Group prior to final last stand

This is the current party, following the first part of the last stand battle at the monastery:


Left to right:

Hunolt the Brave (human fighter)

Patience Constantina Tangleleaf the Vigilant (halfling ranger)

Brik the Considerate (half-orc monk)

Belinda the Heartening (halfling bard)

Archduke Neo III the Quick-witted (halfling rogue / wizard)

Pandora the Mysterious (half-elf sorcerer)

The last stand (at the monastery)

The party reached the monastery safely, thanks to Patience's scouting. There, the heroes and villagers of Grymnon would make their last stand against the Horde of Ardric. Though they faced an impossible challenge, they set about securing the second story of the antechamber. Once the creatures had breached the ground floor and began ascending the stairs (only one could be used as the heroes had filled the other with debris), the group gave word for the villagers to escape through the windows and climb down to safety.

The group also lit the other stairway on fire, hoping to fry the creatures. Alas, the acid-spitting demons with poisoned talons were not susceptible to fire.

The Abbott, revisiting his suspicious behavior from the conference, began undergoing an abominable transformation. We thank our other newfound companion, Brik the monk, for ejecting him out the window.

The battle went nearly as could be expected: the abominations barreled through the village guards and severely injured the heroes, even killing a newly new-found companion, Ezekiel the monk. Soon, we were once again at the down-but-not-out stage, where more of us were unconscious than not. The fiend Ardric reappeared, sniping the escaping villagers from outside (we solved this by creating new route through another window).

Our new companion, Brik, the half-orc monk.

Other highlights included the Archduke's wall-like opposition against one of the creatures, blocking it from reaching the rest of us; Belinda's securing of Archduke once his opposition met its match at the hands of said creature; Brik's much appreciated assistance in healing our wounds (through healing potions); and [please insert any highlights you recall and think should be mentioned here].

The last gate

Following the breach of the northern gate (and the butchering of both guards and abominations), the southern gate was next on the chopping block.

Belinda thought it best to support the guards with speeches of heroes past who survived impossible odds and who lived to see another sun rise above the mountains.

As the abominations appeared outside the village walls, the guards sniped them as best they could, concentrating on one which spat bolts of acid. Only a few of the bolts even scratched the fiend. By the graces of fortune (or so they thought), Hunolt the Brave rode down with his loyal Zzrath from the northern gate.

Sadly, this gate also proved no match against acid and the creatures stormed the village.

***

In the end, less than a handful of the guards stood alive and the heroes had lost their new companion, Werton, to poison. The interim sheriff (replacing the Dread Sheriff Tyrion) and the blacksmith were among the fallen. Having little time to mourn, the survivors set out for the monastery.

An aberrant salvation from down below

Shortly after Ardric's escape, the heroes began their hunt. Patience and the Archduke went on ahead for reconnaissance while the rest stayed behind, tending to the survivors of the conference ambush.

They discovered that Ardric had kidnapped the widow Hutchinson's daughter and that time was of the essence. He also controlled the Ardheim contingent.

In the end, the whole party tracked Ardric and his company to one of the nearby vales. There Ardric performed a profane ritual, one dedicated to Thoon, that appears to have transformed his company into creatures from below. They were too fast and too powerful for the party, prompting all its members to retreat back to Grymnon. (with at least one horse killed in the process).

Incidents included the sudden appearance of dozens of smaller creatures and a dozen larger beasts to our left, Pandora's moral dilemma of either riding away or waiting long enough to secure the Archduke (where she decided upon the latter), the Archduke's six-second horse-switching (as his horse died, he jumped up on Pandora's), and Belinda's mounted spellcasting (as her horse was about to collapse due to its wounds, she successfully healed it while riding on it).

Once more to barricades, my victims

And so it came to pass that the Horde of Ardric descended on Grymnon. The village guard evacuated the civilians to the monastery, with a skeleton crew remaining to guard the village proper. The heroes tried to protect the northern gate, but the wood was no match for abominations' acid spit.

The heroes protecting the northern gate were Patience, Archduke Neo, Hunolt, and Werton. In the end, Hunolt was forced to withdraw (due to his severe wounds) and seek help.

Thankfully, the creatures did not take their time to dine on the fallen, for if they had, we would have lost Patience and the Archduke. Unfortunately, several of the guards fell to the beasts.

Pen beats sword, warhammer beats pen, magic beats all

As could be expected, the roundtable culminated in an all-around brawl. Magda, whom the party had inspected and found to be the same ol' priest it knew, started showing new, disturbing features as her flesh was no longer as dependent on her skeleton for support and her mouth now sported a dangerous poison. Even the Abbott, who had, until now, only been reasonably suspicious (given the circumstances), attacked the Grymnon heroes, nearly fatally wounding Pandora with a standing candelabra.

Belinda the Bard, Werton's traveling companion, heard the commotion and joined in on the heroes' side.

During the ensuing combat, criss-crossings took place: Ardric executed the Daughter (to which his retainers did not even bat an eye); Magda and Bjarne Max attacked their former comrades with the intent to kill; the Abbott betrayed the party; and, Ardric secured the book and fled. The battle included multi-elevation where Werton attacked from the top of the conference table while Belinda attacked from below and Pandora's rescuing at the capable hands of the Archduke.


In the end, the Daughter, Magda, and Ardric's two retainers died; Bjarne Max remains in the custody and care of the Grymnon priesthood. Ardric successfully escaped with the book and his life.

A book, two hostages, and a series of miscommunications

Upon arriving in Grymnon, the Archduke set about translating the Book of Olaf through mundane means, fully remembering what effect it had had on him when he used divining magic on it.

Uncertain of the Magda and Bjarne Max's fate, the party worked on how they could retrieve the two while also retaining the original book. They sent an envoy to Ardheim, requesting an exchange of the hostages for a copy of the book.

Due to a breakdown in communications (the surrounding mountains may have hindered proper divination reception), a prearranged (and strategically determined) site proved unusable and the meeting between the heroes and the Ardheim representatives (a Daughter, the priest Ardric, a couple of his retainers, and their two hostages) was relocated to the Grymnon monastery, under the auspices of the Grymnon clergy.

Forty additional dwarven warriors, who served Ardric, waited outside for the duration of the discussion (and the ensuing combat).

***

Thankfully, the party was now joined with Werton, a dwarven fighter.

MIA - Magda and Bjarne Max

On the day after the Heroes of Grymnon arrived at Ardheim, their priestess, Magda of Moradin, received an audience with the Daughters of Ardheim. Patience and Pandora went with her, both to ensure her safety and to see what they could uncover while Magda engaged the Daughters. The assembly consisted of seemingly identical or cloned women bearing masks; they physically resembled dwarves, yet gave a distinctly non-dwarven (I'd dare say, non-humanoid) vibe.

Eventually, the party received proper accommodations. The heroes knew that it was a trap, yet it was a most welcome trap. If they were to be prisoners, better it be in comfortable surroundings and with hospitality than in some dank, musty dungeon where clean water was the height of luxury.

Magda also attended a private audience with one of the Daughters, discussing theology and Magda's allegiance to Moradin. The meeting took a turn for the worse once the Daughter asked about the Book of Olaf, ultimately requesting its retrieval. In what may have been a most judicious or most troublesome decision (at the very least, the road to their departure was troublesome as the Archduke masterly pulled all possible moves to remain undetected), all but Magda and Bjarne Max left for Grymnon and the book.



That same day, assailants came for the Magda and Max, forcibly converting them toward aberration. They were lost.

Pandora - half-elf sorceress (correction of previous post)

This is just a quick update and correction on the portrayal of Pandora, our elven sorceress.










Our current group looks like this:

(Non-D&D) The shipwrecked sailors and tailors

This session we visited a world in another universe (a homebrew system & campaign), where two castaways found themselves on a vast island, far away from their known world.

The two, "Fen," a noted wrestling instructor, and "Tah," one of the most intuitive and reasoned minds in the known and unknown world, left the beach in search of water and food.

After finding a river and following it upstream, they found another pair of castaways (who had lots of fabric for some reason) and joined them.

The whole group then went to investigate some buildings the two tailors had seen. There they met a group of guards and began rudimentary communication ("Fen" and one of the tailors sat down to play a game of dice with the youngest guard).

Pandora - elf of mystery

During our second foray into the underground temple chambers, we were joined with Pandora, elven sorceress extraordinaire. She is the first within our group to have been entraced by the Book of Olaf.

Jumping from the kettle into the fire

Upon reaching Grymnon, we went to the Abbott for guidance on the book and our next plan-of-action. Patience informed him about the book, its affect on the Archduke, and Tyrion's change from human to a tentacled creature.

The Abbott was unable to determine what kind of creature the sheriff was / had turned into on the basis of the pieces Patience and the Archduke brought; he said he would check with his superiors from the South.

Patience and Max retrieved the book and entrusted it to the Abbott. Due to the possibility for a panic, the Abbott instructed us to not mention the book or the tentacles specifically when talking to the townspeople regarding the sheriff and events of the past couple of days.

We still do not know what has caused the apparently sudden interest in the book. What brought both a kobold spellcaster and a previously human (seeming) sheriff to both seek the book? The spellcaster suggested that it was a source of power that called out to him, while Tyrion stole it and headed out Ardheim.

Due to this latter concern, the Abbott instructed us to go to Ardheim to uncover more information. I am tasked with informing the Ardheim leadership of the recent events here at Grymnon. Before heading out, I claimed my needed rest while the others worked as guards for the town (including closing off the underground temple's entrances).

We headed out and on our second night outside the town, two hippogriffs attacked us. One grabbed and flew off with Hunolt ("food for bird horses," much to the worry of us smaller folk). Patience and the Archduke headed off after them, leaving Max and myself to dispatch of the other beast. Both were successfully incapacitated (though nearly with the loss of our token human member). We kept both creatures alive and continued on the next day.

Eventually, we reached the overbuilt pass guarding the entrance into Ardheim, where the Archduke pulled off a ruse as a merchant (dealing in miscellaneous items as well as exotic beasts) with the rest of us as his retainers.

The Ardheim authorities permitted us to enter, though we are restricted to the Outer hall, which appears to be designed for those of us who are light sensitive.

Due to my obvious alignment with the All Father, I was interrogated separately and will meet with the leadership or their representatives in a few days time regarding the Grymnon - Olaf'ian heresy.

Well within the hall, the Archduke secured us a magnificent price for our newly captured beasts (as well as the tobacco we brought from Grymnon) and we have begun re-equipping ourselves for the dangers to come.

We shot the sheriff, and there was no deputy (knock on quarterstaff!)

Last week on Tentacly Drama, the group continued its hunt for Sheriff Tyrion. The brave, yet impatient Hunolt hurried ahead with Zrammm, presumably getting lost in the process; meanwhile, Pandora wandered off, possibly entranced by a swarm of the local butterflies (they sure are a pretty lot).

The Archduke, with the company of Magda, went off on an initial hunt for Max; he had run ahead (what is it with these warrior-types and charging off?), with all of our newfound loot no less. The search began well enough, but they found themselves in need of Ranger Patience.

Patience, level-headed and all, first checked out the circumstances of the Tyrion's horsethievery. She discovered that he had stolen the widow Hutchinson's old farm horse as well as her horseriding equipment (saddle and saddlebags). She noted that, curiously, the Hutchinson home had apparently not been broken into, prompting more questions about Tyrion's powers.

Eventually, Patience tracked down the rest of group (as well as she could, given the circumstances) and we marched on.

A day into our march, we discovered the remains of the Hutchinson horse. It had fallen down one of the steep ledges and presumably bleed to death.

Further up the road, we spotted Tyrion and set out to flank him. Patience and the Archduke climbed up the mountainside while Max and Magda diverted his attention. Magda, unfortunately, bought the his story that he was heading to Ardheim to rid the land of the cursed book. Thankfully, Magda began asking herself WWPD (What Would Patience Do?) questions and eventually cornered Tyrion over a growth on his neck.

Tyrion proceded to attack Magda, draining her of her will by subjecting her to a vision of terrible beauty. He revealed himself as a tentacled creature (with regenerative capabilities). The battle was long and furious, claiming most of the party's resources and causing three of us to fall (Patience and a revived Archduke were the only two conscious champions in the end; Magda fell to Tyrion's attacks while Max overextended himself in rage).

At the time of this week's session start, Magda and Max have awoken, though Magda still requires rest to regain her full senses. Patience and the Archduke have dragged their two comrades, along with what was left of interest on Tyrion, back to town.

As for current intentions, Magda wants to spend some time scribing emergency scrolls. She would also like to suggest the following:
- that we alert the temple of possible danger Ardheim represents, considering Tyrion's behavior and last statement
- that one of us temporarily takes on the sheriff mantle for the town
- that we sell and divide what loot we have found thus far
- that we restock ourselves and head down below the temple and into the doors the kobolds came from (possibly working to block any future passage there)
- that we work toward eventually heading to Ardheim

Introduction

In this blog I'll publish the summaries from the Dungeons & Dragons group I am in at the University of Oslo.

The characters in the group are:
Hunolt - brave (and wise) human fighter

Patience Constantina Tangleleaf - halfling ranger / voice of reason

Bjarne Max - courageous (yet hasty) gnome barbarian

Archduke Neo the Third - resident halfing rogue / wizard with all the trimmings

Magda - dwarf cleric of Moradin



Our current locale is a much-reduced mountain town, with sights on the dwarven citadel of Ardheim.