the serpent cultists of the Brotherhood of Yig will attack the temple soon. Sure enough, bands of priests and acolytes begin showing up bloodied and bruised, saying they were attacked while in the city streets by hooded strangers. As more and more of them show up, the party gets a funny feeling and at this moment the new arrivals throw off their robes and are revealed as bloodthisty cultists!

The real clerics and acolytes attempt to protect their elderly high priest but are taking a serious beating at the hands of the brotherhood. Our heroes target certain leaders of the brotherhood, including one familiar looking fellow from earlier in the day – the assassin! Much magic is used in this vcious fight – blesses, heals, magic missles, even web spells are thrown and ensnare many opponents. Finally though, the superior skill of the party turns the tide and the invaders are defeated. Several followers of the Mule have fallen, but the high priest still stands…for now. Leaning on swords and staves, the party catches its breath.

DM Notes (2012) - Three  big battles in one session! Serpent Men revealed! The safety of the Temple of Knowledge compromised! This session was a lot of fun and while it was close at times and the players felt they were right on the edge, no one died - it was a razor sharp session and everyone was into it the entire time which was hard to do sometimes with a group this size. One of the high points of the campaign.