Dungeon Master: Bill (running his first campaign ever)
Characters & Players:
Bolus II (Male Human Ranger) - BJ
Fern (Female Elf Ranger) - Steve
Kallik of Clan Boarfrost (Male Dwarven Druid) - Tim
Tazgah (Male Elf Wizard) - Wes
Yanni (Male Yeti Barbarian/Ranger) - George
NPCs:
Alvin the Archmage, and Luchien (Evil Wizard)
The characters started out in the town of Ranier. We learned from a group of Yetis that the Evil Wizard in the North was named Luchien. They Aldo told us about 3 Frost Giants that were killing their folk and poaching their polar bears.
Alvin gave us a chemical to dip our arrows and weapons into that ignited upon contact with blood or other liquids. Those later were a big help when the fighting began. I thought that was a neat tweak to the burning arrow idea.
On the way to the Yeti compound / settlement a White dragon was seen flying overhead with a rider on its back (Alvin). It landed in front of us before 3 smilodons / sabertooth tigers could ambush us. Kellik the druid and Tazgah the mage held them in place with spells while the others slaughtered them. We harvested the teeth and Alvin kept and preserved the meat for his "kitties."
When we arrived at the Yeti Settlement the damage done by the Giants was evident. They had taken many polar bears and their deep tracks in the snow were easy to spot. Igloos were smashed and the inhabitants were scared. We followed the tracks to the caves where they lived and attacked them at night when they were asleep. Using a lot of calories, summond mammoths, and having an enlarged Yanni the Yeti jump on them from above proved to be effective at killing them.
Returning victorious to the town enlivened the yetis and Alvin replaced their missing polar bears by summoning swarms of bears and transforming them. In thanks they told us of Luchien and where his wizard's Keep was far to the North of where the elves live. Luchien was an exiled Elf who made a pact with Orcus.
In the town of Ranier, the Elves told us where Luchien's castle was located which was far North of their Elven settlement. He was a banished Elf for committing various Necromantic crimes. The group stayed in town for 2 days to recuperate and then they headed to go see the Evil Wizard.
Three snow leopards appeared in front of the sled the characters were riding and with arrows and a Flaming Sphere they were quickly dispatched. Alvin, traveling with us, collected their corpses to later feed his Kitties (White Dragons).
When they arrived at the Elven town of Tarathiel its tall glass towers and green decor was breathtaking. It looked like magic was heavily used to construct the buildings as well. After some exploring Kallik the Dwarf Cleric thought it was wise to check in with the local temple which happened to be devoted to the moon goddess Seldarine (moon, dreams, moon, mysteries, secrets, and travel). They learned more about Luchien's Keep which was 10 miles from town, and the characters were given some Elven guides and guards to help them remove the keep's inhabitant. They wanted the Undead scourge removed from their lands. The characters wondered why they were able to repel the magic-enhanced Undead for so long since the Evil Wizard was so close to their town. They guessed it was due to some powerful ritual or buried magical circle that surrounded the town.
Alvin (the Good Wizard) went in first to duel with Luchien and to attempt to sever his pact with the Demon Lord Orcus. The characters went in after and slaughtered a horde of skeletal zombies thanks to some spells that held most of them in place (Hold Humanoid & Web) cast by Kellik the Dwarf Cleric and Tazgah the Elven Wizard.
As the group was chopping up and burning the corpses another wave of Undead assaulted us and then suddenly they just... fell over. It seemed that Alvin had won his wizard duel because all of the energy propelling the Undead to move simply seemed to instantly run out.
Stacks of gold were found at the top of Luchien's Keep, the arcane device that had fueled the Undead was banished to another plane of existence, as well as the device needed to talk to Orcus. The group guessed that Alvin kept the Rod of Orcus... but they weren't about to ask such a high level Archmage about that fact. hehe.
The group decided that they would make the now empty keep their new base of operations, but first they wanted to go back to town to gather their things. They reported their victory to the Elves in Tarathiel, and then back to Ranier, and to Alvin's Keep.
Alvin talked to the Gnomes and some of them agreed to help the character's fix up the new base of operations for the group. The new name of the place was decided to be Luchien's Demise! Four Gnome guards and 2 general Gnome workers were sent North to fix up the place. Alvin paid their wages to do so ahead of time.
A feast was held in Alvin's Keep with roasted Mammoth ribs slathered in sweet sauce. Everyone ate their fill, and there was much rejoicing.
After a few days rest the group was accompanied by Alvin to Luchien's Demise where he summoned swarms of insects that he used Alteration / Transformation spells on to turn into various livestock so that the characters could have a ready food supply, and the Gnome workers agreed that they would take care of those as well.
We ended the session at Luchien's Demise. +5,000 XP
